Europe

Russian Amnesty Rule Makes Pussy Riot and Other Prisoner Releases Possible

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian amnesty law will allow several, including the Pussy Riot band members and 30 Greenpeace protesters, to go free. The decision comes three months before the Sochi Winter Olympics.

Among those to be released under the amnesty law are two members of Pussy Riot, who have been serving a two-year sentence. (Photo courtesy of the Guardian)

On 19 December 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to free two Pussy Riot band members under an amnesty. The two band members, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, have been serving a two-year prison sentence, which ends three months before their scheduled release. Their third band member, Yekaterina Samutsevich, has already been freed, following a successful appeal.

On 21 February 2012, all three members of Pussy Riot were arrested for the crime of “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred or hostility” after performing Punk Prayer: Mother of God Drive Putin Away from Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral. While releasing the imprisoned band members, Putin continued to describe their protest as disgraceful.

At a news conference, Putin said, “I was not sorry that they ended up behind bars. I was sorry that they were engaged in such disgraceful behaviour, which in my view was degrading to the dignity of women.”

The “punk prayer” took place at Moscow’s main cathedral, and antagonized both Putin and his ties to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Since their arrest, both women have gone on hunger strikes, and Tolokonnikova disappeared for 21 days when she wrote an open letter in protest of prison conditions. Tolokonnikova re-appeared in a Siberian prison hospital.

President Putin’s promise to release the prisoners became possible through a new Russian amnesty law passed earlier in the week of 19 December 2013. Under that law, amnesty from imprisonment is granted to prisoners “who haven’t committed violent crimes, first-time offenders, minors and women with small children.”

Both women are expected to be released as mothers of small children.

While the new law also frees 30 members of a Greenpeace protest from trial, President Putin urged that the amnesty was not granted with either Greenpeace or Pussy Riot in mind. Rather, he stated that it was passed to mark the 20th anniversary of Russia’s post-Soviet constitution.

News reports have noted that releasing both groups removes “two irritants in ties with the West before Russia hosts” the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Another prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is another prisoner whose detainment was said to exemplify Russia’s abuse of its prison system. Khodorkovsky was once Russia’s richest man and oil tycoon. He was arrested in 2003 on tax evasion and fraud charges, and is expected to be released under the new amnesty law.

Regardless of motive, the world can be pleased to see some justice done in Russia.

For further information, please see:

Jerusalem Post – Putin to Pardon Jailed Jewish Tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky – December 19, 2013

Reuters – Putin: Amnesty to Free Punk Band Duo Despite ‘Disgraceful’ Protest – December 19, 2013

USA Today – Pussy Riot Members Freed from Prison – December 19, 2013

Guardian – Arctic 30 Protesters and Pussy Riot Members Set to Walk Free – December 18, 2013

Former French General Dies 12 Years Following Admitting Role in Torturing and Killing Prisoners of War

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – At age 95, Paul Aussaresses died on 4 December 2013 of causes not released by the French veterans’ association that announced his death. Former-General Aussaresses became disgraced in France for defending torture.

Paul Aussaresses, 95, who previously admitted to his role in torturing and killing prisoners of war died on December 4, 2013. (Photo courtesy of Telegraph)

Paul Aussaresses enlisted in the French secret services and founded the counter-espionage unit during the 1954-1962 Algerian war for independence. Later, he achieved the French military rank of general.

In his 2001 book about the Algerian war, Aussaresses became the first senior French officer to admit torturing and killing prisoners of war. Aussaresses defended the use of torture because “it became legitimate when the situation demanded it.” He claimed that, at the time, the French government “ignored, if not openly recommended” the use of torture; and he did not suffer sleepless nights.

“Once you have seen with your own eyes as I did,” Aussaresses said, “civilians, men, women, and children quartered, disembowelled and nailed to doors [by the rebels], you are changed for life. What feelings can anyone have towards those who perpetrated such barbaric acts and their accomplices?”

In a 2001 interview, Aussaresses said that he expressed regrets. “But I cannot express remorse. That implies guilt. I consider I did my difficult duty of a soldier implicated in a difficult mission.”

“Am I a criminal?” Aussaresses asked. “An assassin? A monster? No. I’m but a soldier who did his job and who did it for France because the country demanded it.”

“The methods I used were always the same: beatings, electric shocks, and, in particular, water torture, which was the most dangerous technique for the prisoner,” Aussaresses wrote. “It never lasted for more than one hour and the suspects would speak in the hope of saving their own lives.”

Aussaresses admitted that many deaths were concealed as suicides.

Aussaresses described his unit as a “death squad” that carried out night raids, torture, and removed certain detainees. Following the war, he lectured U.S. special forces at Fort Bragg, North Carolina on techniques used; particularly in the Battle of Algiers. Analysts have claimed that many of those techniques were later used in the Vietnam War.

During the war, both sides committed atrocities, although torture was a shocking revelation to the French.

Louisette Ighilahriz, who a National Liberation Front member who served in the war, said that Aussaresses should have shown remorse.

“He was honest. He admitted torturing Algerians… But he didn’t go all the way. He should have expressed regret,” Ighilahriz said.

Having also served in Algeria, President Jacques Chirac expressed horror at Aussaresses’s actions. President Chirac ordered that Aussaresses be stripped of his military rank and medal.

After his book appeared, France stripped Aussaresses of one of the country’s top merit awards, the Legion of Honour. In 2002, a French court convicted Aussaress of “complicity in justifying war crimes.” However, under the terms of a post-war amnesty agreement, Aussaresses could not be tried for war crimes.

No individual can hide behind the guise of a State authority to act with impunity. This, France made clear.

For further information, please read:

FRANCE 24 – Disgraced French General and Algeria Torturer Dies – December 5, 2013

BBC News – Algeria Torture: French General Paul Aussaresses Dies – December 4, 2013

Telegraph – French General Paul Aussaresses Reviled for Algeria War Crimes Dies at 95 – December 4, 2013

Washington Post – Paul Aussaresses Dies at 95; French General Defended His Use of Torture Techniques – December 4, 2013

Guantanamo Bay Detainees Sue Poland over Alleged CIA-Affiliated Torture

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France – Two terror suspects currently held at the U.S. Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba brought a case to the European Court of Human Rights on Tuesday, alleging that Poland was contributing to human rights abuses against them by the United States.

The European Court of Human Rights heard the case on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Polskie Radio)

Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri claim that they were tortured at a secret prison in Poland affiliated with the CIA from 2002 to 2003. The two suspects allege that they were subjected to torture and isolated detention while in Poland. They claim that they were interrogated with waterboarding, and had mock executions performed on them while being told their family was going to be sexually abused.

Zubaydah, a 42-year-old Palestinian, was accused of coordinating travel arrangements for jihadis loyal to Osama Bin Laden, including those who carried out the September 2001 attacks in the U.S. al-Nashiri, 48, a Saudi, was accused of organizing the 2000 attack on the USS Cole warship in Yemen, in which 17 sailors died.

The U.S.’s war on terror allegedly included CIA operated detention centers in several European countries, according to reports by a Council of Europe investigator. The detention center at issue in Poland is known as Stare Kiejkuty, an intelligence training base near Szczytno in northern Poland.

The suspects were allegedly flown to Poland on the same rendition plane in December 2002. Former U.S. President George W. Bush authorized the rendition policy shortly after the 9/11 attacks to allow the CIA to interrogate terror suspects secretly outside the US.

Zubaydah and al-Nashiri’s lawyers are representing them in Strasbourg and a court statement said their submissions are based mainly on publicly available sources, because of the restrictions imposed on them at Guantanamo Bay.

An investigator at the human rights group Reprieve, stated, “European support for the CIA’s torture program is one of the darkest chapters of our recent history – it is encouraging that the court now looks set to bring it to light, where the [Polish] government has sought to sweep it under the carpet. We have now heard overwhelming and uncontested evidence that the CIA was running a secret torture prison on Polish soil, with the Polish government’s knowledge.”

“The Polish government has failed to contest that it knew prisoners were being held beyond the rule of law and tortured by the CIA inside their own country. It has also become clear that the Polish government’s investigation into the issue was in reality nothing more than a smoke-screen, which was neither designed nor intended to get to the truth,” the investigator stated.

No judgment was issued on Tuesday, however one will be issued at an undisclosed future date.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Two Terror Suspects Sue Poland Over “CIA Torture” – 3 December 2013

The Guardian – Guantanamo Bay Detainees Claim Poland Allowed CIA Torture – 3 December 2013

Polskie Radio – Human Rights Court Examines CIA Prison in Poland Allegations – 3 December 2013

The Voice of Russia – Terror Suspects Sue Poland For Conniving in CIA Torture – 3 December 2013

Scottish Government Releases Plan for an Independence From United Kingdom Ahead of 2014 Referendum

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GLASGOW, Scotland – Scotland’s “white paper”, a legal argument for the country’s independence, was unveiled earlier this week in Glasgow.

The “white paper” was released in Glasgow on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of The Scotsman)

The 670-page document, released by Scotland’s first minister Alex Salmond, set forth the democratic, social, and economic reasons for Scotland to leave the United Kingdom. The white paper arrives a year before a referendum on the issue to be held next year.

“Scotland’s future is now in Scotland’s hands,” Salmond said on Tuesday, during the launch in Glasgow. “It won’t be decided by me, it won’t be decided by our opponents, it won’t be decided by the media. It will be decided by the people.”

Salmond stated that the much-anticipated white paper will enable the dismantling of the United Kingdom. Under the plan, Scotland would continue using the pound as its currency, would retain the queen as its head of state, and the country would retain its membership in the European Union. However, Scotland would have its own defense force and collect its own taxes.

The white paper also sets out detailed plans for currency, taxation, childcare, welfare and other issues that may face an independent Scotland. Salmond stated that there would be no need to increase taxes once Scotland seceded from the U.K. Salmond also said that Scottish taxes would not be spent on nuclear programs and the United Kingdom’s nuclear missiles, currently stored in Scotland, would be relocated elsewhere.

“We know we have the people, the skills and resources to make Scotland a more successful country. Independence will put the people of Scotland in charge of our own destiny,” Salmond stated. He added that he wanted to tackle a “legacy of debt” stemming from Scotland’s union with England.

The plan calls for Scotland’s oil and gas reserves to presumably boost Scotland’s economy for the next 50 years, but the country will look to renewable energy thereafter.

Meanwhile, the UK government is campaigning to retain the more than 300-year-old union between England and Scotland. The referendum is to be held on September 18 of next year, 2014.

For more information, please see:

The Scotsman – As it Happened: Scottish Government’s White Paper Launch – 27 November 2013

Al Jazeera – Scottish Nationalists Launch Independence Bid – 26 November 2013

BBC News – Scottish Independence: Voter’s Views on White Paper – 26 November 2013

The Guardian – Scotland: Assertions of Independence – 26 November 2013

Ukraine Mourns Eightieth Anniversary of Famine That Killed Millions

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine –Ukrainians gathered to remember the 1933 famine that killed millions. President Yanukovych urged citizens not to politicize the tragedy in the light of recent events.

Nina Karpenko told BBC of her experience during the Ukrainian famine. (Photo courtesy of BBC)

In 1933, famine killed millions of Ukrainians in what many called genocidal death by hunger, or “the Holodomor.” Some citizens were able to survive by gathering cheap cornmeal, wheat chaff, dried nettle leaves, and weeds. While some historians believe the number of those who died was approximately 3.3 million, others estimate much higher numbers.

Many survivors believed that Joseph Stalin wanted the Ukrainian peasants starved into submission, so that he could force them onto collective farms. When the Kremlin demanded more grain than the farms had, Bolshevik forces pillaged villages for anything edible.

“The brigades took all the wheat, barley – everything – so we had nothing left,” said survivor Nina Karpenko. “Even beans that people had set aside just in case. The brigades crawled everywhere and took everything. People had nothing left to do but die.”

Many villagers migrated to the cities in search of food, but often died before finding sustenance. As corpses began littering the roadsides, reports of cannibalism piled up. As entire villages died off, some of the most fertile land in the world became silent wastelands.

Soviet authorities eventually closed Ukraine’s borders, which prevented Ukrainians from traveling abroad to retrieve food.

“The government did everything it could to prevent peasants from entering other regions and looking for bread,” said Oleksandra Monetova, from Kiev’s Holodomor Memorial Museum. “The officials’ intentions were clear. To me it’s a genocide. I have no doubt.”

“There was a deathly silence,” said Karpenko. “Because people weren’t even conscious. They didn’t want to speak or to look at anything. They thought today that person died, and tomorrow it will be me. Everyone just thought of death.”

By the time children returned to the schools in 1934, over half the seats in each room were empty.

Russian authorities deny that the Holodomor was intentional, stating that other Soviet regions suffered around that time. Further, Russia has declared that “genocide” is a nationalistic interpretation of what happened.

Since 2006, Ukrainians have marked the fourth Saturday of each November as Holodomor Remembrance Day.

On 23 November 2013, thousands marched through central Kiev to protest Ukraine’s decision to snub the EU in favor of Russia.

In response, Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych denounced “the politicization of tragic historical events.”

Yanukovych said, “Today we must discard the political debate and unite. On this sad day, we are all united by the memory about our dead compatriots. This day [the Holodomor Remembrance Day] should be out of politics.”

For further information, please see:

Bloomberg Businessweek – Ukraine Marks Tragic Date amid Setback on EU Hopes – November 23, 2013

International Business Times – Ukraine Commemorates Millions Who Died in Stalin’s Holodomor Reign of Terror – November 23, 2013

Interfax Ukraine – Yanukovych Says Politicization of Tragic Events Is Unacceptable – November 23, 2013

BBC – Holodomor: Memories of Ukraine’s Silent Massacre – November 22, 2013