By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Survivors of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre filed suit against the Dutch government, arguing that Dutch peacekeepers should have prevented the bloodshed.

On 11 July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces overran the town of Srebrenica, a UN-protected safe haven for Muslims. General Ratko Mladic’s troops moved by lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers in the safe area, where thousands of Muslims gathered for protection. As days followed, nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered and their bodies dumped in mass graves. The event has been called the worst bloodshed on European soil since World War II.

Mladic, dubbed the Butcher of Bosnia, and former Bosnian Serb political chief Radovan Karadzic are facing charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Hague.

In 2007, a victims’ group, the Mothers of Srebrenica brought suit in connection with the massacre. The Mothers of Srebrenica represents about 6,000 widows and victims’ relatives. They have been seeking justice for several years for the massacre, which the UN’s International Court of Justice has ruled genocide.

“They did not prevent the murder of thousands of civilians,” the group’s lawyer Marco Gerritsen told the Hague court, where the case is being heard.

“The Mothers of Srebrenica want the responsibility of the Dutch to be recognised and then compensation, even though this is less important to them,” said Semir Guzin, another victims’ lawyer.

“Of course, this procedure is not going to give us our sons and husbands back, but will bring a bit of justice,” Hatidza Mehmedovic, one of about a dozen representatives of the Mothers present at the hearing.

In 2013, the European Court for Human Rights ruled against the Mothers of Srebrenica, stating that the United Nations had immunity.

However, in September 2013, the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the government to pay damages to victims’ relatives. Those victims had been handed over to Bosnian Serb forces by Dutch soldiers. More recently, the Dutch state’s lawyer argued that the Netherlands had no direct control over the Dutch peacekeeping unit during the operation. Civil proceedings against the Dutch state had been put on hold pending the outcome of the case against the UN.

“It is about Dutch soldiers, but Dutch soldiers wearing blue helmets and therefore completely under UN control,” Gert-Jan Houtzagers told the court. “Dutchbat did what it could with a handful of men. They tried to protect as many refugees as possible. That didn’t work, but it’s twisting the facts to say they [Dutchbat] led people like lambs to the slaughter.”

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Srebrenica Survivors Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Deutsche Welle – Srebrenica Relatives Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Guardian – Srebrenica Massacre Survivors Take Legal Action against Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

Washington Post – Srebrenica Widows Sue Dutch Government – April 7, 2014

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MADRID, Spain – Two Spanish journalists that were detained for over six months in Syria finally arrived back in Spain on Sunday.

El Mundo staff correspondent Javier Espinosa and freelance photographer Ricardo Garcia Vilanova were both reunited with friends and family on the tarmac of the of the Torrejon de Ardoz military airport in Madrid.

The two journalists had were kidnapped back in September at the Tal Abyad checkpoint in the Syrian province of Raqqa. They were close to the Turkish border, and had been prepared to leave Syria after covering the situation for two weeks. The kidnappers were thought to be members of a group linked to al Qaeda and Syria and had not revealed their demands to free the two journalists.

“We want to thank everyone who has worried about us and who has made it possible for us to return home, and as you can see, we are perfectly well,” Espinosa stated at the airport on Sunday.

The two men later went to the El Mundo newsroom where they were greeted with ovation and tears of joy. “Thank you so much. I’m sorry for what we have made you go through,” Espinosa stated to those gathered in the newsroom.

El Mundo had reported early Sunday that the two men had been freed in Syria, but it did not delve into any details of their release.

Espinosa, 49, and Garcia, 42, have both traveled to Syria many times, often together. Garcia had been traveling with Espinosa even though he was not on assignment for El Mundo. Espinosa was previously kidnapped while covering the conflict in Sierra Leone, and Garcia was kidnapped in 2012 in Syria for nearly two weeks. In 2012, Espinosa was in a make-shift press center in Baba Amr in the province of Homs, where correspondent Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times of London and French photographer Remi Ochlik were both killed.

The most recent kidnappers of the two stated that they wanted to make sure that the two men were not spies. Espinosa and Garcia had been traveling with four fighters from the Free Syrian Army, who were also kidnapped, but they were released twelve days later.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Spanish Journalists Home After Syria Ordeal – 30 March 2014

BBC News – Syria Crisis: Freed Spanish Journalists Back in Spain – 30 March 2014

CNN – Report: 2 Spanish Journalists Kidnapped in Syria Arrive Home – 30 March 2014

Fox News – 2 Spanish Journalists Freed From Captivity in Syria – 30 March 2014

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, United Kingdom – Britain recognized same-sex marriages at midnight on 29 March 2014, a historic change that many couples did not wait until dawn to celebrate.

Around the 1980s, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government passed a law that banned schools and local authorities from “promoting” homosexuality or depicting it as “a pretended family relationship.”

In 2003, Britain repealed that law without the large street protests against same-sex marriage that appeared in France. By 2005, British law provided a civil partnership that provided same-sex couples all legal protections and rights afforded heterosexual married partners, except for the label of marriage.

And in July 2013, Parliament legalized same-sex marriage by a wide margin, with the backing of Prime Minister David Cameron, who stated that no two people should be denied the right to marriage based on their sexuality. Polls demonstrated that two-thirds of Britons—especially young adult Britons—supported same-sex unions. However, BBC research suggested that a quarter of the women and half of the men surveyed would turn down an invitation to a same-sex wedding.

At midnight on 29 March 2014, Britain’s new same-sex marriage law came into effect. Couples began celebrating Britain’s first same-sex marriages within minutes. One marriage, that of Londoners Sean Adl-Tabatabai and Sinclair Treadway, included approximately one hundred guests at a town hall in Camden, and concluded at 12:10 a.m. Camden Mayor Jonathan Simpson officiated the ceremony. Adl-Tabatabai and Treadway emerged to loud applause, as well as Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You, Babe.”

“It’s amazing and surreal,” Adl-Tabatabai said. “It did feel like a historic moment.”

“For the first time, the couples getting married won’t just include men and women – but men and men, and women and women,” Cameron said in a statement. “When people’s love is divided by law, it is the law that needs to change.”

“What has amazed me is how much of Britain, how quickly, has moved toward backing us on this,” said columnist and former Conservative lawmaker Matthew Parris.

Britain exempted religious groups from conducting same-sex weddings, unless a group chose to opt in. While Quakers and Liberal Judaism have opted to conduct same-sex weddings, the Church of England, the country’s biggest faith, does not conduct same-sex weddings.

“These weddings will send a powerful signal to every young person growing up to be lesbian, gay or bisexual – you can be who you are and love who you love, regardless of your sexual orientation,” said Ruth Hunt, acting Chief Executive for leading gay rights charity Stonewall.

Scottish law will begin recognizing same-sex marriages in October 2014.

For further information, please see:

Aljazeera – UK Holds First Gay Marriage Ceremonies – March 29, 2014

BBC News – Swansea and Caerphilly Couples among First in UK to Have Same-Sex Weddings – March 29, 2014

Independent – Gay marriage: ‘When People’s Love Is Divided by Law, It Is the Law That Needs to Change,’ Says David Cameron as First Same-Sex Couples Tie Knot – March 29, 2014

Irish Times – First Gay Couples Marry in UK at Stroke of Midnight – March 29, 2014

TIMES – First Couples Wed as Gay Marriage Becomes Legal in UK – March 29, 2014

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ANKARA, Turkey – A Turkish court ordered the country’s Telecommunications Authority to restore access to Twitter throughout the country through a court-issued injunction.

Five days ago, the Telecommunications Authority blocked access to Twitter throughout the entire country. The social network had been a large source of links that provided recordings implicating government corruption. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened to “rip out the roots” of the social network, and accordingly ordered the Telecommunications Authority to block the website. The Telecommunications Authority had accused Twitter of not following Turkish court orders to remove certain content from the website.

Since the enactment of the Twitter-ban, lawyers, opposition parties, and journalists both inside and outside the country had advocated for the abolishment of the ban. Pro-Twitter advocates contended that the ban was unconstitutional. The ban drew a lot of international criticism and many Turkish Twitter users found ways to access Twitter during the ban. The Turkish President Abdullah Gul tweeted his opposition to the blockage after it was enacted.

The administrative court in Ankara based its decision on Wednesday on freedom of expression and the right to communicate freely, both of which are cited in the country’s Constitution, as well as the European Convention on Human Rights.

Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc stated that the Telecommunications Authority would obey Wednesday’s court decision after it received official notice from the administrative court, but that it was reserving the right to appeal the decision. An anonymous government source stated that the Authority has thirty days to implement the court’s decision.

This upcoming Sunday, Turkey will be holding elections which are being regarded as a referendum on Prime Minister Erdogan’s time in office. During a recent election rally in northern Turkey, Prime Minister Erdogan accused opposition parties and media who criticized the Twitter ban of being the “advocate of companies who don’t recognize Turkey’s laws and treat Turkey as a Third World country.” Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag stated that the Telecommunications Authority had been merely implementing court orders: “Is it against the Constitution to implement court orders?”

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Turkish Court Orders Halt to Twitter Ban – 26 March 2014

Al Jazeera – Turkish Court Orders Halt to Twitter Ban – 26 March 2014

BBC News – Court in Turkey Suspends Ban on Twitter – 26 March 2014

Reuters – Turkish Court Upholds Appeal Against Twitter Blockage-Media – 26 March 2014

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELBEK, Crimea – Russia stormed one of the last military facilities still under Ukrainian control in Crimea, amidst a growing search for stability in the region.

On 21 March 2014, Crimea’s military bases were still formally under Ukrainian control, but most are now occupied by Russian troops and fly Russia’s tricolor flag. Except for a Ukrainian serviceman who was killed and two others who were wounded in a shooting in Simferopol, the Russian takeover of Crimea has been largely bloodless.

On 22 March 2014, according to Deputy Commander Oleg Podovalov, Russian forces surrounding Belbek, a Ukrainian airbase in Crimea, and gave the Ukrainians an hour to surrender. Later, Russian troops forced their way into the base with armored vehicles, automatic fire and stun grenades. Belbek was one of the last military facilities in Crimea still under Ukrainian control after Russia annexed the peninsula.

Prior to the Russians storming the base, Mamchur had ordered his men to their stations. But those at the gate were armed only with sticks. On demand of parley to a Russian officer, Ukrainians were ordered to leave because the base belonged to Russia. On demand for documents proving that the base belonged to Russia, the Russian officer replied, “When was the last time you watched television?”

A Ukrainian serviceman was injured, and the base’s commander, Colonel Yuliy Mamchur, was detained for talks at an unspecified location.

“We have done everything we could,” Mamchur told his men after the Russians took over the base. “You acted with honor. There is nothing we should be ashamed of.”

Mamchur told his troops he would inform the high command that they had stood their ground. The soldiers applauded, chanting “Long live Ukraine!”

Many stood to take pictures of each other in front of the Ukrainian flag, which continued to fly over the base.

After the Russians entered, a Ukrainian officer who identified himself only as Vladislav said: “We did not provoke this, this was brute force. I do not know whether this base will be formally in Russian hands by the end of the day. Ever since World War Two, this place has been quiet, and they came in here firing, with APCs and grenades. I am very worried now.”

British Prime Minister David Cameron said, and other European leaders echoed, that the best rebuke to Russia would be a strong Ukraine. The EU also sought to bolster other potentially vulnerable nations in Russia’s shadow, signaling that the bloc would tighten relations with Georgia and Moldova.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Russian Troops Storm Ukrainian Bases in Crimea – March 22, 2014

Deutsch Welle — Shots Fired as Troops Enter Ukrainian Base Belbek in Crimea – March 22, 2014

Reuters – Shots Fired as Russian Troops Force Their Way into Ukrainian Base in Crimea – March 22, 2014

Washington Post – Russian Forces Storm Ukrainian Air Base in Crimea – March 22, 2014