By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

TATARYA VILLAGE, Belarus – A Belarusian laborer who claims that he was tortured into confessing to a murder is facing a looming state execution.  Vasily Yusepchuk was convicted on June 29 by the Brest Regional Court for allegedly murdering six elderly woman.  The deadline for staying the execution of Yusepchuk passed on Tuesday, as the Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko did not grant a pardon to Yusepchuk.

The use of capital punishment has been outlawed in every European nation other than Belarus.  And in recent years Belarus has decreased its use of the practice.  In 2008 only 4 people were executed by the state and only two so far this year.  Critics of Yusepchuk’s conviction, including the Council of Europe, have pointed out that Belarusian judges have been pressured in the past to sentence to death defendants against whom there was questionable evidence.

“We are deeply concerned that Vasily Yusepchuk…may face imminent execution after the Belarus Supreme Court has rejected his appeal against the death penalty.”

The calls from human rights organizations to pardon Yusepchuk comes at the time when the Belarusian President has been attempting to court favor with the west.

Medical experts for Yusepchuk have stated that the confession that Yusepchuk gave to police was a result of torture.  Amnesty International has confirmed that Yusepchuk was beaten twice will being detained prior to trial.  Additionally, other international human rights organizations have noted that Yusepchuk is illiterate and “under torture…could have confessed to anything.”

Yusepchuk’s mother believes that her son’s conviction came about as a result of his Gypsy ethnicity, also known as Roma.

Growing outcry in the face of the execution has surfaced in a number of European cities.  Protesters gathered outside of the Belarus embassy in Moscow on Thursday to protest Yusepchuk upcoming execution, as well as the continued use of the death penalty by Russia’s western neighbor.

For more information, please see:

CBS NEWS – Gypsy Laborer Face Execution In Belarus – 13 October 2009

THE OLYMPIAN – Gypsy laborer faces execution in Belarus – 13 October 2009

WORLD AP – Gypsy laborer faces execution in Belarus – 13 October 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – Under a recently passed law it will now be illegal for any member of the Belarusian military to be a member of a political party.

The new statute was passed by the parliament of Belarus on October 8.  The nation’s Defense Minister noted that “without doubt, one in active military service must suspend his activities in political parties since the moment of call-up and till the end of the service.”  In the future any soldier who refuses to surrender their membership will be subject to penalties.

Critics say that the law was passed as a way to silence political oppositions leaders already in the military and draft leaders of political opposition movements into the military, thereby at least temporarily removing them from the nation’s political atmosphere.  In the past the military had opted not to draft political opponents.

The new law also contains a provision that bans soldiers from participating in strikes during their service and increasing existing restrictions on soldiers’ traveling.  Soldiers were already prohibited from joining general public organizations that had political aims.

One of those activists who have been affected by Belarus’s recent crackdown on opposition leaders is Andrei Tsyanyuta.  Tsyanyuta recently appeared in district trial for “failing to appear in the military enlistment.”  Andrei claims that despite being a university student, he has been unable to receive a deferment.  He claims that his political activities caused him to lose his status as a student.

For more information, please see:

DEMOCRATIC BELARUS – Belarusian Soldiers To Be Punished For Political Party Membership – 9 October 2009

RFL – Belarusian Soldiers To Be Punished For Political Party Membership – 9 October 2009

NAVINY – Conscript soldiers to face penalties for political activities – 9 October 2009

HUMAN RIGHTS CENTER – Soldiers will be punished for membership in political parties? – 8 October 2009

CHAPTER 97 – Oppositionist Andrei Tsyanyuta to stand trial for nonappearance in military enlistment office – 25 August 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – The Constitutional Court in Italy began hearing arguments on Tuesday as to whether the legal immunity that was given to Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is in violation of the nation’s constitution.  The court’s final ruling could have far reaching political implications for the Prime Minister.

The law in question, also known as the Alfano Law, protects the top four national public officials, including the Prime Minister, President, and the Speakers of both Houses of Parliament, from prosecution while they hold office.  This law was passed by political supporters of the Prime Minister in the Italian parliament soon after his re-election.

Prior to the passage of the immunity laws, there were numerous legal proceedings pending against Berlusconi.  Those actions include an allegation that Berlusconi bribed a British lawyer to give false testimony to protect the Prime Minister’s business interests.  Other cases involved tax fraud, false accounting, and domestic corruption charges.  Yet another claim was concluded prior to the passage of the immunity law, where a Milan court imposed damages against Berlusconi’s family for attempting to bribe a judge.  Prosecutors in Milan and Palermo are also investigating the Prime Minister’s alleged ties to organized crime.  These legal actions will recommence if the Alfano Law is struck down.

The opponents of the immunity law allege that the law was passed with the specific intention to protect Berlusconi from looming legal entanglements.

Berlusconi has denied wrongdoing in all of the allegations against him and has expressed no intention of considering resignation in the event the immunity law is struck down.  Despite continued allegations of corruption through his term as Prime Minister, Berlusconi has maintained a domestic approval rating above 50 percent.

The 15-member Court is expected to announce its verdict within two weeks.  In the event that the Court upholds the immunity, political opponents have announced the possibility of pushing for a national referendum on the law.

For more information, please see:

CNN – Court to rule on Berlusconi’s immunity law – 6 October 2009

FINANCIAL TIMES – Italy’s top court weighs Berlusconi’s immunity – 6 October 2009

REUTERS – Italy’s top court debates Berlusconi immunity law – 6 October 2009

TELEGRAPH – Silvio Berlusconi’s lawyers: Italian PM is above the law – 9 October 2009

THE TIMES – Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi ‘could resign’ if immunity law struck down – 18 September 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter

PRISTINA, Kosovo – Three former Kosovo guerrilla fighters were sentenced by a European Union court on Friday in connection with war crimes during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War.  Each of the fighters had fought in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) during the separatist conflict against Serbian forces.

The EU Rule-of-Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which is in charge of certain war crimes prosecutions, concluded that the three men had participated in the torturing and detention of civilian victims, notably ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.  According to a EU court spokesman, the three were guilty of “war crimes through inhumane treatment of civilian detainees and…beating and torture of civilian detainees.”

Latif Gasgi, Nazif Mehmetim, and Rrustem Mustafa had originally been sentenced in 2003, but two years later a retrial was ordered by the Kosovo Supreme Court.  Gasgi and Mehmeti were sentenced to six and three years respectively, while Mustafa was sentenced to four years in prison.

One incident on which the charges were founded occurred on in July of 1998.  Gasgi, while stationed at a checkpoint in central Kosovo, opened fire on a civilian Kosovo Albanian family after they failed to stop at the checkpoint.  These acts fell within the definition of the war crimes.  “Gasgi committed the criminal offence of war crime against the civilian population, punishable by Kosovo and international law.”

These convictions come on the heels of the EU arresting four Serbians who allegedly committed war crimes during the Kosovo war.

Mustafa is currently a official in the Kosovo parliament and has been a leading political figure in the Democratic Party of Kosovo.  He was also the commander of the KLA during the Kosovo War.

For more information, please read:

AP – Court in Kosovo convicts 3 ex-rebels of war crimes – 2 October 2009

RADIO NEDERLAND – Kosovo jails 3 ex-fighters for war crimes – 2 October 2009

REUTERS – Kosovo jails 3 ex-fighters for 1998-99 war crimes – 2 October 2009

TAIWAN NEWS – Court in Kosovo convicts 3 ex-rebels of war crimes – 2 October 2009

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia – On Monday a Serbian court convicted Bosnian security officer Ilija Jurisic of ordering an attack that killed approximately 50 soldiers in 1992.  Jurisic was sentenced to 12 years in prison for war crimes.

The War Crimes Chamber of the Belgrade District Court for War Crimes concluded that Jurisic, a citizen of both of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had ordered the attack on a column of Serbian soldiers as they withdrew from the Bosnian town of Tuzla in May, 1992.  This decision, which found improper battlefield conduct, killed 50 Yugoslavian soldiers while injuring another 44.

Bosnian officials have claimed that it was the Yugoslavian soldiers that first fired in this event.  Jurisic’s lawyer has labeled the court’s verdict ‘scandalous’.

Jurisic’s trial has strained already fragile relations between Bosnia’s Muslim and Serbian populations.  The Bosnian war, which continued the breakup of the old Yugoslavia, began in 1992 after Croats and Muslims in Bosnia voted to split off from the Serbian-led Yugoslavia.  Fighting came to an end in 1995 through the Dayton Accords.  Since he capture by Serbian authorities, Bosnia has demanded Jurisic’s release from a trial that it believes is politically motivated.

Jurisic maintained throughout the trial that he was innocent of the charges.  Prior to the start of the trial in February of 2008, Jurisic was detained for two and a half years.  He had been arrested by Serbian authorities while on a business trip in Belgrade.

Following the Serbian court’s verdict there were protests on Tuesday involving thousands of ethnic Bosnians in Tuzla.

For more information, please see:

B92 – Protests in Tuzla over Jurisic verdict – 29 September 2009

BALKANINSIGHT – Jurisic Sentenced to 12 Years – 29 September 2009

BLIC Online – Jurisic sentenced to 12 years in prison – 29 September 2009

SETIMES – Serbia sentences Bosnian for war crimes – 29 September 2009

AP – Bosnian jailed in Serbia for war crimes – 28 September 2009

REUTERS – Serbia jails Bosnian Croat for 1992 war crimes – 28 September 2009