News

North Korean Soldier Shot Defecting Across DMZ

By: Katherine Hewitt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – On 13 November 2017, an unarmed, low-ranking member of the North Korean military attempted to escape to South Korea.  He did so through the Joint Security Area in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).  He drove to the border through what is known as a ‘peace village’ until a wheel fell off his vehicle.  From there he proceeded on foot.  The North Korean military opened fire on him, totaling 40 rounds.  He was hit in the shoulder and the elbow.  He managed to take cover behind a South Korean structure inside the DMZ.  Later, U.S. and South Korean soldiers crawled out to rescue him.

He was air lifted to a hospital, where doctors began work immediately.  While his injuries are critical, doctors believe his life will be saved.  There are also reports of severe intestinal damage.  Doctors identified enormous numbers of parasites in his body that complicate the man’s recovery.  The doctor reported that he had never seen anything like this during his career spanning 20 years.

Hospital where North Korean Soldier is being treated. Photo Courtesy of Hong Ki-won.

This is the first defection to occur across the DMZ this year and the third to ever occur since the end of the Cold War.  Most defectors cross the border with China, as the security is less intense.  The North Korean military has been increasing border control recently, and South Korea has seen a reduction of defectors coming in.  So far this year, 780 North Koreans fled to South Korea.

North Korea has yet to release a statement or say anything about the event.  South Korea broadcasted, over the loudspeaker in the DMZ, that doctors were treating the soldier.

This is also the first time that North Korean soldiers fired shots in the direction of the South.

For more information, please see:

The Times – Lousiana Man Arrested After Trying TO Cross into North Korea for ‘Political Purposes’-  13 November 2017

BBC – North Korean soldier shot while defecting at DMZ to South – 13 November 2017

BBC – North Korean defector found to have ‘enormous parasites’ – 17 November 2017

Reuters – Defecting North Korean soldier critical after escape in hail of bullets – 14 November 2017

60,000 Far-Right Demonstrators March In Poland

By Jenilyn Brhel
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

WARSAW, Poland – An estimated 60,000 far-right demonstrators marched through Warsaw on Poland’s 99th Independence Day.

Aerial Photo of Far-Right March. Photo Courtesy of Radek Pietruszka.

On Saturday, November 11th, tens of thousands of people gathered in what is being described as one of the biggest gatherings of far-right supporters in recent years.

The march, organized by far-right groups, is held annually on Poland’s Independence Day. The march has become an international magnet for far-right supporters and white supremacists.

The crowd welcomed far-right leaders from Britain and Italy. Richard Spencer, the American white nationalist who organized the Charlottesville, Virginia protest that killed a young counter-protester, was scheduled to attend but cancelled his plans after the Polish government advised him that he was not welcome in the country.

The National Radical Camp (NRC) was one of the lead organizers of the march. The NRC has previously marched against Muslim immigration into the country, gay rights and the European Union. Anything that is considered to undermine Polish Catholic values is a target of the nationalists.

Tomasz Dorosz, a member of the NRC, took the stage on Saturday. “Europe and the world is in decay: culturally, politically, economically. We Poles have to be the alternative,” said Dorosz. “There will be a national Poland or none.”

Demonstrators wearing masks carried signs containing such phrases as “Clean Blood”, “Pray for an Islamic Holocaust” and “Europe Will Be White.”  They threw red-smoke bombs as they marched.

One far-right demonstrator interviewed by a Polish television station said he was on the march to “remove Jewry from power.”

“It’s 50,000 to 100,000 mostly football hooligans hijacking patriotism,” said one counter-protester. “For me, it’s important to support the anti-fascist coalition, and to support fellow democrats, who are under pressure in Poland today.”

The march has grown in numbers steadily since it began in 2009. Nick Loweles, member of the anti-extremism group Hope Not Hate, said that “the numbers attending this year seem to be bigger and, while not everyone on the march is a far-right activist or fascist, it is undoubtedly becoming more significant and is acting as a magnet for far-right groups around the world.”

A smaller group of about 5,000 counter-protesters showed up at the march. Several counter-protesters carrying a banner that read “Stop Fascism” were injured when nationalists pushed and kicked them. A heavy police presence and separation of the groups kept further violence at bay.

Many criticize the Polish government and believe that its behavior has fostered intolerance and xenophobia and emboldened the nationalists.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Warsaw Nationalist March Draws Tens of Thousands – 11 November 2017

The New York Times – Nationalist March Dominates Poland’s Independence Day – 11 November 2017

Aljazeera – Why 60,000 People Joined a Nationalist March in Poland – 12 November 2017

CNN – Thousands of Nationalist Protesters Disrupt Poland Independence Day – 12 November 2017

The Guardian – ‘White Europe’: 60,000 Nationalists March on Poland’s Independence Day – 12 November 2017

The Washington Post – ‘Pray for an Islamic Holocaust’: Tens of Thousands From Europe’s Far-Right March in Poland – 12 November 2017

Rights Activists Threatened in Turkmenistan

By: Katherine Hewitt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan – In one of the world’s most repressive nations, two female journalists were verbally and physically attacked on the 14th and 15th of November 2017.   These were not isolated attacks but rather just one attempt in a long string of attacks to silence these two journalists, among others.

Soltan Achilova is an independent journalist who works for Radio ‘Azatlyk’, a service of Radio Free Europe|Radio Liberty.   On 14 of November two men followed her in a car as she made her way to the US Embassy Information Center. On the same day, while photographing people in line at a grocery store, a man came up to her and grabbed her, yelling, “I will take a rock and hit you on the head. If you ever use a camera again, I will smash it together with you! Go home and never go out again. Otherwise you will die.” She was also followed back to her house by men in a car.

Achilova working. Photo Courtesy of azathbar.com.

Earlier in the year, men also broke into Achilova’s son’s car in an attempt to get to her. This is the fourth attack against her this year.

Galina Kucherenko is a human rights activist.  On 15 November police called her demanding that she sign a police summons and report to the police station. The reasoning was that another activist had filed a complaint against her.  After the phone call, men knocked on her door, demanding that she sign the police summons. She did not let them in.  However, they hung around her building for another 25 minutes before leaving. Kucherenko is continuously watched by surveillance agents, and has had her internet and phone services cut off.

Men have been stationed outside these activists’ homes in plain clothes.  They follow them in broad daylight whenever the activists leave. The surveillance men try to avoid having their imaged captured, though, turning their backs to cameras or stepping back.

Human Rights activists are concerned that the back-to-back attacks indicate an increase of journalist repression. International Partnership for Human Rights director says that these attacks underline the extreme extent that the government goes to create an atmosphere of nonexistent free speech.

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch – Turkmenistan: Activists Threatened – 21 November 2017

Chronicles of Turkmenistan – Journalists and activists in Turkmenistan again subjected to surveillance and assaults – 19 November 2017

Chronicles of Turkmenistan – Correspondent Soltan Achilova again assaulted in Turkmenistan – 17 November 2017

International Partnership for Human Rights – Turkmenistan: Activists threatened- Space for freedom of expression shrinks – 22 November 2017

Mexico’s Attorney General Resigns to make way for Judicial Reforms

By: Karina Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

CIUDAD DE MEXICO, Mexico — On Monday, October 16, Mexico’s Attorney General Raúl Cervantes announced his resignation before members of the Senate, stating that he wanted to facilitate the transition to a new institutional framework to combat crime and abandon impunity.

Mexican Attorney General Raúl Cervantes giving his resignation before members of the Senate. Photo Courtesy Gob.Mx.

Mr. Cervantes is the third Attorney General appointed within the last five years and was appointed Attorney General on October 25, 2016.

In 2014, Congress approved a constitutional reform—to be enacted at the latest in 2018—that would replace the office of the Attorney General with an independent chief prosecutor who would be appointed to a nine-year term.  This extended tenure is designed to distance the prosecutor from the president, who serves a single six-year term.  According to El País, Mr. Cervantes would have assumed the position of chief prosecutor automatically.

Mr. Cervantes’ appointment as Attorney General caused widespread consternation since he has close ties to the current president, Enrique Peña Nieto, and is a member of the ruling PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party).  Many opposition politicians and non-governmental groups have expressed a lack of faith in Cervantes’ willingness to investigate the Peña Nieto and his administration after the 2018 elections, which is why the new office of the chief prosecutor has not yet been established.

During his tenure, the Observatorio Nacional Ciudadano (ONC) reported a significant increase in violent homicides in Mexico since the beginning of 2017 to August, with a steady monthly average of 2,300 homicides reported per month.  According to Huffpost, this means that “every 18 minutes and 47 seconds, a victim of violent homicide was reported in the first eight months of 2017 on a national level.”

One of the major controversies Mr. Cervantes and his predecessors faced was the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping, where 43 students from Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers’ College disappeared and were allegedly delivered to a local criminal syndicate for execution.  The official account given by Mexican authorities has been marred by inconsistent testimony, accusations of obstruction of justice by various state officials, and has resulted in the arrest of over 100 individuals.  Mr. Cervantes and his predecessors’ failure to advance the investigation of the Iguala mass kidnapping has arguably been the proverbial “final nail in the coffin” in their tenures as Attorney General.

President Peña Nieto announced that the next Attorney General would be appointed after the 2018 presidential elections since the position cannot be taken short term and appointing anyone else would further complicate the process of naming the new chief prosecutor.

For more information, please see:

InSight Crime – Mexico AG Resigns Amid Growing Pressure to Tackle Widespread Graft – 18 October 2017

El País – Raúl Cervantes renuncia al cargo de procurador general de México – 17 October 2017

Animal Político – Peña Nieto anuncia que el fiscal general será nombrado después de las elecciones de 2018 – 17 October 2017

AP News – Mexico’s attorney general resigns a year into job – 16 October 2017

BBC Mundo – Renuncia de Raúl Cervantes, procurador general de México, tras la controversia por su potencial nominación para la primera fiscalía autónoma del país – 16 October 2017

CNN Español – Renuncia el procurador general de México, Raúl Cervantes – 16 October 2017

Gob.mx – “Servir a la República en esta capacidad ha sido el honor más grande que se me ha conferido” – 16 October 2017

The New York Times – Mexico’s Attorney General Resigns Under Pressure – 16 October 2017

Reuters – Mexico attrney general resigns amid debate on new top prosecutor – 16 October 2017

Huffpost – México, en el camino directo a tener el año más violento en la historia – 10 October 2017

World Health Organization Reverses Decision on Mugabe Appointment

By: Adam King
Impunity Rights News Reporter, Africa

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe addresses crowd. Photo courtesy of The Citizen/ ANA.

HARARE, Zimbabwe  — The World Health Organization has reversed its position on Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe. Amid harsh criticism, WHO has decided to rescind Mugabe’s role as a “goodwill ambassador” to the organization, according to General Director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,

“I have listened carefully to all who have expressed their concerns, and heard the different issues that they have raised…I have also consulted with the government of Zimbabwe and we have concluded that this decision is in the best interests of the World Health Organization. I thank everyone who has voiced their concerns and shared their thoughts.”

The announcement from General Director Ghebreyesus comes amid mounting pressure and public outcry from leaders all throughout the world such as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who referred to the appointment as “absolutely unacceptable, absolutely inconceivable” and equated the appointment to a bad April fool’s joke. Hillel Neur, Director of UN Watch, saw the appointment as an offensive display to the very core of international human rights.

“The government of Robert Mugabe has brutalized human rights activists, crushed democracy dissidents, and turned the breadbasket of Africa — and its health system — into a basket-case. The notion that the U.N. should now spin this country as a great supporter of health is, frankly, sickening,” UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer said in the statement. “Amid reports of ongoing human rights abuses, the tyrant of Zimbabwe is the last person who should be legitimized by a U.N. position of any kind.”

The position in question was of an ambassador-related appointment to an initiative to combat NCD (non-communicable diseases) in Africa. The position was more honorary and advisory in nature as opposed to carrying out responsibilities with WHO.

“The heads of U.N. agencies and the U.N. secretary-general typically choose celebrities and other prominent people as ambassadors to draw attention to global issues of concern, such as refugees (Angelina Jolie) and education (Malala Yousafzai). The choices are not subject to approval. The ambassadors hold little actual power. They also can be fired.”

Despite the customary nature of the appointment, critics still took issue from the implications of the position.

“Mugabe, 93, one of the longest serving leaders in the world, seems a particularly unusual appointment for goodwill ambassador, given his high profile as the leader of a government with a poor record of democratic freedoms.” Critics also lamented the appointment for Mugabe’s prowess in health-related matters, stating in part that “the idea that Mugabe was appointed because of his contributions to public health given the collapse of Zimbabwe’s healthcare system under his watch, along with the country’s economy in recent years.”

The health care system in Zimbabwe stands on shaky ground, with many calling for reforms to address widespread problems in the system.

“In Zimbabwe, medicines are often in short supply, while the elite ‑ Mugabe included ‑ have to fly to other countries to access better health facilities. Over the years, health workers have always petitioned the government to improve their working conditions and salaries. Doctors in the country have also been at loggerheads with their employers, going on strike several times after accusing government of failing to meet their concerns. The doctors accused the health and child care ministry of a “lipstick approach” to their issues, saying the health sector was “pregnant with a multitude of problems emanating from gross negligence and lack of will to implement logical decisions”

Aside from health care, some claim that Mugabe’s actions have created problems that are directly attributable to his leadership.

“Zimbabwe was once was known as the region’s prosperous breadbasket. But in 2008, the charity Physicians for Human Rights released a report documenting failures in the southern African nation’s health system, saying Mr Mugabe’s policies had led to a man-made crisis.”

For more information, please see:

ABC News — ‘World Health Organization rescinds Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ‘goodwill ambassador’ appointment amid scathing criticism’ — 22 October 2017

Independent — ‘World Health Organisation rescinds appointing of Robert Mugabe as goodwill ambassador’ — 22 October 2017

Reuters — ‘Mugabe removed as WHO goodwill envoy after outrage’ — 22 October 2017

The Citizen — ‘WHO rescinds Mugabe goodwill ambassador role’ — 22 October 2017

The Inquirer — ‘World Health Organization revokes appointment of Mugabe’ — 22 October 2017

Quartz — ‘It’s not so surprising WHO’s new director tried to make Robert Mugabe a goodwill ambassador’ — 22 October 2017

The Washington Post — ‘The Latest: Canada PM 1st thought Mugabe post was bad joke’ — 21 October 2017