Bosnian Leader Arrested for War Crimes in London

Bosnian Leader Arrested for War Crimes in London

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – A Bosnian Muslim and former member of the wartime presidency in Bosnia during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War was taken into custody at Heathrow Airport in London on March 1.

British police arrested Ejup Ganic after an extradition request was lodged by Serbia. That extradition warrant for Mr. Ganic, and eighteen others, was issued to Interpol in November. Serbia opened the case at the behest of Bosnian Serb wartime detainees, upset at the perceived inefficiency of Bosnia’s investigation.

The warrant indicts Mr. Ganic and eighteen other officials for war crimes related to the murder of forty soldiers in violation of the Geneva Convention. These alleged crimes relate to an attack in Sarajevo by Yugoslav forces in 1992, known as the Dobrovoljacka Street attack.

In particular, Serbia claims that the forty soldiers were killed, after Bosnia declared independence from Yugoslavia, when the soldiers were in the process of withdrawing from the country. The soldiers were all part of the Yugoslave People’s Army (JNA).

Mr. Ganic was the president of the Muslim-Croat Federation in Bosnia for two terms, including one during the Bosnian War. Serbia wants to question Mr. Ganic and determine any particular role he had in ordering or organizing the killings.

Serbia has forty-five days to provide documentation to the British courts to support its request for Mr. Ganic’s extradition. Serbian Justice Minister, Snezana Malovic, indicated that the Justice Ministry “is working hard to prepare necessary documents” and will have an extradition request prepared by week’s end.

At the same time, Bosnia is also claiming the right to have Mr. Ganic extradited to Bosnia for investigation and prosecution. Bosnia bases this claim on an extradition treaty it has with Serbia that says suspects wanted by both states will be tried in the country of residence.

A  Bosnian prosecutor insists that Bosnia “considers that dealing with war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina by Bosnian citizens is under its exclusive authority.”

In the meantime, Mr. Ganic is next scheduled to appear in front of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court in Britain on March 29.

For more information, please see:

REUTERS – Bosnia, Serbia seek war leader’s extradition from UK – 2 March 2010

BBC – Former Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic arrested at Heathrow – 1 March 2010

GUARDIAN – Former Bosnian president Ejup Ganic arrested at Heathrow – 1 March 2010

Typhoid Outbreak Worsens in Fiji

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – An outbreak of typhoid in Fiji has caused the Ministry of Health and Fiji’s Red Cross to take action.

To date, the Ministry has identified ninety-nine cases, mostly from Fiji’s Central and Western Divisions.  More tests are currently being conducted to confirm whether certain suspected individuals may have contracted the disease.

Potential cases usually take between three and four days to be confirmed.  In the meanwhile, the Ministry of Health is continuing its investigations in those communities that have been subjected to typhoid.

The Ministry is attempting to prevent the spread of typhoid across Fiji, although most regions have already been affected to some degree.  Iliesa Tora, a representative of the Ministry, stated that Fijians must practice good hygiene in order to prevent further spreading.

In addition, they will be giving fresh water to those areas that have been affected.  Fifty volunteers with Fiji’s Red Cross will also be providing support and spreading awareness of the disease to the public.

Mr. Tora has indicated that most of the cases that have been identified thus far have come from rural areas.  In these areas, where the water is mostly untreated or not treated on a consistent basis, people are exposed to the water as they tend to do their activities there.

Fiji issued a typhoid alert just last week, and the number of cases has dramatically increased.  This past weekend alone, thirty cases of typhoid may have been identified in Waibasaga Village in Naitasiri.  Officials suspect that these individuals, who had diarrhea, had contracted it.  Diarrhea is one of the symptoms of typhoid.

Typhoid is caused by the contamination of food and water supplies.

Despite warnings issued by the Ministry of Health, one village continued to hold large public gatherings.  As a result, Fijian troops were put in place to control the outbreak.

For more information please see:
Fiji Times – Typhoid stays at 99 – 02 March 2010

Top News – Fiji Typhoid Outbreak Worsen, Red Cross Volunteers Offer Services – 02 March 2010

Fiji Times – Red Cross moots change – 01 March 2010

Fiji Times – Visit reveals challenges – 01 March 2010

Radio New Zealand International – Typhoid cases in Fiji increase – 28 February 2010

Australia Network News – Village fails to heed Fiji typhoid outbreak – 23 February 2010

IAEA Chief Accuses Iran of Failing to Cooperate

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

VIENNA, Austria – On March 1 the new chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations’s atomic watchdog, accused Iran of failing to cooperate with the the UN’s investigation into their nuclear activity. Yukiya Amano explained the Islamic Republic’s lack of cooperation during the opening address of an IAEA board of governors meeting. The comments come a day after Iran’s Supreme Leader attacked the agency’s independence.Amano told the board of governors that the IAEA “continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran, but (they) cannot confirm that all nuclear activities because Iran has not provided the agency with the necessary cooperation.” The IAEA chief explained that “necessary cooperation” includes implementation of the resolutions that the IAEA’s board of governors and the UN Security Council have put forth.

Additionally, the Amano’s comments also meant that the IAEA expects to be able to conduct snap inspections and have Iran notify the agency of any plans to build nuclear plants in advance. The IAEA also expects “clarification of issues related to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program.  Amano has expressed concern that the Islamic Republic maybe working on a nuclear warhead and confirmed that the county has started enriching uranium to higher levels.

Amano’s criticism of Iran comes a day after the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, accused the IAEA of being influenced by the United States and lacking independence. Khamenei told Iranian diplomats that “the IAEA should not bow to pressure from America and some other countries because such unilateral actions will harm the reputation of the IAEA and the United Nations.”

Iran’s Foreign Minister rejected the IAEA chief’s claims about the country’s nuclear program. Manouchehr Mottak told journalists that the country has “full co-operated with the agency.” Mottak also insisted that the “this co-operation will continue.” The increased pressure from the IAEA suggests possible new sanctions against Iran. Diplomats suggest that Iran’s refusal to sign up to a nuclear deal has frustrated other countries in the UN.

For more information, please see:

AFP – IAEA Chief Accuses Iran of Non-Cooperation – 1 March 2010

BBC – Iran ‘Not Co-Operating’ Says New IAEA Chief – 1 March 2010

Los Angeles Times – Iran Relations With IAEA Turn Contentions – 1 March 2010

Wall Street Journal – New Momentum for Iran Sanctions – 1 March 2010

Chinese Victim of Police Torture Dies

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ZHENGZHOU, China – After a man died suddenly while being questioned in Henan Province, a Chinese police chief was ordered to resign and a deputy chief was fired after allocations that they were responsible for his death while in custody.

According to state media, Wang Yanhui died while being detained by officials over alleged theft. The death occurred three days after Wang’s arrest while police were conducting an interrogation. Wang’s family came to identify his body, and they reacted immediately upon finding that his body was appeared battered showing signs of injury.  Their concern led to suspicion of abuse, which  fuelled public anger, as there had been a series of reports of torture and deaths of people in police detention.

Wang’s family released several photographs of him showing that Wang’s back and arms were covered with large bruises and scars. A hole was found in his head. His nipples were cut off and his genitals showed notable traces of injury.

In responding to the incident, authorities have confined four police officers involved in the interrogation, according to the local police bureau.

Qin Yuhai, director-general of the Henan public security department, told the Beijing News that the department would, “thoroughly investigate the problems in law enforcement and severely punish the violators.”

Even before Wang’s death, the government had already launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on illegal activities in prisons and detention centers. For instance, last April, China launched a campaign to “eliminate unnatural deaths” among detainees and prison inmates. Presently, these efforts are being stepped-up. According to Beijing News, there will be various penalties which are already in place, any they will actually implemented and imposed on violators. Other changes are also being considered.  

Early last week, the Ministry of Public Security issued new guidelines to regulate the operation of detention centers. The revised rules require strict supervision of law enforcement officers and call for greater protection of detainees’ legal rights.
 

For more information, please see:

Shanghai Daily – China police ordered to resign – 1 March 2010

Global Times – Another suspect suddenly dies in custody – 1 March 2010

China Daily – Police chief ordered to resign after inmate death – 1 March 2010

BBC News – China police ordered to resign over detainee ‘torture’ – 1 March 2010

Karadzic Calls Serb Cause During the Bosnian War “Just and Holy”

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic stated during his trial today that the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was “just and holy.” The statement was made as Karadzic began his defense today at his genocide trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.  He said:

“I will defend that nation of ours and their cause is just and holy…I stand here before you not to defend the mere mortal that I am, but to defend the greatness of a small nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which for 500 years has had to suffer.” 

Karadzic, age sixty-four, led the Bosnian Serbs during the war in the 1990’s.  During his statement today he said that a core group of Muslims in Bosnia – then and now – wanted 100 percent power, at the expense of the Christian majority. He also said that the Serbs acted in self-defense after their peace plans were rejected. He accused former Croat leader Franjo Tudjman and former Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbecović of pursuing “ethnocentric” objectives, and stated that the two, respectively, desired to create Croatian and Muslim states.

He denied charges that the Serbs ran concentration camps where non-Serbs were tortured and killed, referring to them as “collection centers” for refugees. He said: “It was a transit point for persons who had nowhere to go because of the fighting going on around them.”

 The former Bosnian Serb leader is accused of masterminding the worst act of genocide since World War II.  In 1995 at Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave and U.N. safe zone, roughly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred during the course of a week. Karadzic is also accused of leading the bloody forty-four month siege of Sarajevo.

Prosecutors have charged Karadzic with orchestrating the campaign in order to destroy the Muslim and Croat communities in eastern Bosnia in order to create an ethnically pure Serb state. Karadzic insists that that he is innocent of all eleven charges he faces, which include charges of genocide and war crimes. However, he has failed to enter a formal ‘not-guilty’ plea with the court.

For more information, please see:

Balkan Insight – Karadzic: Defence in the Name of the Serbian Nation – 1 March 2010

BBC – Karadzic calls Serb cause ‘holy’ – 1 March 2010

Eurasia Review – Bosnians React to Karadzic Opening Statements – 1 March 2010

The Guardian – Karadzic defends ‘just and holy Bosnian war – 1 March 2010