by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

VIENNA, Austria – Seven members of the Austrian Neo-Nazi Political Party, “Object 21” were sentenced to up to six years in prison for “re-engagement with National Socialism.”

The judge started at the conviction that these convictions should serve as an example to the rest of the country. Austria, which has a sensitive Nazi past, criminalized re-engagement with National Socialism in 1947.

The members of the Object 21 Party were convicted on late Monday. The prosecution’s witnesses linked the Party members to an illegal prostitution scheme. The trial had been held in the Upper Austria province.

The prosecution and police, who had surveyed the Party since 2009, stated that the Object 21 party is known for committing widespread arson attacks, dealing weapons and drugs, and the prostitution scheme.

The prosecution’s evidence included a video showing the Party members giving a “Sieg Heil” salutes in their meeting building, known as the “Arms Factory”. The two main members of the group were sentenced to four and six years in jail, respectively, and stated they intend to appeal the conviction. The others were given sentences of between 18 months and two and a half years. All seven members of Object 21 had pleaded not guilty.

The presiding judge had been reportedly quoted as saying the sentences were meant to have a “preventative” impact on anyone “tempted” by Neo-Nazism. A spokeswoman for the prosecution stated investigations will continue into suspected crimes by other Neo- Nazi gang members.

Austria became a democratic country shortly after World War II by passing the Anti-Nazi Prohibition Act, after the country had been a part of Hitler’s Nazi Third Reich from 1938 to 1945. In 1992, the Act was broadened to criminalize denying the Holocaust ever occurred, as well as minimizing the effects of any Nazi crimes.

In its 2012 annual report, Austria’s BVT, its counter-terrorism agency, downplayed the imminent threat of Neo-Nazi crimes, issuing a statement that a legal crackdown had deprived the Nazi revisionist movement of its leaders. With the Neo-Nazi’s suspected ringleaders on trial, right-wing radical Nazis kept a low profile, but in many regions were gaining ties with criminal gangs, the Austrian BVT said.

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, which got more than one-fifth of the vote in the September general election, rejects Neo-Nazi ideology but attracts some sympathizers with its anti-foreigner and anti-Islam rhetoric.

For more information, please see:

ABC News – Austrian Court Finds 7 Guilty of Neo-Nazi Crimes – 5 November 2013

BBC News – Austria Court Jails Seven Members of Neo-Nazi Group – 5 November 2013

Yahoo News, UK & Ireland – Austrian Neo-Nazi Group Members Get up to Six Years’ Prison – 5 November 2013

The Jerusalem Post – Austrian Neo-Nazi Group Members Get up to Six Years’ Prison – 5 November 2013

 

 

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Reports show that Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was transferred to another penal colony following her demands for a transfer.

In 2012, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova’s punk rock band and protest group Pussy Riot staged a politically provocative performance in Moscow’s main Orthodox cathedral. Tolokonnikova has been serving a two-year sentence as a result of that performance, based on a conviction for hooliganism. While another band member has also been serving a sentence, their third member was released on appeal.

While Pussy Riot’s performance was considered blasphemous, their prosecution created an international outcry for their release.

In September 2013, Tolokonnikova went on a hunger strike against her treatment in the Mordovia penal colony, which included death threats from a colony official, as well as “slave-labor conditions.” She ended the hunger strike after becoming hospitalized.

Nearly two weeks ago, Tolokonnikova demanded that she be transferred to another penitentiary. Pyotr Verzilov, Tolokonnikova’s husband, says that nobody has heard from her since that time.

Verzilov said that Tolokonnikova is still weak from her last hunger strike, and he accused authorities of punishing her for protesting.

The last time Verzilov knew of his wife’s location, she had passed through Chelyabinsk in the Urals.
According to the Interfax news agency, Russia’s prison service sent Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova to a new penal colony. Interfax further reported that, in accordance with regulations, Tolokonnikova’s family would be informed within 10 days of arrival. The Associated Press could not reach Interfax officials for comment.

“According to a decision made by FSIN [Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service] in regards to changing Nadezhda Tolokonnikova’s location: she is currently being moved to a different correctional facility,” an FSIN official told Interfax news agency. “Upon arrival to a particular institution, one of the relatives, chosen by Tolokonnikova, will be given the information.”

Verzilov contends that it has been thirteen days since he last saw his wife. “They want to cut her off from the outside world,” Verzilov said. “Basically, we are applying the tactic we’ve been applying the last two years, (which) is to draw as much international attention as possible. We are trying to make authorities follow the law, when they do not follow it.”

On November 2, demonstrators picketed the headquarters of the prison service in Moscow.

“We are people who want to drastically change the political system in Russia and put an end to the Putin regime in this country,” Verzilov said. “We do what we feel we have to do, and after the government makes us pay the price they feel we should pay.”

Absent access to Tolokonnikova, her family might claim that Russia has forced her to disappear. However, they will have to wait for further evidence to suggest that Russia is taking such actions.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Imprisoned Pussy Riot Band Member Transferred to Another Prison – November 4, 2013

Euronews – Russian Prison Service Announces Transfer of Pussy Riot Member – November 3, 2013

RT – Pussy Riot Member Tolokonnikova Being Moved to New Prison – Officials – November 3, 2013

Al Jazeera – Jailed Pussy Riot Member Cut Off from Contact, Husband Says – November 2, 2013

BBC – Pussy Riot: Tolokonnikova ‘Out of Sight’ Since Jail Move – November 2, 2013

RadioFreeEurope RadioLiberty – Pussy Rioter Not Heard from in Two Weeks – November 2, 2013

TIME – Pussy Riot Member Moved to New Prison – November 2, 2013

Washington Post – Report: Pussy Riot Member Tolokonnikova Being Sent to New Prison – November 2, 2013

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – European Union officials responded to emergency calls for review of illegal immigration. At the same time, EU critics claim that countries cannot afford providing full benefits to migrants.

An early October 2013 shipwreck caught worldwide attention as over 300 African migrants died off the coast of Italian island, Lampedusa. Nevertheless, migrants have continued to begin journeys from northern Africa in hope of crossing the Mediterranean to hit Europe. As a result, EU leaders began a review of the bloc’s immigration policies.

European Union border agency Frontex estimates that a minimum of 72,000 people illegally migrate to the EU via land and sea, and expects that the actual figure is much higher. Of all illegal residents, Frontex believed that most arrived with plane tickets and valid travel visas only to remain beyond the visa’s expiration date.

EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom issued a statement giving Frontex sufficient resources to operate a wide “search and rescue mission in the Mediterranean, from Cyprus to Spain.”

The EU plans to establish a new border surveillance system and task force; however, observers believe boats will continue their regular flow.

Recently, Frontex released its “Annual Risk Analysis 2013” report, which states that immigrants taking illegal routes often travel through Greece and continue by land or ferry to Italy and the western Balkans. An increasing number has attempted central Mediterranean journeys. In many cases, the migrants have fled violence and poverty in regions like Syria and Libya.

The EU also said it is setting up a new border surveillance system and Mediterranean task force to bolster its efforts and will review its asylum immigration policies next summer.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, current holder of the EU presidency, said, “Today, Europe is not ready to accept as many refugees as probably can flow in.” Also, Grybauskaite denied that immigration policies would be business as usual.

National governments within the EU pledged assistance to several “gateway” countries, such as Italy, Malta, and Greece.

Although human rights groups criticize Greece often for its lack of an asylum service, the country has created such.

Not all parts of the bloc are ready to support immigration. For instance, anti-EU commentators in Britain have been pointing to statistics that suggest the UK cannot afford to allow EU migrants access to full benefits.

While immigration has created concerns in nearly every nation throughout history, now, every nation must remember what immigration most often means for the world: progress.

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Greece Immigration: Look inside New Asylum Service – October 31, 2013

CNN International – How Do Illegal Immigrants Get into the European Union? – October 30, 2013

Wall Street Journal – EU: Mulling Security, Defense Operation to Stem Illegal Migration – October 30, 2013

Telegraph – True Scale of European Immigration – October 12, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WASHINGTON, D.C. – More details have developed after the German magazine Spiegel reported last week that the U.S. National Security Agency had tapped into phone conversations on German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s phone.

Reports have indicated that the United States has been operating a global network of 80 “eavesdropping centers”, including 19 European listening posts in cities including Paris, Berlin, Rome and Madrid, according to the German magazine.

Spiegel said that the new details were based on American intelligence documents, leaked as a part of the Edward Snowden controversy. The magazine also reported that Angela Merkel has allegedly been listened to by the NSA since 2002, while she was a leader of the opposition party. She was allegedly under surveillance all the way up until U.S. President Barack Obama visited Berlin in June. Obama assured Merkel that her phone is not being and will not be listened to in the future, but U.S. officials have consistently declined to address reports of past surveillance.

Germany had already stated it would send a delegation to Washington D.C. to seek details of its own from the White House, even before the latest reports surfaced.

Spiegel has broken a series of stories about U.S. surveillance of its allies and neighbors from documents leaked by Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor.

In the latest reports, Spiegel stated that the NSA and Central Intelligence Agency established the 80 worldwide listening posts under a joint unit established in the 1970’s. Several were based in the capitals of European allies, apparently operating out of U.S. embassies.

The report states that the United States ran two posts in Germany, one in the U.S. embassy in the Germany’s capital, Berlin, and another in Frankfurt. German counter-intelligence officials told the magazine that they would increase their monitoring of the U.S. embassy as a result.

According to an additional leaked U.S. memo last week, the U.S. sought to monitor the telephone numbers of 35 world leaders. Last week, the U.S. ambassadors in Paris and Berlin were both summoned for explanations and clarification regarding these reports by their host countries.

Reportedly the U.S. does not operate similar surveillance operations in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand under intelligence-sharing agreements with those countries. The spying row prompted leaders meeting at a European Council summit to demand a new deal with Washington on intelligence gathering.

For more information, please see: 

Fox News – Report Claims US Had Merkel’s Phone Monitored Since 2002 – 27 October 2013

Kyiv Post – US Bugged Merkel’s Phone From 2002 Until 2013, Report Claims – 27 October 2013

BBC News – US Bugged Merkel’s Phone From 2002 Until 2013, Report Claims – 26 October 2013

The Telegraph – US Operates 80 Listening Posts Worldwide, 19 in Europe, and Snooped on Merkel Mobile 2002-2013 – 26 October 2013

 

 

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MADRID, Spain – Spanish authorities have called on the United State Ambassador to Spain, James Costos, to discuss alleged spying by the U.S. National Security Administration on Spanish citizens.

The Spanish newspaper, El Mundo, produced a graphic which it claimed to be an NSA document that had recorded information on over 60.5 million phone calls in Spain between December 10, 2012 and January 8 of earlier this year.

The Spanish Foreign Ministry issued a statement after a meeting between Spain’s Secretary of State for the European Union, Inigo Mendez de Vigo, and U.S. ambassador to Spain James Costos.

“Spain has relayed to the United States the importance of preserving a climate of trust and its interest in understanding the full reach of practices that, if true, would be considered inappropriate and unacceptable between allies,” the Spanish foreign ministry stated.

“We will continue to confer with our allies, such as Spain, through our regular diplomatic channels to address the concerns that they have raised,” Costos said in a statement.

Madrid has also asked the United States to provide additional data from the NSA about this alleged surveillance. U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered a review of U.S. surveillance programs after Snowden leaked documents that raised alarm in the U.S. and abroad.

Spain has so far resisted calls from Germany for the European Union’s 28-member states to reach a “no-spy deal”, after reports that the NSA monitored the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel.

El Mundo has stated it had reached a deal with Glenn Greenwald, the Brazil-based journalist who has worked with other media sources on information provided to him by Snowden, to gain access to these documents about the phone surveillance. El Mundo stated the telephone monitoring did not appear to track the content of calls but recorded information about their duration and location.

Representatives from the European Union are expected to meet with officials in Washington, D.C. to convey their concerns this week. The representatives from the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs are expected to speak with members of the U.S. Congress and security officials to gather more information about the recent allegations of U.S. spying on European leaders and citizens.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Spain Summons US Ambassador Over Spying – 28 October 2013

BBC News – NSA Surveillance: Spain Demands U.S. Explain “Monitoring” – 28 October 2013

The Independent – NSA “Tapped 60m Spanish Phone Calls” as Country Joins France and Germany in Latest Snowden Revelations – 28 October 2013

New York Times – Spain Summons U.S. Ambassador in Spying Scandal – 28 October 2013