By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, United Kingdom – The Home Office, which is responsible for immigration, has been accused of racism and profiling in recent operations used to combat illegal immigration, including checkpoints that led to the arrest of 139 suspected offenders. British officials are divided on whether the operations were discriminatory.

During the week of 29 July 2013, vans in London sported posters telling illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest”, with a number to text for “free advice, and help with travel documents.” While the Unite union sought legal advice on whether the vans “incited racial hatred”, the Home Office denied that the message was racist and refused to apologize for enforcing the law.

At that time, reports surfaced that the Home Office would force nationals of India, Nigeria, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh to pay £3000 before receiving a visitor visa. India demanded confirmation and an explanation, stating that acceptance of the bond would hurt British-Indian relations. Business Secretary Vince Cable assured his counterpart in India that no such policy came before the British Cabinet, and the UK would not consider it.

On 31 July 2013, the official Twitter profile @ukhomeoffice posted pixilated photos of possible #immigrationoffenders being led away from checkpoints by officers. At least three immigrants were Brazilian, Indian, and Ukrainian. Witnesses filled Twitter with protests against operations they claim “targeted ethnic minorities and non-white people.” Others equated the arrests to The Hunger Games, a book and film series about gladiator-style fights on dystopian Earth.

Immigration Minister Mark Harper rejected allegations of racial profiling, and stated that officers were required to have reasonable suspicion that an offense had been committed. Harper said: “We are sending a clear message to employers who choose to use illegal labour. We will find you and you will pay a heavy penalty. Illegal working undercuts legitimate businesses and is often linked to exploitative behaviour such as tax evasion and harmful working conditions.”

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) plans to look into the Home Office’s operations. In a letter to the Home Office, the EHRC will “ask questions about the extent to which the Home Office complied with its public sector equality duty when planning the recent advertising campaign targeted at illegal migration.”

Member of Parliament (MP) Barry Gardiner demanded Home Secretary Theresa May investigate the campaign, writing, “[w]e do not yet live in a society where the police or any other officers of the law are entitled to detain people without reasonable justification and demand their papers. The actions of your department would however appear to be hastening us in that direction.”

In Southern Europe and the Caribbean, “cash-strapped” countries are in bidding wars to attract wealthy Chinese immigrants.

In Germany, where Chancellor Merkel ten years ago ran on a “Children Instead of Indians” campaign, employee shortages have led university and job recruiters to welcome immigrants.

In the UK, perceived racism and hostility will risk long-term damages to international relations, and immigration could be down when the UK needs it most.

For further information, please see:

Al Jazeera – UK Crackdown on Immigrants Branded Racist – August 2, 2013

BBC News – Home Office Vans: Unite Union in ‘Race Hatred’ Query – August 2, 2013

The Independent – Home Office Anti-Immigration Twitter Campaign Branded Start of ‘the UK Hunger Games’ – August 2, 2013

Sky News – Home Office Immigration Tactics Investigated – August 2, 2013

The Telegraph – Nigel Farage Attacks Home Office Immigrant Spot Checks as ‘Un-British’ – August 2, 2013

Guardian – Home Office Tactics in Illegal Immigration Crackdown Prompt Twitter Storm – August 1, 2013

The Times of India – UK’s Move for £3,000 Visa Bond ‘Retrograde Measure’: Anand Sharma – July 31, 2013

The Wall Street Journal – Cash-Strapped Nations Race to Attract Chinese Immigrants – July 30, 2013

Guardian – ‘Go Home’ Campaign against Illegal Immigrants Could Go Nationwide – July 29, 2013

Reuters – Germany Learning to Open Arms to Immigrants – July 21, 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LONDON, England – A British Court of Appeal upheld a ruling on Wednesday that the country’s law on assisted suicide cannot be changed by the courts, which quashed an appeal by a paralyzed man named Paul Lamb, and the family of the late Tony Nicklinson.

The Lord Chief Justice, sitting with the Master of the Rolls Lord Dyson and Lord Justice Elias, affirming a High Court ruling, rejected the Nicklinsons’ and Mr. Lamb’s right-to-die challenges.

The Lord Chief Justice stated Parliament represented the “conscience of the nation” as applied to life and death matters, such as capital punishment and abortion.

The late Tony Nicklinson suffered from locked-in syndrome, where an individual is aware and awake but is paralyzed and cannot communicate. Mr. Nicklinson passed away in 2012 after refusing food following the initial High Court decision to reject his right-to-die claim

“We will carry on with the case for as long as we can so that others who find themselves in a position similar to Tony don’t have to suffer as he did. Nobody deserves such cruelty,” stated Nicklinson’s widow, Jane.

Paul Lamb, 57, who has been paralyzed from the neck down after a car accident 23 years ago, joined the right-to-die cause shortly after Nicklinson’s death. Lamb stated he is in constant pain, and has to be injected with drugs, including morphine, on a consistent basis due to his spinal injuries.

“I was hoping for a humane and dignified end- this judgment does not give me that,” Lamb stated.

Lamb and the Nicklinson family stated they will now take their case to Britain’s Supreme Court, and the European Court of Human Rights if necessary.

“I am doing this for myself as and when I need it. I’m doing it for thousands of other people living what can only be described as hell. Many of them have been getting in touch with me begging me to continue this fight. The more it goes on the stronger I am getting,” Lamb stated.

As the law stands currently in Britain, anyone who aids another individual in killing themselves commits an offense of assisted suicide, while a person who carries out euthanasia commits murder.

In a separate case on Wednesday, however, the Judges ruled that another locked-in syndrome sufferer should be allowed to take his case to the Supreme Court. The man is seeking clarification of whether a medical professional would face trial if they helped him travel abroad to a Swiss suicide clinic.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Right-to-Die Campaigners Nicklinson and Lamb Lose Battle – 31 July 2013

The Independent – Barbaric and Inhumane: Paralyzed Man Paul Lamb Hit Back After Judges Dismiss His Right to Die Appeal – 31 July 2013

The Telegraph – Right-to-Die: Laws Must Clarify Whether Doctors Can Aid Euthanasia – 31 July 2013

Yahoo News – British Court Dismisses Landmark Right-to-Die Appeal – 31 July 2013

 

 

Press Release

26 July 2013 – Today, the General Secretariat of Interpol has announced that Interpol cannot be used by the Russian Federation to arrest William Browder, who is running a global justice campaign to sanction Russian officials responsible for the torture and murder of 37-year old lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.

“INTERPOL cannot be used by the Russian Federation to seek the arrest of Mr William Browder,” said Interpol’s General Secretariat in the official announcement posted on its website (http://www.interpol.int/News-and-media/News-media-releases/2013/N20130726).

The public statement from Interpol came a day after the Russian Interior Ministry announced that it had sent a request to Interpol to search for Mr Browder on orders from the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office. The news of the Russian authorities targeting Mr Browder with one more international search warrant was covered by 139 news outlets in several hours since its release.

This morning Interpol’s General Secretariat refused the Russian Federation’s request to search for and arrest Mr Browder in order to extradite him back to Russia because the Russian proceedings in relation to Mr Browder have already been found by the Interpol’s governing bodies to be “of a predominantly political nature” and “contrary to INTERPOL’s rules and regulations” following a review held in May 2013 by the Interpol’s Commission for the Control of Files. In accordance with the Commission’s recommendation, the General Secretariat of Interpol has deleted all information related to the Russian request concerning Mr Browder from its information systems.

“All information related to this request for Mr Browder’s arrest has been deleted from INTERPOL’s databases and all INTERPOL member countries have been informed accordingly,” said Interpol’s General Secretariat in its official statement.

“It is remarkable that Putin has become so desperate to persecute whistleblowers that he is ready to humiliate himself and Russia in front of key international organizations. The fast response from INTERPOL in this case is an indication that it has put in place effective systems to protect themselves from Putin’s attemtps to draw them into his own corrupt political vendettas”,said a Hermitage Capital representative.

For further information, please see:

Law and Order in Russia

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SOPHIA, Bulgaria – Despite recent protests, Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) Prime Minister Plamen Oresharski vowed to continue his administration of the country, even if low public support delays much needed reform. European Commission spokesman Olivier Bailly simultaneously called for public order and the continued right of public demonstration.

Currently, a number of problems plague Bulgaria’s aging population, including an ineffective market and failing health care and education systems. Tax collection and revenue agency reforms are also areas of concern.

In February 2013, Bulgaria’s former Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) government collapsed following protests over low living standards and high utility bills. By May, without backing from another party, GERB reclaimed an electoral majority. However, the BSP, which won second place, received support from another party in the legislature for Oresharski’s rise to power.

In June, demonstrators protested the Socialist government’s decision to appoint, without debate, a “media magnate” the head of the National Security Council. Even after parliament cancelled the appointment, protests have continued for nearly seven weeks in Sofia. Of thousands of Bulgarian protesters, most are young and well-educated anti-corruption demonstrators.

Most of the protests had been peaceful and overshadowed in international media by concurrent violence in Brazil, Turkey, and Egypt.

On 23 July 2013, protesters trapped more than 100 lawmakers, ministers, and journalists inside the parliament building. Protesters used paving stones, street signs, and park benches as barricades. Despite injuries to several protesters and at least one police officer, the rally continued for over eight hours. The streets rang with thousands shouting “Resign! Mafia!” Around 3:00AM, police escorted lawmakers away in vans.

A government decision to borrow nearly $700 million sparked the demonstrators’ decision to barricade lawmakers inside parliament.

“We want people in the parliament to start thinking about the people, and not only for their own pockets,” said demonstrator Anna Grozdanova.

“People’s patience has run out,” said Bulgarian cultural expert Alexander Kiossev, who recently protested in Sofia. “This patience has several times been overstretched by this government and previous ones.”

European Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding openly sympathized with “Bulgarian citizens who are protesting on the streets against corruption.”

According to a recent poll, Oresharki’s coalition has the highest disapproval rating of any incoming Bulgarian government since 1997. Amidst protesters calling for Oresharki’s resignation, political analysts have predicted that the government will not last long because the Attack Party, while necessary for passing legislation, continues to push an anti-EU and anti-NATO agenda.

“When we speak of resignation,” said Oresharski, “that is an easy personal decision to make but would be irresponsible for the country… I have heard no convincing arguments explaining how resignation would automatically solve the problems of the country.”

Oresharski added that while protests have forced his government to be more effective, they have made enacting major reforms difficult. Nevertheless, he vowed to maintain fiscal rigor and help spur economic growth.

As demonstrated, however, if the corruption allegations are true, the Bulgarian people will not want the major reforms offered to them.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian – Bulgaria’s ‘Class War’ – 26 July 2013

Reuters – Bulgaria PM Refuses to Quit, Says Protests Hamper Reforms – 26 July 2013

TIME World – A Bulgarian Spring? Entrenched Protests Challenge Eastern Europe’s Status Quo – 26 July 2013

Deutsche Welle – Kiossev: ‘There’s a moral solidarity in Bulgaria’ – 25 July 2013

Reuters – Bulgaria Parliament Siege Escalates Political Crisis – 24 July 2013

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – A protest in Kiev spawned by the rape of a 29 year old woman last month was broken up by riot police last Friday.

Irina Krashkova, a single mother living in Vradiyevka, about 250 miles south of the capital city Kiev, implicated two police officers as her attackers last month, spawning widespread outrage over the perceived impunity of local officials and their friends.

Kiev’s city government had initially authorized the protest to occur on the city’s main square on Thursday, but after protestors erected tents to stay the night, police in riot gear arrived to remove the crowd of roughly 150 individuals. The riot police ultimately detained about ten people.

Krashkova was walking home from a bar in Vradiyevka late in June when she forced into a car by two police officers- 1^st Lt. Evhen Dryzhak and Lt. Dmitry Polishchuk, and their friend. They then allegedly drove Krashkova to the woods where they beat her to the point of a fractured skull, and took turns raping her.

Krashkova immediately identified Dryzhak as the leader of the assault, but he wasn’t arrested for a week. Residents of Vradiyevka were enraged due to a history of abuse by Dryzhak and suspected an attempted cover-up, as Dryzhak was closely connected to a top regional police official. These residents then stormed the police station, believing Dryzhak sought refuge inside.

The protestors threw rocks, smashed windows and used firebombs. Dryzhak was soon arrested after the incident, and the other two individuals involved in Krashkova’s assault were detained as well.

“I am 100 percent sure that had the people not risen up, this Dryzhak guy would have come out clean, he would be investigating this very case. They would have scared [Krashkova] into keeping her mouth shut,” a local opposition activist stated.

Reports of police abuse involving both bribery as well as violence have been prevalent in Ukraine since 2010, when President Viktor Yankovych took office. Opposition politicians believe that the police impunity is a result of protection from corrupt politicians in President Yankovych’s ruling party.

“The police force is rotting. The police have become dangerous to society…The most terrible thing is that an institution that should be entirely apolitical is now political,” stated an opposition lawmaker.

President Yankovych, however, ordered a top-level inquiry into the Krashkova case last month, and the regional prosecutor and heads of the regional and town police have all since been fired.

For more information, please see:

Yahoo News – Ukraine Rape Draws Outrage Over Official Impunity – 21 July 2013

The West Australian – Ukraine Police Disperse Protest Over Rape Case – 19 July 2013

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty – Ukrainian Police-Abuse Protests Come to the Capital – 17 July 2013

Impunity Watch – Protest to Punish Police Leads Ukrainian President to Support a New Investigation – 7 July 2013

The West Australian – Outrage in Ukraine Over Police Accused of Raping Woman – 3 July 2013