News

Former Commander of Communist-Era Romanian Prison Charged With Genocide

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Bucharest, ROMANIA – Romanian prosecutors charged the  former commander of a Communist-era  prison with genocide on Tuesday.

Alexandru Visinescu faces genocide charges stemming from his time as the commander of two prison during Communist-era Romania. (Photo courtesy of Fox News)

Alexandru Visinescu was formally presented with the charges before prosecutors at a hearing on Tuesday. He declined to comment as he was led to a taxi after the hearing. He has said he was  only following orders delegated to him.

Visinescu ran the Ramnicu Sarat prison where the  pre-Communist elite and intellectuals were incarcerated between 1956 and 1963.

Prosecutors have stated that under Visinescu’s command, prisoners were  subjected to starvation, beatings,  a lack of medical treatment and exposure to cold.  Visinescu could face life in prison if convicted.

Visinescu, 87, is the first Romanian to be charged with genocide since 1989. Former leader Nicolae  Ceausescu was the last, and was tried and executed in 1989.

Approximately 500,000 Romanian priests, teachers, peasants, doctors and diplomats  were condemned as political prisoners in the 1950s as the Communist government  sought to crush any dissent and gain greater autonomy. Nearly one-fifth of those imprisoned died due to  the inhuman conditions, historians have stated.

Back in July, the institute investigating communist crimes wrote to the general  prosecutors calling for Visinescu to be prosecuted for six deaths. The institute plans to forward roughly 35 files about former commanders to prosecutors.

In August, Visinescu lunged several times at  journalists who were seeking reaction to the accusations against him. Since  then, there has been widespread public debate regarding the Communist era, with many people advocating moves to punish former prison commanders.

President Traian Basescu and Prime Minister Victor Ponta have both stated that  former prison commanders should face justice for crimes they committed during the Communist era.

Visinescu also was reportedly a member of the execution squad that killed Ion Mihalache, the founder and leader of the Agrarian Party in Romania. After the execution, Visinescu became the commander of a women’s penitentiary, where he was a notorious torturer, before eventually becoming the commander of Ramnicu Sarat.

Former inmate Ion-Ovidiu Borcea recalls witnessing Visinescu commit chronic torture, “The officer and the commander in chief continuously beat him, got him sick and did not offer him medical care. They would enter his cell and throw a bucket of cold water on him in the middle of winter. [Mihalache] would yell ‘This is Ion Mihalache, They’re killing me!’. This crime cannot be forgotten.”

For more information, please see:

Fox News – Romanian Communist-Era Prison Guard Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

Romania-Insider – Romanian Commander of Communist-Era Prison Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

The Telegraph – Romanian Communist-Era Prison Chief Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

The Tribune – Ex Prison Guard of Communist Prison is Charged With Genocide – 3 September 2013

 

China Sacks Another Top State Official in Corruption Crackdown

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China — Chinese authorities have fired high-ranking economic official, Jiang Jiemin, in part of a growing crackdown on corruption. Analysts said the firing of Jiemin, who previously led an official body overseeing China’s state-owned enterprises, is also part of an effort by authorities to gain more control of state backed companies.

Jiang Jiemin, a top member of the Communist Party’s Central Committee, was fired earlier today as China continues to crackdown on corruption. (Photo courtesy of AP)

China’s central news agency, Xinhua said Jiang Jiemin was removed from his post as head of the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission for suspected “serious disciplinary violations,” a common phrase used to describe corruption.

 The decision comes only two days after authorities announced Jiang was under investigation. It also comes amid a growing probe into four other top executives at the state owned oil company, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). Jiemin previously served as the chairman of CNPC and its subsidiary PetroChina. Jiemin has gradually risen up within the ranks of China’s state-run oil industry over the past two decades.

City University of Hong Kong political scientist, Joseph Cheng, said the decision to target Jiemin and other top oil executives is a signal that the government is trying to reign in state-owned companies as the government continues to promote substantial economic reform.

“The top officials of these very powerful state owned enterprises are more or less independent kingdoms, they are the targets, so these cases will create a sort of threatening affect, a deterrent effect, which hopefully will help the leadership to push through reform. The reform probably is to reduce the privileges of the state sector,” said Cheng. He believes the investigation provides a rare opportunity to promote economic reform of China’s state-owned enterprises, which have “too much influence on China’s economy and are too big a source of corruption.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping has promised to crack down on high- and low-ranking corrupt officials. Some believe the investigation into Jiang is a sign that the anti-corruption drive is deepening and that other high-ranking officials could be next. Only a few short months ago top political leader, Bo Xilai, was tried on charges of corruption, stemming from his wife’s murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.

Jiang Jiemin sits on the Communist Party’s Central Committee, a top group of more than 200 officials. Jiemin is the first on the committee to be investigated and removed.

There has been speculation that former public security chief Zhou Yongkang could be the next official targeted. Yongkang previously served as a CNPC official and was an influential member of the petroleum clique. Nothing further has surfaced yet.

For more information, please see:

Xinhua — Jiang Jiemin removed from office — 3 September 2013

Reuters — China probes top official in latest anti-graft push — 3 September 2013

Chosun Ilbo — China Sacks State Enterprise Official — 4 September 2013

The Scotsman — China: Major scalp for corruption inquiry — 4 September 2013

As Security Forces Crack Down on Supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood the Egyptian Government has Taken Steps to Outlaw the Political Party

By Kathryn Maureen Ryan

Impunity Watch, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Egyptian State media reported that an improvised explosive device was detonated at a police station in Downtown Cairo wounding two workers Monday. Three people on a motorcycle reportedly threw a homemade grenade style explosive devise at the police station. There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

As security forces crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and Egyptian court has recommended the dissolution of the Brotherhood as a legal non-government organization (photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

The attack came just a day after Egypt’s state run news agency reported Sunday that former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will stand trial for charges of inciting murder and violence. The military backed government is essentially holding Morsi responsible for the deaths of protesters and other civilians since security forces began violently cracking down on protesters. The ousted President is also being investigated for his escape from prison during the 2011 uprising against former president Mubarak. While no formal charges have been brought, he has been accused of murder and conspiring with Hamas during his escape.

Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of supporters of President Morsi since opponents of the coup began protesting the government after Morsi’s removal from power on July 3. Like the former president many of the protesters have been accused by the government of inciting violence and even coming terrorist attacks.

As part of its crackdown on supports of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist political parties the military backed government has been excluding Islamists from the transitional process. The transitional government recently named a constituent assembly with almost no Islamists members. The government gave the assembly 60 days to review amendments that would repeal Islamic policies established over the last year by the Muslim Brotherhood led government and other more hard-line Islamic parties under President Morsi. The transitional government has also favoured policies that would officially raise the Egyptian military back to the elite status enjoyed under the presidency of the Military backed Dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The Nour Party has complained that the transitional government has had a deplorable policy of “exclusion of the Islamist current” in the commission of the review panel. The Nour Party was founded after the downfall of President Mubarak. The party also noted that the committee excluded members of the youth movements that ignited the revolution through social media driven demonstrations beginning on January 25, 2011.

The Egyptian government has also taken steps to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood, returning it to the illegal status placed on the party, which won a majority of votes in Egypt’s polar vote that was forced on it under Mubarak. A judicial panel has advised an Egyptian court to dissolve the Muslim Brotherhood as a legal non-governmental organization, the mood would effectively outlaw former President Mohamed Morsi’s Political party.

 

For further information please see:

Reuters – Egypt Sends Mursi to Trial as New Constitution Advances – 1 September 2013

Al Jazeera – Bomb Blast Hits Cairo Police Station – 2 September 2013

Al Jazeera – Egypt Panel Urges Brotherhood Dissolution – 2 September 2013

CNN International – Egypt to Try Former President Mohamed Morsy in Protest Deaths – 2 September 2013

NBCNews – Improvised Bomb Wounds Two at Cairo Police Station – 2 September 2013

 

 

 

 

Mexican Authorities Arrest Members of Rival Drug Cartels

By Brandon Cottrell
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

MEXICO CITY, Mexico  – Over the weekend Mexican authorities arrested two members of competing drug cartels.  Mario Nunez, member of the Sinaola drug cartel, was arrested on Friday for the murders of 350 people in 2011.  Alberto Carrillo, member of the Juarez drug cartel, was arrested today for drug trafficking, murder, and money laundering.  Neither Nunez nor Carrillo resisted arrest.

Mario Nunez, of the Sinaola drug cartel, was arrested over the weekend for the murders of 350 people in 2011. (Photo Courtesy MSN News).

Carrillo’s Juarez drug cartel is considered by many as one of the most powerful and violent cartels in Mexico.  As of late, however, the Juarez cartel has lost some of its drug routes to Nunez’s Sinaola cartel.  The rivalry between the cartels has contributed to the drug war in northern Mexico, where large fields of marijuana and heroin-producing poppies are located.  The drug war there has left thousands of people dead over the past few years and minimal arrests have been made in those murders.

Eduardo Sanchez, a federal security spokesman, said that “Nunez played a key role in the wave of violence that has plagued northern [Mexico] . . . and is likely responsible for the murder of more than 350 people found in 23 clandestine graves.”  Authorities believe that Nunez also hired hitmen to carry out some of the killings, which included mutilations and decapitations of the victims.

Nunez, who could face up to 40 years in prison in Mexico, is also wanted in the United States on drug trafficking charges.  It is not clear, however, if the United States will send an extradition request for him.

Over the past six years, over seventy-thousand people have died as a result of drug-related violence in Mexico, with many of the victims being civilians.  However, Carrillo’s arrest marks the third high-profile drug cartel arrest this year as authorities have intensified their campaign against the cartels.

Additionally, with Nunez’s arrest Mexican authorities have captured 63 of Mexico’s 122 most wanted and dangerous criminals.  Many of those arrests can be attributed to President Pena Nieto’s promise to tame the cartels and restore order.  However, nearly half of the Mexicans questioned in a recent poll believe that drug violence has worsened since Nieto took office in December and an another third believe that Mexico is less safe as a result of Nieto’s strategies.

 

For more information, please see:

BBC – Juarez Cartel Boss Alberto Carrillo Caught in Mexico – 2 September 2013

Daily Mail – Drug Cartel Leader Nicknamed ‘Ugly Betty’ is Captured in Latest Round of High Profile Arrests by Mexican Police – 2 September 2013

Fox News – Mexico Captures Suspected Leader Of Juarez Drug Cartel – 2 September 2013

Global Post – Mexico Detains Cartel Operator Mario Nunez Meza Tied to 350 Murders – 30 August 2013

International Business Times – Mexican Drug Lord Mario Nunez Arrested for 350 Murders – 30 August 2013

Dutch-Born Former Nazi Officer Due in Court for Murdering POW in WWII

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

Former SS officer Siert Bruins, accused of murdering a Dutch resistance fighter over 70 years ago, is set to appear in court on Monday in Hagen, Germany.

Bruins is due in German court on Monday. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

Bruins, now 92 years old, is charged with the murder of Aldert Klaas Dijkema back in September 1944, while Bruins was stationed at the Dutch-German border. Bruins could face life imprisonment if he is found guilty of the murder.

Bruins, originally from Groningen in the north-east of the Netherlands, is one of the last suspected Nazi criminals to be detained in Germany.

Another former SS officer, Heinrich Boere, was convicted of murdering three Dutch civilians during World War II back in 2010.

Bruins is accused of shooting POW Aldert Klaas Dijkema four times in the back, in September 1944 in the Appingedam area east of Groningen. Bruins has admitted being present at the scene of the murder, but denies being the triggerman to the shooting. He contends that he was marching alongside Dijkema when the shots occurred. An alleged accomplice to the murder has recently died.

“I was marching at the prisoner’s side. Suddenly I heard a shot and he fell,” Bruins has stated.

Bruins was one of roughly 30,000 Dutch citizens who worked with the Nazis during the German occupation of the Netherlands.

After the collapse of the Third Reich, Bruins was sentenced to death by the Netherlands in April 1949 for participating in this murder, as well as two other shootings, and the sentence was converted to life imprisonment. However, Bruins had become a German citizen, as Germany conferred German nationality on all foreigners who aided the Nazis during World War II. Accordingly, Dutch authorities failed to detain Bruins because he fled to Germany, as Germany does not extradite its nationals.

Bruins was, however, detained by the German authorities and sentenced to seven years in prison in February 1980 for the murder of two Jewish brothers in Delfzijl in the Netherlands in April 1945.

For more information, please see:

The China Post – Former SS Officer to Stand Trial in Germany – 2 September 2013

BBC News – Nazi Murder Trial: Ex-SS Man Siert Bruins Due in German Court – 1 September 2013

The Gulf Today – Former SS Officer, 92, to Stand Trial in Germany – 1 September 2013

Huffington Post – Siert Bruins, German Man, Charged With Nazi War Crimes – 1 September 2013