by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ANKARA, Turkey – Clashes between riot police and protesters occurred outside of a hospital I Turkey’s capital, where a teenager passed away nine months after being injured by police officers during a different protest.

Berkin Elvan, 15, was injured June last year when he was struck on the head by a tear-gas canister thrown by police officers to break up a demonstration in Okmeydan, an Istanbul district. He had been in a coma since the incident. Elvan’s health had deteriorated in recent weeks, according to his family, and his weight dropped down to thirty-five pounds. The family announced on Twitter on Tuesday: “We lost our son. May he rest in peace.”

Elvan, in a coma for 269 days, had been on his way to purchase bread in Okmeydan when he became a casualty of mass anti-government protests last year all across Turkey. The protests began in Gezi Park in Istanbul and spread all throughout Turkey. Thousands of people have been injured from the protests, while eight have died. The protests last year initially stemmed from the government’s plans to redevelop Gezi Park.

After Elvan’s death was announced on Tuesday, a large demonstration began outside the hospital where he stayed. Clashes between police officers and the demonstrators quickly ensued, and police fired tear-gas at the roughly 2,000 protestors.

Elvan’s mother appeared outside Okmeydani hospital and was quickly surrounded by mourners after the announcement of her son’s death. After word spread on social media, people gathered outside the hospital to demonstrate their anger. After riot police arrived, one of their vehicles was attacked by the demonstrators. The family relocated to a nearby Muslim prayer hall.

The crowd continued outside of the hospital, and shouted, “Berkin Elvan is our honor and he is immortal.” The crowd’s anger was precipitated as they believed that police showing up to Tuesday’s demonstration simply added insult to injury.

Other protests also occurred throughout Turkey. Large demonstrations occurred in Antalya and Izmir. Elvan’s funeral is set to take place on Wednesday.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Clashes in Turkey Over Death of Boy in Coma – 11 March 2014

BBC News – Turkey Clashes After Boy Hurt at Istanbul Protest Dies – 11 March 2014

EuroNews – Clashes in Turkey After Death of Teenager Hurt in Anti-Govt. Protests – 11 March 2014

Reuters – Death of Turkish Boy Hurt in Protests Triggers Further Unrest – 11 March 2014

 

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Sevastopol, UKRAINE – Activists supporting Russian occupation of Ukraine attacked a group of pro-Ukraine activists in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Sunday.

Hundreds of activists flooded the streets on Sunday to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the life of Ukranian poet Taras Shevchenko. Pro-Russian demonstrators intervened and attacked the activists with clubs and whips.

Russian forces have occupied the Crimean region in Ukraine for roughly a week as of Sunday. The latest violence occurs amidst rival demonstrations all across the Ukraine on Sunday. Rival protests both in support of Ukrainian independence and against it peacefully occurred in Crimea’s capital city of Simferopol.

Former opposition leader Vitali Klitschko stated that the Ukraine should not be allowed to split over the current violence during a speech in the city of Donetsk. “The key priority today for all Ukrainians is to unite, to come together and to prevent provocations, prevent separatists from realizing their plans, which are partition of the country and loss of independence.”

During Klitschko’s speech, several thousand protestors gathered at Donetsk’s Lenin Square and marched to the administration building after it was seized twice this week by pro-Russian activists. The protestors lowered the Ukraine flag and raised the Russian flag.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated to a group of thousands that the Ukraine would not willingly cede its territory to Russia. “This is our land, our parents and grandparents spilled their blood for this land. We will not give up a single centimeter of Ukrainian land. Let Russia and Russian President [Vladimir Putin] know this.”

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk later also stated that he would be traveling to Washington, D.C. this week to discuss the impasse with Russia. U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Yatsenyuk on the 12^th to discuss the situation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday to advise that any steps taken by Russia to annex Crimea to Russia would close diplomatic relations with the United States.

Russia is continuing to exercise greater control over Crimea. Ukraine’s State Border Service stated that Russian military forces took control of a Ukrainian border guard post early this morning, and now control eleven border guard posts in Crimea.

Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea have called a referendum to be held on the 16^th to decide on whether to split from Ukraine and join Russia.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from office last month after months of protests against his free-trade agreement with the European Union. Russian military forces quickly after Yanukovych left office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the planned referendum to European leaders.

For information, please see:

9News World – Violent Clashes at Rival Ukraine Rallies – 9 March 2014

Al Jazeera – Ukraine Plans Rallies as Crisis Deepens – 9 March 2014

BBC News – Ukraine Gripped by Rival Rallies – 9 March 2014

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty – Ukraine Clashes as Rival Rallies Boost Tensions – 9 March 2014

 

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – Amidst the last chance effort to bring Nazi war criminals to justice before they die, German courts have released four alleged former SS guards in two weeks.

In February 2014, police arrested three elderly men after searching six homes in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Police based their search on information from the Central Office of the Judicial Authorities for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

Prosecutors stated that “significant evidence” suggested the men could be charged as accessories to murder for serving as Auschwitz guards. The complex of camps at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland witnessed the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Jewish, Roma, and Polish persons. Under German privacy guidelines, their names were withheld.

During the week of 3 March 2014, the alleged SS guards of the Auschwitz death camp have been released from custody. However, prosecutors claim the investigation against them will continue.

Germany began a push to prosecute all remaining SS guards under a new legal doctrine, which considers an accessory to murder anyone who worked at extermination camps, even absent evidence of any personal violent acts.

One of the men was freed due to failing health, while another was released on bail, and the third’s detention was successfully challenged. A week before, yet another man, Hans Lipschis, was released because he suffers from dementia.

“The court has refused to open the trial,” a court statement said of Lipschis. “The chamber is of the opinion that the 94-year-old is incapable of standing trial. It bases this judgment on its own personal impression and the opinion of a psychiatrist.”

In 2013, Lipschis claimed that he left his position as a cook at Auschwitz to fight on the Eastern Front toward the end of World War II. However, he could not remember which unit he joined.

For a total of thirty, 26 other living men are believed to be former SS guards from Auschwitz. In February 2014, prosecutors ordered a search for Nazi-era documents from several German states, as several crimes from that era have gone unpunished in Germany.

Much difficulty came from a 1969 federal court ruling, which required proof of individual guilt to prosecute a defendant. In 2011, the precedent changed when a Munich court relied on personnel records to convict former Sobibor guard John Demjanjuk of aiding and abetting 28,000 murders. Demjanjuk died in a nursing home.

To achieve justice, strong efforts must be made to collect sufficient evidence that will be determinative of whether alleged war criminals are who prosecutors believe they are.

For further information, please see:

Washington Post – 3 Auschwitz Guard Suspects Released from Custody – March 6, 2014

Haaretz – Ailing  Auschwitz Guard Suspect Granted Bail in Germany – March 5, 2014

Chicago Tribune – Ex-Chicagoan, a Suspected Auschwitz Guard, Found Unfit for Trial – February 28, 2014

Independent – Three Suspected Ex-SS Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 21, 2014

Reuters – Three Suspected Former Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 20, 2014

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – A German court ruled that a former guard at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp is unfit to stand trial.

Hans Lipschis, 94, was determined to not be able to stand trial as he is suffering from dementia. Judges at the Ellwangen court in Germany ruled that Lipschis would not be able to understand the proceedings following the charges of being an accessory to murder during his time as a guard as Auschwitz.

“The court has refused to open the trial. The chamber is of the opinion that the 94-year-old is incapable of standing trial. It bases this judgment on its own personal impression and the opinion of a psychiatrist,” a court statement reported.

Lipschis was arrested last May. He had immigrated to the United States in 1956, but was deported in 1983 after he was accused of concealing his past as a Nazi officer. Lipschis avoided prosecution for over thirty years, as prosecutors were unable to link him to a specific crime or victim. However, the recent conviction of Ivan Demjanjuk, a death camp guard, provided a legal precedent for prosecution of Nazi war criminals without specific evidence. In 2011, a German court convicted Demjanjuk of playing a role in the murder of 28,000 Jews at a Nazi camp in Poland.

Lipschis worked as a Nazi guard at Auschwitz from 1941 to 1943, during which twelve prisoner convoys arrived at the extermination camp. Approximately 10,000 of those prisoners were determined unfit for work and executed in the gas chamber upon arrival.

The complaint against Lipschis alleged that he had been a member of the Waffen SS, a Nazi unit that specialized in “systematically exploiting and murdering people because of their race … and other characteristics.” The complaint further stated that Lipschis had been assigned to two different death camps during his tenure.

Lipschis admitted last year to the German newspaper Die Welt that he had been a cook at Auschwitz and stated that he later left the camp in order to fight on the Eastern Front, although he could not remember which he had been assigned to.

Roughly 1.5 million people were killed at Auschwitz. The deceased were mostly Jewish people, but also Roma, Poles and various other groups had been murdered as well.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – German Court Says Nazi Suspect Unfit For Trial – 28 February 2014

AP News – German Court Says Nazi Suspect Unfit For Trial – 28 February 2014

Chicago Tribune – Suspected Auschwitz Guard Found Unfit For Trial – 28 February 2014

Washington Post – German Court Says Nazi Suspect Unfit For Trial – 28 February 2014