Guatemala Sentences Former Soldier to 6,060 Years in Prison

Guatemala Sentences Former Soldier to 6,060 Years in Prison

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala – As previously reported, Guatemala began trying former dictator General Efrain Rios Montt for genocide and other crimes against humanity.  Other high-ranking soldiers and officials are now facing the same fate.  The 17-month period between 1982 and 1983 claimed the lives of nearly 250,000 people.  Now, nearly 30 years later, the people responsible for these killings are being brought to justice.

Pedro Pimentel Rios at his trial on Monday. (Image courtesy of The Guardian)

According to The Associated Press, Pedro Pimentel Rios is the fifth former special forces soldier to be sentenced for his participation in the “Dos Erres” massacre in 1982.  Rios was sentenced to 6,060 years in prison – 30 years for each of the 201 people slaughtered in the massacre, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity.  All five of the former soldiers were sentenced to 6,060 years or more.

Rios is a 54 year old former instructor at a Guatemalan training school for elite military forces.  He moved from Guatemala to Santa Ana, California where he worked in a sweater factory until finally being detained by immigration authorities in May 2010, according to The Associated Press.  The United States extradited him to Guatemala the following year.

According to CNN, Judge Irma Valdez said Monday that the evidence presented by the prosecution along with testimonies from witnesses proved Pimentel was involved in the killings.

Maria Tulia Lopez Perez is just one of the many survivors of the three-decade long civil war.  She still suffers back pain from the torture she endured in 1985, according to BBC News.  She currently works with other survivors who come to her suffering from depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress; she helps them remember that they are not alone, reports BBC News.

The ruling is highly symbolic, according to The Guardian, because under Guatemalan law, criminals may only serve 50 years.  This ruling comes as Guatemala seeks to clean up atrocities from the civil war.

As for Efrain Rios Montt, his defense lawyers say that he did not control battlefield operations while he was dictator, according to The Guardian.  He faces charges of genocide and he is accused of ordering the killings of at least 1,700 innocent Mayan people during his reign.

Overall, more than 200,000 people were killed or “disappeared” during the 36-year civil war, where there were 669 documented massacres, as reported by CNN.  Other officials will likely face the same consequences as Rios, receiving more than 6,000 years in prison, as Guatemala tries to bring some closure and justice to the victims of the civil war.

For more information, please visit:

Associated Press — Guatemalan gets 6,060-Year Sentence in Massacre — 13 Mar. 2012

BBC News — Healing Guatemala’s Emotional Scars from the Civil War — 13 Mar. 2012

CNN — 6,060 Years in Prison for Former Guatemalan Soldier — 13 Mar. 2012

The Guardian — Guatemalan Ex-Soldier Jailed for 6,060 Years Over Dos Erres Massacre — 13 Mar. 2012

Swedish Parliament Calls On The Swedish Prime Minister To Impose EU-Wide Visa Sanctions On The Magnitsky Killers

Press Release
Originally sent by Hermitage Capital 3/12/12

59 Swedish members of the Parliament from seven of the eight political parties signed a parliamentary petition to Swedish Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt, calling on him to impose EU-wide visa sanctions on Russian officials in the Magnitsky case. The parliamentarians stress it is a matter of international importance given Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe and WTO.

In the parliamentary petition, Swedish MPs said:

“Law and justice in Russia – and lastly justice for Sergei Magnitsky – is a question that concerns the entire circle of member states in the Council of Europe and the WTO, of which Russia is a member. The outcome of this case will establish the country’s standing as a state governed by law.”

Swedish lawmakers urged the Swedish government to work at the EU level “for the purpose of coming to an agreement among the EU’s member states on the subject of sanctions against the offenders.”

The petition was initiated by Mats Johansson, from the ruling Moderates party, along with Olle Thorell, a foreign affairs spokesperson from Social Democrats party, and Kerstin Lundgren,  from the Centre Party.

“As members of the Human Rights Group of the Swedish Parliament we often deal with cases like this. But if Russia wants to be a member of the Council of Europe, it cannot act like any other totalitarian state but must respect the rules of the club. Impunity for the perpetrators in the Magnitsky case is not in line with these rules,” says Mats Johansson, who is also a standing Rapporteur on media freedom of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

The Swedish parliamentary action is a result of the impunity of Russian officials who falsely arrested, tortured and killed 37-year old Sergei Magnitsky. These officials have since opened a posthumous proceeding against him, an unprecedented act in Russian legal history.

The petition to the Swedish Prime Minister pointed out the absurdity of the posthumous prosecution by saying:

“He (Sergey Magnitsky) was murdered in prison because of his defense of the law and justice in the proceeding against officials who had stolen companies owned by the foreign investment company Hermitage. No one responsible has been punished so far. Quite the opposite – the Russian government has recently taken the unusual step of prosecuting Magnitsky posthumously, a practice that hasn’t been followed in 500 years.”

The Swedish initiative follows a number of actions by parliamentarians in Europe.

Coskun Coruz, Human Rights Rapporteur for the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly, said last week that “Russia’s lawlessness in this case is absolutely not fitting into OSCE’s values” and vowed to do everything in his power so that Russian authorities prosecute Magnitsky’s killers.

On October 4, 2011, Parliamentary Assembly delegates from 29 countries of the Council of Europe signed the Magnitsky Declaration (http://assembly.coe.int/Mainf.asp?link=/Documents/WorkingDocs/Doc11/EDOC12744.htm), calling upon the Russian government to cease the posthumous prosecution of Mr Magnitsky and the intimidation of his family and to allow the family to carry out an independent medical evaluation, which Russian authorities continue to refuse.

On 28 February 2012, the European Parliament’s Delegation to EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee urged EU member countries “to start immediately procedures to enact measures such as an EU-wide travel ban and a freeze on the financial assets of those believed to be guilty of the torture and death of Sergei Magnitsky as well as of those covering up the case.”

On 7 March 2012, a motion was unanimously passed in the British House of Commons calling for visa and economic sanctions on Russian officials involved in the original crimes uncovered by Mr Magnitsky and the cover-up since his death.

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org

Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Mats Johansson, MP:
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/AssemblyList/AL_MemberDetails.asp?MemberID=6647

Olle Thorell, MP: http://www.riksdagen.se/sv/Start/Sok/?sok=olle+thorell&rm=&typ=&titel=&bet=&tempbet=&datum=&tom=&nr=&org=&iid=&parti=&katid=&sort=rel&a=

Kerstin Lundgren, MP:
http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/AssemblyList/ALMemberDetails.asp?MemberID=5859

See Swedish Parliamentary Petition on Sergei Magnitsky case
http://russian-untouchables.com/rus/docs/D398.pdf

Hermitage Capital Issues Response To The Russian Ambassador’s Letter To The Speaker Of House Of Commons

Press Release
Originally sent by Hermitage Capital 3/9/12

Following the March 7th debate in the House of Commons which unanimously approved sanctions on the Russian officials in the Magnitsky case, the Russian Ambassador to the UK, Alexander Yakovenko, posted a letter on the official Russian embassy website (http://www.rusemb.org.uk/press/650). In his letter addressed to John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, the Russian Ambassador argued against the sanctions and said that because the officials were not convicted in a Russian court, visa sanctions and asset freezes would be “extrajudicial punishment.”

Today, Hermitage Capital responded to the Ambassador’s letter.

“It is remarkable that the Russian Ambassador is fighting for the travel privileges of corrupt officials who stole $230 million from the Russian state and killed the man who exposed the theft,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

“It is now clear that the cover-up and protection of the 60 officials who killed Sergei Magnitsky has become a national policy. When foreign ambassadors get involved, this is no longer the case of rogue officers acting on their own initiative. It is a clear directive of the Russian state.”

The Ambassador does not mention in his letter that: 58 out of 60 Russian officials involved in the Magnitsky case have been exonerated; the investigation into corruption that Magnitsky uncovered has been closed; Magnitsky’s family has been denied access to his medical records for an independent medical examination, and that the same officers who arrested Magnitsky are now organizing the first ever posthumous trial in Russian history against him.

“The Ambassador argues that only the Russian judicial system can decide the guilt of the officers. The judicial system he is arguing should be relied upon is the same judicial system that refused Sergei Magnitsky’s desperate requests for medical attention, refused his requests for visits with his children and family, and excluded all exculpatory evidence which would have allowed Sergei Magnitsky to be freed before he died,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.

“Visas are a privilege, not a right. They should not be available to the torturers and murderers,” said a Hermitage Capital spokesperson.  

For further information please contact:

Hermitage Capital

Phone:             +44 207 440 17 77
E-mail:             info@lawandorderinrussia.org
Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org

Facebook:        http://on.fb.me/hvIuVI
Twitter:           @KatieFisher__
Livejournal:     http://hermitagecap.livejournal.com/

Russian Law ‘Arbitrarily Denies’ Citizens the Right to Leave the Country

By Alexandra Halsey-Storch
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia–On March 6, 2012 the Khamovnichesky District Court of Moscow heard a lawsuit filed by Ivan Cherkasov, a Hermitage Capital executive based in London, England, against the Russian Interior Ministry. The lawsuit challenges a fairly new law, enacted in April 2010, which allocates power to the Interior Russian Ministry to “arbitrarily deny any person the right to leave the country.”

Ivan Cherkasov files complaint against Russian Foreign Ministry (Photo curtesy of Forbes Magazine)

In September of 2011, Cherkasov, a colleague of the late Sergei Magnitsky, applied for a new passport through the Russian Embassy in London. The Embassy thereafter denied his application in December “on orders from the Russian Interior Ministry,” but refused to provide any further detail. Last week, however, the Embassy stated that Cherkasov’s request for a renewed passport had been denied based on paragraph 3 of Article 15 of the Russian Federal law entitled “On Procedure of Exit and Entry to the Russian Federation.”

The law provides that, “the right of citizens of the Russian Federation to leave the Russian Federation may be temporarily restricted in cases where the citizen is suspected or involved as a defendant, and for as long as the decision is made on the case or the court verdict comes into force.”

Denying Cherkasov’s request for a new passport appears to be yet another glimpse into the corrupt workings of the Russian government and the latest twist in a tax rebate fraud case. In May 2007, the Russian Secret Police and the Russian Interior Ministry began a “fabricated criminal case” against Cherkasov as a means to “gain access to” Hermitage Fund’s documents and files and then to steal $230 million of taxes that Hermitage had paid the year prior. The tax rebate fraud was exposed by an attorney, Sergei Magnitsky, who gave “sworn testimony against the officials involved.” Magnitsky was  then arrested and detained; he died a year later at the hands of abusive Russian authorities. Cherkasov’s case has remained open for the past five years, thus allegedly falling within the bounds of the above-stated law.

As Cherkasov points out, he left Russia six years ago and has, since that time, lived abroad. “By refusing to issue me a passport of a citizen of Russian, the Russian Interior Ministry in fact denies me Russian citizen and denies me the right to emigrate.”

Cherkasov claims that, “with the new law in place, anyone who is being persecuted by the authorities no longer has the freedom to emigrate. The constitutional right of citizens of Russia to freedom of movement is left at the mercy of corrupt law enforcement officers.”  Indeed, restricting one’s ability to emigrate has been method exercised by such totalitarian regimes under both Mussolini between 1922 and 1943 and Hitler from 1933 to 1945.

For more information, please visit:

Impunity Watch—UK Parliament Calls for Sanctions on Russia For Magnitsky Death—9 March 2012

Law and Order in Russia–Magnitsky’s Colleague Challenges Russia’s New Restriction on Emigration—6 March 2012

Impunity Watch—Deceased Russian Whistleblower to be Tried Posthumously—12 Feb. 2012

Jamaican Police Too Eager to Use Lethal Force

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Amnesty International and other human rights groups are questioning the police tactics in use in Jamaica.  Many accuse the Jamaican police of being “trigger happy,” and resorting to unnecessary use of guns.

Police forces not hesitant to engage in gun battles with local criminals. (Image courtesy of Amnesty International)

According to Amnesty International, police have killed forty-five people so far in 2012.  Twenty-one of those killings occurred in a six-day period.  Over the ten-year period between 2000 and 2010, Jamaica reported more than 2,220 fatal shootings by police and only two officers have been convicted over that span.

Most recently, on 5 March, there was a fatal shootout between the police and other gunmen.  According to The Associated Press, six people were killed including a 13-year-old girl named Nicketa and two elderly men who were caught in the crossfire.  Residents of the community blame officers for the killings.

Since the incident, the area has been under curfew and patrolled by security personnel armed with M16s and other machine guns, reports The Associated Press.  Nicketa’s mother and aunts showed reporters bullet holes evidencing the officer’s carelessness in shooting.  The gun battle lasted approximately forty minutes.

Police Commissioner Owen Ellington tried to ease the tension by speaking out and trying to put the officers’ actions in context.  According to Go-Jamaica, he explained, that between 2007 and 2012, criminals using illegal firearms murdered 5,829 people.  Additionally, in that same period, 62 police personnel were killed on duty and another 127 were shot and injured.

The news report indicated that he stands behind the officers and he maintains that the officers only shoot in self-defense.  According to Go-Jamaica, Commissioner Ellington said that he recently reminded cops of the guidelines for using lethal force and non-lethal force in confrontations with criminals.

On 9 March, the officers returned to the same community in search of illegal weapons and criminals.  About 50 persons were detained and many remain in custody.

Amnesty International said, “The problem is that police continue to enter marginalized inner-city communities as if everyone there was a criminal suspect.”  Many human rights groups want more accountability for the police.  “If human rights abuses such as police killings go unpunished, it will only open the door for more abuses to take place,” said Chiara Liguori, a Caribbean researcher at Amnesty International.

Overall, the Jamaican police are caught between using lethal force in self-defense and to prevent criminals from using illegal weapons, and being overzealous, intruding where they should not.  Liguori said, “[T]he Jamaican authorities must take decisive steps to fight impunity.”

For more information, please visit:

Associated Press — Jamaica Outraged by Police Killings — 9 Mar. 2012

Go-Jamaica — Denham Town Detainees Remain in Custody — 9 Mar. 2012

Go-Jamaica — Police Commissioner Speaks Out — 9 Mar. 2012

Amnesty International — Jamaica Must Tackle Shocking Wave of Police Killings — 8 Mar. 2012