High Court Ruling May Effect Police Brutality Cases

High Court Ruling May Effect Police Brutality Cases

By Hayley J. Campbell
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – The Fiji Women’s Crisis Center is questioning how this month’s judicial ruling legitimizing the 2006 military takeover in Fiji will effect cases involving police brutality.

On October 9, a three judge court dismissed former prime minister, Laisenia Qarase’s request to have the 2006 military coup declared illegal.

“Of course, the ruling is going to affect the cases that have already been filed against the military and police. The judgment by the High court was political,” said Shamima Ali, the Center’s coordinator.

The Fiji Women’s Crisis Center has raised concerns over whether the interim military government will treat cases involving police and military officers differently.

In particular, the Center identified two cases of alleged brutality which remain pending in court. The first involves a man named Tevita Malasebe, 31, who was a rugby player from Nabua, Suva. Malasebe was beaten to death by police in June of last year. Another man, Nimilote Verebasaga, was taken by soldiers in the middle of the night. He was pronounced dead the next day at the military hospital.

Ali added, “It means those officers implicated in the alleged murder cases and brutality cases before the courts won’t be prosecuted because of the immunity clause.”

For more information, please see:
Fiji Times – Fiji Court Ruling Could Impact Brutality Cases – 20 October 2008

Lawyers Face Pressure to Drop Tainted Milk Cases

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – A group of lawyers advising the families of children sickened in China’s tainted milk case facing growing official pressure to withdraw from the cases.  The group already has helped the parents of a 1-year-old boy who developed kidney stones after drinking tainted milk to file a lawsuit against the dairy company, Sanlu Group Co.  The court in Henan province has not yet decides whether it will hear the suit.

The tainted milk scandal caused at least four babies have died and more than 54,000 children have been sickened in China.  The Chinese government acknowledged the dairy industry was “chaotic” and had suffered from a grave lack of oversight, while pledging to monitor milk products from farm to dinner table.  However, the government has also imposed controls on media coverage of the crisis, and pressured families and lawyers to withdraw from cases related to the scandal.  Officials from the provincial government’s justice department in Henan province told at least 14 lawyers by officials to stop their activities, said Chang Boyang, one of the lawyers.  “They called me and my boss at my law firm and put pressure on me, and they said that this has become a political issue and that I ought to follow the arrangements set out by the government.” Chang said.  “If this suggestion is disobeyed, the lawyer and the firm will be dealt with,” Chang quoted the official.

Organizers of the campaign and some of the lawyers confirmed officials in some provinces have pressured volunteers or their bosses to give up the campaign.  “About two dozen of the lawyers have called these past days to say they want to quit the volunteer advice group,” said Li Fangping, a Beijing lawyer who helped organize the group.  “Some of them said that they or their offices were told they’d face serious repercussions if they stayed involved, ” Li Fangping added.

According to a Beijing-based lawyer, Li Jinglin, the Beijing Lawyers’ Association called a meeting with several of its serving officer members and the justice department to discuss the milk powder cases.  “At that meeting, those in charge said they had received a very clear message from the Hebei provincial lawyers’ association that we should not involve ourselves in Sanlu-related cases,” said Li Jinglin.

“There has been a direct instruction to all Chinese lawyers that they are forbidden from offering legal assistance to families of children who have drunk contaminated milk,” a lawyer who declined to be named said.  “The orders came from the legal affairs bureau in our district. Executive forces are putting pressure on them from all directions. Really, their hands are tied,” he said.

For more information, please see
:

AP – Chinese lawyers face pressure to drop milk cases – 07 October 2008

AP – Second lawsuit filed in tainted milk scandal – 10 October 2008

Radio Free Asia – Lawyers’ Outrage at Milk Case Ban – 07 October 2008

Reuters – China milk victim lawyers say pressed to quit – 29 September 2008

Human Rights Group Discovers Bones in Philippines

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

MANILA, Philippines – On behalf of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, human rights groups Karpatan and the Commission on Human rights discovered human bones in Bataan.  The excavation was conducted in order to search for evidence of victims of extra-judicial killings and the disappearance of activists, verifying the allegations of Raymond and Reynaldo Manalo.

On February 14, 2006, the Manalo brothers were suspected of aiding a local insurgency and were forcibly taken from their homes and placed in military detention camps where they were tortured over a period of 18 months.  On August 13, 2007, they escaped.  Their families filed writs of habeas corpus and they sought protection from the Court.

The Supreme Court granted the Manalo brothers’ writ of amparo and ordered the excavation to corroborate their testimony and search for other extra-judicial killings.

The anthropology team found human bones at the former camp in Bataan, which was the same site where Raymond Manalo testified he saw victim Manual Merino burned by soldiers in 2007.  The bones are currently awaiting identification.

The case of the extra-judicial killings and disappearance of activists were added to the last Monday’s impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  This was the fourth impeachment complaint against Arroyo.  The complaint stated that Arroyo “committed culpable violations of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes.”

In addition, she was accused of “explicitly and implicitly conspiring, directing, abetting and tolerating with impunity as a state policy extrajudicial executions, involuntary disappearances, torture, massacre, illegal arrest and arbitrary detention, forced dislocation of communities and other gross and systematic violations of civil and political rights and engaging in a systematic campaign to cover up or whitewash these crime by suppressing and obliterating the evidence, blaming the victims, terrorizing, intimidating and physically attacking witnesses, their relatives, lawyers and supporters and human rights workers.”

For more information, please see:

Amnesty International – Philippines:  Investigate Claims and Protect Manalo Brothers – 7 November 2007

The Daily Tribune – House Locks Out New Impeach Bid – 10 October 2008

GMANews.TV – Rights Group Finds Burnt Human Bones in Bataan – 14 October 2008

China Removes Restrictive Rules on Foreign Correspondents Reporting

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – China extended some of the rules that gave foreign reporters greater freedom during the Beijing Olympics.  The extension will allow more than 30,000 foreign journalists to continue travel freely across most of China for reporting, and interview Chinese citizens without government permission.

State news agency Xinhua said the temporary arrangement would become standard practice.  China’s Premier Wen Jiabao approved the new regulations after a day of silence on what would happen to one of the high-profile changes Beijing made as part of its efforts to host the August Games. Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said, “This is not only a big step forward for China in opening up to the outside world, for the foreign journalists it’s also a big step.”

However, the media freedoms are not unlimited. Tibet is still closed to all foreigners and journalists.  Journalists must still apply for travel permits just as tourists do. Li Jianchao also warned that other areas of China may be designated off-bounds or temporarily closed after disasters.

The move has been welcomed by the main organization representing overseas media in China, Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.  “If properly implemented, we believe this will mark a step forward in the opening of China’s media environment,” said Jonathan Watts, president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China.

Jonathan Watts also urged the government to ensure that police and local officials respect the freedoms and the new rule.  The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China said it had received reports of 336 complaints of interference since the rules were introduced in January 2007, including 67 cases of harassment and intimidation during the Olympic Games.

Seymour Topping, a well-known American journalist, sees the lifting of the restrictions as an important step for China.  “The more restrictions on foreign correspondents’ work are lifted, the better chance there is for the world to become fully aware of China’s accomplishments and what it is attempting to achieve,” the former Pulitzer Prize administrator said.  “China used to be too wary of foreign journalists, but now the rules allow them to decide who to talk to,” Huang Youyi, editor-in-chief of China International Publishing Group, added.

For more information, please see:

BBC – China’s Press Freedoms Extended – 18 October 2008

China Daily – Reporting Made Easier for Foreign Media – 20 October 2008

Human Rights Watch – China: Olympics-Related Media Freedoms Should Not Expire – 15 October 2008

Reporter without Borders – What Rights Will the Foreign Press Have? – 17 October 2008

Reuters – China Extends Media Freedom Rules at 11th Hour – 17 October 2008

Comments by Fiji’s Ousted PM Frustrate Bainimarama

By Sarah E. Treptow

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – After comments were made this week from Fiji’s ousted PM, Laisenia Qarase, Fiji’s interim PM, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama, is frustrated.  Bainimarama said Qarase should stop wasting his time commenting on the interim government.

Bainimarama’s frustration comes after Qarase told reporters this week that the interim Government’s reign has been too long.  Qarase claimed that interim government was meant to be temporary and that the two years interim PM Bainimarama has been in power is a long time.

Bainimarama said, “He should be more careful making such comments because he doesn’t know what he is talking about.”  The interim PM also urged Qarase to prove that his government is not doing enough to take Fiji forward.

Qarase has a specific problem with the interim government not holding general elections early in 2009. Bainimarama has already said that he wants electoral reforms in place before the election happensQarase claims there is no excuse.

For more information, please see:

Fijilive – Qarase’s coments rile Fiji interim PM – 17 October 2008

Radio New Zealand International – Fiji interim PM unhappy about Qarase comments – 17 October 2008