By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PENZANCE, England – A Bristol County Court has ruled against two bed and breakfast owners for refusing to allow a gay couple to share a bed, holding that such a refusal constituted discrimination.  The Court awarded the couple 1,800 pounds (about $2,900) each in damages, reported Britain’s Equality and Human Rights Commission, which supported the gay couple’s claims.

Peter and Hazel Bull, the couple who own and run the bed and breakfast in Cornwall, England, insisted that they had a long-standing policy refusing to allow all unmarried couples to share a room due to their strict Christian beliefs.

Mrs. Bull offered support for their 24-year-old policy by stating that even her brother and his female partner were not allowed to share a room in the bed and breakfast due to her strict religious beliefs.

The Christian Legal Centre, legal counsel to the Bulls, said that “the Bulls made it clear that they did not hold any hostility towards homosexuals and applied their policy of ‘only giving double rooms to married couples’ regardless of sexual orientation.

But Judge Andre Rutherford ruled against the Bulls, holding that they discriminated against Martyn Hall and Steve Preddy on the ground of sexual orientation and in violation of British equality law.

After the judgment, the Bulls stated they are considering an appeal.  “We are obviously disappointed with the result,” they said.  “Our double-bed policy was based on our sincere beliefs about marriage, not hostility to anybody,” they added.

Judge Rutherford also made a point to announce that he believed the Bulls.  “I am quite satisfied as to the genuineness of [their] beliefs and it is, I have no doubt, one which others also hold,” he said.  The Judge, however, refused to accept the defense because the Bulls’ views are not “those accepted as normal by society at large.”

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, a British gay-rights group, supported the ruling.  “You can’t turn away people from a hotel because they’re black or Jewish and in 2011 you shouldn’t be able to demean them by turning them away because they’re gay either,” he said.

For more information please see:

CNN – Christian B&B Owners Discriminated Against Gays, UK Court Finds – January 18, 2011

THE FREETHINKER – Judge Rules Against Christian Fundie B&B Owners Who Turned Away a Gay Couple – January 18, 2011

SKY NEWS – Gay Couple Win B&B Discrimination Case – January 18, 2011

By Ricardo Zamora
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, Belgium – A new Hungarian media law, which would apply to news organizations from other EU nations, is raising concerns among EU member states regarding limitations on the freedom of expression.  Human Rights Watch reports that EU member states are calling on the European Commission to urge Hungary to address these censorship concerns and implement the law consistently with relevant EU values and legislation

Human Rights Watch has reported that the new legislation, which came into effect on January 1, 2011 as Hungary took over the EU presidency, creates a new media authority with the right to impose fines on media outlets for “imbalanced news coverage,” material it considers insulting to “the majority.”  The law also allows the authority to compel journalists to reveal sources on issues related to national security.

According to Human Rights Watch, the law undermines media freedom, is incompatible with Hungary’s human rights obligations and is part of a troubling trend of removing checks and balances, including a November 2010 restriction on the power of the constitutional court to review budget laws.

“As holder of the EU presidency, Hungary should embody the EU’s principles and values,” said Lotte Leicht, EU director at Human Rights Watch.  “But when it comes to human rights, Hungary is moving in the wrong direction,” he added.

Neelie Kroes, Digital Agenda Commissioner and European Commission vice-president, has pledged to ensure that EU law is implemented fully and has assured that the European Commission would not make any compromises with Hungary.  Kroes also voiced her intent to involve Fundamental Rights Commissioner Viviane Reding in respect to Article 7 of the Lisbon treaty if Hungary fails to make the media legislation compatible with EU law.

Kroes also raised concerns over an unprecedented registration regime applying to bloggers and internet media.  Also of concern is that Hungary has opened a new blogging platform which has only been used by officials.

But Kroe remains optimistic.  “I am fully confident that Hungary, being a democratic country, will take all the necessary steps to ensure that the new Media Law is implemented in full respect of the European values on media freedom and relevant EU legislation,” she said.

Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, has agreed to amend the law if the European Commission demands changes.

For more information, please see:

EXPATICA – European Broadcasters Concern Over Hungary Media Law – January 14, 2011

EUBUSINESS – EU Sees ‘Problem’ With Hungary Media Law – January 11, 2011

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH– Hungary – Media Law Endangers Press Freedom – January 7, 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

HALL, Austria – A mass grave discovered at a mental hospital in the Tyrol Province is thought to contain up to 220 disabled victims of the Nazi euthanasia program.  The remains of people buried between 1942 and 1945 were discovered while the hospital was excavating part of their land for new buildings. Construction was immediately halted to allow for an investigation and identification of the dead.  Exhumations will begin in March.

A group of historians led by Oliver Seifert recently found a map that outlines a former cemetery at the hospital.  Seifert said at a press conference, “At this stage we can’t say that all 220 people were victims of the Nazi euthanasia programme but one of the central questions we will be looking into is how they died.”

He went on to note that documents discovered recently during a reorganization of the hospital archives show that the death rate of Hall patients went up considerably towards the end of the war. Previously there had been no documentation supporting the idea that patients at the Hall hospital were murdered during the Nazi program, though it’s believed that 360 patients from Hall were taken to other institutions to be killed.

According to the Guardian UK, Christian Haring, deputy medical director of the hospital, said authorities were working on the theory that the cemetery was built at a time when the hospital in Hall was considered as a possible site for an official Nazi euthanasia center.  “It’s quite possible that the hospital cemetery was laid out in October 1942 with a view to using Hall for euthanasia,” he said.  He added that patients died in significant numbers, with 30 deaths registered in March 1945 alone.

The hospital put out a global appeal for anyone who believes their relatives might be one of the victims buried there to contact the hospital.  It also asked for possible witnesses to come forward with any information that might be useful.

“Every memory has the potential to help us in researching the history of this cemetery,” a spokesman said.

Nazi-controlled Germany annexed Austria in 1938.  In 1939, Adolph Hitler officially instituted a euthanasia program where those patients deemed “incurable” could be granted “mercy-killing.”  Midwives and doctors were required to report all newborns born with severe disabilities or hereditary diseases such as “idiocy and Down’s syndrome, microcephaly, hydrocephaly, malformations of all kinds, especially of limbs, head, and spinal column; and paralysis.”

More than 70,000 people were killed by the Nazis for being disabled during the official program, though there is evidence that German physicians continued after the official program ended in 1941, killing a total of about 275,000 disabled under the euthanasia program.

During the program, forms were sent to institutions in Germany and Austria, and when they were returned each patient had a plus or minus sign next to their name, marking them for life or death.

For more information, please see:

CNN – World War II-era Nazi mass grave thought found – 6 Jan. 2011

BBC – Nazi-era graves to be dug up in Austria – 5 Jan. 2011

SCOTSMAN NEWS  – Austria: Graves of missing Nazi eugenics victims found – 5 Jan. 2011

TELEGRAPH – Nazi-era mass grave discovered in Austria – 4 Jan. 2011

GUARDIAN – Remains in Austrian hospital graveyard may be Nazi euthanasia victims – 4 Jan. 2011