General Bachelet’s Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture

General Bachelet’s Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile—On June 21, 2012, investigations confirmed that General Alberto Bachelet’s fatal heart-attack was induced by torture while he was held in captivity.

General Bachelet's Cause of Death Confirmed as Aggravated by Torture. (Photo Courtesy of Merco Press)

In 1973, Bachelet was charged with treason after showing support for the socialist President Salvador Allende in opposition to the military coup led by the late Augusto Pinochet. Bachelet died in captivity. Investigations as to the cause of his death were reopened by the Santiago Court of Appeals last year in 2011, along with another 700 cases of human rights violations under Pinochet’s regime and dictatorship.

Bachelet joined the Chilean army in 1940. He served as Brigaidier General in the Chilean Air Force and also served as a Secretary for President Allende’s government. Bachelet strongly opposed Pinochet’s military coup in 1973. Because of this, he was held captive at the Air Force’s War Academy along with many of his colleagues, where they were interrogated and tortured. Bachelet’s wife, Angela Jeria, and his daughter Michelle, did not escape Pinochet’s regime. They too were tortured and held in captivity until they were able to escape to Australia where they lived with relatives.

During the investigation, a forensic study was conducted by Judge Carroza, who was assigned to study and review the complaint brought by Bachelet’s relatives alleging that he had been tortured to death. The study convinced Carroza that “all the interrogations to which General Bachelet was submitted damaged his heart and was the likely cause of death.” Judge Carroza has also been assigned to investigating the death of former President Allende himself. While a team of international experts concluded that Allende committed suicide, many of his supporters suspect that he was killed by military soldiers.

Deputy Guillermo Tellier of Chile’s Communist Party (PC), who was also detained and tortured alongside Bachelet stated that, “The information submitted by Minister Carroza on the death of the father of former President Bachelet, apart from being painful for the family, is also painful for our entire society, which must relive these atrocities every time the justice system is able to establish the truth about the fate of our countrymen.”

In the General Cemetery, in Chile’s capitol city of Santiago, stands a memorial to honor more than 3,000 people who disappeared or were executed under Pinochet’s dictatorship. It is here that Alberto Bachelet is buried and his name appears on the monument along with thousands of other Chilean victims.

 

For further information, please see:

I Love Chile – Investigations Confirm Bachelet’s Father Died of Torture – 21 June 2012

Merco Press – Father of Former President Bachelet Was Tortured to Death by Pinochet Dictatorship – 21 June 2012

The Santiago Times – Bachelet’s Father Confirmed Among Chileans Tortured Under Pinochet – 21 June 2012

BBC News – Chile to Probe General Bachelet’s Death Under Pinochet – 25 August 2011

No Prosecution for Haitian Rape Cases

By Stuart Smith
Impunity Watch, North America Desk

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti- ­The prosecution of rape and sexual assault cases in Haiti remains alarmingly slow, with victims only rarely receiving justice, the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti said in a report released June 26, 2012.

Rose, 22, who was abducted and repeatedly raped in Port-au-Prince last month, bravely discusses her ordeal. (Photo Courtesy of The New York Times)

The report, conducted by the U.N.’s human rights section in Haiti in cooperation with law enforcement and judicial officials, examined 62 rape complaints filed in Port-au-Prince during a three month period in 2010, reported the ABC News. According to the report, more than a year after they were filed with police, none of the 62 complaints had gone to trial. As of December 2011, only one of the 62 rape complaints had been recommended for trial by judicial authorities, although the trial had not yet begun.

Yet, the lack of prosecution is not the only problem- so, too, is the lack of information and resources.

According to ABC News, obtaining accurate and comprehensive information on rape and sexual assault cases is difficult because there is no national database pooling data from the government, aid groups, and the U.N. Further, in part due to the 2010 earthquake, police lack the basic resources, such as computers, vehicles, and furniture, necessary to perform their duties.

Moreover, currently, the government allocates 1.4 percent of the national budget to the Ministry of Women’s Rights. Addressing these issues , the U.N. report recommended, that the government increase the funding dedicated to the ministry and other agencies helping women.

Yet, concern over rape and sexual assault cases in Haiti is not new.

According to an Amnesty International report, more than 250 rape cases were reported in the 150 days following the 2010 earthquake. A year after the earthquake, detailed the report, rape victims continued to arrive at local women’s support groups almost every other day.

“Women, already struggling to come to terms with losing their loved ones, homes and livelihoods in the earthquake, now face the additional trauma of living under the constant threat of sexual attack,” said Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International’s Haiti researcher.

Further exacerbating the problem are allegations of rape against U.N. peacekeepers. In May 2010, a 19-year-old Haitian man accused six Uruguayan soldiers, serving as UN peacekeepers in Haiti, of raping him, reported Al Jazeera. And on March 14, 2012, a Pakistani military tribunal convicted three peacekeepers of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy, sentencing them to one year in jail, said an Amnesty International press release.

“For the prevalence of sexual violence to end, the government must ensure that the protection of women and girls in the camps is a priority. This has so far been largely ignored in the response to the wider humanitarian crisis,” said Ducos.

Unfortunately, the sexual violence continues today, and the government response remains woefully inadequate to combat this crisis.

For further information, please see:

ABC News — UN Report on Haiti Rape Shows Few Prosecutions — 27 June 2012

Al Jazeera — Haiti ‘rape victim’ set for court testimony — 10 May 2012

Amnesty International — Convictions against UN peacekeepers in Haiti do not serve justice — 15 March 2012

Amnesty International — Haiti: Sexual violence against women increasing — 6 January 2011

Former Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic Acquitted of Genocide Charge

By Connie Hong
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe  

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal acquitted the former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, of one charge of genocide.  The charge covered the mass killings, expulsions and persecution by Serb forces of Muslims and Croats from Bosnian towns early in the country’s 1992-95 war, which left 100,000 dead.

Radovan Karadzic cleared of one genocide charge in The Hague
Radovan Karadzic acquitted of one genocide charge. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian)

Karadzic was arrested in 2008, 13 years after he was first indicted on charges of masterminding Serb atrocities during the war.  His trial started in 2009, and prosecutors finished presenting their evidence in May.  Earlier this month, Karadzic had asked judges to dismiss all 11 counts against him, claiming that the prosecutors had failed to prove their case.

The judges found that while there was enough evidence to uphold murder and persecution charges in the early stages of the war, the killings did not rise to the level of genocide.

Presiding judge Oh-Gon Kwon said prosecutors did not provide enough evidence to “be capable of supporting a conviction of genocide in the [Bosnian] municipalities.”  A conviction of genocide requires a showing of intent to wipe out a specific group in whole or part.

Karadzic’s lawyer, Peter Robinson, welcomed the latest decision.

“Dr. Karadzic and myself both thought it was a courageous decision of the trial chamber to say at this stage of the case that there was no genocide in the municipalities in Bosnia in 1992.  But I do expect that the prosecution will want to appeal [against] this decision.”

Prosecutors had no immediate reaction, but the acquittal sparked outcry from survivors of the Bosnian war.

“We are shocked and disappointed,” said Edin Ramulic, who heads an association of victims in Bosnia’s Prijedor region.  “We have no reason to hope now that the Serbs will go through catharsis and acknowledge that the non-Serbs in Prijedor had been killed, tortured, exterminated, raped.”

Karadzic still faces one genocide charge regarding his alleged involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys.  Additionally, Karadzic also faces 9 other counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged role in running a violent campaign to eliminate non-Serbs from parts of Bosnia.

Karadzic is expected to start arguing his case on October 16.  Karadzic’s former military chief, General Ratko Mladic, is also on trial on almost identical charges.  The first witness in that trial is scheduled to begin testifying in early July.

 

For further information, please see:

The Guardian — Radovan Karadzic cleared of one genocide charge in The Hague — 28 June 2012

The New York Times — Ex-Leader of Bosnian Serbs Fails to Get War Crimes Trial Halted — 28 June 2012

Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty — ICTY Drops Genocide Charge Against Karadzic — 28 June 2012

 

Syrian Revolution Digest – Sunday 1 July 2012

THE COMMENTARY IN THIS PIECE DOES NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF IMPUNITY WATCH.  

*WARNING VIDEOS MAY CONTAIN GRAPHIC IMAGES*

R2P vs. D2A – Transition Vs. Partition!

While world leaders refuse to commit to their Responsibility to Protect, as evidenced by the fiasco in Geneva, Assad is wholeheartedly committed to his “Duty to Annihilate,” as he so kindly put it. Political pressures will not change Assad’s mind. Unless plans are formed in consultation with Syrian opposition groups and introduced under UN Chapter VII allowing for clear enforcement mechanisms to be agreed, Assad’s war against the Syrian people will continue, so will the massacres, the ethnic cleansing, and the irrevocable disintegration of Syria. 

Sunday July 01, 2012

A number of massacres were perpetrated by pro-Assad militias over the last 48 hours. The largest of which took place lace in Saturday June 30 in the Damascene Suburb of Zamalkawhen 85 people were killed when a car bomb went off during the funeral for a local activist.

The moment of the explosion http://youtu.be/HNUg448Erls The first few seconds following the explosion http://youtu.be/RlBM2wj-44M Retrieving bodieshttp://youtu.be/6LBdU9xzHsg , http://youtu.be/U-Sm9EQ7DIc ,http://youtu.be/UglcLe5YgqE Helping the wounded http://youtu.be/LW9HqAvj1T4Collecting the bodies in the local field hospital http://youtu.be/YMIq4AoTPBQ Preparing for the burial http://youtu.be/FP0kozCv0wQ , http://youtu.be/xjB-NEdb20w The burialhttp://youtu.be/L17lhUIZdfc , http://youtu.be/uKVwd8FZrEc

News

Op-Eds & Special Reports

Disorganized Like a Fox Why it’s a great thing that the Syrian opposition is fragmented.

Paper trail leads to Damascus Sticking to its reactionary, faux-revolutionary politics, the paper (Al-Akhbar) has regularly delivered fulsome praise for Assad, portraying him as the last bulwark against Western imperialism.

This time, the delay in sending out updates was not caused by traveling but by power outage caused by the recent storm that hit the Washington Metro Areas.  

This interview was given on May 31, some things have changed since, but most arguments remain quite relevant

 “After more than a year of conflict, the violence in Syria is finally being recognized as a civil war. This weekend, world powers are preparing for a high-level meeting that the US hopes will be a turning point in the Syria crisis. To discuss the international community’s search for solutions and the goals of protesters, AAM sits down withAmmar Abdulhamid, a leading Syrian human rights and pro-democracy activist, and fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.” (The interview could also be watched on YouTube).

By Ammar Abdulhamid, Reuf Bajrovic and Kurt Bassuener
“U.S. domestic politics emboldened Milosevic in both Bosnia and Kosovo; it is doing the same in Syria. To prevent Syria from becoming the new Bosnia, the West should apply its Balkan lessons before Assad finishes applying his. The United States must lead, lest it once again stain its collective conscience.”

On the Geneva Conference and the proposed unity government

A plan without clear endgame and clear enforcement mechanisms is not a plan meant to save Syria, but one meant to stall for time and save face of certain leaders who couldn’t agree on anything of substance.

“Rebels report that nearly 200 tanks have moved to positions on the Turkish border, north of the city of Aleppo. The tanks are apparently there to attack rebel held towns, not fight invading Turks. In the last two days, the Turks have moved more troops and anti-aircraft missile units to the Syrian border.”

Comment: We should soon find out if the Turks mean business or if their move is another empty gesture. Assad and his militias are willing to gamble, because they believe they have a strong fallback position along the coast. The only thing they have to lose is control over areas that are already beyond their control. So, while world leaders talk transition, Assad & Co. are working towards partition.

Meanwhile, Turkey’s and NATO’s true intentions are more accurately captured by these comments by Andrew Finkel in the New Yorker:

Yes, Syria’s implosion could degenerate into a regional conflict involving Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and maybe even Russia. And yes, Turkey has summoned other NATO members to discuss the threat to its national security under Article 4 of the alliance’s treaty. But the odds that these tensions with Syria will trigger Article 5 and require NATO to respond in collective self-defense are basically nonexistent: The last and only time that article was invoked was in response to 9/11. Neither Turkey nor the rest of NATO is looking for a fight.

But the world does not move by intentions. There are now hundreds of tanks and missile batteries on either sides of a very porous and hot border, which opens the doors for all different sorts of nasty possibilities, and a showdown of sorts is looming.

The Obama Administration’s attempt at containing the matter by casting doubts on the Turkish version of what took place in regard to the downing of the Turkish jet is not only inadvisable, it’s downright foolish. Undermining your only NATO ally in the region is stupid politics. First E.U. gives Turkey the cold shoulder and now the U.S. Meanwhile, Russia is sticking by her allies through thick and thin.

Turkey might be about to get embroiled in a war after many months of trying to stay aloof. The final decision has not been made yet, and the U.S. may be trying to dissuade the Turks, but this may not be that realistic at this stage. Just as Obama has certain domestic calculations to take into account, so do Turkey’s leaders.

Indeed Erdogan might truly distrust his generals, but Assad’s actions are challenging his and his generals’ credibility at this stage. As such, they may not have a choice but to put their differences aside and embark on a course of action meant primarily to shore up their embattled image at home, and their ability to retain credibility in a region that shows no mercy for the weak.  The vacillations of Turkey over the last few months and the inherent contradictions between official statements and official actions have had a negative effect on the way Turkey and her leaders are being perceived in the region. Seeing that Turkey has no alternative at this stage but to pursue its eastward drive, its shaken image there has to be redressed. Erdogan in particular needs to show that he is capable of making difficult choices when it comes to foreign entanglements.

Video Highlights

Locals in Mourek, Hama Province, find unidentified bodies in their townhttp://youtu.be/By4QLCcYric

The pounding of Houla, Homs Province, continues http://youtu.be/aMWv1O3n36k ,http://youtu.be/vDR5mmr_kgk

Locals from the Damascene Suburb of Arbeen claim that the object we see here falling from a helicopter gunship is a person that was executed by pro-Assad troopshttp://youtu.be/LVUfcfM8Npg

In Homs City, the pounding of the Old Neighborhood continueshttp://youtu.be/6M4PVXbZydo , http://youtu.be/sVQa_Idf3wE ,http://youtu.be/o3jCtgL2i6k Meanwhile, the pounding of Houla continueshttp://youtu.be/R5wguG-iqEs , http://youtu.be/YxDDXdrPZtc ,http://youtu.be/Y8SscIVImm8 and Talbisseh http://youtu.be/4tNwakqPxNA In Rastan, choppers take part in the pounding http://youtu.be/78mDGGjS5e4 In Bouaydah Sharqiyeh http://youtu.be/zekie3xZJu8 The ethnic cleansing of the town of Ghanto is almost complete http://youtu.be/hDswlo4blJ8 But in Houla, locals bury their dead and remain defiant http://youtu.be/WXNn158RUpI

In Deir Ezzor City: rescuing the wounded of today’s shellinghttp://youtu.be/cC_tnPZI3W8

In Khirbet Ghazaleh, Daraa, the pounding continues http://youtu.be/8hJL6TdkadY InDaraa City as well http://youtu.be/gS13aDz22Wo A helicopter gunship takes part in the pounding in Matayeh http://youtu.be/M8IFf83NLVk And in Taybehhttp://youtu.be/CAgzGWsp3uc

In the restive areas of Lattakia Province, pro-Assad militias start forest fires to drive out local fighters http://youtu.be/BEHYVk0meQ8 IN nearby town of Jisr Ashoughour in Idlib Province, the same tactic is employed http://youtu.be/BlknPrEtwew And in Rastanhttp://youtu.be/shH1INddCrs

In Damascus Suburbs, the regime follows the massacre in Zamalka, by intensive pounding of the nearby towns of Harasta http://youtu.be/YlOzqjQmR5c ,http://youtu.be/0bOFzIxjGns and Douma http://youtu.be/McGLmxdDXUQ