Argentina Takes Steps Forward, 18 Years Later Ex-President Menem to Stand Trial for Cover-Up in AMIA Bombing

Argentina Takes Steps Forward, 18 Years Later Ex-President Menem to Stand Trial for Cover-Up in AMIA Bombing

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – A former Argentinian President will finally stand trial for the corruption scandals he was tied to during his terms in office.  Carlos Menem was directed to stand trial last week, by federal judge Ariel Lijo, for his involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Mutual Association (AMIA) building.

Carlos Menem to stand trial for tampering with evidence in worst terrorist attack ever to take place in Argentina. (Photo Courtesy of J Space)

The 1994 bombing completely wiped out the seven-story building.  There were 85 deaths, and more than 300 people injured, when a truck loaded with explosives drove straight into the structure.  Argentina, has the largest community of Jewish citizens in the Americas, outside the United States.

At the time, Argentinian prosecutors said the attack was planned and paid for by Iran who hired the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah to carry it out.  Iran has adamantly denied any involvement.  Following the bombing relations between Iran and Argentina were completely frozen.  Argentina sought for years to extradite eight Iranian officials who allegedly masterminded the bombing.  No conviction, or even trial has ever been held regarding the attack.

In 2009 Menem was first accused of concealing and tampering with evidence that indicated the attack at AMIA had a Syrian connection.  Menem is the child of two Syrian immigrants.  A close family friend who died in 2010, Alberto Kanoore Edul, a Syrian-Argentine businessman, is alleged to have been involved.  It is believed that Menem ordered his staff to destroy evidence that linked Edul to the attack.

Judge Lijo has also issued that former judge Jose Galeano, who was in charge of the investigation, stand trial.  Menem is accused of pressuring Galeano to abandon further inquiries into Edul’s involvement.  Other officials also called to stand trial were: the former head of state intelligence, Hugo Anzorreguy; his deputy Juan Carlos Anchezar; former police chief Jorge Palacios; and a former federal police agent.

The Israel UN envoy in the US praised this “re-energizing” action and gave Argentina credit for rechecking the facts and trying to clear up and close the case.  In the past 18 years almost nothing has been done to investigate the attack.

Menem served two-terms as President of Argentina.  He was a member of the Peronist party and in the beginning he was very popular with the public.  However, his popularity decreased as his personal scandals and tough free-market policies alienated him from the public.  Corruption scandals emerged towards the end of his second-term, including charges of smuggling arms to Ecuador and Croatia in the 1990s.  He was recently cleared of these charges.

 

For more information, please see;

Buenos Aires Herald – AMIA Inquiry: Judge Announces Menem, Galeano to Stand Trial – 7 April 2012

J Space – Ex-Argentinian President to Stand Trial for AMIA Attack – 2 April 2012

Merco Press – Former President to Stand Trial in Relation to Argentina’s Deadliest Terrorist Attack – 1 April 2012

European Jewish Press – AMIA Bombing: Argentina’s Carlos Menem to be Tried for Obstruction – 31 March 2012

BBC – Argentina’s Carlos Menem Faces Bombing Trial – 30 March 2012

Amnesty International Slams Russian Government’s Posthumous Prosecution Of Sergei Magnitsky

Hermitage Capital Press Release
Originally Sent April 6, 2012

On the eve of April 8th, which would have been the 40thbirthday of the late Russian whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky, Amnesty International has publicly called on the Russian Government to stop his posthumous prosecution, and to bring his oppressors and those pressuring his family to justice.

“On 8 April 2012, lawyer Sergei Magnitsky would have turned forty. He died over two years ago, after months of ill-treatment and having suffered multiple human rights violations. For many in Russia and beyond, his death in custody in November 2009 has come to symbolize the injustices associated with Russia’s malfunctioning criminal justice system and widespread corruption,” said Amnesty International in its public statement. (http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/015/2012/en/6f21ef79-67fe-4014-a084-0f3e8fe8e95f/eur460152012en.pdf).

Amnesty International stressed in its statement that the Russian justice system has consistently failed to protect Sergei Magnitsky and his family from gross rights abuses.

“The [Russian] justice system has not only failed to uphold and protect his rights, but it has also been abused since to continue to violate his, and now his family’s rights in the form of his posthumous criminal prosecution, and by trying to force his close relatives to take part in this process,” said Amnesty International.

Amnesty International described the posthumous prosecution of a dead lawyer as a violation of international and national laws, and demanded that the Russian government stop the posthumous prosecution and stop pressuring his family.

“Amnesty International is calling on the Russian authorities to take immediate steps to rectify these injustices and stop the posthumous criminal prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky, and bring all those responsible for his death to justice,” said Amnesty International in its statement.

Amnesty International went on to say:

“Sergei Magnitsky’s relatives…and Russian and international human rights law regard him as innocent in virtue of the principle of the presumption of innocence, and no court decision is needed to confirm this…The posthumous criminal prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky must stop, and the pressure on his family in connection with their objections to this must cease.”

The Magnitsky family has been unable to stop his posthumous prosecution through the Russian legal system in spite of over 25 petitions filed with the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office, the Russian Interior Ministry and the Moscow courts protesting the illegality of the prosecution. All  petitions have been denied by the authorities. Earlier this week, on 3 April 2012, Judge Yulia Bobrova of the Ostankinsky District Court of Moscow approved the decision of the prosecutors to open a case against Sergei Magnitsky after his death in spite of the fact that he can’t defend himself. Judge Bobrova also sided with prosecutors allowing them to continue to treat Magnitsky’s mother and widow as defendants in this case.

The Russian court system has denied Sergei Magnitsky and his family any measure of justice. Last year, 14 Russian judges, including the chair of the Moscow City Court, Olga Egorova, refused all petitions from the Magnitsky family seeking access to his case file and to his tissue samples for an independent medical examination. When Sergei Magnitsky was still alive, 11 Russian judges rejected his 40 petitions about his unlawful arrest and repression by the officers he had accused of $230 million corruption.

In spite of the findings of gross human rights violations by the Russian President’s Human Rights Council, the Russian Interior Ministry and General Prosecutor’s Office “established no wrong-doing” in the actions of law enforcement officials who arrested and tortured Sergei Magnitsky to death in custody.

Amnesty International is now demanding that the allegations of the arbitrary criminal prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky made by the human rights activists are investigated “immediately, effectively and impartially”, and that “all those found responsible brought to justice”.

So far all Russian investigations in this case remain under control of Viktor Grin, Deputy General Prosecutor of Russia and Number 33 on the U.S. Helsinki Commission list of Russian officials involved in the torture and murder of Sergei Magnitsky and the corruption he had uncovered. Viktor Grin ordered the posthumous prosecution of Sergei Magnitsky on 30 July 2011, which was three days after he and other Russian officials were banned by US State Department for their role in the Magnitsky case, and was seen as an act of personal retaliation.

The case is also controlled by first deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s Investigative Department Tatiana Gerasimova, who was named by the U.S. Senators last November for her role in the Magnitsky case in a petition to the U.S. State Department seeking to ban her U.S. visa.

“In pursuing the posthumous case against Sergei Magnitsky, Russian authorities have rejected the conclusions from the Russian President’s Human Rights Council. It is clear that no justice is possible and no investigation can be impartial and independent as long as it remains controlled by the same officials and bodies who committed crimes against him. To recognise that Magnitsky was right for them, means to recognise that they themselves had been wrong and committed grave crimes,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

 

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/

Statement on Sergei Magnitsky on Amnesty International’s website:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/EUR46/015/2012/en/6f21ef79-67fe-4014-a084-0f3e8fe8e95f/eur460152012en.pdf

ICC Denies Palestine’s Request Until UN Status Changes

By Carolyn Abdenour
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

GAZA CITY, Israel – On Tuesday, 3 April, the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) denied the Palestinian Authority’s request for the ICC to have jurisdiction within the Palestinian territories.  The Palestinian Authority wanted The Hague’s war crimes tribunal to investigate the 2008-2009 Gaza War where 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis lost their lives.

Gazans run from an Israel air strike on 17 January 2009. (Photo Courtesy of Haaretz)

The Israeli foreign ministry commented that the country applauded the ICC’s decision although Israel is not a member of the ICC.

The Palestinian Authority declared the ICC has unilateral jurisdiction for “act committed on the territory of Palestine since 1 July 2002” in January 2009.  After reviewing the Rome Statue, the ICC’s founding treaty, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced the ICC did not have jurisdiction within Palestine.  Article 12 of the Rome Statue specifies only a “state” can extend the ICC’s jurisdiction to its state.

The Palestinian Authority could sign the 1998 Rome Statue after Palestine qualifies as a “state” by the “relevant bodies” by ICC member countries or at the UN.  The Palestine Liberation Organization (“PLO”) presently holds an “observer” status rather than a “non-member observer state” status at the UN although over 130 governments recognize Palestine as a state.

Amnesty International warned that this decision could deny justice to the victims of alleged crimes from Palestine and Israel that occurred during the Gaza war.

Marek Marczynski, head of the International Justice campaign, said, “This dangerous decision opens the ICC to accusations of political bias and is inconsistent with the independence of the ICC.  It also breaches the Rome Statue which clearly states that such matters should be considered by the institution’s judges.”

On Wednesday, 4 April, Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo clarified that Palestine could sign the Rome Statue if it received the UN status of non-member observer state.  The UN Security Council has not voted on the membership application Palestine submitted on 23 September 2011.  The United States asserted it would veto the application.  However, the General Assembly would likely approve an application for non-member observer state status if it submits one.

If Palestine receives this new status, Israel could avoid ICC intervention on this matter because Israeli courts have the capacity to try troops for the alleged crimes from the Gaza war.  However, the ICC could later investigate possible violations that occur within the settlements, where the Israeli courts would have less credible means to handle the matter.

Human Right Watch’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth stated, “Today’s decision appears to close the door for now on access to the ICC for victims of international crimes committed in the Palestinian Territories – at least until the General Assembly recognizes Palestinian statehood.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – ICC Prosecutor Rejects Palestinian Recognition – 4 Apr 2012

The Times of Israel – Israel Won The Battle At The ICC, But Not The War – 4 Apr 2012

Washington Post – AP Interview: Prosecutor Says Palestinians Could Join ICC As A UN Non-Member Observer State – 4 Apr 2012

The Chicago Tribune – Hague Court Rejects Palestinian Call To Take On Cases – 3 Apr 2012