Americans Held Captive in North Korea Finally Released

By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un unexpectedly ordered the release of two American citizens who spent months imprisoned in North Korea this weekend. Kenneth Bae and Matthew Miller were let free following a rare visit to North Korea from a top U.S. official. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, carried with him a letter from President Barack Obama when meeting with North Koran security officials.

 

Kenneth Bae is reunited with his family for the first time since being arrested in North Korea since 2012. (Photo Courtesy of Fox News)

Clapper is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit Pyongyang in over a decade. As Director of National Intelligence, Clapper oversees the CIA and 15 other intelligence agencies, making his direct involvement in the release of the American citizens surprising. Such missions are normally reserved for diplomatic officials. Clapper went to North Korea with the sole purpose of bringing home both Bae and Miller, and not with the purpose of any other negotiations. Clapper returned to the U.S. on a plane carrying Bae and Miller this past weekend.

Bae, a Koran-American missionary, who was serving a 15-year sentence for alleged anti-government activities, was arrested in November 2012. Due to his failing health condition, the State Department as repeatedly called for his release. Miller, who was jailed on charges of espionage after allegedly tearing apart his passport and demanding asylum, was serving a six-year term. The North Koran government contended that Miller secretly planned to be arrested so as to investigate North Korea’s human rights situation. Bae and Miller were the last Americans held by North Korea.

A U.S. official told CNN that Washington believes Pyongyang reached out to the U.S. to show that it had the power to get a Cabinet-level official to visit the country, which would solidify Kim’s power. Other analysts who study North Korea claim the decision to free the Americans “was a bid by the country to ease pressure in connection with its human rights record.” U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, has welcomed the release, especially in the wake of a recent United Nations report which documented rape, torture, executions and forced labor in the prison camps, accusing the North Korean government of gross human rights violations. The Secretary-General’s office stated, “The Secretary-General hopes that this positive momentum for improving relations among the concerned parties for peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond will be built on.”

 

For more information, please see the following:

CNN – Two Americans Freed By North Korea Arrive Back in U.S., Reunited With Families – 10 Nov. 2014.

FOX NEWS – Americans released From North Korean Captivity Back On US Soil – 9 Nov. 2014.

REUTERS – Two American Feed by North Korea Are On Their Way Home – 8 Nov. 2014.

USA TODAY – 2 Americans Held Captive In North Korea Arrive Home – 9 Nov. 2014.

 

International Criminal Court Drops the Prosecution of Israeli Raid on Mavi Marmara

By Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East 

 

Jerusalem, Israel

Officials of the International Criminal Court stated Thursday that they were not pursuing any case against Israel for potential war crimes for the 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara. The raid was conducted by Israeli Defense Force Commandos on a passenger ship that was attempting to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver aid. During the raid eight Turkish citizens and one Turkish- American was killed by the commandos.

Footage from the Mavi Marama shows activists preparing to fight off Israeli troops as they board the ship. (Photo curtesy of The Times of Israel)

A prosecutor for the International Court announced that there was a reasonable basis to believe that the Israeli commandos committed war crimes during the raid. However, the prosecutor also announced that the case lacks the specific gravity required for the prosecution of those crimes to be pursued. The same prosecutor also said that the International Criminal Court shall prioritize war crimes that are committed on a large scale or pursuant to some plan or policy.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that there was no basis to open a preliminary investigation in the first place. They further stated that they regretted that the International criminal court wasted its time in the initial inquiry. The Israeli’s believe that the allegations of war crimes were legally unfounded and politically motived, the international Criminal Court was established to prosecute the worst atrocities in the world, and that this event can hardly fall under that category.

A law firm in Turkey originally filled the request for the International Criminal Court to investigate the incident. Neither Turkey nor Israel has signed onto the Rome Statute, the international agreement that governs the International Criminal Court. However, the ship was registered to the Comoros Islands, which is a party to the Rome Statute and establishes standing for the case. A lawyer representing the Comoros Islands stated that they will not give up the struggle for justice and will pursue the claim.

Many are worried about the ramifications of this news. Pro-Palestinian activists will likely be very upset at the news, they have repeatedly tried to draw the International Criminal Court into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Tensions in Jerusalem are high at the moment and there are concerns that this news will further escalate violence.

For more information, please see: 

The LA Times — International Court will Not Prosecute Israel in Aid Flotilla Case — 6 November, 2014

The Christian Science Monitor — Gaza Flotilla Raid: International Court Drops Case Against Israel — 6 November, 2014

The Jewish Daily Forward — International Criminal Court Will Not Prosecute Israel in Gaza Flotilla Incident — 6 November, 2014

The Times of Israel — With Marmara Case Closed, Ramallah Learns going to ICC not Easy as ABC — 6 November, 2014

Blood Diamonds and Dirty Gold: The Fuel That Flames War In the Central African Republic

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Managing Editor, Impunity Watch

BANGUI, Central African Republic –Gold, diamonds and other minerals from war zones may end up in every day products sold in the west from jewelry and kitchen supplies to laptops and smartphones. While the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme was established in 2003 to combat the sale of Conflict Diamonds, blood diamonds continue to reach the legal rough diamond market. According to a report published by a United Nations Panel, the sale of Conflict Diamonds, often known as Blood diamonds may be fueling the conflict in the Central African Republic. The Central African Republic was plunged into violent chaos when northern, mostly Muslim Seleka rebels seized control of the majority Christian country in March of last year. The event sparked a violent backlash led by the largely Christian ‘anti-balaka’ militia. The sale of Diamonds, Gold and other minerals has created a funding pool for both sides in the ongoing conflict.  Last year, the Kimberley Process, which was established in response to the conflict-diamond crisis to prevent blood diamonds from entering the market and fueling conflict, imposed an export ban on raw stones from the Central African Republic. However, since the export ban was put into place an estimated 140,000 carats of diamonds, valued at $24 million, have been smuggled out of the country, According to a United Nations panel.

 

During a protest against French soldiers on A man gestures in front of a burning barricade during a protest against French soldiers in Bambari May 22, 2014 a man poses in front of barrels that had been set ablaze. (Photo courtesy of Reuters)

According to a Report published by the United Nations, a panel of experts concluded that the peacekeeping mission (MINUSCA) in Central Africa should deploy peacekeeping troops to the remote northern region of the country and use drones to monitor the rebel-controlled region to put an end to simmering violence there. The UN panel stated that an estimated 3,000 people have been killed in the Central African Republic between December 2013 – when the United Nations Security Council imposed an arms embargo in response to ongoing violence in the country – and August this year.

Despite the embargo, The UN report found that there has been no progress in disarming rebel factions in the country since March of this year and that any hopes of achieving peace were being further complicated by splitting reported within both the former Seleka rebels and the anti-balaka militia. The Report said, “Competition among political representatives of armed groups for ministerial positions, as well as among military commanders for control of resources, accounts for of the recent infighting between former components of Seleka and rival factions of anti-balaka.”

On Tuesday the International Contact Group for the Central African Republic is due to meet in Bangui. The group is made up of representatives of the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, the United States, France and the Republic of Congo. Human Right Watch called on the group to publically call for an end to sectarian violence in the country.

“Ending the violence against civilians in the Central African Republic should be the top priority at the contact group’s first meeting in Bangui,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “This is a critical moment for international policy makers to say loudly and clearly that those who kill, torture, and rape will one day face a court of law. The time of impunity is over.”

For more information please see:

All Africa – Central African Peacekeeping Force Gears Up For Action – 10 November 2014

Human Rights Watch – Central African Republic: Urge End to Killings – 10 November 2014

United Nations News Centre – Central African Republic: UN Urges Support to Meet Basic Needs in Hard-Hit Province – 10 November 2014

Reuters – Gold, Diamonds Fuelling Conflict in Central African Republic: U.N. Panel – 5 November 2014

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign: Ambassadors from Council of Europe States Reject Parliamentarians’ Call to Improve Judicial Cooperation in Case Exposed by Murdered Lawyer Sergei Magnitsky

10 November 2014 – Foreign ministry officials from the Council of Europe have issued a rejection of demands by parliamentarians from 47-member states to improve international judicial cooperation in the money laundering case exposed by murdered anti-corruption lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

Chaired by Mr E. Eyyubov, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Azerbaijan, the Strasbourg-based ambassadors comprising the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the international organisation’s decision-making body, refused to propose any concrete measures that parliamentarians have asked for in their Recommendation entitled “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” which was adopted by overwhelming majority in January this year.

The parliamentarians of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly asked in their January 2014 recommendation the Committee of Foreign Affairs Ministers to:

“examine ways and means of improving international co-operation in investigating the “money trail” of the funds originating in the fraudulent tax reimbursements denounced by Mr Magnitsky; and, in particular, of ensuring that the Russian Federation fully participates in these efforts.” (http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-EN.asp?fileid=20410&lang=en)

In the response to parliamentarians, the Committee of Ministers ignored the recommendations completely and changed the subject citing several general reports on Russia issued by MONEYVAL, a Council of Europe’s body in the area of anti-money laundering. None of the reports examine the $230 million money laundering case exposed by Sergei Magnitsky in any way.

“Although MONEYVAL does not address individual cases, it aims to provide its members with the capacity to fight money-laundering within their borders and to co-operate in order to prevent transborder money-laundering. At the international level, MONEYVAL works closely together with the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The Russian Federation is a member of both these bodies,” said the response from the Committee of Ministers to parliamentarians published on the official Council of Europe website (http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=21312&lang=en).

The diplomatic answer to Council of Europe’s parliamentarians from the Committee of Ministers adopted at the Committee’s session on 22 and 24 October in Strasbourg further said:

“The Committee [of Ministers] reiterates its call for an effective investigation and the bringing to justice of those responsible.”

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign representative said:

“This strange bureaucratic response is defying the efforts of parliamentarians from 47 countries in Europe to achieve some measure of justice in the Magnitsky case. It is also an abandonment of Sergei Magnitsky who paid with his life trying to stop corrupt Russian officials from stealing millions from his country. The appointed diplomats in Europe should heed the call from the elected parliamentarians who have shown the resolve of the people to see that justice is done.”

The parliamentarians’ recommendation was based on the independent investigation into the Magnitsky case conducted by Council of Europe’s Rapporteur, Swiss MP Andreas Gross, who concluded that there was a need to improve international cooperation in this case because of the high-level cover up in this case in Russia.

Rapporteur Gross stated:

“My initial conclusion, namely that we are in the presence of a massive cover-up involving senior officials of the competent ministries, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Investigative Committee and even certain courts finds itself further consolidated.” (Report “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20084&lang=en).

Rapporteur Gross pointed out that the money laundering exposed by Sergei Magnitsky has been traced to a large number of European states which necessitated international judicial cooperation in this case:

“The laundering of the funds that can be traced back to the fraudulent US$230 million tax refund denounced by Mr Magnitsky has involved a large number of European States… Given the complexity of the criminal investigations required and the obvious need for international co-operation, the Assembly should also seize the Committee of Ministers in order to ensure that this important affair is included on the agenda of intergovernmental co-operation.” (Addendum to Report “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”, http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20345&lang=en)

Conclusions expressed in the report “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” prepared by Rapporteur Gross were adopted by overwhelming majority this January by the 47-member state Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Resolution “Refusing the Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky” http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=20409&lang=en).

For further information please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky campaign

Phone:             +44 207 440 1777

Email:              info@lawandorderinrussia.org

Website:          http://lawandorderinrussia.org

 

The Berlin Wall, 1961-1989: The Belfast Peace Walls, 1969-????; The West Bank Separation Wall, 2000-????

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan
Impunity Watch, Managing Editor

BELFAST, Northern Ireland; JERUSALEM, Israeli-Palestine – November 9th marks the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an event that paved the way for the reunification of Germany and renewed ties between the West and what would become the former Communist Bloc. For nearly three decades the Berlin Wall, which was originally built to prevent people in East Germany from fleeing to the West, stood as a symbol of cold war tensions and soviet oppression. The fall of the Berlin wall became a symbol, not only of the collapse of a physical barriers between west and east, but of the collapse of barriers to free movement, enterprise and expression. Ultimately the Berlin Wall has been remembered as an apartheid wall whose collapse would become an iconic moments in world history. 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, apartheid walls are still being used in some countries, often justified as an attempt to preserve peace while, like the Berlin Wall, they ultimately remain a symbol of conflict.

Armed with hammers a group of Palestinian protesters broke a whole the the West Bank Separation Wall, which they see as a symbol of Apartheid. (Photo courtesy of Haaretz)

25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the World’s oldest actively maintained apartheid wall still separates the poorest working class neighborhoods of Belfast, diving catholic and protestant communities on religious lines. The walls, constructed by the United Kingdom as a security measure, stood through the bloodiest days of the troubles. While many in Belfast still believe the walls are necessary to keep the peace between communities despite the achievement of a peace agreement that led to a power sharing government. While some believe that walls help keep the peace others believe the walls serve as a constant reminder of the troubles and ultimately keep the tensions alive and prevent the development of true peace and unity.

On the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall a group of protesters have attempted to bring the world’s attention to an apartheid wall that keeps their communities divided. Despite the risks from tight security measures, a group of Palestinian youths have dug a hole in Israel’s separation wall with the Palestinian territories, as a symbolic gesture to mark 25 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall. The activist said in a statement about their symbolic actions that “it doesn’t matter how high the barriers will be, they will fall. Like the Berlin Wall fell – The Palestinian wall will fall.”

In 2004 the International Court of Justice ruled that “the construction of the wall, and its associated regime, are contrary to international law”. The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that the Israeli barrier “causes serious humanitarian and legal problems” and goes “far beyond what is permissible for an occupying power.”

The Israeli government argues that the West Bank Separation Wall was constructed as a security measure, intended to prevent Palestinian terrorist from entering Indian and carrying out attacks against civilian populations. However, Palestinians refer to that wall as the “apartheid wall” and see it as a symbol of Israeli oppression, in much the same way the Berlin Wall, became a symbol of oppression and division.

For more information please see:

Al Jazeera – Palestinians remind world of their own wall – 9 November 2014
Haaretz – On Berlin Wall’s collapse anniversary, Palestinians punch hole through West Bank wall – 9 November 2014
The Jerusalem Post – Palestinians break open hole in West Bank security barrier, 25 years after Berlin Wall fall – 9 November 2014
Time Magazine – From Belfast to Baghdad, See the World’s Dividing Walls – 6 November 2014