Courtesy of Cardozo Program in Holocaust & Human Rights Studies
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Colombian Judiciary Denies Allegations Of Bribery
By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BOGOTA, Colombia – On Tuesday, Colombia’s Supreme Court denied allegations that its judges were bribed by the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a now demobilized paramilitary organization, to elect Mario Iguaran as prosecutor general in 2005.
According to Supreme Court President Camilo Tarquino, the accusations are “preposterous and unthinkable.” During a press conference, Tarquin stressed that ” the election was carried out transparently,” also noting that “every time the court is working on something a new controversy arises to deflect attention from the real and important processes.”
The Supreme Court’s denial of the allegations comes after former Prosecutor General Mario Iguaran, the now Ambassador to Egypt, denied the allegations in a Monday press conference. Iguaran stated “for me it is no surprise that the embassy had noticed a rumor existed. I already knew the embassy had. I don’t see magistrates received money to elect me.”
According to a recently released WikiLeaks cable, the United States Embassy in 2008 expressed its concern about rumors regarding alleged bribes by paramilitary chief “Macaco” to secure Iguaran’s election. The reported rumors add to the 2010 testimony of an extradited AUC member who claimed that Macaco paid more than $2.5 million to Supreme Court magistrates to secure Iguaran’s election.
Iguaran served as the prosecutor general from 2005-2009 and was an a leading force behind the prosecution of politicians with ties to the AUC. Former presidential candidate Gustavo Petro has demanded a probe be initiated to investigate the allegations.
For more information, please see:
Colombia Reports –Supreme Court Denies Paramilitary Bribery Allegations – 1 March 2011
Inside Costa Rica – Colombia’s Ex-Attorney General Accused of Alleged Links to Paramilitary – 1 March 2011
Colombia Reports – Ex-Prosecutor General Rejects Paramilitary Bribe Claims – 28 February 2011
E.U. Nations Disagree Over Refugee Plan for Libya
By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
BRUSSELS, Belgium – As violence and revolution continues to rattle nations throughout North Africa, European Union (E.U.) members disagree on how to respond to the crisis. In particular, there is wide disagreement on how to deal with the prospect of millions of North African refugees setting sail for southern Europe. The Italian government, in particular, has been urging other E.U. members to help find a solution to this looming crisis.
On Thursday, E.U. members Italy, Spain, France, Cyprus, Malta and Greece presented a joint proposal calling for a common asylum system to be in place by 2012. The proposal was presented during a meeting of E.U. interior ministers in Brussels. The plan also calls for dispersing the asylum seekers around all of Europe and not simply allowing the refugees to stay in the countries that ring the Mediterranean sea. The Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba echoed this sentiment when he claimed that “Italy was only the door of Europe”. Along with establishing this common asylum system, the proposal calls for funding which will be used to help nations like Italy process the refugees that arrive on their shores.
The Italian government and Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni have been sounding the alarm about a potential refugee crisis that could hit Europe. Mr. Maroni claims that as many as a million and a half Libyan refugees could seek asylum in Europe. His belief is that E.U. members should deal with this problem collectively. Recent reports suggest that after this proposal was introduced, several E.U. members were still hesitant about providing assistance.
The refugees that are sailing to southern Europe include people who are seeking a better economic situation as well as political refugees. The political refugees are especially important because the European Union has certain obligations related to human rights agreements which require the E.U. to identify and accept these people.
This migration of both political and economic refugees is also being monitored by the United Nations. Specifically, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has appealed to E.U. members to help deal with the potential wave of refugees related to the fighting in Libya. In addition to those displaced by the recent fighting in Libya, Frontex, the E.U.’s border protection agency, estimates that between 750,000 and 1.5 million additional economic refugees are in Libya waiting to make passage to Europe.
For more information, please see:
AFP – Europe divided over Italy’s warnings of Libya exodus – 25 February 2011
BBC – EU urged to share asylum burden amid N Africa turmoil – 25 February 2011
THE GUARDIAN – Is EU serious about supporting human rights across north Africa? – 25 February 2011
VOICE OF AMERICA – Libya Unrest Sparks Migrant Debate in the EU – 24 February 2011
Myanmar Arrests an Australian Newspaper Editor
By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
RANGOON, Myanmar — The Australian owner and editor of the only English-language newspaper published in Myanmar has been detained under Burmese immigration law. This arrest comes amid a business dispute with his Burmese partners over the ownership of newspaper, however.
The editor, Ross Dunkley, founded the newspaper, The Myanmar Times, in 2000, which is the sole publication with rare foreign investors in this repressed regime. It is published weekly in English and Burmese.
His associate, David Armstrong, said Dunkley was arrested on Thursday as he returned from Tokyo when he was accused of violating immigration laws. The grounds for violations are unclear at this point. He is being held in Insein Prison pending a hearing on Feb. 24, Mr. Armstrong said.
Sonny Swe is also the co-founder of the Myanmar Times who is the son of an influential member of the junta’s military intelligence service.
But Sonny Swe was jailed in 2005 and his stake was handed to Tin Tun Oo, who the article said was close to the military regime’s information minister.
Tin Tun Oo was a candidate for the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) during controversial November polls, but was not elected to the country’s new parliament, which resumed just last month.
Although some political experts have suggested political shift have created a glimmer of hope for a country run by the military for almost half a century, critics see merely cosmetic alterations aimed at hiding the generals’ power behind a civilian facade.
Reporters Without Borders, an NGO, ranked Myanmar 174th out of 178 countries in its 2010 press freedom index, and reported last year that the regime increased censorship ever since the first election that took place last November in 20 years.
Some media rights group quoted in December as saying that the country was a “censors’ paradise”, where journalists and internet bloggers are subject to arrest and intimidation and those sending information to foreign news organizations face long prison terms.
After the election in November, authorities suspended nine weekly news journals that gave significant coverage to the release of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
For more information, please see:
ABC News – Jailed Australian replaced at Burmese paper – 14 February 2011
IHT – Myanmar Arrests a Newspaper Editor – 12 February 2011
BBC News – Burma: Australian publisher Ross Dunkley arrested – 12 February 2011
MSN Malaysia News – Australian newspaper boss arrested in Myanmar – 12 February 2011
Hungary Faces Mounting Criticism Over New Media Law
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