Former Uruguayan Dictator Sentenced to 30 Year Prison Term

Former Uruguayan Dictator Sentenced to 30 Year Prison Term

 

By Ryan C. Kossler

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay – Former dictator Juan Maria Bordaberry was sentenced to thirty years in prison on Wednesday for leading a military coup in Uruguay in 1973 and for nine forced disappearances and two homicides.  Eighty-one year old Bordaberry was sentenced by Judge Mariana Motta for violating the constitution by shutting down Congress fifteen months after taking office in early 1972 and of rights violations in the other two cases involving disappearances and murders.

Bordaberry, who was already serving a thirty year sentence under house arrest, was first arrested in 2006 for the 1976 slayings in Buenos Aires of exiled Uruguayan lawmakers Zelmar Michelini and Hector Gutierrez Ruiz and Uruguayan leftist militants Rosario Barredo and William Whitelaw.  Bordaberry testified that he only heard about the disappearances twenty years after his presidency and that while in office, he kept himself removed from the actions carried out by the military. 

According to the prosecutor, Ana Maria Tellechea, this does not appear to be the case.  Tellechea said, “it has been clearly shown that in the period from the coup until Bordaberry was removed by the military there were hundreds of disappearances and torture-related deaths carried out by those at the head of [Bordaberry’s] dictatorial process.”

Attorney Hebe Martines Burle, who filed the charges against Bordaberry, said that even though the sentences will not affect Bordaberry’s status in terms of years in detention, it has enormous symbolic importance for Uruguay.  Burle said “This doesn’t change the time of reclusion at all and that’s not our concern.  The issue for us is emblematic, symbolic, that when someone violates the constitution, when a coup occurs, eventually you’re going to pay.”

Bordaberry is the second Uruguayan dictator sentenced to a lengthy prison term in the last four months.  Gregorio Alvarez was jailed for twenty-five years last October for murder and rights violations during his 1981-1985 rule.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Former Uruguay Dictator Bordaberry gets ‘30yrs Jail – 11 February 2010

America’s Quarterly – Former Uruguayan Dictator Sentenced – 11 February 2010

Latin American Herald Tribune – Former Uruguayan Dictator Gets 30-Year Prison Sentence for Coup  – 11 February 2010

Chinese Activist Finally Returns Home

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SHANGHAI, China– A human rights activist, Feng Zhenghu, has returned home to China in time to celebrate the country’s biggest holiday, Lunar New Year, with his family after living at a Japanese airport since last November.

Eager to reunite with his family for the holidays, Feng said, “I think this request [to return home] is humble and reasonable.  They [Chinese officials] should not be so nasty as to keep me from going home.”

Feng has spent more than three months in a limbo at Japan’s Narita Airport surviving on food given to him by airport passengers and personnel after the Chinese authorities refused to let him enter China.

Feng’s predicament of camping out at an airport began after he was refused entry into China eight times despite holding a valid Chinese passport, which reflects the Chinese government’s intent to silence public dissent. 

As a human rights activist, Feng was imprisoned for three years back in 2000 and has angered the Chinese authorities with his support for student protests and accusations of government wrongdoings.

According to Amnesty International, Feng was jailed for his political views and for his activism, such as helping victims of forced evictions explore their legal options.

However, one Feng supporter, Zhou Minwen, said, “Feng is great.  He hasn’t done anything wrong but help us fight for justice.”

During his stay at Narita Airport, Feng carried a suitcase draped with a white tank-top that said “difficulty returning home” in Chinese characters.

Feng communicated with the outside world using his cell phone and laptop via blogs and social networking sites like Twitter.

Feng received word that he would be able to return home last month when Chinese officials met with him at Narita Airport. 

Once the New Year’s festivities are over, Feng said that he would seek medical consultation to see how months of living on instant noodles and sleeping at airport benches have taken a toll on his body.

“After all, 92 days of abnormal life would hurt anyone’s health.  But it’s [OK]…I have a good mentality and will be able to overcome all this.  I will return to normal life,” said Feng.

For more information, please see:

AFP – ‘Terminal’ activist returns home to China – 12 February 2010

AP – Chinese who camped in Tokyo’s airport arrives home – 12 February 2010

BBC – Chinese activist allowed home after living in airport – 12 February 2010

Ex-Rwandan Military Officer Gets 15 Years for Genocide

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

ARUSHA, Tanzania – Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for inciting genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Appeals Chamber sentenced the former military officer on Thursday.  Trial Chamber III of the ICTR is made up of Judges Dennis C.M. Byron, Gberdao Gustave Kam, and Vagn Joensen.  They found Muvunyi guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide after he gave a speech in May 1994 at the Gikore trading center.

“This message was very clear to us.  We understood it to mean that all Hutus who had Tutsi spouses should surrender them to be killed if not they all lose their lives,” said a witness.

The ICTR, a UN-backed tribunal trying suspects in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, previously handed down a guilty verdict with a 25-year sentence in 2006.  In 2008, the ICTR Appeals Chamber set aside the convictions and ordered a new trial.

“The chamber unanimously sentences Tharcisse Muvunyi to 15 years imprisonment,” Judge Byron said.  “There is no reasonable doubt that in giving such a speech Muvunyi intended to incite the audience to commit acts of genocide.”

Muvunyi was arrested in February 2000 and will be given credit for the time he has already served.  Until he is transferred to the State to serve the remainder of his sentence, he will be kept in the ICTR’s custody.

According to Muvunyi’s lawyer, William Taylor, he was not “prosecuted but persecuted.”

The ICTR is based in Arusha, Tanzania and has convicted forty-one suspects and acquitted eight.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Ex-Rwandan Officer Gets 15 Years for Inciting Genocide – 11 February 2010

All Africa – ICTR Sentences Col. Muvunyi to 15 Years for Genocide – 12 February 2010

Human Rights Education Associates – Former Rwandan Soldier Sentenced to 15 Years for Genocide – 12 February 2010

Relief Web – Rwanda: Muvunyi Sentenced to 15 Years After Retrial – 11 February 2010

Army Mother Not To Be Court Martialed

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GEORGIA, United States – The United States Army will not seek prosecution of Specialist Alexis Hutchinson for failing to report for duty. Hutchinson, a single mother, could not find a person to watch her son before her deployment to Afghanistan began. Instead of deploying with her unit, she stayed and cared for her son.

Hutchinson entered the Army directly out of high school.  The twenty one year old rose to the position of Specialist within the Army.  She was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan with her unit in November.  As a single mother, Hutchinson made plans for her mother to watch and care for her son before she was deployed to Afghanistan.  The day before she was to leave, Hutchinson’s mother informed her that she would be unable to care for the child.  Hutchinson then informed her commanding officer of the situation.  She was told she had thirty days to arrange for an alternate plan.  However, her brigade’s deployment was pushed up.  Hutchinson was then informed that she had twenty four hours to find somebody to watch her son.  Instead of deploying, Hutchinson stayed behind to care for her son.

Hutchinson was arrested for not deploying with her unit.  She was charged with four court-martial counts: being absent without leave, missing a movement, dereliction of duty, and insubordinate conduct.  If  she was prosecuted and found guilty of the offenses, Hutchinson would have faced two years in prison.  However, her case was settled before heading to trial.  Hutchinson received an other-than-honorable discharge from the Army.  She was also demoted from a Specialist to a Private and will not receive military or veterans benefits.

Currently, there are approximately eighty-five thousand single parents in the United States armed forces.  Ten-thousand single parents were deployed overseas last year.  The Army requires single parents to have a family care plan on file.  The file is to be updated when changes occur.  The plan outlines who will care for the child during long deployments, drills, and annual trainings.

For more information, please see:

NY TIMES–Single Mother Is Spared Court-Martial–11 February 2010

San Francisco Chronicle-Army discharges single mother who won’t deploy-11 February 2010

NPR–Soldier Mom Arrested After Refusing to Deploy–19 November 2009

Migrant Workers Settle Labor Case

By Stephen Kopko

Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas – On Thursday, a petition to certify a settlement in a class action lawsuit against Superior Forestry Company by migrant workers was presented to federal district court.  The proposed settlement of almost three million dollars has the potential to be the largest payout to migrant workers ever.

The migrant workers brought a lawsuit in 2006 with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center and two private law firms in Chicago.  They alleged that they were grossly underpaid by Superior Forestry.  According to the complaint, Superior took advantage of the migrants’ lack of ability to speak English to pay them less than the minimum wage and not pay the workers overtime.  Superior is one of the largest forestry contractors in the United States.  They are able to hire and recruit migrant workers from Mexico and Central American through a guest worker program.

The migrant workers asserted violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Migrant and Seasonal Workers Protection Act.  According to the Department of Labor, the Migrant and Seasonal Worker Protection Act provides employment opportunities for immigrants to do seasonal work in the United States.  Under the Act, the migrant’s employer must “pay workers their wages when they are due.”  Also, if the employer provides housing for migrant workers, the housing must meet federal and state health and safety guidelines.

Superior Forestry denies withholding pay from the migrant workers.  Instead of bringing the case to trial, they settled the case to avoid costly litigation expenses.  Superior stated that they paid the workers on a production basis instead of an hourly rate. The Southern Poverty Law Center stated that the settlement shows Superior’s guilt.  According to the Center, “this settlement sends a powerful message that these workers have rights and that their employers will be held accountable.”  The Center stressed that migrant workers are an exploited group of people who have the right to be compensated fairly for their work.  At the time of the settlement, approximately two thousand two hundred migrant workers participated in the class action suit.  The settlement has to be approved by a federal district court judge in a fairness hearing on March 26.

For more information, please see:

AP–Migrant forest workers get $2.75M wage settlement–12 February 2010

Earth Times-Migrant Tree Planters Find Justice: Forestry Company to Pay Record $2.75 Million Settlement to Foreign Guestworkers Seeking Back Wages–12 February 2010

NY Times–Migrants Win $2.75 Million–12 February 2010

Department of Labor-The Migrant and Seansonal Worker Protection Act