Lagos Settlement Destroyed Despite Court Order

By Samantha Netzband 

Impunity Watch, Africa Desk Reporter 

LAGOS, Nigeria– A fishing community was demolished on March 17th, despite a court order not to do so. Residents of the Nigerian town of  Otodo-Gbame are in turmoil after a settlement was destroyed despite a court order that halted eviction of the settlement.  300,000 people are facing eviction across Nigeria in order to pave the way for development projects.

Residents after the demolition of the settlement. (Photo Courtesy of Al Jazeera)

Residents are in shock after the demolition, claiming that they received no notice from the government about the demolition of the settlement.  Amnesty International has condemned the forced evictions that are happening in order to clear the settlement.  In a statement Amnesty International said residents “are being forcibly evicted and their homes destroyed by bulldozers as security services used tear gas and live bullets to clear the area.”  Amnesty International is also calling on the state to provide emergency services to the residents that have been displaced by the demolition.  “The Lagos State Government should ensure that the families who have been rendered homeless this morning are given emergency relief including adequate shelter, water, food and any medical care they may require,” Amnesty International Nigerian Researcher Morayo Adebayo said.

30,000 people were already evicted by last November as Nigeria began to make way for development projects. Nigeria’s High Court in January ruled that the demolition of the settlement should be stopped so many residents remained in the area and also decided to rebuild their homes if they had already been demolished.  Many human rights advocates are calling for the evictions and demolitions to be stopped.  Advocates are saying that the destruction of property without the consent of the residents is a gross human rights violation.

For more information, please see: 

Al Jazeera – Police displace thousands in Nigeria’s Otodo-Gbame slum – 17 March 2017

BBC Africa – Lagos Settlement Demolished Despite Court Order – 17 March 2017

Channels Television – Residents Cry Out Over Demolition of Settlement in Lagos – 18 March 2017

Premium Times – Lagos govt ignores court order, commences fresh demolition of Otodo-Gbame, residents say – 17 March 2017

 

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky: Magnitsky Family Lawyer Thrown off Top Floor Apartment in Moscow, Now in Critical Condition

March 21, 2017

Press Release

For Immediate Distribution

 

21 March 2017 – Russian lawyer Nikolai Gorokhov, who represents Sergei Magnitsky’s family, has been thrown from the top floor of his apartment building earlier today and is currently hospitalized in the intensive care unit of Botkin hospital in Moscow with severe head injuries.

Nikolia Gorokhov is a key witness in the US Government’s case against Prevezon Holdings, a Cyprus company owned by Denis Katsyv, son of senior Russian Government official Petr Katsyv. The trial is scheduled to begin in the Federal court in New York on May 15th 2017. The trial is in relation to alleged money laundering by Prevezon of proceeds of US$230 million fraud that Sergei Magnitsky uncovered and was killed for exposing in 2009 at the
age of 37.

Tomorrow morning, at 10:50 am, Nikolai Gorokhov was scheduled to appear in front of the Moscow City Appeals Court to argue against the Tverskoi District Court’s refusal to consider a new criminal complaint filed by Sergei Magnitsky’s mother in relation to the discovery of “Pavlov Leaks” – a series of electronic communications between Russian lawyer Andrei Palvov and other members and associates in the Klyuev Organized Crime Group. The Pavlov Leaks show collusion of those responsible for the $230 million fraud uncovered by Sergei Magnitsky and police officers assigned to investigate the US$230 million fraud and Magnitsky’s death in custody.

Mr Gorokhov, 53 years old, works with Prioritet bar chambers in Moscow. He is a well-known lawyer, who previously worked as investigator in the prosecutor’s office.

In 2011, Nikolai Gorokhov volunteered to represent the Magnitsky family in their fight for justice for Sergei Magnitsky. He has since filed numerous complaints and appeals seeking investigation of Sergei Magnitsky’s torture and murder in Moscow police custody. Despite the numerous complaints, the Russian authorities closed the investigation into Magnitsky’s murder for lack of crime, and posthumously accused Sergei Magnitsky himself of perpetrating the $230 mln fraud. Officials he had implicated in the US$230 mln fraud have been since given state honors, promoted and exonerated from any liability by the Russian government.

 

 

For more information, please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

billbrowder.com

twitter.com/Billbrowder

The original press release can be found here.

PILPG: War Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 12, Issue 1 – March 20, 2017

Case School of Law Logo
 
Founder/Advisor
Michael P. Scharf
 
War Crimes Prosecution Watch
Volume 12 – Issue 1
March 20, 2017
PILPG Logo
Editor-in-Chief
James Prowse
Managing Editors
Rina Mwiti
Alexandra Mooney
War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.
Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.

Contents

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky: Moscow Court Set to Approve Arrest Warrant for William Browder After Death Threats to Coerce Main Government Witness to Testify

Moscow Court Set to Approve Arrest Warrant for William Browder After Death Threats to Coerce Main Government Witness to Testify
20 March 2017 – The Moscow City Court is expected to approve the repeat arrest warrant for William Browder and his colleague, Ivan Cherkasov on Tuesday, 22 March 2017.
There is currently a Russian arrest warrant in place for William Browder based on his 2013 Russian conviction in Russia. The new arrest warrant being requested by the Russian authorities is based on the same criminal case under which Mr Browder was previously convicted in absentia and his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, posthumously in 2013, involving Russian government tax claims against a Hermitage Fund subsidiary Dalnaya Step.
In order to justify the new arrest warrant, the Russian authorities have arrested Alexander Dolzhenko, a Russian insolvency practitioner. He was arrested in July 2015 and charged with colluding with Browder to falsely bankrupt Dalnaya Step. According to Mr Dolzhenko’s statement, he was taken to FSB headquarters in Stavropol and told:
“If you were a patriot of Russia, you would give evidence against the leaders of Dalnaya Step who had bought up Gazprom shares; it is necessary to take their foreign property.”
At the beginning of the interrogation, according to Dolzhenko, he was told: “Eight people had died in that case, the last one being Magnitsky, and … if I persist, that list would grow.”
Mr Dolzhenko initially testified against Browder, but the later retracted his testimony, stating that he “was forced to sign the interrogation report by blackmail,” and that he first heard the name of Browder from the investigator.
In November last year, in court hearings on the case against Dolzhenko held in Elista in southern Russia, he collapsed in court suffering a heart attack. He was taken to the hospital but the case carried on. When his lawyer protested during the proceedings, he was forced off the court room and a state lawyer was appointed to Dolzhenko.
It’s expected that Dolzhenko will be convicted later this month, with the final hearing in the case to take place on Tuesday, 22 March in Elista court.
His conviction is expected to be used by the Russian government to pursue Mr Browder in a new in absentia trial in Russia later this year and a new civil case in London which is ongoing.
The arrest warrant decree does not correspond to the purpose of the criminal justice and demonstrates the denial of access to justice,” said Russian lawyer for William Browder and Ivan Cherkasov, Alexander Antipov.
For more information, please contact:
Justice for Sergei Magnitsky
twitter.com/Billbrowder

Syrian Network for Human Rights: 207,000 Civilians Have Been Killed Including 24,000 Children and 23,000 Females; 94% of the Victims were Killed by the Syrian-Iranian-Russian Alliance

I. Introduction
These days mark the 6th anniversary of the popular uprising in Syria that called for freedom, justice, and dignity by overthrowing the oppressive tyrannical Assad regime for a democratically elected regime that truly represents the Syrian people, grants the right to form political parties, and guarantees the basic human rights. This was very clear and frequent in the popular slogans the Syrian people rose and chanted.

Since the very first days, the Syrian regime’s response was clearly raw, as the regime met the popular uprising with live bullets, and arrested tens of people. In light of the international silence, the Syrian regime escalated its barbaric operations, where women and children were slaughtered using knives, as we recorded in many massacres. Also, the ruthless torture resulted in a huge number of deaths, as it was recorded in the first report by the Commission of Inquiry, published on November 23, 2011, describing most of the Syrian regime’s crimes as crimes against humanity given that they were perpetrated in a systematic, widespread manner.

More…

 

Website
Facebook
Twitter
Google Plus
Instagram
YouTube
RSS
Email