By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Navi Pilay, the U.N.’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, recently released a report on the Sri Lankan central government’s failure to investigate widespread killings and other wartime atrocities committed by their military forces during the bloody, 25 year civil war with the Tamil Tigers.

Pilay is calling for independent, international criminal and forensic investigations to help rectify the situation in Sri Lankan.  Experts and human rights groups say that the Sri Lankan military, who fought for the central government and population majority composed mainly of ethnic Sinhalese, murdered as many as 40,000 civilian, non-combatants in Tamil territory.

U.N. Secretary, General Ban Ki-moon, set up an expert panel whose study led to the exposure of the murders by the Sri Lankan military and the statistical figures.  The Sri Lankan government, however, has rejected the reports alleging abuses and atrocities committed by their soldiers.

Pilay has also accused Sri Lanka of not implementing a system to relocate missing adults that disappeared during the latter stages of the civil war.  Disappearances of thousands of citizens have gone uninvestigated and their perpetrators have not been arrested nor prosecuted for their crimes.

The Sri Lankan central government has devised plans for some of their own official, internal investigations on the alleged atrocities committed during the 25 year long civil war.  President Mahinda Rajapaksa also said that the government never ordered attacks on civilian targets during the armed conflict.

Commissioner Navi Pilay, however, still believes that there are inaccuracies in the central government’s official investigations.  Pilay cited a video broadcasted in 2009 which allegedly showed summary executions of Tamil prisoners by central government military forces as evidence for the necessity of independent investigations into the matter.

Pilay is calling for greater transparency and impartiality in the investigation process to get to the bottom of the abuses that may have been rampant during the violent conflict.  Witnesses coming forward to testify as to the abuses carried out by the military, as well as the victims of the atrocities, also need protection in this investigatory process.

There have also been reports of new abductions as recent as 2011 and 2012.  Political activities and members of their family have alleged been abducted, tortured, and in extreme cases, killed.  The central government says that they have been looking into these alleged crimes.

Journalists from media outlets have also been harassed and attacked by the central government.  I addition, human rights activists that took part in the U.N. Human Rights Council a year ago had also been attacked in public by government ministers.

Due to these recent public abuses, Sri Lanka has come under more pressure by Western states to take a look at the human rights situation in the country.

For further information, please see:

News Daily – Sri Lankan military inquiry says army did not shell civilians – 15 February 2013

Reuters – Sri Lanka’s wartime investigation lags as abuses persist: U.N. – 13 February 2013

The Star – Sri Lanka’s wartime investigation lags as abuses persist, U.N. says – 13 February 2013

The Washington Post – UN rights chief faults Sri Lanka probe of alleged wartime abuses – 13 February 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

CHONGQING, China – Fang Hong, a 46 year old blogger, has been denied compensation for psychological damages after serving twelve months in a forced labor, re-education camp in 2011.

Fang was sentenced to twelve months in the labor camp after posting a poem online which criticized and mocked former politician and Communist Party leader, Bo Xilai, and his former police chief, Wang Lijun.  The poem highlighted the injustices that plagued Bo’s crackdown against crime in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing.

Bo garnered much praise with the ambitious social projects that he implemented in Chongqing, however, as Fang’s poem showed, not all of his policies were universally accepted.  Bo’s anti-crime campaign drew criticism after public accusations of abuses of power and serious miscarriages of justice.

Fang was a victim of one of these miscarriages of justice when he was detained by police and sent away to a forced labor camp.  Though the police did not have enough evidence to convict, China’s re-education through labor system awards the police wide discretion to hand down sentences of up to four years without trial.

This system of police handing down sentences without trial was established in China in the 1950s to punish minor criminals; however, it has been utilized to suppress political dissidents.  Fang Hong’s sentence was overturned after he served his twelve months in the labor camp and sought compensation for the wrongful conviction and time he spent at the forced labor camp.

Fang sought to recover 360,000 Yuan (roughly $59,000) and a public apology for the time he served.  Reports say that the Chongqing Dianjiang court rejected Fang’s demand and only awarded him $9,200 for the twelve months he spent in the labor camp.  The public apology was also denied.

After the ruling, Fang commented that the court’s decision was “definitely unfair,” and that the court did not fully recognize the psychological harm the twelve months caused him.  Fang also said that he would be asking his lawyer, Mei Chunlai, to appeal the decision.

The Chongqing Dianjiang court that ruled on Fang’s case could not be reached for comment.  Pundits believe that the Fang’s request for compensation, which is based on China’s national compensation laws, was denied to prevent a flood of new claims linked to Bo’s anti-crime campaign abuses.  Many also believe that Bo’s anti-crime activities were used to silence dissidents.

Estimates project that nearly 700 people were convicted during Bo’s reign in Chongqing and around 70 of those convicted were ultimately executed.  Bo’s political career unraveled last year when a scandal emerged involving his wife and the murder of a British businessman.  He now faces his own legal troubles and is likely to be convicted in a trial of his own.

Fang Hong’s case for compensation against the Bo era abuses in Chongqing is the first of its kind.  It will be seen as the initial test as to how the courts will handle the alleged miscarriages of justice that were rampant during Bo’s reign.

For further information, please see:

The Standard – No payout for blogger busted over Bo joke – 1 February 2013

Bangkok Post – China blogger sentenced for Bo joke denied payout – 31 January 2013

Reuters – China court rejects damages plea from man jailed for Bo joke – 31 January 2013

Sino Daily – China blogger sentenced for Bo joke denied payout – 31 January 2013

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

CHENGDU, China – A Chinese court in Sichuan province handed down severe sentences to two men who have been linked to 3 cases of self-immolation by Tibetans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, their exiled spiritual leader.

Lorang Konchok, age 40, and his nephew Lorang Tsering, age 31, were found guilty of intentional homicide by an Aba prefecture court located in Sichuan province.  Konchok was given the death penalty with a two-year reprieve on his sentence.  In practice, this sentence is usually reduced to life imprisonment.

Konchok has also been stripped of all political rights for life.  Lorang Tsering has been sentenced to 10 years in prison and will be stripped of all political rights for 3 years.  Both men were charged because authorities say the two attempted to coerce at least 8 individuals into self-immolating.

Out of the 8 individuals the pair allegedly attempted to coerce into committing the self-sacrificing act, only 3 went through with the act.  Tibetan activists are protesting the sentences and believe that Chinese officials forced confessions out of the two men during detainment.

Local Chinese news sources reported that Lorang Konchok was detained by authorities last August and confessed that his actions were a result of him following orders from the Dalai Lama and his followers.

There was also evidence of Konchok and Tsering passing along information regarding the self-immolations, including pictures, to contacts abroad that were a part of the Tibetan independence organization.

Lorang Konchok is based out of the Kirti monastery in Aba prefecture, Sichuan Province that borders the Tibet Autonomous Region.  This area of Sichuan province has been a hot bed for unrest and has played host to dozens of self-immolations.

After several failed security measures attempting to deter protest, the Chinese government promised to start prosecuting individuals linked to the Tibetan self-immolations.  The Lorang pair is part of the first wave to face the wrath of the Chinese government in this crackdown on Tibetan protest.

Another six Tibetans were sentenced by a court in Gansu province to prison terms ranging from 3 to 12 years for their roles in self-immolations at a shopping center in Xiahe.  The convicted six were reportedly based out of the Labrang Monastery, a key center for Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetans have expressed outrage and sorrow for all the deaths, but they also reject the course of action the Chinese government has taken in response to the protests.  Tibetans express that they understand the self-immolations because they share the sense of frustration due to a lack of religious freedom and yearn for the return of the Dalai Lama to his rightful place in Tibet.

 

For further information, please see:

BBC – Tibetans guilty of murder for ‘inciting immolations’ – 31 January 2013

The Guardian – Chinese court convicts two Tibetans for ‘encouraging self-immolation’ – 31 January 2013

Northern Kentucky News – China jails 8 Tibetans in self-immolation cases – 31 January 2013

Reuters – China sentences two Tibetans for “inciting” self-immolations – 31 January 2013