Bosnian Serb General Trial Begins in The Hague

Bosnian Serb General Trial Begins in The Hague

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The trial of a former Bosnian Serb General begins today, February 26, at the United Nation’s Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.

Bosnian Serb General Zdravko Tolimir, who served as the assistant commander for intelligence and security of the Bosnian Serb Army, is alleged to have committed crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes. These charges stem from Mr. Tolimir’s role in the infamous 1995 Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian War.

Specifically, according to the indictment, Mr. Tolimir orchestrated multiple mass murders between July and November 1995. During the Srebrenica massacre, Mr. Tolimir allegedly supervised a military unit that “summarily executed more than 1,700 Muslim men and boys at the Branjevo Military Farm and the Pilica Cultural Center.”

Mr. Tolimir is one of the highest ranking war crimes suspects to be brought to trial to date. At the time of his arrest in May 2007, he was the third-most-wanted Bosnian war crimes perpetrator at large.

Mr. Tolimir, who is representing himself pro se, stood trial today in front of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ITCY). Prosecutor Nelson Thayer told ITCY judges in opening statements that Mr. Tolimir “[chose] to forsake his duty to abide by the rules of war in pursuit of a mono-ethnic Serb state”.

As a pro se litigant, Mr. Tolimir will be held to the standards of a professional lawyer, after Judge Christoph Flugge warned him during a pretrial conference in February. At the same time, Mr. Tolimir may not be able to call witnesses in his own defense however.

The ITCY has indicted 161 persons for war crimes coming from the former Yugoslavia during the Bosnian War. Mr. Tomlimir’s trial is one of 40 that are still being heard, while 121 have been completed. The ITCY will end its activities in 2014.

As a pro se litigant, Mr. Tolimir will be held to the standards of a professional lawyer, after Judge Christoph Flugge warned him during a pretrial conference in February. At the same time, Mr. Tolimir may not be able to call witnesses in his own defense however.

For more information, please see:

EXPATICA – Bosnian Serb general goes on trial for genocide – 26 February 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Former Bosnian Serb General Goes On Trial – 26 February 2010

UPI – Trial starts for ex-Bosnian Serb general – 26 February 2010

WASHINGTON POST – Genocide case opens against Bosnian Serb general – 26 February 2010

Asian Countries Not Doing Enough to Help North Korean Defectors

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – A report released by South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission detailed the plight of female North Korean refugees.  The report was compiled based on interviews and surveys of 274 defectors.

The report specifically discussed how female North Korean defectors suffer sexual violence and are trafficked to China or other countries. 

According to the study, many are abused in refugee camps in China, and about 20% of the female refugees bribed North Korean border guards with money or sex to cross the North Korea-China border.

One defector who lives in hiding in China said, “We were slaves, or worse than that, treated like animals.” 

Others described their lives in Southeast Asia where they lived under horrid conditions in detentions camps, for example, not being able to use the toilets after dark or “buying” a space where they can sit.

South Korea is also being criticized for its handling of North Korean defectors.  The chief criticism is that the South Korea’s policy on defectors is too fragmentary and does not provide substantive aid.

Although vocational training is offered, the programs center on low-paying work, such as cooking and nursing, despite the fact that many of the defectors have received higher education in North Korea. 

The South Korean government also has one-size-fits-all training programs which disregard personal difference of refugees. 

In addition, female defectors also suffer abuse from their South Korean husbands.  This is a matter that needs to be resolved as soon as possible considering that these women already suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder because of the horrible experiences they endured in order to escape, living with constant fear of repatriation or because of a sense of guilt they feel towards family they left behind in North Korea.

More than 16,000 North Koreans have crossed into South Korea since the end of the Korean War in 1953.  The annual number of defectors is on the rise, and the South Korean Unification Ministry expects the number to top 20,000 in 2010.

Park, Sun-seong, the professor responsible for this study, said, “By revealing the scars left to the North Korean women who fled their country, we hope to shed light on their human rights issues….”
For more information, please see:

AFP – N.Korea women refugees suffer abuse: watchdog – 22 February 2010

The Korean Times – Female Defectors’ Plights – 23 February 2010

Yonhap News – Human rights abuses on NK defector women abound: report – 22 February 2010

Sunni Party Backs Off Threat to Boycott Iraq Election

By: Bobby Rajabi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On February 26 the National Dialogue Front, a prominent Sunni political party backed off previous threats to boycott Iraq’s coming parliamentary elections. The action took place after threats from rival parties to threaten to have the leader of the party charged with terrorism. Additionally, in a surprising move, twenty thousand former soldiers of Saddam Hussein were reinstated by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Saleh al-Mutlak, the party’s leader, claims that will no longer boycott the March 7 election because of the popular support received from their members. He said that “if Iraqiya (the coalition that the National Dialogue Front is a part of) doesn’t succeed, the whole of Iraq will be in chaos.” Mutlak explained that “(the party leadership) don’t want to be seen as the reason behind that chaos.”

Mutlak was the most prominent of hundreds of Sunni and secular candidates who were banned from running in the parliamentary elections. The individuals were banned for allegedly having ties to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s Baath Party. This determination was made by a commission composed of Shi’ites who are also participating in the election.

The executive director the commission, named the Justice and Accountability Commission, said that Mutlak will face criminal charges for funding and backing an armed group of former members of the Baath Party. Ali Falial al-Lami explained that the commission was in possession of confessions and they “were documented and endorsed  by members of the Iraqi judiciary, and the suspects who gave the confessions are still in custody”

Mutlak and other members of the National Dialogue Front have long accused the al-Maliki government of harassing and unfairly targeting the party. He claims that some of his bodyguards were arrested and tortured until they made false confessions regarding the party leader.

The Iraqi Prime Minister has also come under fire his decision to reinstate twenty thousand former army officers who served under Saddam Hussein. Mayson al-Damalogi, a spokesman for Iraqiya, explained the coalition’s skepticism. He said that “this is purely a means of trying to gain more votes.” The decision to reinstate the officers was confirmed by Ministry of Defense spokesman Mohammed al-Askari.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post – Sectarian Tensions Rise Before Iraq Elections – 26 February 2010

New York Times – Iraq to Rehire 20,000 Hussein-Era Army Officers – 25 February 2010

Reuters – Prominent Iraqi Sunni Ends Party’s Poll Boycott – 25 February 2010

Voice of America – Key Iraqi Sunni Politician Decides Not to Boycott – 25 February 2010

Rohingya Muslims Face Further Persecution

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COX’S BAZAAR, Bangladesh – The Rohingya ethnic minority, for unexplained reasons, has been enduring a significant crackdown in Bangladesh as of recent.  The Rohingya ethnic minority comprises one of the most persecuted peoples on the planet.

Human rights violations against the ethnic group began attracting international attention in the late 70’s.  In 1978, great friction between the Rohingya ethnic minority and the majority group in erupted into a Myanmar government military operation.  As a result of the government’s persistent deprivation of the Rohingyas’ human rights, the ethnic minority abruptly began fleeing the country into Bangladesh.  In the late 80’s, subsequent to the mass exodus out of Myanmar, newly established laws of citizenship officially rendered the Rohingya Muslims stateless.  The laws stripped the Rohingya’s right to a nationality.

The latest waves of discrimination against the Rohingya Muslims expose them to much violence and prejudice.  Both local residents and agents of the state have been driving the stateless Rohingyas out of their homes in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh.  Among the approximately 220,000 Rohingyas currently residing in Bangladesh, those living outside of makeshift refugee camps may be subject to beatings and arrest.  Myanmar’s border security has also been reported to mistreat escapees headed to Bangladesh.

The current rise in actions depriving the rights of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar represents a reprise from many similar situations in the 90’s.  The U.N. intervened when the Myanmar government staunchly enforced citizenship laws which denied Rohingya Muslims their nationality, the right to travel, the right to marry, and other civil and political rights.

Despite efforts by various human rights groups, in all of Bangladesh, only 28,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority are currently residing in makeshift refugee camps.  These 28,000 are a part of a much larger body of about 220,000 unregistered Rohingya Muslims.  The fraction makes fightfully clear just how unwanted the Rohingya minority is in Myanmar.

700,000 Rohingya ethnic minorities currently reside in Bangladesh.  The Rohingya Muslims have significant linguistic, cultural, and religious discrepancies with the Buddhist majority of Myanmar.  None of the 700,000 Rohingyas are recognized as individuals under Myanmar’s law, and are subject to Myanmar’s systematic oppression.  While the repression of the Rohingyas continues to attract the criticism of the international community and human rights groups, their ultimate fate remains uncertain.

The Rohingya ethnic minority, for unexplained reasons, has been enduring a significant crackdown in Bangladesh as of recent.  The Rohingya ethnic minority comprises one of the most persecuted peoples on the planet.
Human rights violations against the ethnic group began attracting international attention in the late 70’s.  In 1978, great friction between the Rohingya ethnic minority and the majority group in erupted into a Myanmar government military operation.  As a result of the government’s persistent deprivation of the Rohingyas’ human rights, the ethnic minority abruptly began fleeing the country into Bangladesh.  In the late 80’s, subsequent to the mass exodus out of Myanmar, newly established laws of citizenship officially rendered the Rohingya Muslims stateless.  The laws stripped the Rohingya’s right to a nationality.
The latest waves of discrimination against the Rohingya Muslims expose them to much violence and prejudice.  Both local residents and agents of the state have been driving the stateless Rohingyas out of their homes in the Cox’s Bazaar region of Bangladesh.  Among the approximately 220,000 Rohingyas currently residing in Bangladesh, those living outside of makeshift refugee camps may be subject to beatings and arrest.  Myanmar’s border security has also been reported to mistreat escapees headed to Bangladesh.
The current rise in actions depriving the rights of the Rohingya ethnic minority in Myanmar represents a reprise from many similar situations in the 90’s.  The U.N. intervened when the Myanmar government staunchly enforced citizenship laws which denied Rohingya Muslims their nationality, the right to travel, the right to marry, and other civil and political rights.
Despite efforts by various human rights groups, in all of Bangladesh, only 28,000 members of the Rohingya Muslim minority are currently residing in makeshift refugee camps.  These 28,000 are a part of a much larger body of about 220,000 unregistered Rohingya Muslims.  The fraction makes fightfully clear just how unwanted the Rohingya minority is in Myanmar.
700,000 Rohingya ethnic minorities currently reside in Bangladesh.  The Rohingya Muslims have significant linguistic, cultural, and religious discrepancies with the Buddhist majority of Myanmar.  None of the 700,000 Rohingyas are recognized as individuals under Myanmar’s law, and are subject to Myanmar’s systematic oppression.  While the repression of the Rohingyas continues to attract the criticism of the international community and human rights groups, their ultimate fate remains uncertain.


Russian Neo-Nazi Members Sentenced For Ethnic Attacks

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Nine neo-Nazi gang members were sentenced yesterday by a Moscow city court for their role in a string of ethnicity-motivated killings.

The teen-aged defendants, sentenced to twenty-three years in prison for their role in five murders and one attempted murder, belong to an organization called ‘The White Wolves’.  The White Wolves were formed two years ago for the purpose of targeting non-ethnic Russians.  They have gained notoriety for publishing videos of their attacks on the internet.  According to Russian law enforcement authorities, the leader of the White Stripes is an eighteen year old Georgian named Alexi Dzhavakhashvili.

This organization is just one of a number of groups that have interwoven ultra-nationalist and racist ideologies and turned their focus to foreign ethnic groups within Russia.  Evidence presented at their trial demonstrated that they were responsible for eleven murders.  Their primary targets were migrant workers of central Asian ethnicity, as well as foreign students from various African and Asian countries.

The attacks appear to be ideologically motivated to serve the group’s political objectives of forcing non-ethnic Russians out of the country.  In one assault, a immigrant from Kazakhstan was stabbed seventy-three times.  The assault was filmed, with one attacker shouting “Russia for the Russians”.

According to the Russian human rights group SOVA, approximately 60 people were killed and 300 injured in ethnicity-motivated attacks this past year.  Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has seen an steady increase in membership and interest in neo-Nazi and nationalist groups.  The tactics of these nationalist groups include the targeted killings of human rights activists, bombings and arson.

The twenty-three year sentences handed down by the Moscow court were the maximum allowable prison terms for juvenile offenders.

For more information, please see:

AP – 9 Russian neo-Nazis Get Up to 23 Years in Prison – 25 February 2010

BBC – Neo-Nazi skinheads jailed in Russia for racist killings – 25 February 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Russia Court Jails Nine For Ethnic Murder – 25 February 2010

REUTERS – Russian court jails 9 for ethnic murders – 25 February 2010

RIANOVOSTA – Russian White Wolves skinheads jailed for race-hate murders – 25 February 2010