by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

The Hague, Netherlands – The Netherlands has issued a statement apologizing to Russia regarding the arrest and detention of a Russian diplomat by Dutch police at The Hague.

Dutch police have refrained from commenting on the case, but Dutch media reports have cited police documents alleging that Russian Diplomat Dmitry Borodin was detained late on Saturday night after police found him intoxicated and barely able to stand.

Witnesses also stated that Borodin was mistreating his two young children. According to various claims, Borodin was “totally drunk” and had dragged his children by their hair throughout his house and garden.  His wife also allegedly collided with several vehicles while driving intoxicated.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans stated on Wednesday that an investigation revealed that the arrest of Borodin was a actually a breach of the Vienna Convention that regulates diplomatic relations between nations. Borodin’s arrest violated his diplomatic immunity, also stressed by Timmermans.

For the illegal arrest and detention, “the state of the Netherlands offers the Russian Federation its apologies,” Timmermans stated on Wednesday.

Timmermans also stated that he “understands” the action of the police officers who arrested Borodin, given the development of the situation on Saturday night after reviewing the case.

“They acted in accordance with their professional responsibilities with regard to the situation they found after the report,” Timmermans stated. He added that the Netherlands and Russia “remain in talks” about the incident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called Borodin’s detention “the most gross breach of the Vienna Convention”, and demanded an apology on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, the Russian foreign ministry accused Dutch police officers of raiding Borodin’s apartment in The Hague and assaulting him before bringing him to the police station for hours of questioning regarding the accusations.

Relations between the Netherlands and Russia have deteriorated promptly since Russian investigators charged thirty crew members of a Dutch-flagged Greenpeace ship, the Arctic Sunrise, with piracy last week over a protest against Arctic oil drilling.

The Netherlands had responded by launching legal action to free the activists, who face up to fifteen years in jail.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Dutch Apologize for Russian Diplomat Arrest – 9 October 2013

BBC News – Dutch Sorry on Russia Diplomat Case – 9 October 2013

Dutch News – The Netherlands Apologize to Russia for Diplomat’s Arrest – 9 October 2013

The Moscow Times – Dutch Apologize to Moscow for Detention of Russian Diplomat – 9 October 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – A French judged ruled on Wednesday that identity checks by police officers on thirteen people regarded as minorities were not based on racism and were legal.

Lawyers for the Plaintiffs, who contend that the law enforcement officers have engaged in racial profiling, vowed to appeal the ruling all the way up to the European Court of Human Rights. Wednesday’s verdict resulted from a one-day trial back in July, which was dubbed the first of its kind in France.

Equality groups say that French minorities, specifically those of African or Middle Eastern descent, are subject to routine discrimination that diminishes their chances of finding employment and gaining a foothold in mainstream society. They contend that this discrimination has led the officers to perform humiliating identity checks on minorities for no reason.

The French ruling comes amid a public furor over stop and frisk policies of the New York Police Department. The NYC case is being closely examined in France, particularly by the Plaintiff’s lawyers. A judge has recently ruled against NYPD practices said to discriminate against blacks and Hispanics.

The plaintiffs sought 10,000 euros ($13,000) each in the case. Their lawyers also sought alterations to the law that would require police to provide written reports of ID checks and specify “objective grounds” for conducting the checks. Currently, the law allows police to issue checks on people they deem “suspicious.” Opponents of the current law believe it affords too much discretion to the police.

Slim Ben Achour, lawyer for the Plaintiffs, stated, “The most obvious consequence [of Wednesday’s decision] is that police in this country… have the right to discriminate. There is a blank check for police to continue these practices.”

The defendants’ lawyers have stated that a person who considers an identity check abusive must prove the action was a gravely serious offence. This is nearly impossible as there is no trace an identity check took place.

The plaintiffs’ lawyers said they are closely watching the similar NYC case and hoping they might weigh on French policy, as their appeal develops.

“Through this decision, French justice says that the law of equality … basically does not apply to French police and we are pretty shocked by that. I would not say that this decision legalizes ethnic profiling, but clearly the judges closed their eyes to ethnic profiling,” Felix de Belloy, lawyers for the plaintiffs stated.

A study conducted in Paris by France’s National Center for Scientific Research and the Open Society Justice Initiative  has recently shown that blacks are six times more likely of being checked and questioned by police than whites, and those of Arab origin are eight times more likely.

For more information, please see:

France 24 – France Struggles to Address Racial Profiling by Police – 4 October 2013

Al Jazeera – French Court Rules Police ID-Checks Legal – 2 October 2013

Fox News – French Court Rules That Identity Checks on Minorities Were Lawful, Rejects Racism Claim – 2 October 2013

The Montreal Gazette – French Court Rules That Identity Checks on Minorities Were Lawful, Rejects Racism Claim – 2 October 2013

 

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Russian officials shrugged at legal action taken by the Dutch to have 30 Greenpeace-affiliated persons released from a Murmansk detention facility. Around the world, protests drew attention to the matter.

In September 2013, Russian authorities arrested 30 participants in a Greenpeace protest against the Prirazlomnaya offshore oil platform. Two activists scaled the structure before their arrest. Three others barricaded themselves in the radio room and tweeted live updates.

Currently, the participants are detained in the northern Russian city of Murmansk, and face piracy charges, which may result in a 15-year sentence.

Among those arrested aboard Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise were two Dutch citizens. On 4 October 2013, the Netherlands began legal proceedings against Russia for unlawful detention of activists and crew of the Arctic Sunrise, which was a Dutch-registered ship.

“With regard to its detention of the ship, Russia invokes its authority to ensure safety at sea in the vicinity of the oil platform,” Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans wrote. “The Netherlands agrees on the importance of safety at sea, but in this case we contest the lawfulness of detaining the ship and its crew.”

Other activists aboard the ship were from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the U.K., Ukraine, and the U.S.

Protesters have called for the activists’ release on an international scale. As a “global day of solidarity”, Greenpeace stated that it would hold up to 100 protests in approximately 48 countries. In support of 6 arrested British nationals, about 700 people protested at the Russian Embassy in London.

London protestors included Jude Law, Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, and Vivienne Westwood.

Deputy Foreign Minister Alexei Meshkov said that Russia asked the Netherlands several times to halt the ship’s “illegal activity.”

“Unfortunately, this was not done,” Meshkov said. “Therefore, we have far more questions for the Dutch side than they can have for us. Everything that happened with the Arctic Sunrise was pure provocation.”

Greenpeace claimed the activists held a peaceful protest in international waters, adding that Russian authorities boarded their ship and arrested the activists at gunpoint when they saw the group drive motorboats near an oil vessel owned by Russia and ExxonMobil.

Greenpeace International Executive Director, Kumi Naidoo said, “The activists were taking a brave stand to protect all of us from climate change and the dangers of reckless oil drilling in the Arctic. Now it’s imperative that millions of us stand up with them to defend the Arctic and demand their immediate release.”

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Greenpeace Vigil for ‘Arctic 30’ Held in Russia, as Dutch File Legal Case – October 5, 2013

Guardian – Worldwide Vigils for Greenpeace Activists Held by Russian Authorities – October 5, 2013

Reuters – Russia Dismisses Dutch Legal Action over Greenpeace Activists – October 5, 2013

Sydney Morning Herald – Shattering Conclusion to a Voyage of Peaceful Protest – October 5, 2013

Impunity Watch – President Putin States Activists Who Protested on Russian Oil Rig Are Not Pirates – September 25, 2013

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – In the light of health concerns, jailed Pussy Riot member, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova has begun eating again. Absent concessions, she claims the hunger strike will start again following her medical treatment.

In Russia, convicted criminals fear the Mordovia prison camps, which are described as “grim, decaying and intimidating.”

In 2012, punk rock musician and member of Pussy Riot, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was convicted of “hooliganism” for performing a “punk prayer” critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was, at the time, Prime Minister.

On 23 September 2013, with about six months left on her two-year sentence, Tolokonnikova began a hunger strike. She claimed the prison conditions were intolerable in Mordovia, and demanded relocation.

Tolokonnikova sent a letter to the news site, Lenta, explaining her unsanitary “slave labor” conditions. Regardless of illness or injury, women must work up to 17 hours each day. Failure to complete their duties results in beatings or worse.

She has demanded an investigation into rights violations in her penal colony, removal of “psychological pressure” on inmates in the colony who talked about penitentiary conditions to inspectors, and her transfer to another penitentiary.

The deputy on 1 October 2013, Russian Parliamentary Deputy Ilya Ponomarev met with Tolokonnikova. According to Ponomarev, doctors feared for Tolokonnikova’s life. She had a “very visible” rash on her skin that. Without food, doctors could not treat her without antibiotics.

“She was very bad,” Ponomarev said. “They were saying that unrecoverable damage was approaching, and I think they were right.”

In any event, Tolokonnikova claims that her protest will continue if the prison camp’s conditions do not improve. “I am not ending my hunger strike, I am suspending it temporarily because my physical condition is now very bad and there are the beginnings of health complications.”

While prison authorities denied Tolokonnikova’s allegations about the camp and accused her of lying, local authorities continued their investigation into her claims.

However, former Mordovia prisoner, Svetlana Bakhmina said that she can corroborate Tolokonnikova’s allegations.

“It’s like torture,” she said. “The system between the administration and the convicts is not just based on subordination, but humiliation, fear, intimidation and physical force.”

When authorities refused to let Bakhmina call her children, she also went on a hunger strike. She said the hard part was not the hunger, it was the psychological pressure from prison authorities.

Earlier this year, Maria Alyokhina, another convicted member of Pussy Riot, went on a hunger strike to protest conditions in another prison camp. Tolokonnikova is waiting to see if she can win similar concessions as Alyokhina.

For further information, please see:

CNN International – Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Jailed Pussy Riot Member, Halts Hunger Strike – October 3, 2013

RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty – Pussy Riot Member May Resume Hunger Strike – October 3, 2013

Rolling Stone – Pussy Riot Member Was Approaching ‘Unrecoverable Damage’ – October 3, 2013

Deutsche Welle – Pussy Riot Member Ends Hunger Strike against Russian Prison Conditions – October 1, 2013

Impunity Watch – Conviction Upheld for 2 Pussy Riot Members, 1 Released – October 12, 2012

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Seven Bosnian leaders agreed to end their country’s constitutional ban on minorities running for elected office on Tuesday, which has effectively cleared the country’s last major obstacle to applying to join the European Union.

The leaders, all from Bosnia’s main political parties, met in Brussels on Tuesday and agreed of “the necessity to implement the judgment urgently by providing every Bosnia-Herzegovina citizen with the right to stand for election to…Presidency and House of Peoples,” the leaders stated in a joint statement issued on Tuesday.

In 2009, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against discrimination against minority groups such as Roma and Jewish people. Bosnia, accordingly, has been blocked from applying to the join the EU due to this former constitutional provision. This has led to an impasse in accession discussions.

The talks occurred in part because EU officials had begun issuing warnings of a cut off in potentially hundreds of millions of euros in funding from the Union that has traditionally been used on reforms and development of local infrastructure.

As Bosnia’s economy is still recovering from the 1992 to 1995 war, EU accession accession and reforms have been essential for the country to attract foreign investors to the Bosnian economy. As far as Bosnia’s former Yugoslav neighbors, Montenegro has also begun accession talks, Croatia joined the EU this past July, and Serbia is to begin discussions in January.

The ethnicity of Bosnian citizens has been a hot-button issue in the country since the mid-90’s war that killed an estimated over-100,000 people and divided the country into two autonomous regions which are linked by a weak central government. This Brussels agreement has come just as Bosnia is launching its first census as an independent state, which has partially revived ethnic rifts.

Stefan Fuele, EU enlargement chief, stated he hoped the agreement would make it possible for the European Commission to issue a positive annual report on October 16 on Bosnia’s progress towards meeting EU standards on human rights and democracy.

Fuele stated he hoped the report would “open the way for a credible application of Bosnia-Herzegovina to become a member of the European Union”.

The Bosnian leaders’ joint statement did not go into specific detail on just how or when the proposed constitutional alterations would be made. The leaders promised to work out details of the agreement before resuming talks in Brussels on October 10.

For more information, please see:

EU Observer – Bosnia to Remove Barrier for EU Membership – 2 October 2013

European Union Examiner – Bosnian Deal Clears Obstacle to EU Application – 1 October 2013

Irish Independent – Bosnia Clears Final Hurdle on Road to EU Membership – 1 October 2013

Reuters – Bosnian Deal Clears Obstacle to EU Application – 1 October 2013