By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KIGALI, Rwada-Political repression and instability are on the rise as the presidential elections in the Republic of Rwanda draw near.   Violent instability has received international attention after the shooting death of the independent journalist Jean-Leonard Rugamsbage on July twenty-forth.   Rugamsbage died instantly after being shot in the head and chest by assailants who were waiting outside of his house.

Umuvugizi Banned After Criticism of Rwandan Government  Read more...

Previous Bus Accident In Bolivia (Photo Courtesy of www.topnews.in)

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LA PAZ, Bolivia – At least 28 people were killed, and at least 44 were injured, when a passenger bus drove over the side of a ravine in Bolivia.  The injuries include one child being killed and 16 other children being injured.  According to police, the bus involved was carrying approximately 70 people and was traveling from Cochabamba, a central city, to the southwestern city of Potosi when it drive through a guard rail and fell 11 meters to the ground.  Read more...

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian gunmen have claimed the life of yet another trade union member, the latest casualty in a string of murders attributed to conflicts between paramilitary and guerilla groups.  Read more...

By Ali Sprott-Roen
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

(Photo courtesy of Michelle Gabel / The Post-Standard)

NEW YORK, United States – Maparo Ramadhan, a refugee from Burundi, escaped persecution, torture and murderous officers in his home country, only to be victimized by guards at the Onondaga County Justice Center in Syracuse, NY.  Read more...

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

Protesters joined Shalit's parents to press for his release. (Photo Courtesy of The Observer.)

JERUSALEM, Israel – The parents of Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who has been held captive in Gaza for the past four years, began a twelve-day march on Sunday from their home to Jerusalem, where they plan to camp out in front of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence until the Israeli government wins Shalit’s release.

 Read more...

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Photo: All EU member states do not allow same sex marriages. [Source: Justout.com]

STRASBOURG, France – On June 24 the European Court of Human Rights ruled that European nations are not legally obliged to allow and recognize same sex marriages.

An Austrian couple, Hörst Schalk and Johann Kopf, brought a case against Austria in 2004 after the couple sought a marriage permit in Vienna in 2002.  Austrian law only recognizes marriages between a man and a woman, and the country refused to give the gay couple a marriage license.  Read more...

By David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Dozens of political activists have been arrested in Bangladesh after the main opposition parties called for a dawn-to-dusk general strike across the country.  The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Khaleda Zia, the former prime minister, said the strike on Sunday was in protest against misrule by the government.

Walid Hossain, a police spokesman, said at least 12,000 officers had been deployed in Dhaka to prevent violence as the shutdown of transportation and businesses brought much of the capital and the country to a standstill.  Hossain said around 200 opposition activists were arrested in a precautionary crackdown, many of whom were picked up for torching and damaging vehicles on Saturday night.  Read more...

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Bujumbura, Burundi – Pierre Nkunrunziza, incumbent president of Burundi. Observers are concerned that Burundi’s elections scheduled for Monday will throw the country back into violence just 5 years after a civil war that lasted 12 years and claimed an estimated 300,000 lives.  Currently, incumbent president Pierre Nkurunziza is the only candidate in the upcoming presidential race and as such is poised to win.  All opposing candidates have withdrawn from the race alleging election fraud at the local level in spite of requests from the international community for them to rejoin.  Among the candidates who have dropped out is Agathon Rwasa who is rumored to be in hiding in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Rwasa is the former rebel leader of the National Liberation Forces which surrendered last year, five years after the other warring groups agreed to create a power sharing government.  Read more...

By R. Renee Yaworsky
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

OTAVALO, Ecuador—New goals for social justice and diversity have been set in Ecuador.  A declaration to promote indigenous rights was signed by Latin American leaders at a summit in Otavalo.  The hope is that culturally diverse and environmentally responsible societies will be defended and encouraged.  Efforts were focused on integration and recognition of black and indigenous cultures.

The 10th Summit of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) concluded Friday.  About 300 government delegates and representatives from ALBA discussed “plurinational states” and efforts to avoid use of history that “remains written from the European or the Anglo-Saxon point of view.”  Another concern was to ensure that “countries have environmental policies to protect ecosystems.”  Read more...

By Dallas Steele
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

[Warning: Graphic photo at the end of the article.]

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt- Twenty-eight-year-old Khaled Said was forcibly dragged from an internet café and savagely beaten to death by two plainclothes police officers in broad daylight. Although Khaled’s death occurred on June 6, 2010, public prosecutors have not yet summoned for interrogation any of the key players involved in the incident, including the two plainclothes officers involved in the death.  The lack of accountability by investigators, and allegations that Khaled was intentionally murdered by the police have sparked a wave of demonstrations across Alexandria.  Read more...