By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia — A leading Russian journalist was attacked last weekend and was in critical condition, finally regaining consciousness on Friday. Oleg Kashin, a journalist for the newspaper Kommersant who often wrote politically themed articles, was severely beaten outside of his Moscow home.

Kashin suffered a concussion, a broken jaw, broken fingers, and fractures in both legs. He was put into a medically induced coma as a result. Kashin regained consciousness on Friday, though he remains on a ventilator according to his wife.

A video purportedly showing the brutal assault on Kashin can be viewed on a Russian news site. The video shows two men beating a third over 50 times with something like an iron bar or a similar weapon. Kashin’s editor believes the fact that the attackers mangled Kashin’s hands and broke off part of his pinky indicate the attack is related to Kashin’s writing.

Kashin is the last in a line of a growing trend of attacks against journalists in Russia. The New York Times calls the attacks “common” and convictions of attackers “rare in its deeply flawed judicial system.”

According to statements by President Medvedev, the Kremlin is taking this seriously, vowing to find and punish the attackers. Many people view this as a test for how serious the Kremlin is in cracking down on the intimidation of journalists.

In light of this recent attack, a group of Russian journalists have written an open letter to President Medvedev, calling on him to make protecting journalists a priority. The letter says that eight Russian journalists have been killed this year and 40 have been attacked.

The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the World Editors Forum also called on President Medvedev, urging him to make sure the attacks on journalists are aggressively prosecuted in light of the unsolved attacks and murders against journalists in the past.

In response to the attack on Kashin, Amnesty International released a statement, urging that, while the motivations of the attackers are not known, the possibility that the attacks are connected to the victims’ profession and views be investigated. John Dalhuisen, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe said, “These fresh assaults should not be left to join a long list of unsolved crimes against journalists and civil society activists. They must be investigated, and those responsible brought to justice, including any people who ordered the attacks.”

Joel Simon, the executive director for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement, “By failing to prosecute those who have carried out crimes against journalists in the past — including 19 murders committed in the Putin era — the Russian government has created a climate of impunity.” He added, “Government statements and expressions of sympathy are simply not sufficient. Arrests, prosecutions and convictions are what are urgently needed.”

According to CPJ reports, Russia is one of the world’s most dangerous nations for reporters.

For more information, please see:

NYT — Russia: Brutally Beaten Journalist Regains Consciousness, Wife Says — 12 November 2010

GUARDIAN — Russian journalist attacked with iron bar regains consciousness — 12 November 2010

GUARDIAN — Global newspapers to Russia’s president – start protecting journalists — 10 November 2010

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL — Greater protection for Russian journalists urged — 8 November 2010

NYT — Video of Russian Journalist’s Beating — 8 November 2010

BBC — Russian president vows action after reporters attacked — 8 November 2010

CNN — Russian journalist in critical condition after attack — 7 November 2010

AP — Russian reporter in coma after beating in Moscow — 6 November 2010

NYT — Russian Journalist Beaten in Moscow — 6 November 2010

BBC — Leading Russian reporter Oleg Kashin attacked in Moscow — 6 November 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England — A lawyer representing more than 200 Iraqi civilians told the high court in London on Friday that the Iraqis suffered systematic mistreatment and torture by British soldiers in a secret prison near Basra. The lawyer called this “Britain’s Abu Ghraib.” These allegations come not longer after secret UK military training aids advocating abuse and even torture were leaked to a newspaper.

Michael Fordham, a lawyer for the former detainees, told the court that the abuse of detainees began when British forces first entered Iraq in March 2003 until they withdrew from Iraq in 2009. According to the New York Times, Fordham claimed the former detainees had experienced “beatings, starvation, sleep deprivation, electric shocks, prolonged periods of nakedness and sexual humiliation by female soldiers, sensory deprivation through the enforced use of hoods, earmuffs and blackened goggles, and exposure to pornographic DVDs.”

The solicitors representing the former detainees submitted video footage which they say substantiate the allegations. The interrogators themselves filmed over 1,200 videos, and 13 of them were submitted to the panel of three High Court judges.

One of the videos, which can be viewed on the Guardian’s website, shows two interrogators screaming obscenities at a detainee. The interrogators ignore the man when he says he has not been allowed to sleep, and that he has not had food or drink in two days. One of the interrogators threatens the man with execution. The lawyers for the detainees claim that the man was beaten severely after he was led away from the camera, as evidenced by the muffled sounds at the end of the video.

The hearing before the high court is expected to last three days, at which time the court will have to decide whether or not to overrule two successive British governments, as well as military commanders, who have previously refused to initiate a public inquiry. Opponents of an inquiry have claimed that past reports of abuse of detainees were individual incidents, the result of a few bad apples as opposed to systemic, command-approved abuse.

Phil Shiner, a lawyer for the former detainees, believes that it’s “nonsense” to claim it’s a case of a few bad apples. He also asserts that people at the highest level of government knew what was going on, and only a public inquiry will shed light on the truth of the matter.

“We want accountability, reparations and an apology,” Mr. Shiner said. “There are lessons that have to be learned.”

For more information, please see:

BBC — Iraqi civilians systematically abused, court hears — 5 November 2010

NYT — British Troops Accused of Abusing Iraqi Detainees — 5 November 2010

GUARDIAN — Iraqi prisoners were abused at ‘UK’s Abu Ghraib’, court hears — 5 November 2010

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England — UK military interrogation training manuals told interrogators to use techniques such as enforced nakedness and sleep deprivation in what is an apparent violation of international law, according to a recent newspaper report. In the exclusive report, the Guardian made public the information contained in secret military interrogation training aids and manuals from 2005 and 2008, as well as more recent materials.

The manuals advocate methods to promote humiliation, insecurity, exhaustion, and fear in the prisoners before and during questioning. A PowerPoint training aid from September 2005 obtained by the Guardian says “Get them naked. Keep them naked if they do not follow commands.” A manual from 2008 also advocated enforced nakedness. The training materials tell interrogators to remove the prisoner’s clothes and then search behind his foreskin and spread his buttocks. According to the Guardian, “[t]his is part of the conditioning process, rather than as a security measure.”

More recent training materials tell interrogators that blindfolds, earmuffs, and plastic handcuffs are necessary tools to be used in interrogation. Also, although the prisoner must be allowed to rest for eight hours in every 24 hours, only four hours of that is required to be unbroken sleep. Additionally, there is a section in the training materials entitled, “positional asphyxiation – signs and symptoms”.

The Guardian makes the claim that these abusive techniques violate the 1949 Geneva conventions which prohibit any “physical or moral coercion,” as well as coercion used to get information.

This report comes at an especially sensitive time. WikiLeaks recently published secret U.S. files from the war in Iraq showing coalition forces ignored torture conducted by Iraq security forces. In addition, the high court in London will hear arguments next month from the lawyers representing more than 100 Iraqis who claim they were held and tortured during interrogation by British forces between March 2003 and April 2007.

Reuters quoted a defense ministry spokesman as saying, “There are ongoing enquiries precisely to establish the previous and current basis for how we conduct our detention operations.”  The spokesman added, “The military … is committed to constantly trying to improve these parts of its operations.”

According to the Guardian, [a]ddressing the legal status of detainees who may later face prosecution, the [training] material states: “Let the judicial process deal with them after you have finished.”
For more information, please see:

REUTERS — UK military interrogations ‘may break Geneva rules’ — 26 October 2010

TELEGRAPH — British interrogation techniques advice ‘included sensory deprivation’ — 26 October 2010

GUARDIAN — Humiliate, strip, threaten: UK military interrogation manuals discovered — 25 October 2010