Europe

Update: Mladic makes first court appearance; threatens hunger strike

By Greg Hall
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

I do not want to hear a single letter or sentence of that indictment read out to me, Ratko Mladic said during his first court appearance last Friday. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian).
"I do not want to hear a single letter or sentence of that indictment read out to me," Ratko Mladic said during his first court appearance last Friday. (Photo Courtesy of The Guardian).

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Serbian commander Ratko Mladic appeared before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to enter a plea last Friday. The once feared warrior and general is now long gone, replaced by an ill, elderly man. Yet, upon hearing the charges against him, Mladic gawked at the judge and answered the judge’s questions with contempt, claiming the allegations were “obnoxious” and “monstrous.” Mladic seemed more concerned with his health then with the allegations set before him.

Mladic was handed over to the tribunal to face charges for the worst war crimes and atrocities since World War II. After his capture, he attempted to avoid extradition, contending that he was not mentally or physically fit to stand trial. Serbian judges rejected his appeal and ordered the extradition to The Hague as soon as possible.

Mladic was indicted by the tribunal sixteen years ago for his role in the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital and the massacre of over 8,000 Muslim men and boys during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

“Mladic was the highest-ranking Bosnian Serb military leader during the wars in Bosnia. He is charged with responsibility for the role that he and his military forces played in the violent criminal campaigns that swept across Bosnia and Herzegovina,” chief prosecutor for ICTY Serge Brammertz said.

Mladic was captured after sixteen years of being on the run. Milos Saljic , Mladic’s attorney, visited Mladic in prison and reported that Mladic was “crying and very emotional” after a farewell visit from Mladic’s wife and sister last week.

After being captured, Mladic expressed that he should have just killed himself before being subjected to the authorities. Now, Mladic is threatening a hunger strike where he will refuse to take his medication and the food delivered to him unless he gets “adequate medical care, a lawyer, and allow his family to visit him.” Mladic was moved from a hospital prison to a cell. It is believed that Mladic is so sick that he may not live to see the start of his trial.

Mladic’s arrest and prosecution indicate a major step in the international effort to end impunity. After sixteen years of being on the run, the authorities caught up to him. It took a long time but it sent a message that the international community will not tolerate impunity, even if it takes sixteen years to get justice.

For more information, please see:

RIA Novosti – Mladic Threatens Hunger Strike if Rights not Observed – 6 June 2011

New Vision – Ratko Mladic and the End of Impunity – 5 June 2011

New York Times – Mladic Refuses to Enter Plea at War Crimes Tribunal – 3 June 2011

The Times of India – Mladic Must Face War Crimes Charges: Prosecutor – 1 June 2011

Taiwan News – Mladic Appeal on UN Court Extradition Rejected – 31 May, 2011

Mladic to make first court appearance on Friday

By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – After a Serbian court rejected his appeal for extradition, Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, will appear before The Hague on Friday to face charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Mladic will also answer questions about his health.  Despite being deemed by judges in Belgrade, Serbia to be physically and mentally fit for trial, Mladic’s lawyer, Milos Saljic, said he had proof that Mladic, 69, had and was treated for lymph node cancer in 2009. However, tests administered while he has been at The Hague show that he does not have cancer. Saljic also said that Mladic’s memory was shaky.

Mladic was captured last week in Serbia, where he had been hiding out and on the run for sixteen years.  He was responsible for the massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995, among other atrocities committed in the nineties.

On Tuesday, Mladic arrived at the high-security Scheveningen prison, near The Hague, where he spent the night in isolation and received his medical checkup the next day.

Relief spread throughout Europe upon news of Mladic’s capture, and marks a major milestone for international justice. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has sentenced other top generals from the Balkans. Radovan Karadzic, Mladic’s wartime boss, has been at Scheveningen for three years and is awaiting trial. Many of the other Scheveningen defendants from the Balkans were once associates of Mladic and are facing similar charges relating to atrocities.

Though there has been talk of possibly joining Mladic and Karadzic’s trials, no official decision has been made.

For now, all focus is on Mladic. “His arrest confirms that no one can have impunity for the crimes they’ve committed,” said ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz.

The time that has elapsed since Mladic’s atrocities “is a long time to wait for justice,” Brammertz said. “It is a long time to know that someone responsible for their trauma is walking free. We understand why the victims have been impatient for their day and we recognize their courage.”

For more information, please see:

CNN – Mladic to appear at war crimes tribunal on Friday – 1 June 2011

New York Times – Mladic to Appear Friday Before Hague Court – 1 June 2011

The Hague Justice Portal – Former Bosnian Serb General, Ratko Mladic, now in ICTY custody awaiting trial for war crimes – 1 June 2011

Human Rights Watch – In Mladic Arrest, a Reminder of How Far International Justice Has Come – 31 May 2011

Prosecutors Clear Lead Investigator In Magnitsky Death, But Kremlin Ombudsman Calls For Prosecution

By Christina Berger
Special Features Editor

MOSCOW, Russia — Russian officials declared on Monday that the lead investigator in the case against Sergei Magnitsky was not guilty of any legal violations in connection with Magnitsky’s death while he was in police custody. The finding has been widely-criticized and a Kremlin official refuted the finding and urged prosecution over Magnitsky’s death.

Sergei Magnitsky was a lawyer working with Hermitage Capital Management Ltd. who had uncovered evidence of a $230 million tax fraud scheme committed in 2007 by Russian tax officials and Interior Ministry investigators, according to colleagues. Magnitsky was arrested himself for the $230 million tax fraud after accusing a handful of officials, including Oleg Silchenko the lead investigator in the case. Magnitsky spent almost a year in pre-trial detention and he died in jail in November 2009 as a result of a serious medical diagnosis made while in detention.

In response to international pressure, President Dmitry Medvedev has repeatedly promised a full investigation into Magnitsky’s death. On Monday, Russia’s Investigative Committee stated that prosecutors had found that Silchenko had not allowed any legal violations in the case of Magnitsky. The Interior Ministry, where Silchenko holds the rank of colonel after having been promoted since Magnitsky first accused officials of the tax fraud, declined to comment.

In response to the Investigative Committee’s findings, Valery Borschev, a member of a human rights panel set up by President Medvedev, urged that Silchenko be prosecuted for the “central role” he played in Magnitsky’s death. According to Borschev, Magnitsky had complained of acute abdominal pain, having been diagnosed with a serious pancreatic conduction while in police custody, and it was Silchenko who repeatedly refused to allow Magnitsky medical care including ultra-sounds and an operation.

Borschev said he visited the jail after Magnitsky’s death and he spoke with a doctor who claimed she had tried to transfer Magnitsky to a hospital several times but Silchenko interfered. “They asked to have him taken to the hospital to do an ultrasound examination, and Silchenko gave a definitive refusal,” Borshchev said. “That’s a clear violation of the criminal and professional code.”

Magnitsky documented the treatment he was receiving while in detention, telling of conditions some have labeled torture, as well as the denial of medical care. Some of these writings have been made public since Magnitsky’s death, and according to Borschev, Magnitsky implicated Silchenko as being responsible for denying medical care.

Borschev headed an independent commission ordered by the Kremlin to investigate the Magnitsky case. The preliminary results were released in April and found that the charges brought against Magnitsky had been fabricated and investigators he had accused of the tax fraud were improperly involved in his case. A full report will be submitted to President Medvedev this summer. According to Borschev, President Medvedev has the authority to order a new investigation as a result.

Despite calling for prosecution of Silchenko, Borschev acknowledged over the phone to the Moscow Times that “Silchenko has powerful figures backing him up.” So far no one has been held accountable for Magnitsky’s death, and in fact many of the officials implicated by Magnitsky have been rewarded, promoted, or living beyond their means. A series of videos have been produced by Russian Untouchables detailing this, and episode 1 can be viewed here, episode 2 viewed here, and episode 3 viewed here.

Hermitage CEO William Browder has been calling for the arrest and prosecution of 60 Russian officials connected to Magnitsky’s death. Browder, US-born and London-based, was the biggest foreign investor in Russia until his visa was revoked in 2005 by Russian officials citing national security reasons. It was in 2007 that, according to Hermitage, its Russian offices were raided by Interior Ministry officials and documents were seized that allowed those officials to re-register ownership of Hermitage’s Russian funds. This made it possible for Interior Ministry officials to claim $230 million in fraudulent tax rebates, and was what Magnitsky had uncovered and attempted to report before his arrest.

Many believed that Silchenko was the most likely target of prosecution in connection with the Magnitsky case, and it was viewed as a test of Russia’s law enforcement and judicial systems, especially given that President Medvedev has made fighting corruption and improving those systems a priority of his administration.

“The Russian government appears impervious to the damage to its credibility that this type of whitewash is doing,” Browder said. “It will take many years for the Russian justice system to recover any gloss of credibility after this public and corrupt miscarriage of justice.”

For more information, please see:

BLOOMBERG — Kremlin Ombudsman Urges Prosecution Over Hermitage Death — 31 May 2011

WSJ — Russia Exonerates Lead Investigator in Prison Death — 31 May 2011

MOSCOW TIMES — Prosecutors Support Magnitsky’s Accuser — 31 May 2011

NYT — Police Investigator Is Cleared in Death of Russian Awaiting Trial — 30 May 2011

NYT — After Russian Death, Inquiry Doors Open and Shut — 22 December 2010

Gay Rights Rally Banned, Dozens Arrested

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia — Over thirty people were arrested at a gay rights rally held in Moscow on Saturday after clashes broke out between gay  rights activists and opponents. The gay rights activists had applied for a permit to hold a demonstration, but were denied authorization amidst reports that Moscow officials have vowed to never permit gay rights demonstrations in the city.

Gay activists had gathered on Saturday in front of the Kremlin wall and city hall to demonstrate when groups of men showed up–some wearing fatigues and combat boots–to disrupt the rally. Violence soon broke out, and police arrested 18 gay activists and 14 anti-gay activists.

The gay rights activists had applied for official permission to hold the rally, and were issued a denial from Moscow authorities on May 17. This ended the hope many had that Moscow’s new mayor would be more tolerant of the gay community.  The gay rights activists had vowed to hold the rally anyways, continuing the pattern that has existed since around 2006 when the first demonstrations were held–and subsequently broken up by police after frequently ending in violence.

Human rights groups called on Moscow to retract the ban. “The Moscow City Authorities must overturn their decision to ban this year’s Moscow Gay Pride.  So-called public morality concerns can never be used to justify restrictions on the freedom of expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people,” said Nicola Duckworth, Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Program. “The right response to such objections is not to cave in to their demands, but to ensure that those seeking to exercise their rights lawfully are able to do so in safety and in dignity.”

This latest incident in the struggle to publicly demonstrate in Moscow for gay rights comes not even a year after the European Court of Human Rights fined Russia for denying gay rights activists permission to demonstrate, which can be read about here. The court found that the denials violated the freedom of peaceable assembly guaranteed in the European Convention, as well as violated the prohibition discrimination in the enjoyment of rights also found in the Convention.

Despite this ruling, Moscow authorities have continued to routinely ban gay rights demonstrations, often citing complaints received from other groups such as religious groups or ultra-nationalists, or stating that allowing homosexuals to hold demonstrations would cause violent reactions from the community.

St. Petersburg, Russia’s second largest city, has recently begun practicing greater tolerance of gay community rallies and events. A St. Petersburg court found in October 2010 that banning a St. Petersburg Pride event was illegal. In May, gay rights activities held a demonstration in St. Petersburg which was authorizes by city officials and attended by more than 100 activists. It took place peacefully.

Nikolai Alexeyev, Head of Gay Russia and chief organizer of the Moscow Gay Pride Parade, told CNN, “We [in Moscow] have been asking for the last six years to gather. We are being deprived of a very simple right that is taken for granted in democratic countries.”

For more information, please see:

AP — More than 30 arrested at Moscow gay rights demos — 28 May 2011

RFE/RL — Clashes, Arrests As Gay-Rights Activists Rally In Moscow Despite Ban — 28 May 2011

NYT — Threats and Arrests at a Gay Rights Rally in Moscow — 28 May 2011

CNN — Dozens arrested in Moscow gay rights parade clashes — 28 May 2011

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Moscow authorities ban gay pride event — 18 May 2011

RFE/RL — Activists Vow To Defy Moscow Gay-Parade Ban — 18 May 2011

Serbian war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic arrested

By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

Ratko Mladic stands accused of orchestrating the worst massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters).
Ratko Mladic stands accused of orchestrating the worst massacre in Europe since the Holocaust. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters).

SERBIA – Bringing a gruesome chapter in history to a close, former Serbian army commander Ratko Mladic, 69, was arrested on Thursday.

Mladic’s arrest followed sixteen years of hiding and a three-year investigation. He has been charged with genocide, extermination and murder by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The genocide charge stems from his alleged role in directing the murder of eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July of 1995 after the fall of Srebrenica, Europe’s worst massacre since World War II.

Mladic also stands accused of ethnic cleansing, forcible deportations, torture, forced labor, mass killings, and widespread psychological, physical and sexual violence against Bosnian Muslims between 1992 and 1995.

In a written statement, prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia Serge Brammertz wrote, “Mladic’s arrest clearly signals that the commitment to international criminal justice is entrenched. Today’s events show that people responsible for grave violations of international humanitarian law can no longer count on impunity.”

After the 1995 indictment, Mladic disappeared. Though he was occasionally seen at football games and at his home in Belgrade, he vanished after the fall of Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. Milosevic died in 2006 while his trial in The Hague was still going on.

Though some have called for the quick transfer of Mladic to the Netherlands for trial, extradition could take up to a week. The process depends on whether Mladic will appeal or not, which is unlikely as most accused fight extradition. If he does not appeal, he could be in the Netherlands within a day.

Elated reactions resonated throughout Europe and beyond upon news of the arrest. The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, called Mladic’s arrest “an historic day for international justice.” French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the arrest “very big news.”

“As Bosnian Serb military commander, General Mladic played a key role in some of the darkest episodes of Balkan and European history, including the siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of thousands of Bosnian men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995,” said NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

“Almost sixteen years since his indictment for genocide and other war crimes, his arrest finally offers a chance for justice to be done,” Rasmussen added.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Mladic’s trial “should teach again the grim reality of ethnic cleansing and, I hope, bring some comfort to those who survived.”

“Justice works,” Albright said in a statement.

The arrest moves Serbia one step closer to integration into the European Union, which forbade Serbia from membership talks because of the country’s failure to arrest Mladic. Still, the integration process takes years to complete.

For now, however, human rights advocates, world leaders and those who were affected by the massacre can rejoice over the arrest of the man who Interpol called, “Europe’s most wanted war crimes suspect.”

In the news release, Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble said, “The arrest by Serbian police of Ratko Mladic, an alleged architect of human carnage and mass murder, is a triumph for international justice.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia – 26 May 2011

CNN – Bosnia genocide suspect Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia – 26 May 2011

CNN – Mladic arrest hailed as ‘important day for international justice’ – 26 May 2011

Economist – Ratko Mladic: Caught at last – 26 May 2011

New York Times – Mladic Arrest Opens Door to Serbia’s Long-Sought European Union Membership – 26 May 2011

Telegraph – Ratko Mladic arrest: extradition could take a week – 26 May 2011