by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – The White House released a statement on Wednesday indicating that the United States has not been spying on German Chancellor Angela Merkel by tapping into her cell phone.

Merkel had called U.S. President Barack Obama after reportedly receiving information that the United States may have tapped in conversation on her mobile phone.

“The United States is not monitoring and will not monitor the communications of the chancellor,” White House Spokesman Jay Carney stated on Wednesday.

Merkel’s spokesman stated that the Chancellor “views such practices… as completely unacceptable”. Germany demanded “an immediate and comprehensive explanation” from the U.S. about what it stated “would be a serious breach of trust”.

Germany also issued a statement, stating, “Among close friends and partners, as the Federal Republic of Germany and the US have been for decades, there should be no such monitoring of the communications of a head of government.”

The United States has been receiving anger and skepticism from allies regarding spying allegations based on sources believed to originate from intelligence leaker Edward Snowden.

During a visit in June, President Obama assured Chancellor Merkel that German citizens were not being spied upon. At the time, Merkel was criticized by political opponents for not being more skeptical.

The German government did not elaborate on how it received the tip about the alleged U.S. spying. However, German news magazine Der Spiegel, which has published stories based on material from Edward Snowden, claimed that the information had come from its investigations.

Carney told reporters that the U.S. was examining concerns over U.S. intelligence practices from several American allies, including Germany and France. Carney did not address whether Merkel’s phone had indeed been monitored in the past.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently cancelled a visit to the U.S. this month in protest at alleged electronic espionage by the NSA against her country, including of communications at her office. Rousseff rejected U.S. claims that the interception of information was aimed at protecting nations against terrorism, drugs trafficking and other organized crime, in a speech at the United Nations.

The Mexican government has called the alleged spying on the emails of its former and current presidents, Enrique Pena Nieto – the incumbent – and currently Felipe Calderon, as “unacceptable”.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Merkel Calls Obama About “U.S. Spying on Her Phone” – 23 October 2013

Deutsche Welle – Merkel Calls Obama for Answers Over Reports That the U.S. Spied on her Phone – 23 October 2013

Reuters – Germany Says U.S. May Have Monitored Merkel’s Phone – 23 October 2013

Washington Post – Merkel Calls Obama About Alleged U.S. Monitoring of Her Phone – 23 October 2013

 

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

VOLGOGRAD, Russia – A bus exploded in the southern Russian city of Volgograd on Monday, and is believed to be caused by a suicide bomber, according to Russian authorities.

Russian Investigators have stated that they suspect a woman from the Dagestan region in the North Causasus. She is believed to be the partner of an Islamic extremist, and perhaps carried out the bombing to avenge a death.

Recently Russia has seen an influx in the number of terrorist attacks carried out by women suicide bombers. These women are known as “black widows”, and are believed to carry out these attacks to avenge the deaths of their terrorist-partners.

In 2010, female suicide bombers were responsible for attacks at two underground subway stations in Moscow, killing 38 people. Female suicide bombers are also thought to be responsible for explosions on two passenger jets at a Moscow airport that killed about 90 people back in 2004.

Chechnya Separatists have been fighting wars with Russian forces over the past twenty years, but the violence has spread across the North Caucasus recently. The spread of violence has seen the deaths of hundreds of people.

Monday’s blast killed 5 people and injured more than 20. Reports indicate that all other buses in Volgograd have been ordered back to their stations to be searched for any sign of explosives.

One man whose daughter survived the explosion stated, “It was a powerful explosion, a huge blast. There were lots of students on the bus.”

Vladimir Markin, of Russia’s Investigative Committee stated, “A criminal case has been opened under articles outlining terrorism, murder and the illegal use of firearms.”

Markin later identified the suspected suicide bomber as a woman from Dagestan. “According to preliminary information, the self-explosion was carried out by a 30-year-old Dagestani native, Naida Akhiyalova. According to investigators’ information, the woman entered the bus at one of the bus stops and, almost right after that, the bomb went off. That is also confirmed by one of the passengers who survived.”

President Vladimir Putin recently attempted to beef up security in the North Caucasus region ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympics, which open in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi on February 7^th of next year.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Deadly Bomb Blast Hits Bus in Southern Russia – 21 October 2013

BBC News – Russia Bus Bomb: Volgograd Blast Kills Five – 21 October 2013

The Independent – Volgograd Bus Blast: Female Suicide Bomber Kills Five in Russia – 21 October 2013

The Moscow Times – Explosion on Bus in Volgograd Kills at Least Four – 21 October 2013

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ROME, Italy – Italy’s planned peaceful protests turned violent as extremists attended, prepared for a clash with police.

On 18 October 2013, a transport strike led to an overnight demonstration at the Piazza San Giovanni, in the city centre. Despite grievances, the demonstrators were allegedly in good spirit.

By 19 October, thousands protested throughout Rome’s streets over several issues, including the government’s austerity program and the proposed high speed rail line linking Lyon, France with Turin.

“We are protesting a one-way austerity that is bringing the country to its knees,” said Piero Bernocchi from Italy’s Cobas trade union group. “And it hasn’t achieved what it was meant to by bringing down debt. Meanwhile politicians continue with their privileges.”

Italy’s two-year recession has pushed unemployment to record-breaking heights, shut down thousands of businesses, and forced much of the younger generation to emigrate. Youth unemployment is at 40.1%.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s 2014 budget has been viewed as insufficient to ease the current tax burden placed on workers.

Originally, organizers hoped 20,000 would appear for a peaceful protest. While organizers estimated 70,000 to have attended, police put estimates closer to 50,000. Among the demonstrators, nearly 400 immigrants expressed support for asylum-seekers, many of whom have died at sea during their trip from North Africa.

“This protest is to demand basic rights: a job paying a wage, and housing,” said Matteo, a 20-year-old student from the eastern Marche region. “All the most downtrodden people are here to protest, unemployed people, students, immigrants, workers without job security.”

One protester apparently looking for a clash said, “We are not assuming it is going to happen, but we need them because the situation in the country is very serious.”

During the lead-up to demonstrations, police discovered five French members of the “Black Block” movement. According to authorities, the group provoked much unrest throughout Europe in past years; and two of the five were under investigation in France for terrorist activity.

At least 100 wearing hoods and motorcycle helmets attacked the Italian Economic Ministry. Demonstrators in masks threw eggs, bottles, flares, and thunder flashes at a police line guarding the building. As police charged the crowd, demonstrators beat their plastic shields with sticks and poles, and set fire to a trash bin.

Police detained the 15 most violent people after confiscating baseball bats, helmets, teargas, rocks, and a knife. Also, police defused a large firework with a bullet in it.

While most protestors sought a peaceful protest over austerity and low wages and the environment, extremists came prepared for anything. In case of violence, shops were shuttered and Rome authorities deployed approximately 3500 police.

For further information, please see:

Euronews – Thousands Protest in Rome over Austerity Measures – October 19, 2013

Reuters – Italian Anti-Austerity Protesters Clash with Police – October 19, 2013

Telegraph – Protests in Rome Turn Violent as Demonstrators Attack Economy Ministry – October 19, 2013

Gazzetta del Sud – Five French “Block Block” Militants Stopped in Rome – October 18, 2013

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – Across Europe, war criminals were promised punishment regardless of the era in which their crimes were committed. The rest of the West has begun responding in kind.

 

In Bosnia, war crimes charges are sought against many from the Serb minority that armed themselves to expel and kill non-Serbs during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War.

In September 2013, the United States announced that it would extradite Almaz Nezirovic to face war crimes charges for his involvement in beating, humiliating, and traumatizing unarmed prisoners.

On 17 October 2013, prosecutors stated that eight men were arrested in Rogatica, where the alleged crimes occurred in September 1992. The men were suspected of participation in looting, expelling, and killing civilians. One suspect allegedly gunned down 20 Muslim civilians who attempted to hide in a barn from Serbian soldiers.

Based on a July 2013 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights, on 9 October 2013, Bosnia’s war crimes court ordered retrials for three men convicted of war crimes related to the Bosnian War.

Their appeal successfully claimed that Bosnian courts improperly tried them under a criminal code that took force when the war crimes court was set up, about a decade after the crimes were committed. The retrials will be based on the 1976 criminal code, which was in effect during the Bosnian War.

In Hungary, for the first time, authorities charged former Interior Minister Bela Biszku with war crimes connected to the suppression of a 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, which threatened Moscow’s control of Eastern Europe for the first time since World War II.

The suppression of that rebellion caused the mass deaths and arrests of civilians, and impacted the world’s perception of communist rule in Eastern Europe. In their statement, prosecutors claimed 46 civilians were killed in Salgotarjan alone.

Prosecutors charged Biszku with abetting a Communist Party committee involved in ordering civilian deaths in December 1956, during Salgotarjan and Budapest protests. Further, in September 2012, prosecutors found cause for additional charges when investigators searched Biszku’s home and seized 11 pieces of ammunition that he kept without permission.

Biszku’s prosecution became possible through a 2011 law that stipulates war crimes and crimes against humanity do not lapse.

In Italy, authorities refused to allow convicted Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke to be buried in their country. Protesters at his funeral suggested a landfill. Since 1998, Priebke spent a life sentence on house arrest for his role in one of Italy’s worst wartime massacres, which involved the killings of 335 civilians.

Similarly, the Vatican issued an unprecedented ban on holding the funeral in any Catholic church—although a Catholic splinter group previously accused of anti-Semitism offered to hold the ceremony.

Although Priebke fled to Argentina after the war, that country refused to allow Priebke’s body burial beside his wife. The German embassy in Rome contacted the family’s attorney, but no details have been provided.

With further support from the world, Hungary’s law that strips war crimes and crimes against humanity of any lapse may become custom.

For further information, please see:

Associated Press – Bosnian Police Arrest 8 War Crimes Suspects – October 17, 2013

The Guardian – Nazi War Criminal Erich Priebke’s Family Demand Return of His Corpse – October 17, 2013

Budapest Business Journal – War Crimes Charges Levied against Former Communist Official – October 16, 2013

Reuters – Hungary Charges Former Top Communist Official with War Crimes – October 16, 2013

BBC News – Nazi War Criminal Priebke’s Funeral Halted Amid Protests – October 15, 2013

Reuters – Bosnia to Retry Three War Crimes Convicts after European Court Ruling – October 9, 2013

United Press International – Virginia Man to Be Extradited to Bosnia to Face War Crimes Charges – September 20, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian authorities have detained over 1,600 immigrants in Moscow, apparently in response to a protest lobbying for increase policing of ethnic immigrants all throughout Russia.

Roughly 200 Russians in the Biryulyovo district organized a protest to call for stricter policing of minority immigrants. This was the second day of protests in Russia after the fatal stabbing of a Russian citizen that many believe was conducted by an immigrant.

Yegor Shcherbakov, 25 years old, was stabbed in front of his fiancé last Thursday while they were on their way home in the Biryulyovo district of Moscow, according to police. Surveillance cameras in the area have been examined and suggest the suspect could either be from Central Asia or from the Caucasus region.

Sunday’s demonstration broke out with nationalist chants of “white power” and “Russia for Russians.” The protest quickly escalated into an attack on migrant workers at a vegetable stand in the Biryulyovo district. About 380 people were eventually arrested after demonstrators smashed windows and set fire to shops, and had beaten many migrant workers.

“We are scared to walk the streets at night. [The immigrants] are always attacking, stealing from and killing people. They don’t even abide by basic rules like stopping at a red light,” stated one protestor, Alexei Zhuravlyov.

Apparently in response to Sunday’s protest and attack, Russian police rounded up 1,200 immigrants on Monday at a wholesale vegetable market employing immigrants in Biryulyovo. An additional 450 immigrants were detained in northeastern Moscow, also near a vegetable market employing immigrant workers. Police said all the immigrants were detained in order to check whether they were involved in any wrongdoing, but they have not been accused of any specific crime.

Human Rights and Advocacy groups have warned immigrants from those Russian regions of an increased risk of attacks in the worst ethnic disturbance in Moscow in years.

“The nationalists are pursuing their political goals. This is clearly very dangerous. We are warning migrants to be careful for now in crowded areas and on public transportation,” said Mukhamad Amin, head of the Federation of Migrants of Russia.

For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – Russia Detains Scores of Migrants After Riots – 15 October 2013

BBC News – Migrants Arrested in Moscow Raids – 14 October 2013

NY Times – Moscow Police Round Up Targets of Riot at Market – 14 October 2013

Russia Tomorrow – Over 380 Detained After Anti-Migrant Riot in Southern Moscow – 13 October 2013

The Voice of Russia – Police Detain 380 People After Anti-Migrant Riot in Southern Moscow – 13 October 2013