By David Sophrin
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary – A recently adopted Hungarian federal law that establishes certain standards among the nation’s journalists has begun to face mounting criticism from a number of political forces both domestically and abroad.

The new law “requires the media to meet vague standards of ‘balance’, ‘human dignity’, and ‘mortality’.”  Additionally, the statute authorizes the Fidesz political party to “force journalists to disclose their sources.”

Opposition to the statute has steadily grown since its passage this past December over fears that the law will severely curb freedoms of the press both in Hungary and abroad.  Hungarian civil rights leaders have accused this law of being a political ploy by the Fidesz party to increase their control over the media.  A number of fellow European Union members have also publicly voiced their opposition to it.

The Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, noted that the law constituted the “establishment of a politically unbalanced regulatory machinery with disproportionate powers and lack of full judicial supervision.”  Soon after its passage the European Commission determined that the media law was not in line with wider European legal norms.  These criticisms have largely dominated Hungary’s current reign as the EU President.

In response to the criticism, notably from the EU, Hungary has announced that it will propose changes in the future to the media law.  It has also announced it will be holding meetings with the European Commission this week to formulate those amendments.

COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN – Global Journalist: Hungary faces free-press criticism – February 11, 2011

AP – Hungary offers changes to media law to EU, a major step in dispute overshadowing presidency – February 10, 2011

THE BUDAPEST TIMES – Media law talks in Brussels Monday – February 8, 2011

BBC – EU-Hungary row over media law cools down – February 2, 2011

FINANCIAL TIMES – Hungary media law falls foul of Brussels – January 11, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SKOPJE, Macedonia – A German citizen who has alleged he was abducted and tortured as part of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program began a legal battle against Macedonia last week.  Khaled el-Masri claims he was abducted in 2003 from Macedonia, and then transferred to a secret prison in Afghanistan where he says he was interrogated and tortured.  El-Masri is seeking official recognition of his ordeal from the Macedonian government.

According to el-Masri, he was vacationing in Macedonia in December 2003 when his passport was confiscated at the border.  He says that he was detained for 27 days in Macedonia before being flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan where he was interrogated and abused for five months before being abandoned on a road in Albania.

The current court case in Macedonia is estimated to take up to two years. El-Masri is seeking $69,000 in compensation and an apology from the Macedonian government on the grounds that Macedonia sanctioned his abduction and then blocked investigations into the matter.  One of el-Masri’s lawyers in Macedonia said, “[t]o start with, it would be good if Macedonia at least apologizes to el-Masri.”

In October, the European Court of Human Rights communicated a case to the Macedonia government, asking it to answer questions regarding el-Masri’s abduction. That was the first time the court asked any European countries to answer for its alleged role in the CIA-led rendition program.

Macedonian officials have denied any involvement in el-Masri’s abduction.  However, there is recent evidence that some officials in Macedonia were dedicated to keeping the el-Masri case out of the news and the court.  In a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Skopje released by Wikileaks, then-Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski is cited as promising the US ambassador that he would continue to stonewall local press requests to discuss the el-Masri case.

The current case in Macedonia is the latest development in a string of failed attempts to hold someone accountable for what was done to el-Masri. El-Masri filed suit in the US in 2007, but the case was never heard in court due to the risk of revealing “state secrets.”  In 2007, Germany issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA operatives suspected of involvement in the el-Masri abduction, but Germany has since dropped pursuing the matter, allegedly because of pressure and thinly-veiled threats from the US.  In 2009, a public prosecutor in Macedonia ruled there was not enough evidence to pursue a criminal trial in the matter.

According to sources of the Washington Post and NBC News at the time, el-Masri’s abduction was a case of mistaken identity, and the CIA agents who allegedly abducted el-Masri thought he was an al-Qaeda affiliated man with a similar last name of al-Masri.  A former CIA official told the Washington Post that the CIA analyst who pushed for el-Masri’s rendition “didn’t really know. She just had a hunch.”  According to sources of the Washington Post and NBC News, the CIA realized its mistake after holding el-Masri for two months, but continued to hold him for three additional months until then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice twice ordered him released.

According to a report released on Wednesday by the Associated Press, the lawyer who signed off on the el-Masri rendition was formally reprimanded by the CIA, and she is currently the advisor to the Near East division.  The CIA analyst who pushed for el-Masri’s rendition never received a formal reprimand from the CIA.  She has since received a promotion, and currently runs the CIA unit that leads U.S. counterterrorism efforts.

For more information, please see:

AP – AP IMPACT: At CIA, grave mistakes, then promotions – 9 Feb. 2011

TPM LIVEWIRE – CIA Officials Involved in Abuse and Wrongful Detention Rarely Reprimanded, Sometimes Promoted – 9 Feb. 2011

AP – German sues over alleged CIA kidnapping, torture – 2 Feb. 2011

AFP – Macedonian hearing over rendition flights opens – 2 Feb. 2011

SPIEGAL ONLINE – Cables Show Germany Caved to Pressure from Washington – 9 Dec. 2010

HARPER’S MAGAZINE – The El-Masri Cable – 29 Nov. 2010

WASHINGTON POST – Wrongful Imprisonment: Anatomy of a CIA Mistake — 4 Dec. 2005

NBC News – CIA accused of detaining innocent man – 21 April 2005

By David Sophrin
Europe, Senior Desk Editor

BUCHAREST, Romania – Romanian Prime Minister Emil Boc fired the nation’s chief customs official Radu Marginean earlier this week as allegations have arisen that Marginean had been taking bribes in association with illegal smuggling efforts along the nation’s southwestern border with Serbia.

Marginean, who was the Head of the National Customs Authority, has denied this allegations.  Nevertheless, he is just the latest person indicted in a larger effort by the Romanian government recently to crack down on the illegal smuggling of cigarettes across its international borders.  In the last week, the Romanian Anticorruption Directorate has detained 97 customs officials and police officers allegedly linked to these allegations and questioned approximately 150 persons.

These detentions are the culmination of an investigation by the Directorate  which focused in on cigarette smuggling along the Romania-Serbia border.  The investigation established that a number of shifts of customs officers at certain border checkpoints were collecting around 6,000 euros each day for their participation in the smuggling efforts.

This investigation is part of Romania’s effort to enter into the European Union’s ‘passport fee Schengen zone’.  Each nation that is party to this zone must demonstrate that it has made concentrated efforts to combat organized crime, forged commercial and passport documents, and issue updated biometric passports.

Despite these arrests, Romania’s entry into the Schengen zone remains in doubt.  While Romanian President Traian Basecu has publicly claimed that his country has met all ‘technical criteria’ necessary to join, France and Germany have both requested a delay in a vote on whether to let Romania enter, citing continuing concerns over considerable gaps in Romania’s border security apparatus.

In recent years, Romania has lost almost a billion euros of possible tax revenue as a result of illegal cigarette smuggling.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Romania’s customs chief sacked after corruption charges – 10 February 2011

BLOOMBERG – Romania Detains Customs Officials on Corruption Charges – 10 February 2011

B92 – Customs fired over cigarette smuggling scandal – 10 February 2011