Colombia’s New President To Face Questions Regarding Involvement In Civilian Deaths

July 13, 2010

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia – President-elect, former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, may be taking the high office in August, replacing the popular Alvaro Uribe, as the UN vows to investigate Santos’ and Uribe’s involvement in many civilian deaths.

Santos, as defense minister in the Uribe administration from 2006–2009, was in charge of the Colombian military during the height of its alleged “false positives” policy of murdering civilians. Army units allegedly killed civilians to give a false representation of combat fatalities during armed encounters against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

One of Santos’ primary responsibilities included leading Uribe’s mission to rid Colombia of the FARC in an effort to restore peace and security. The mission was a success insofar as it forced FARC out of urban areas and into the jungles, reducing the number of kidnapping and killings in the cities. Colombia praised Uribe for his efforts and many even consider him “the man who saved Colombia.”

However, many families of missing individuals notified human rights organizations with concerns over the reasons for their disappearance and alleged that military gains over FARC were being boosted by what became known as “false positive” killings of innocent civilians.

Investigations following those allegations resulted in the removal of the chief of the Colombian military and 27 other officers. Santos, however, kept his post and maintains that the killings were not ordered by the government but acts committed by individual soldiers.

UN investigators openly challenge Santos’ account and believe that while the Colombian government has taken steps to prevent such killings, over 98% of the deaths remain unpunished.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Killings, Philip Alston, wrote in a report presented to the UN Human Rights Council last month that “[t]here have been too many killings of a similar nature to characterize them as isolated incidents carried out by individual rogue soldiers or units, or bad apples. Soldiers simply knew that they could get away with murder, he added.

Uribe, taking a slightly different approach than Santos has argued that the use of all necessary force to combat FARC was worth it. He claims that the ends justified the means.

Human rights and UN officials are apprehensive about Santos’ ascent to the Presidency. Having been the head of Uribe’s FARC offensive in the past, he is likely to continue on the same course and time will only tell if the unjustified killings continue, and whether those responsible for past killings are brought to justice.

For more information, please see:

Guardian.Co.UK – Juan Manuel Santos Wins Colombia Presidential Election – 21 June 2010

BBC – Challenges Ahead For Colombia’s President-elect Santos – 21 June 2010

Deutsche Welle – Colombia’s New President Faces Awkward Questions – 12 June 2010

East Timor’s parliament rejects Australia’s proposal to build an asylum-seeker center

July 13, 2010

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SYDNEY, Australia – East Timor’s parliament has unanimously passed a resolution to reject Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s proposal to establish an offshore asylum seeker detention centre on the country.

Prior to the passage of the resolution, Ms Julia Gillard has said she hopes to cooperate with other nations in the region to establish a processing center for asylum seekers, with the possibility of setting up one in East Timor.

The Prime Minister has backed away from suggestions the centre would be located in East Timor. As it turns out, she had only discussed the plan in a phone conversation with East Timor’s president, Jose Ramos-Horta.

President Jose Ramos-Horta acknowledged that he had discussed with Ms Gillard the “possibility” of hosting a processing centre. He further stated, however, that the purpose of any centre in Timor would be to process asylum-seekers who were in danger on the high seas and had not found safety in another country. Also, he specified that it should be the UN, not Australia or Timor that should administer any holding facility in East Timor.

The resolution comes after the parliament in Dili last week formally condemned Ms Gillard’s idea as unworkable. East Timor’s Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao last week allowed his own party to join in a unanimous condemnation of the plan in parliament.

Ms Gillard has currently refused to set a date for the rollout of any policy.

For more information, please see:

ABC News, East Timor MPs reject asylum centre proposal, 12 July 2010

The Australian, East Timor’s parliament rejects Gillard plan for regional asylum-seeker centre, 12 July 2010

Sky News, East Timor rejects asylum seeker centre, 12 July 2010

Bangladesh Charges 824: Aftermath Post Blood Bath A Year Ago

July 12, 2010

David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Police in Bangladesh have charged 824 people for the massacre of 74 senior military officers during a mutiny by border guards in February last year. All suspects could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Prosecutors say the border guards rebelled over low wages and poor treatment

Seventy-four people, including 57 senior army officers, were killed during the siege of a military base in Dhaka, the capital, in an uprising that briefly threatened the government of Sheikh Hasina, the prime minister.

Prosecutors announced the charges on Monday and the trials against the mutiny’s ringleaders and participants are expected to take at least one year to complete in Bangladesh’s civil courts.

“We have charged 824 people with murder, conspiracy, aiding and abetting murder, looting military weapons and arson,” Mosharraf Hossain Kazal, the state prosecutor, said.

Rebelling soldiers were allegedly angry about their superiors’ refusal to increase their pay and improve working conditions.

“They mowed their officers down in cold blood, using semi-automatic weapons and rifles they’d looted from the barracks,” Akhand, the police investigator, said of mutineers who took control of BDR headquarters on February 25, 2009.

The violence has spread nationwide and Bangladesh appeared to be on the brink of civil war.

The case will be handled by Bangladesh’s civil courts in what will be the largest trial in the country’s history.

In parallel prosecutions, some 3,500 soldiers who had joined the rebellion are being tried in military courts on lesser charges.

At least 200 guards have already been convicted by the tribunals with jail sentences ranging from four months to seven years.

The mutiny erupted at the BDR headquarters in Dhaka and lasted 33 hours, during which officers were killed and their bodies dumped in sewers and shallow graves.

“A senior officer was taken to the roof of a four-storey building and thrown to the ground. The dead bodies of a few officers were set on fire.”

The mutiny took place just two months after the country returned to civilian rule under Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

She had originally offered an amnesty to some mutineers but this was rescinded when the extent and nature of the bloodshed became clear.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Bangladesh charges 824 people over deadly mutiny – 12 July 2010

Al Jazeera English – More charged over Bangladesh mutiny – 12 July 2010

Radio Netherlands Worldwide – Bangladesh charges 824 for deadly munity murders – 12 July 2010

Thousands Gather to Commemorate the 15th Anniversary of Srebrenica Massacre

July 12, 2010

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Photo: Relatives gathered to mourn the deaths of their husbands and sons, victims of the 1995 Srebrenica Massacre. [Source: AP]

SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina – On Sunday, July 11, more than 50,000 people gathered for a ceremony at the Potocari cemetery near Srebrenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina to commemorate the 15th anniversary of one of the worst atrocities in Europe, when Bosnian Serb paramilitaries executed nearly 8,000 Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) men and boys.

Relatives of the victims, religious leaders, and foreign dignitaries were among those who gathered at the Centre Potocari, the official Srebrenica Massacre Memorial where 3,749 victims are already buried. The 64 minute memorial ceremony included the burial of 775 recently identified victims, who were laid in coffins draped in green cloth and were carried by relatives for at least a mile.

The Srebrenica Massacre Memorial was built in 2003 across the road from the former U.N. military base where about 30,000 Bosniaks gathered in 1995 to seek refuge during the Serbian-Bosnian conflict. On July 11, 1995, a few days after the fall of Srebrenica to Bosnian Serb troops, Bosnian-Serb General Ratko Mladic led forces that overran the UN-protected enclave, and separated out Bosniak men and boys.

The men and boys were taken away, shot, and buried in mass graves during the course of five days. Several months following the massacre, the Serb troops excavated the original mass graves and reburied the victims in over 70 other sites in an attempt to cover up any evidence of war crimes.

The Srebrenica Massacre is the only episode of Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war that has been ruled as genocide by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Court of Justice.

In 2009, the European Parliament declared the massacre “the biggest war crime in Europe since the end of World War II” and “a symbol of the international community’s impotence to intervene and protect civilians.”

July 11 is now marked all across Europe as a day of commemoration in honor of the victims, and all Western Balkan countries, except for Bosnia, have adopted resolutions that condemn the massacre.

Several foreign officials addressed the crowd on Sunday and spoke against the atrocity that occurred 15 years ago. “We have a sacred duty to remember the cruelty that occurred here and to prevent such atrocities from happening again,” stated Charles L. English, U.S. Ambassador to Bosnia, during Sunday’s ceremony. “We have responsibility to future generations all over the globe to agree that we must refuse to be bystanders to evil whenever and wherever it occurs. We must be prepared to stand up for human dignity.”

The U.S. delegation also read a statement from President Obama, in which President Obama calls on all governments to “redouble their efforts” to find and prosecute those responsible for the massacre, particularly key suspect Ratko Mladic.

President Obama stated, “Justice must include a full accounting of the crimes that occurred, full identification and return of all those who were lost, and prosecution and punishment of those who carried out the genocide. This includes Ratko Mladic, who presided over the killings and remains at large.”

On June 16, the family of Ratko Mladic filed a motion in a Serbian court to officially declare Mladic dead. The family asserts that they have not seen him in seven years and that Mladic was seriously ill when he disappeared 15 years ago.

Despite the motion, Serbian authorities say they will continue to search for Mladic, who is not only responsible for the Srebrenica Massacre, but also for the 44 month siege of Sarajevo that left 10,000 people dead. Mladic still remains a fugitive and is believed to be hiding in Serbia.

For more information, please see:

CNN – World Leaders Mark 15th Anniversary of Srebrenica Massacre – 12 July 2010

AFP – Obama Urges Mladic Capture on Srebrenica Anniversary – 11 July 2010

AP – 775 Coffins: Bosnia Marks 1995 Srebrenica Massacre – 11 July 2010

BALKAN INVESTIGATE REPORTING NETWORK – Thousands Converge on Srebrenica to Commemorate Massacre Anniversary – 11 July 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY – Srebrenica Massacre Remembered on 15th Anniversary – 11 July 2010

VOICE OF AMERICA – Thousands Mourn Srebrenica Massacre Victims, Criticize UN – 11 July 2010

VOICE OF AMERICA – Mladic’s Family Asks Serbian Court to Declare Him Dead – 16 June 2010

Fraud Delays Guinea’s First Democratic Run-Off Election

July 12, 2010

by Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

Conakry, Guinea– The next stage of Guinea’s presidential election, originally scheduled to take place July 18th, has been postponed amid allegations and confirmed instances of voter fraud with no new date set. The first round of voting on July 27th, in which 77 percent of registered Guinea voters took part, occurred without violence. However, since the results were announced by Guinea’s Supreme Court, many of the 24 candidates that did not make the run-off have made official complaints of voter fraud. The electoral commission charged with investigating voting irregularities has confirmed “many cases of fraud,” in addition to the claims being made.

Slated to face each other in the run-off election are candidates Cellou Dalein Diallo, who garnered 40 percent of the first round vote, and opposition leader Alpha Conde, who came in second with 21 percent. Guinea’s election rules state that a second round is needed if no candidate wins at least 50 percent of the vote. With the delay, observers are afraid the election may not take place before August 1st, which falls in the middle of the rainy season. Due to the rains effect on the roads in Guinea, the logistics of a second round of voting at this time could create difficulty for voting and vote collecting.

This last Wednesday, US President Barack Obama offered praise for Guinea’s peaceful first round of elections. In his statement, Obama spoke about the upcoming election saying, “They can continue to count on the support of the United States as they move forward.”

For more information, please see:

The Seattle Times–Guinea Presidential Runoff Delayed–9 July, 2010

AFP–Guinea Presidential Run-Off Election Postponed–9 July, 2010

BBC–Guinea’s Presidential Run-Off Delayed Over Fraud Claims–9 July, 2010