By Pei Hu
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

HAN NOI, Vietnam – On October 15th Hanoi People’s Court sentenced Nguyen Viet Chien, a journalist for a well-circulated newspaper, to two years in jail. In 2006, Chien was one of two journalists who reported on a corruption scandal in the Ministry of Transport.  The scandal resulted in the resignation of the minister and the arrest of several high-ranking officials.

Chien maintained his innocence in court.  He stated, “With my journalist conscience, I can say I never have any other purpose in mind when writing my reports but exposing wrongdoing and fighting corruption.”

Last May, Chien and another prominent newspaper journalist, Nguyen Van Hai, who also reported on government corruption, were arrested. They were accused of “abusing freedom and democratic rights.”

Hai pleaded guilty after a two day trail.  In order to receive a lighter sentence, he accepted that he made “professional accidents” in his reports. The court freed Hai for “co-operating with investigators and showing remorse.” However, the court and sentence Hai to re-education camps for two years.

During the trial, prosecutors focused on the reporters’ conduct.  According to a leaked indictment, the reporters’ stories had “serious consequences, negatively affecting the ideology, morale and psychology of the public at a sensitive point of time,” referencing the 10th Vietnamese Communist Party Congress in April 2006.

The indictment also asserted that Nguyen Viet Chien and Nguyen Van Hai “exploited their position as journalists to write sensitive, false information… Hostile forces took advantage to attack and distort the Party Congress, negatively affecting the preparation of the congress.”

The verdict of the two trials received condemnation from abroad. The US embassy in Hanoi called the verdicts “disappointing” and Reporters Without Borders called the sentences “a terrible step backwards.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Vietnam Trial Tests Media Freedom – 14 October 2008

BBC – Vietnam Sends Journalist to Jail – 15 October 2008

BBC – Vietnamese Media Trial Condemned – 16 October 2008

International Herald Tribune – Vietnam Jails Journalists in Graft Reporting Trial– 15 October 2008

Reporters Without Borders – Newspaper Reporter’s Two Year Sentence Deals Severe Blow to Press Freedom – 15 October 2008

By Ariel Lin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Local officials in North China hid a coal mine explosion that killed more than 30 miners three weeks before the Beijing Olympics, state media reported.  The accident occurred at 8:30 am on July 14th in Lijiawa Coal Mine of Yuxian county. Some explosives illegally stored in the pit blast off, killing more than 30 miners.  The investigation report indicated that after the mine disaster, the corpses were taken away and kept hidden in surrounding areas, where the grieving families were also taken to be paid off.  “Cash was used to keep them quiet as well as threats and other means, and the miners and their families were not allowed to reveal the facts to the outside,” said the report.  The investigation also showed that some township and county officials had collaborated with the mine owners to conceal the accident.

Chinese government has punished 25 Communist Party and government officials involved in covering up the mine accident.  Another 23 officials of various administrative departments were also under investigation.  Governor Hu Chunhua said the Hebei province has serious problems with work and food safety.  “This is a shocking case,” quoted governor Hu Chunhua.  He called on officials of all levels in the province to take a lesson from the vital safety accident.  Hebei is also home to Sanlu Dairy, company of the chemical-tainted milk powder that officials have blamed for killing four children and making many several thousands sick.

However, the investigation report did not explain why the deaths took so long to come to light. Some observers of Chinese politics said the cover-up appeared to be another instance of officials seeking to avoid recriminations before the Olympics, when they were under intense pressure to avoid accidents and protests.

A total of 3,786 coal miners died in gas blasts, flooding and other work accidents in China last year.  The Lijiawa blast was not the only recent disaster to involve suggestions of official concealment and neglect.

For more information, please see:

AFP – China probes cover-ups in mine accidents: state media – 08 October 2008

China Daily – 25 officials punished over mine accident cover-up – 07 October 2008

Reuters – China milk scandal province hid mine disaster – 08 October 2008

Xinhuan – Three officials ousted for coal mine accidents in N China – 08 October 2008

By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

ALMATY, Kazakhstan – In a recently released report by Freedom House, the organization condemns Kazakhstan for not making significant progress in meeting international standards for democracy and law.  Freedom House is a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization dedicated to democracy and freedom around the world.

Freedom House also stresses that the lack of progress by Kazakhstan undermines the European Human Right Watchdog, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).  Kazakhstan is scheduled to take over the chairmanship of OSCE in 2010.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev has been widely criticized for tolerating no political dissent.  In June, he promised to create a more democratic parliament, relax electoral laws, and make it easier for political parties to register.  President Nursultan Nazarbayev also pledged to amend laws that severely restrict press freedom.  However, few of these reforms will be completed by their promised end of 2008 deadline.

“Freedom House urges U.S. officials to stress that Kazakhstan must take its OSCE commitments seriously if it wants to maintain its current relationship with Washington,” said Jeffrey Goldstein, Freedom House’s senior program manager for Central Asia.  He continued, “Kazakhstani citizens deserve to be accorded the democratic freedoms their leaders have promised to provide, yet their government continues to impede basic rights, from freedom of speech to freedom of religion.”

For more information, please see:

Daily Telegram – Rights Group Slams Kazakhstan ‘Democracy’ – 1 October 2008

Freedom House – News Report: Kazakhstan Falls Short of OSCE Commitments – 30 September 2008

News Blaze – Kazakhstan Falls Short of OSCE – 30 September 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Former Tamil Tiger leader, Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, more widely known as Colonel Karuna, was appointed as Member of Parliament by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Tuesday.  President Rajapaksa made the appointment with the advice of Karuna’s brother and Sri Lankan Secretary of Defense, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa.

Karuna stated, “Tamil people can now have the faith of solving their own problems through parliamentary democracy. We should forget the bitter past experiences and work to win the trust of the Tamils.”

Karuna faces opposition from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP).  The JVP has filed a Fundamental Rights petition against the appointment calling it “immoral” and suing him in the Supreme Court to have him removed.  The JVP alleges that the vacancy Karuna took belongs to them because it opened up when one of their politicians won a powerful provincial post in August.

Karuna’s new appointment also meets serious protests from human rights activists.  After recently having been arrested in the United Kingdom for carrying a false passport and serving jail time, human rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Coalition to Stop Child Soldiers have called for authorities there to investigate and prosecute Karuna for his past international war crimes.  Authorities in the UK replied stating that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute.

Karuna served as the eastern commander for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which fought against the government and killed hundreds of police officers.  The Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP),the paramilitary group of which Karuna led after his leadership of the Tamil Tigers, has been accused of abducting children to serve as soldiers, torture and extortion. The TVMP was a group that split from the LTTE and was loyal to Karuna.

For more information, please see:

BBCSinhala – MP Karuna:  “Travesty of Justice” – 7 October 2008

Reuters – Breakaway Tiger Leader Sworn into Sri Lanka Parliament – 7 October 2008

Tamil Sydney – Sri Lanka Bestow Democratic Decoration to a War Lord – War Criminal Karuna Becomes Nationalist MP – 8 October 2008

By Shayne R. Burnham
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

GUWAHATI, India – In the northeast state of Assam, India, violence erupted between Muslim immigrants from Bangladesh and Bodo tribal groups on Friday resulting in almost 50 people dead, 500 homes set on fire, and more than 85,000 displaced and seeking housing in government relief camps.  Twenty-one thousand paramilitary officers were deployed to the three districts that have been affected in addition to the already-imposed curfews and shoot-on-sight orders.  More than 15 of the killings were done in police firings.

The conflict has arisen from a history of the local tribes’ fear of being overrun by Muslim immigrants. Almost half of Assam’s population are Muslim settlers.  Analysts claim that the clashes were sparked by a student movement campaigning ainst the immigrants.

Despite the history of tension between Muslims and Bodo tribes, state officials blame the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) for fueling the violence.  NDFB is a Christian rebel group that wants independence and secession from India.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, a minister supervising security and relief measures, says that the NDFB has implemented a plan of “ethnic cleansing” in order to “drive out all the non-Bodos from the area.”  Moreover, in 2005, the NDFB entered into a ceasefire with the Indian government in New Delhi, though it has never renounced its independence struggle.  It claims that the government has neglected their welfare, ignored development of the region and flooded it with immigrants.

Sarma stated that four cadres of the NDFB were arrested on Sunday for firing at the police with machine guns in one of the districts and that if NDFB members continue to engage in violence, then the government might have to reconsider the ceasefire agreement.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Troops Sent to Quell Tribal Clashes in India’s Assam – 6 October 2008

Assam Tribune – Death Toll 40:  80,000 Displaced:  500 Houses Burnt – 6 October 2008

Reuters – More Die as Clashes Continue in India’s Troubled Assam – 7 October 2008