Europe

Swedish Oil Company Accused Of Crimes Against Humanity

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Swedens Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, who left Lundins board of directors in 2006, is the focus of accusations. Photo courtesy of The Christian Science Monitor
Photo: Swedens Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt, who left Lundins board of directors in 2006, is the focus of accusations. Source: Christian Science Monitor
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Sweden’s public prosecutor, Magnus Evling, opened a criminal investigation on June 21st after a report was published alleging possible complicity in atrocities in Sudan by Swedish firm Lundin Petroleum.

The report stated that Lundin Petroleum may have been complicit in “war crimes and crimes against humanity.”  According to Mr. Evling, “the purpose of the inquiry is to investigate whether there are individuals with ties to Sweden who are suspected of involvement in crime.”  Carl Bildt, who left Lundin’s board of directors in 2006 to become Sweden’s minister of foreign affairs, is currently the focus of accusations.  This case raises questions about international obligations of corporations to safeguard human rights in conflict zones.

The investigation into the alleged activity, which occurred between 1997 and 2003, is the product of a report by the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan(ECOS), a group of 50 European NGOs.  ECOS claims that the problems began in 1997 when Lundin Consortium signed a 1997 agreement with Sudan’s government for the exploitation of oil in an area where the government lacked “full control.”

ECOS claims that the civilian population was forcibly displaced and victimized during the government’s efforts to secure the oil fields.  It is estimated that 12,000 people died and 160,000 were forcibly displaced through the efforts of the Sudanese government. According to Said Mahmoudi, professor of International Law at Stockholm University, “there is evidence that Lundin knew about what was happening, and they just closed their eyes simply because it was a question of millions and millions of dollars.”  Lundin Petroleum denies any violation of international law.

One of the goals of ECOS in producing the report is the creation of effective “limits for companies working in these types of conflict areas with regimes that are committing human rights violations.”  ECOS Coordinator Egbert Wesselink stated that “in some parts of the world, many companies are effectively working in a legal void because there is no functioning legal system.”  ECOS suggests that a possible remedy for this would be the enforcement of national laws by corporations’ home countries.  Mr. Wesselink noted that enforcement mechanisms are already in place, citing the Rome Statute and the International Criminal Court, but the idea “has to be transferred to corporations and the people leading them.”

Concerning  Sudanese victims, there is precedent from the Bosnian conflict, where an international commission was set up to compensate victims.  Furthermore, the Sudanese Constitution states that signatories to oil agreements are responsible for providing compensation.  Even if compensation is provided at some point, it is likely that fair allocation of will be logistically impossible.


For more information, please see:

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR – Swedish oil company under scrutiny after Sudan war crimes report – 22 June 2010

REUTERS – Prosecutor probes Swedish link in Sudan crimes – 21 June 2010

STOCKHOLM NEWS – Oil company accused of war crimes – 6 June 2010

Russian Natural Gas Monopoly Raises Prices Again

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – On Monday, June 21 Russia’s state-controlled gas monopoly, Gazprom, started to limit the amount of natural gas deliveries to Belarus and warned that supplies could be reduced by as much as 85 percent during the next couple of days.  Despite talks between the two countries on Monday morning, it is reported the Belarus owes $192 million to Gazprom for gas supplied over the last six months.

Belarus offered to pay their debt through exchange of machinery, equipment, and various other products.  Russian President Dmitry Medvedev rejected Belarus’s offer and stated, “Gazprom cannot accept payment for debt in pies, butter, cheese or other means of payment.”  President Medvedev then ordered Gazprom to start restricting gas deliveries by 15% of daily deliveries starting Monday.  Belarus is a major gas transit country and provides to Central and Western Europe.  The pipelines through Belarus supply about a fifth of Russia’s gas exports westward to Europe, and provides gas to Lithuania, Poland, and Germany.

Russia has been criticized for using their energy supplies as a political weapon.  Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko refused to sign a customs union with Russia and Kazakhstan, which was planned to start July 1.  Belarus had refused to sign off on the customs reunion, in protest of Russian oil tariffs.  The proposed customs union was a Kremlin incentive that was created in 1991, in hope of solidifying a permanent economic alliance with former Soviet republics.

Belarus had previously stated that due to the customs union deal, Russia had provided them with cheap oil prices.  After the former post-Soviet ally refused to sign off on the union, Russia increased the price of gas.  Russia increased the price of gas supplied to Belarus from last year’s rate of $150 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas to $169.20 during the first quarter of 2010.  Russia further raised the price in the second quarter to $184.80.

During a news conference in Minsk, Belarusian first deputy prime minister, Vladimir Semashko, stated, “We will pay – not today perhaps, but possibly within two weeks.  We will find a way.  Maybe we will have to borrow, but we will pay.”

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Belarus ‘To Pay for Russian Gas Debt’ Within Two Weeks – 21 June 2010

The New York Times – Russia Cuts Gas Deliveries to Belarus – 21 June 2010

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty – Russia Reduces Gas Deliveries to Belarus Over Debts – 21 June 2010

RIA Novosti – Belarus Warns Europe of Possible Gas Transit Disruptions – 21 June 2010

British Soldiers Blamed in Bloody Sunday Report

by Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Photo: British soldier dragging a Catholic protester during Bloody Sunday.

DERRY, Ireland – On June 15th the British government released a report into the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, placing the blame on British soldiers who killed 14 people in Northern Ireland that day.  The report investigated the mass killing of members of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association by members of the Parachute Regiment during a march in Derry on January 30th, 1972.  It found that the British soldiers who went to the location where the march was taking place did so as a result of an order which should not have been given by their commander.  The inquiry concluded “on balance” that the first shot in the vicinity of the march was fired by British soldiers.

According to the report, none of the casualties was carrying a firearm and even though there was some shooting by IRA paramilitaries, “none of this firing provided any justification for the shooting of the civilian casualties.”  The first deputy minister in the Northern Ireland Assembly, Martin McGuinness, was present at the IRA rally, armed with a Thompson submachine gun, but the inquiry could not prove whether he fired his weapon.  The British regiment reacted to the provocation by “losing their self control…forgetting or ignoring their instructions and training.” This resulted in a “serious and widespread loss of fire discipline.”  The report states that some of those who were killed or injured were clearly fleeing from the British paratroopers or going to the assistance of others who were dying.  After the incident, many of the British soldiers involved “knowingly put forward false accounts in order to seek to justify their firing.”

The Bloody Sunday inquiry was ordered by Tony Blair in 1998 and was expected to take two years to complete.  ₤191 million and twelve years later the Saville report was finally completed. The inquiry sat at the Guildhall in Derry and Central Hall at Westminster in London to accommodate military witnesses.  In total about 2,500 people gave testimony, with 922 of these called to give oral evidence, including 505 civilians, nine experts and forensic scientists, 49 journalists, 245 military, 35 paramilitaries, 39 politicians and civil servants, seven priests and 33 Royal  Ulster Constabulary officers.  Evidence amounted to 160 volumes of data with an estimated 30 million words, 13 volumes of photographs, 121 audio tapes and 10 video tapes.

Lawyers for Bloody Sunday families are planning to press for those soldiers who opened fire, to be prosecuted for murder.  However, the Inquiry Chairmen, Lord Saville, has resisted pressure to declare that the victims had been unlawfully killed.

For more information, please see:

CNN World —  Bloody Sunday report blames british soldiers – 15 June 2010

The Daily Telegraph — Bloody Sunday Inquiry: Cameron apologises as Saville says shootings ‘unjustified’ – 15 June 2010

The Irish Times — Saville rules Bloody Sunday killings were ‘unjustifiable’ – 15 June 2010

Swiss Man Released from Libya, Returns to Switzerland

By Yoohwan Kim
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ZURICH, Switzerland – Max Göldi, a 54-year-old businessman, returned to his home in Switzerland on Monday, June 14, after being held for two years in Libya.  The Swiss foreign minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, had announced on Sunday that she had secured the release of Göldi after a diplomatic meeting with the Libyan foreign minister, Moussa Koussa.  On Monday, Calmy-Rey and the Spanish foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, accompanied Göldi back to Switzerland, where he was greeted by his family at Zurich airport.

Göldi with Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey at Zurich Airport [Photo: World Radio Switzerland]

Photo: Göldi with Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey at Zurich Airport [Source: World Radio Switzerland]

The release of Göldi marks the resolution of a dispute between Switzerland and Libya that began two years ago, when the Swiss police arrested Hannibal el-Qaddafi, the son of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi.  In July 2008, el-Qaddafi and his wife were arrested in Geneva after their servants accused the couple of beating them.  Shortly after el-Qaddafi’s arrest in Switzerland, Göldi and another Swiss businessman, Rachid Hamdani, were arrested in Libya because of alleged visa violations and illegal business activities.  Both Swiss men were prevented from leaving Libya.

After his arrest, Göldi spent time in a Libyan prison, before being released on bail and taking refuge for several months in the Swiss embassy in Tripoli.  In February 2010, Göldi was convicted and was sentenced to four months in jail, while Hamdani was acquitted.  Libyan authorities deny any formal link between el-Qaddafi’s arrest and Göldi’s arrest.

The relations between Switzerland and Libya further deteriorated after Libya cut off all oil supplies to Switzerland and withdrew assets from Swiss banks.  Colonel el-Qaddafi declared a “jihad” on Switzerland, which his officials stated he meant a trade embargo, not a holy war.  In addition, European citizens were banned for several months from visiting Libya, after the Swiss placed travel restrictions on high-ranking Libyans.

On Sunday, Calmy-Rey and Koussa signed a deal aimed to normalize ties between the two countries.  It is reported that el-Qaddafi will receive $1.5 million in compensation for alleged mistreatment by the Swiss police during his arrest.  The Swiss also apologized for the publication of a leaked police photo of el-Qaddafi while he was under arrest.  Calmy-Rey said Göldi’s release from Libya “is the start of the normalization of relations between the two countries.”  Koussa also stated that Libya is ready to move on from their strained relations.  He said, “I would like the Libyan people to forgive the Swiss people who committed this mistake against Hannibal el-Qaddafi.”

For more information, please see:

INDEPENDENT ONLINE – Goeldi Back on Home Soil – 14 June 2010

SWISSINFO – Swiss Man Flies Home After Two-Year Libya Row – 14 June 2010

WORLD RADIO SWITZERLAND – Max Göldi Returns to Switzerland – 14 June 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Switzerland Secures Release of Businessman From Libya, and Aims to Mend Ties – 13 June 2010

Seven Bosnian Serbs Convicted for 1995 Srebrenica Massacre

By Tristan Simoneau
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – On Thursday seven former Bosnian Serb military leaders were convicted for war crimes related to the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Muslim men in the former Yugoslavia.  A total of 5,300 exhibits were admitted and 315 witnesses were heard during the four-year trial, the biggest to date at the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).  Two of the military leaders, Ljubisa Beara and Vujadin Popovic,  were sentenced to life in prison by the UN court.   Beara and Popovic received life sentences for “genocide, extermination, murder, and persecution”.  The judges found they were key henchmen of commander General Ratko Mladic, who is still on the run.  Five other officers were sentenced to between 5 and 35 years for lesser crimes. The ICTY has so far indicted 21 individuals for crimes committed in Srebrenica.

The Srebrenica massacre resulted in the deaths of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys.  Most were killed while trying to escape through the woods, or arrested and then taken to places of execution before burial in mass graves.  The executions took place between July 13 and 23, 1995 after Bosnian Serb forces overran Dutch peacekeepers in the UN-protected zones of Srebrenica and Zepa.

“The scale and nature of the murder operation, with the staggering number of killings, the systematic and organized manner in which it was carried out, the targeting and relentless pursuit of the victims, and the plain intention, apparent from the evidence,  to eliminate every Bosnian Muslim male who was captured or surrendered proves beyond reasonable doubt that this was genocide,” the trial chamber found.  The five-day slaughter was the worst European massacre since World War II.

The Srebrenica massacre is part of indictments against Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, whose trial is still ongoing, and Bosnian Serb army leader Ratko Mladic, who is still being sought for genocide.  Mladic has been a fugitive for 15 years and is the most wanted man in Europe. His fugitive status is a major obstacle for Serbia’s ambitions of joining the European Union.  The Serbian Parliament officially condemned the massacre in March.

For more information, please see:

CNN –  Seven convicted over 1995 Sebrenica Massacre —  10 June 2010

INDITOP – Seven Bosnian Serbs convicted for Srebrenica Massacre — 10 June 2010

REUTERS – Bosnian Serbs convicted for Sebrenica war crimes — 10 June 2010