News

Holder Calls for Reduced Reliance on Mandatory Minimums

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – US Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday called for shorter sentences for defendants in most of the nation’s drug crimes. Holder endorsed a proposal that would result in shorter sentences for non-violent drug trafficking offenses, citing the rising cost of operating federal prisons and fairer administration of justice.

Holder’s position appears consistent with statements he made last August about the “vicious cycle of poverty and incarceration” gripping communities. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The proposal, created by the U.S. Sentencing Commission, is part of a larger move by the Department of Justice to lessen the penalties for non-violent drug offenders.  Holder has spoken out against mandatory minimum sentences, arguing for judicial discretion in developing appropriate sentencing guidelines.

“This overreliance on incarceration is not just financially unsustainable, it comes with human and moral costs that are impossible to calculate,” said Holder in a hearing before the Commission.

Holder insisted that removing these mandatory minimums would not prevent application of harsher sentences to violent drug offenders.

This proposal is just the latest step in an on-going move by the Justice Department to reduce the prison populations.  In August, Holder instructed prosecutors to stop charging non-violent drug traffickers with offenses that carried these mandatory minimum sentences.  The Sentencing Commission took notice, convening in January to consider eliminating mandatory minimums altogether.

Justice Department officials said the proposed amendment would result in a 17 percent decrease in the average length of prison sentences for non-violent offenders.  Moreover, it would shrink the federal prison population by 6,550 inmates over the next five years.

Holder’s proposal has been met with criticism from Raymond Morrogh, director-at-large for the National District Attorney’s Association, who considered the proposal to be “[r]ewarding convicted felons with lighter sentences because America can’t balance its budget.”

The seven member Sentencing Commission is expected to vote as soon as April to amend the sentencing guidelines.  The mandatory minimums will remain in effect, however, until such time that the Commission votes on the proposed amendment.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Eric Holder to push for shorter US drug sentences – 13 March 2014

CNN – Holder: I back a plan to reduce some drug-related sentences – 13 March 2014

Fox News – Holder backs reduced sentences for some drug traffickers – 13 March 2014

The New York Times – Holder Endorses Proposal to Reduce Drug Sentences – 13 March 2014

The Washington Post – Holder calls for reduced sentences for low-level drug offenders – 13 March 2014

Turkish Boy Injured in Last Year’s Protests Dies, Leads to Further Protests

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ANKARA, Turkey – Clashes between riot police and protesters occurred outside of a hospital I Turkey’s capital, where a teenager passed away nine months after being injured by police officers during a different protest.

Elvan’s mother (center) surrounded by mourners. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Berkin Elvan, 15, was injured June last year when he was struck on the head by a tear-gas canister thrown by police officers to break up a demonstration in Okmeydan, an Istanbul district. He had been in a coma since the incident. Elvan’s health had deteriorated in recent weeks, according to his family, and his weight dropped down to thirty-five pounds. The family announced on Twitter on Tuesday: “We lost our son. May he rest in peace.”

Elvan, in a coma for 269 days, had been on his way to purchase bread in Okmeydan when he became a casualty of mass anti-government protests last year all across Turkey. The protests began in Gezi Park in Istanbul and spread all throughout Turkey. Thousands of people have been injured from the protests, while eight have died. The protests last year initially stemmed from the government’s plans to redevelop Gezi Park.

After Elvan’s death was announced on Tuesday, a large demonstration began outside the hospital where he stayed. Clashes between police officers and the demonstrators quickly ensued, and police fired tear-gas at the roughly 2,000 protestors.

Elvan’s mother appeared outside Okmeydani hospital and was quickly surrounded by mourners after the announcement of her son’s death. After word spread on social media, people gathered outside the hospital to demonstrate their anger. After riot police arrived, one of their vehicles was attacked by the demonstrators. The family relocated to a nearby Muslim prayer hall.

The crowd continued outside of the hospital, and shouted, “Berkin Elvan is our honor and he is immortal.” The crowd’s anger was precipitated as they believed that police showing up to Tuesday’s demonstration simply added insult to injury.

Other protests also occurred throughout Turkey. Large demonstrations occurred in Antalya and Izmir. Elvan’s funeral is set to take place on Wednesday.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Clashes in Turkey Over Death of Boy in Coma – 11 March 2014

BBC News – Turkey Clashes After Boy Hurt at Istanbul Protest Dies – 11 March 2014

EuroNews – Clashes in Turkey After Death of Teenager Hurt in Anti-Govt. Protests – 11 March 2014

Reuters – Death of Turkish Boy Hurt in Protests Triggers Further Unrest – 11 March 2014

 

Calls For UN Inquiry into Sri Lankan War Crimes Bolstered by UK Video Evidence

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka–Britain has joined the US and three other countries in pushing for a full international inquiry into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.  The announcement came Sunday, after the Sri Lankan government failed to satisfy international calls for an inquiry.

Protesters gather in Geneva in opposition to U.S.-led UN probe into Sri Lankan war crimes, now joined by the U.K. (Photo Courtesy of AFP)

In an announcement last November at the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Colombo, David Cameron gave Sri Lanka four months to conduct “a credible, thorough inquiry” into crimes alleged to have been committed during Sri Lanka’s 26-year civil war.

The Prime Minister’s office said on Sunday that Sri Lanka had failed to fulfill the request. The UK had joined four other countries in tabling a motion at the UN Human Rights Council. The UK now fully supports the call by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for an international, independent investigation into violations of human rights and related crimes by both sides during the war.

A vote on the resolution is expected to take place at the end of this month.

A spokesperson for the PM added: “Ahead of the vote, we are working hard to secure support from other countries. The PM has personally written to a number of leaders whose countries are on the human rights council this session calling on them to support this resolution which would help to deliver progress on reconciliation and human rights in Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka has historically refused to allow the UN unrestricted access to former war zones.

The Sri Lankan army extinguished Tamil Tiger separatist forces in the final battle of a long civil war in 2009, in a strategy partly drawn up by President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother, the Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

About 300,000 civilians were trapped on a narrow beach during the onslaught and the UN panel has estimated that 40,000 non-combatants died.  Although both sides are alleged to have committed atrocities, the panel concluded that army shelling killed most civilian victims.

Since the end of the war, harassment of government critics, including attacks on journalists and human rights workers have continued. A heavy army presence in the former Tamil Tiger strongholds in the north of the country angers contributes to tensions with local ethnic Tamils, who feel they are treated as enemies of the state.

On Sunday, UK Channel 4 News said it had obtained new evidence which it, and Tamil campaigners, have said demonstrated that an underlying culture of systematic brutality and sexual violence existed within the ranks of the Sri Lankan military.

The footage was reported to have been filmed by a soldier on a mobile phone, and was said to show troops laughing and cheering as they celebrated the deaths of Tamil insurgents.  The footage also depicts the soldiers performing acts of grotesque sexual violation on the bodies.

Channel 4 News has continued to report on what it said was evidence, in the form of various pieces of footage, of the apparently systematic execution and sexual violation of prisoners.

The Sri Lankan government has claimed that the footage was doctored, manipulated, or falsified by Tamil insurgents dressed as government soldiers and speaking Sinhala, the language of the vast majority of government soldiers.

For more information, please see:

The Guardian–Britain joins call for UN to investigate alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka–9 March 2014

Australia Network News–Sri Lanka warns against UN war crimes inquiries–11 March 2014

Times Sri Lanka–Protests in Geneva for Sri Lanka war crimes probe–11 March 2014

Arab News–4,000 Tamils protest in Geneva for Sri Lanka war crimes probe–10 March 2014

UK 4 News–Sri Lanka: new video evidence of grotesque violations–9 March 2014

Tensions Exasperated as Rival Demonstrations Held All Across Ukraine

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Sevastopol, UKRAINE – Activists supporting Russian occupation of Ukraine attacked a group of pro-Ukraine activists in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Sunday.

The Pro-Russian rally in Simferopol. (Photo courtesy of Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty)

Hundreds of activists flooded the streets on Sunday to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the life of Ukranian poet Taras Shevchenko. Pro-Russian demonstrators intervened and attacked the activists with clubs and whips.

Russian forces have occupied the Crimean region in Ukraine for roughly a week as of Sunday. The latest violence occurs amidst rival demonstrations all across the Ukraine on Sunday. Rival protests both in support of Ukrainian independence and against it peacefully occurred in Crimea’s capital city of Simferopol.

Former opposition leader Vitali Klitschko stated that the Ukraine should not be allowed to split over the current violence during a speech in the city of Donetsk. “The key priority today for all Ukrainians is to unite, to come together and to prevent provocations, prevent separatists from realizing their plans, which are partition of the country and loss of independence.”

During Klitschko’s speech, several thousand protestors gathered at Donetsk’s Lenin Square and marched to the administration building after it was seized twice this week by pro-Russian activists. The protestors lowered the Ukraine flag and raised the Russian flag.

In Kyiv, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk stated to a group of thousands that the Ukraine would not willingly cede its territory to Russia. “This is our land, our parents and grandparents spilled their blood for this land. We will not give up a single centimeter of Ukrainian land. Let Russia and Russian President [Vladimir Putin] know this.”

Prime Minister Yatsenyuk later also stated that he would be traveling to Washington, D.C. this week to discuss the impasse with Russia. U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Yatsenyuk on the 12th to discuss the situation. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday to advise that any steps taken by Russia to annex Crimea to Russia would close diplomatic relations with the United States.

Russia is continuing to exercise greater control over Crimea. Ukraine’s State Border Service stated that Russian military forces took control of a Ukrainian border guard post early this morning, and now control eleven border guard posts in Crimea.

Pro-Russian authorities in Crimea have called a referendum to be held on the 16th to decide on whether to split from Ukraine and join Russia.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from office last month after months of protests against his free-trade agreement with the European Union. Russian military forces quickly after Yanukovych left office.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended the planned referendum to European leaders.

For information, please see:

9News World – Violent Clashes at Rival Ukraine Rallies – 9 March 2014

Al Jazeera – Ukraine Plans Rallies as Crisis Deepens – 9 March 2014

BBC News – Ukraine Gripped by Rival Rallies – 9 March 2014

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty – Ukraine Clashes as Rival Rallies Boost Tensions – 9 March 2014

 

Alleged Former Auschwitz Guards Released

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – Amidst the last chance effort to bring Nazi war criminals to justice before they die, German courts have released four alleged former SS guards in two weeks.

Auschwitz was the largest death camp during World War II, and killed approximately 1.5 million people. (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

In February 2014, police arrested three elderly men after searching six homes in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Police based their search on information from the Central Office of the Judicial Authorities for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

Prosecutors stated that “significant evidence” suggested the men could be charged as accessories to murder for serving as Auschwitz guards. The complex of camps at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland witnessed the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Jewish, Roma, and Polish persons. Under German privacy guidelines, their names were withheld.

During the week of 3 March 2014, the alleged SS guards of the Auschwitz death camp have been released from custody. However, prosecutors claim the investigation against them will continue.

Germany began a push to prosecute all remaining SS guards under a new legal doctrine, which considers an accessory to murder anyone who worked at extermination camps, even absent evidence of any personal violent acts.

One of the men was freed due to failing health, while another was released on bail, and the third’s detention was successfully challenged. A week before, yet another man, Hans Lipschis, was released because he suffers from dementia.

“The court has refused to open the trial,” a court statement said of Lipschis. “The chamber is of the opinion that the 94-year-old is incapable of standing trial. It bases this judgment on its own personal impression and the opinion of a psychiatrist.”

In 2013, Lipschis claimed that he left his position as a cook at Auschwitz to fight on the Eastern Front toward the end of World War II. However, he could not remember which unit he joined.

For a total of thirty, 26 other living men are believed to be former SS guards from Auschwitz. In February 2014, prosecutors ordered a search for Nazi-era documents from several German states, as several crimes from that era have gone unpunished in Germany.

Much difficulty came from a 1969 federal court ruling, which required proof of individual guilt to prosecute a defendant. In 2011, the precedent changed when a Munich court relied on personnel records to convict former Sobibor guard John Demjanjuk of aiding and abetting 28,000 murders. Demjanjuk died in a nursing home.

To achieve justice, strong efforts must be made to collect sufficient evidence that will be determinative of whether alleged war criminals are who prosecutors believe they are.

For further information, please see:

Washington Post – 3 Auschwitz Guard Suspects Released from Custody – March 6, 2014

Haaretz – Ailing  Auschwitz Guard Suspect Granted Bail in Germany – March 5, 2014

Chicago Tribune – Ex-Chicagoan, a Suspected Auschwitz Guard, Found Unfit for Trial – February 28, 2014

Independent – Three Suspected Ex-SS Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 21, 2014

Reuters – Three Suspected Former Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 20, 2014