Two Month Prison Hunger Strike Ends After Hospilization

Two Month Prison Hunger Strike Ends After Hospilization

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

SANTIAGO, Chile – The last members of the Mapuche Indian hunger strike protesting the Chilean government has ended. The Indigenous Inmates hunger strike which began July12 2012 was in protest of the treatment they received and misuses of their ancestral lands.

Mapuche Indians Clash With National Police On Oct. 15. (Photo Courtesy of Warrior Publications)

Late Sunday Evening one of the protesters,  Quijo Leonardo had to be transferred from his cell after abdominal pain led to a minor episode of cardiac arrest. However at the medical center he refused medical treatment after a blood test and the staff was forced to return him to the prison in Temuco, Chile.

The Mapuche inmate strike began with members of the indigenous tribe forsaking food and medical treatment. These inmates believing themselves to be political prisoners are protesting the Chileans treatment of the Mapuche indigenous tribe. They continue that their group has been unfairly prosecuted and their human rights continually violated. Their numbers have slowly dwindled during the past 2 months as health reasons have forced them to abandon their protest of the Chilean laws that placed them in prison.

The prison in Angol has a permanent group of protesters outside the cities jail, actively protesting the anti-terrorist law. The bulk of the protest is criticizing the Chilean governments use anti-terrorism laws that unfairly prosecute Mapuche members. Known as the Anti-Terrorism Act, it was originally enacted by General Pinochet who used it to quell dissent and subversives of his government. In 1993 the government began enforcing the law to actively criminalize the Mapuche social movement. The law allows citizens to be detained indefinitely and tried in military tribunal courts where they would receive harsher sentences than in a civilian court.

While the Chilean government has vowed to support changes to the anti-terrorism laws, Mapuche protesters are still being met with violent response from the countries national police force. The hunger strike that was just ended could be seen as an extension of the a similar strike that occurred two years prior where 30 Mapuche inmates refused food. Their message was overshadowed by the rescue of the trapped Chilean Miners in 2010.

Chilean government officials and representatives feared violent conflict as the protest continued, with human rights experts fearing a violent outburst if one of the protesters died. Small skirmishes have already erupted on October 15th, after individual inmates suffered health risks as a result of their hunger strikes.

While not all their demands were met, representatives believe that “The steps taken to end the hunger strike have reached a satisfactory conclusion,” and would be welcomed by the Mapuche people.

There are approximately 650,000 Chileans who identify as members of the Mapuche, almost 3.5 percent of the people in Chile.

For further information; please see:

Latercera – Mapuche Still On Hunger Strike And Refuse Medical Care – 22 October 2012

Latin America Herald Tribune – Last 10 Mapcuche Indians On Hunger Strike In Chile End Fasting – 22 October 2012

UNPO – Mapuche: Court Action For Human Rights Against Chile – 22 October 2012

The Argentina Independent – Chile: Court Sends Mapuche Hunger Strikers Back To Prison – 19 October 2012

Sounds and Colours Magazine – Mapuche Hunger Strike In Chile Highlights The Real Problem Facing President Sebastian Pinera – 15 October 2010

Bangladesh Soon to Abolish Last Mutiny Driven-Battalion

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Today, the director-general of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB), Major General Anwar Hossain, stated that the last of the frontier force’s mutiny-driven battalion is near disbandment.

Bangladeshi people hold candles during a remembrance for the fallen at the Bangaldesh Rifles headquarters. (Photo Courtesy of India News Daily)

“Three of the (mutiny-driven) battalions have been abolished earlier while the fourth one, the 44 Battalion, is set to be abolished early next month on completion of due processes,” stated Major General Hossain.

On Saturday, the Bangladesh military court found 723 border guards, the former Bangladeshi Rifles (BDR), guilty of “joining and leading the mutiny.”  The mutiny, which occurred in 2009, had lasted for 33 hours at BDR’s headquarters in Dhaka.  Moreover, the military courts neither permitted the defendants to obtain legal counsel nor grant a right to appeal.

“In all, 735 border guards were charged. Two died during the trial and 10 were acquitted,” relayed prosecutor Gazi Zillur Rahman to the AFP news agency.  “Of the 723 found guilty, 64 soldiers were sentenced to seven years in jail.”

According to Indian Daily News, hundreds of nurses and sportsmen, who have previously represented Bangladesh internationally, were among those convicted.

Two days after, a Bangladesh court jailed 723 border guards for their involvement.  Moreover, the court stated that the verdict was final in a sequence of mass trials lead by the Bangladesh military.

According to BBC, approximately 6,000 people have been jailed for the mutiny over pay and conditions with 74 people dead.  Moreover, among the deceased were at least 57 senior army officers whose bodies were dumped in sewers.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has faulted the trials for the death of these suspects while in custody of authorities and for others who were tortured and beaten.

In response, the Bangladesh military has casted HRW’s claims as baseless.  Moreover, the Bangladesh military alleged that the death of the suspects were from natural causes, such as heart related complications.

According to News Track India, Major General Hossain stated that four new battalions have been created with nearly 10,000 new recruits to replace the border force’s strength after the disbandment of the 24th, 13nth, 36th and 44th battalions.

The BGB, also known as “The Vigilant Sentinels of the National Frontier,” is the oldest uniformed force in Bangladesh and is predominantly responsible for the country’s border security. It is also the Ministry of Home Affair’s paramilitary force.

For further information, please see:

News Track India – Bangladesh Border Guards to abolish last mutiny-stained battalion – 24 Oct. 2012

Zee News – B’desh Border Guards to abolish last mutiny stained battalion – 24 Oct. 2012

BBC – Bangladesh mutiny: 723 border guards jailed – 22 Oct. 2012

India Daily News – Bangladesh jails 723 guards for 2009 mutiny – 20 Oct. 2012

Manslaughter Conviction for Italian Scientists who Failed to Warn of Earthquake

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

L’AQUILA, Italy – Six prominent Italian earthquake scientists (seismologists) on the Major Risks Commission and a senior government official were convicted of manslaughter on Monday by an Italian court and sentenced to six years in prison each for failure to communicate to the city of L’Aquila the risk of what became a deadly earthquake in April 2009.

A destroyed street in L’Aquila, Italy shortly after the devastating April 2009 earthquake. (Photo Courtesy of the International Herald Tribune)

The defendants included the deputy director of the Civil Protection Agency, Bernardo De Bernardinis, and prominent scientists Enzo Boschi, the former president of Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology; and Giulio Selvaggi, the organization’s current head.

The defendants were charged with manslaughter and causing a disaster and serious bodily harm, not for failing to predict the earthquake per se, but rather on the grounds of reassuring residents that the danger was low and providing “inexact, incomplete, contradictory advice.”

Although prosecutors asked the court for sentences of four years, the judge handed down sentences of six years in prison for each defendant after.  In addition, they have been ordered to pay more than €9 million (£7.3 million) in damages, and each of the convicted may never hold public office again.

The trial was held in L’Aquila over the past year. Judge Marco Billi considered his verdict for four hours before reading the sentences to the court.

The defendants and their attorneys have expressed their intention to appeal.

Members of the scientific community, particularly fellow seismologists, have spoken out strongly against this ruling.  Seth Stein, an earth scientist at Northwestern University in Illinois, said “I think it’s very unfair and very stupid.  It reflects a kind of fundamental misunderstanding of what science can and can’t do.”

Others have suggested that this ruling will make scientists less likely to make safety calls in the future.  Physicist Luciano Mariani, current chair of the Major Risks Commission, claimed that the sentence “spells death for services rendered to the state by academics and professionals,” and elaborated that “[i]t is not possible to provide consultancy serenely, professionally and disinterestedly under such frenzied judicial and media pressure. This doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world.”

Thomas Jordan, a professor at the University of Southern California, stated directly, “I’m afraid that many scientists are learning to keep their mouths shut.”

In protest, several members of Italy’s National Commission for the Forecast and Prevention of Major Risks resigned have resigned as of Tuesday.

Prior to the April 2009 quake, the seven held at a public meeting in response to a series of small temblors earlier that year at which they stated the unlikelihood that the shaking projected a larger quake, according to the Huffington Post.  This reassurance was backed by a claim by Bernardinis that the small temblors would discharge built up seismic energy, although even some the convicted seismologists found this statement scientifically inaccurate, according to Nature.  However, scientists generally agree that the likelihood of a large earthquake was low, according to the International Herald Tribune.

Several days later, during the early morning of April 6, a 6.3-magnitude quake struck, destroying medieval buildings in L’Aquila’s and killing 309 people, many who were sleeping, according to the International Herald Tribune.  Prosecutors alleged that at least 29 of the dead would have left the city if not for the defendants’ reassurances, according to Nature. More than three years later, L’Aquila is still recovering.

Relatives of the deceased victims of the quake cheered at the verdict, calling it “a tiny bit of justice.”

Marcello Petrelli, one of the defense attorneys described the verdict rather differently: “It’s a jaw-droppingly incomprehensible sentence in law and in its evaluation of the facts[; a] sentence that cannot avoid in-depth examination on appeal.”

For further information, please see:

Corriere – Minister Challenged: Six Years for Multiple manslaughter and Bodily Harm Over Reassurances about Strong Tremor – 23 October 2012

International Herald Tribune – Italy: Officials Quit Over Punishment of Quake Experts – 23 October 2012

ANSA – Earthquake Scientists get 6 Years in L’Aquila Ruling – 22 October 2012

Huffington Post – Earthquake Scientists Jailed Over ‘Inexact’ Statements Preceding 2009 L’Aquila Quake – 22 October 2012

The Independent – Italian Scientists Jailed for Six Years after Failing to Issue Warnings Ahead of Deadly L’Aquila Earthquake – 22 October 2012

International Herald Tribune – Italy Orders Jail Terms for 7 Who Didn’t Warn of Deadly Earthquake – 22 October 2012

Nature – Italian Court Finds Seismologists Guilty of Manslaughter – 22 October 2012