By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BUCHAREST, Romania – The Romanian Constitutional Court announced, amid allegations of voting fraud, that 138,000 previously voided votes from Sunday’s presidential runoff election will be recounted.

The Constitutional Court, in a released statement, explained that “the court decided by a majority of votes to re-examine the annulled votes and have the [Romanian] Central Election Bureau recount them to establish whether there are any differences between the signed ballots and reality.”

The final vote initially indicated that Romanian President Triain Basescu had defeated the Social Democratic Party candidate Mircea Geoana by approximately 70,000 votes, less than 1% of the 10.4 million votes cast.  Geoana and the Social Democratic Party have called for a new election as a result of alleged ballot stuffing, multiple voting and bribing.  Following the election results were announced, both leading candidates claimed victory.

It is unlikely that the results of the recount will overturn Basescu’s victory in a election that was called following the collapse of the coalition government of Prime Minister Emil Boc since October.  Until a victor is named in this presidential election, however, a new prime minister can’t be named or a federal government formed.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, a regional election monitoring group, initially approved of the election practices.  “The conduct of the second round confirms our initial assessment that this election was held generally in line with OSCE commitments.”

Nevertheless, immediately following the election, Geoana called for the recount.  “The required democratic solution is to contest the outcome of election at the Constitutional Court.”

For more information, please see:

AP – Romania’s court orders void votes re-examined – 12 December 2009

FINANCIAL TIMES – Romanian Court orders recount of votes – 12 December 2009

BBC – Romania court orders recount of void votes – 11 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Romania: Court Rules on Vote – 11 December 2009

REUTERS – Romanian court calls partial recount in runoff – 11 December 2009

REUTERS – Basescu wins Romanian election, rivals cry foul – 7 December 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch, Reporter

STRASBOURG, France – The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will hear an action on Wednesday brought by three Irish women, alleging that Ireland’s abortion ban has put their health and well-being at risk.

Abortion was originally banned and the procedure criminalized in Ireland in 1861 by the Offences against the Person Act.  A 1992 Ireland Supreme Court ruling legalized abortions when there was a “real and substantial risk to the life of the mother.”  This exemption included the risk of potential suicide on the part of the woman.  There has still been no statutory language from the national government to clearly establish the correct application and scope of that court decision.  Ireland is a signatory to the ECHR.

All three women involved in this case were forced to travel to England to obtain an abortion.  According to the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA), since 1980 138,000 women have been forced to travel abroad from Ireland to gain access to an abortion.  This has resulted in “extreme…physical, financial and emotional hardship” on the women affected.  IFPA noted that the Irish abortion ban goes “against the majority of [Irish] citizens…[are] broadly in favor of liberalising the law.”

The Ireland Attorney General, Paul Gallagher, is heading the legal team that will represent the official state position in front of the ECHR.  He is expected to argue that Ireland is “entitled to rely on the ‘margin of appreciation doctrine'”.  Traditionally, this doctrine has allowed individual member states to have a degree of discretion in interpreting the ECHR’s law differently than other states.  Additionally, since domestic alternatives to the issue at hand have not been exhausted, the ECHR lacks jurisdiction.

The Irish women who brought the case are supported by the IFPA.  Their argument centers on a claim that the Irish abortion ban violates numerous provisions of ECHR, including Article 2 (right to Life), Article 3 (prohibition of Torture), Article 8 (Right to Respect for Family and Private Life) and Article 14 (Prohibition of Discrimination).

If their claim is successful it would create minimum degree of access for women, not just in Ireland but all signatory nations, to an abortion that has the purpose of protecting the woman’s health and well-being.

For more information, please see:

IRISH EXAMINER – Criticism ahead of abortion ban fight – 8 December 2009

TAIWAN NEWS – European Court of Human Rights puts pro-life Ireland in hot seat – 8 December 2009

INDEPENDENT – State defends ban on abortion as women take case to Europe – 7 December 2009

THE GUARDIAN – Women challenge Irish abortion ban in court – 7 December 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MUNICH, Germany – The trial of a former Nazi prison guard who has been charged with the murders of thousands of Jews at a Polish camp was postponed on Wednesday because of a medical infection.

The judge of the Munich Court determined that the 89-year old John Demjanjuk was not medically capable to attend the court proceedings.  Demjanjuk had attended the first few days of hearings, albeit in a hospital bed.  Because of a worsening infection, however, prison doctors advised against transporting him to the courtroom.  The trial has been scheduled to resume Dec. 21.

During the first few days of the trial, Demjanjuk did not say anything.  While there he was either in a hospital bed or wheelchair.  He has maintained his denial in playing any role in the killings at the Sobibordeath camp in Poland in 1943.  Demjanjuk claims that during that time he was a Soviet prisoner of war in a German camp.

Originally born in Ukraine, Demjanjuk was a soldier in the Russian army before being captured by Nazis.  He then worked as a prison camp guard.  After the war, he was able to emigrate to the United States.  In 1986 the United States deported him to Israel and subsequently sentenced to death in 1988.  His conviction was overturned, however, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

In 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice revoked his citizenship for lying when he first arrived in the country about his past as a Nazi.  Until he was extradited in May from the United States he had been living in Ohio.  Following his extradition to Germany, he was formally charged with 27,900 counts of being accessory to murder.

For more information, please see:

AP – Demjanuk trial day canceled due to illness – 2 December 2009

JTA – Illness forces Demjanjuk trial postponement – 2 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Germany: Demjanjuk Trial Delayed – 2 December 2009

REUTERS – German court cancels third day of Demjanjuk trial – 2 December 2009

RTT NEWS – Demjanjuk’s War Crimes Trial Postponed Due To Illness – 2 December 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – The trial for Serbian nationalist Vojislav Seselj has been scheduled to begin again in January.  This comes after the trial was suspended last year after the prosecution raised questions regarding the reliability of witnesses.

Seselj is charged with the torture and killing of non-Serbians, including Bosnians and Croatians from to 1993 while the leader of the Serbian Radical Party (SRS).  Seeslj was also a supporter and friend of former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milsoevic.  The war crimes for which he has been charged were allegedly committed by volunteers recruited by the SRS.

After a number of witnesses for the prosecution declared that they wished to testify on behalf of Seselj, instead of the prosecution, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia relinquished authority over the case which originally began in November of 2007.  The court was concerned at the time there may have been witness intimidation.  The case was then transferred to The Hague.

Although the would not go into further detail, the judges overseeing the case stated that “new facts have emerged which need to be taken into account.”  The court has also taken additional measures to ensure the “efficient protection of the security of the victims and witnesses.”  The protected witnesses will now be called to give testimony directly to the court, rather than allowing them to be called by either party.  The trial is scheduled to begin again on January 12, 2010.

The allegations of witness intimidation is not the first hurdle in the nearly six years since Seselj’s surrender to authorities in February of 2003.  This past July Seselj was convicted to contempt of court for publicly releasing the name of a witness whose identity was being kept secret by the court.  He was sentenced to a year and half in jail that violation.  In 2006, he commenced a hunger strike after a court failed to agree to demands his made regarding his legal representation.  Seselj has since decided to represent himself at trial.

For more information, please see:

AP – Serb nationalist’s war crimes trial to resume – 25 November 2009

JAVNO – Serb leader’s war crimes trial set to resume – 25 November 2009

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Suspended Seselj War Crime Trail To Resume – 25 November 2009

SETIMES – Seselj’s Hague trial to resume in January – 25 November 2009

ADNKRONOS – Netherlands: War Crimes trial of Serbian leader to resume – 24 November 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MADRID, Spain – On Thursday Spanish police arrested 36 members of Segi, a youth group with ties to ETA across the Basque and Navarre regions.

These arrests were part of a larger investigation coordinated by Supreme Court Judge Fernando Grande-Marlaska and the Spanish government targeting the separatist movement in the region.  The youth suspects, including suspected leaders of Segi have allegedly been involved with militant activities associated with the larger goals of ETA.  According to Spanish officials, Segi followers have also been involved in acts of vandalism and attacks on government buildings, banks and opposing political parties.  Segi was outlawed by the Spanish government in 2007.  In addition to documents and computers, explosive-making materials were also confiscated in the police raids that included 46 houses.

There has been a ceasefire in place between ETA (meaning Euskadi ta Askatasuna, or “Basque Homeland and Liberty”) and the Spanish central government since 2007.  ETA, which was founded in 1959 to achieve independence for the mountainous region along the border between France and Spain, has been listed as a terrorist organization by the Spain, as well as the United States and the European Union.  It has been weakened in recent years, however, by the increased efforts of law enforcement in France and Spain.

According to Christian Aguerre, a former journalist who has covered the ETA movement, stated that despite these efforts, it would be difficult to ever completely eradicate the Basque separatist movement since the nationalist ideals will always draw in new members.  However, waning support for ETA was evident in the recent elections, when a non-nationalist party gained power in the Basque region parliament for the first time in decades.

For more information, please see:

BARCELONA REPORTER – 34 Basque separatists suspected supporters of ETA detained – 24 November 2009

CANADIAN PRESS – Spanish police arrest 34 suspected ETA supporters – 24 November 2009

CNN – Dozens arrested over ‘Basque separatist ties’ – 24 November 2009

EITB – Basque operation against Segi: 36 arrests made – 24 November 2009

IOL – 36 arrested over ETA-link youth group – 24 November 2009

VOICE OF AMERICA – Spanish Police Arrest Suspected ETA Members – 24 November 2009