Uganda Struggles with Gay Rights as LGBT Advocate Wins Human Rights Award

By Tamara Alfred

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Earlier this month, Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, won the 2011 Martin Ennas Award for Human Rights Defenders.  The award is given annually by 10 of the world’s leading human rights NGOs and has been referred to as the Nobel prize for human rights.  Nabagesera is the founder and executive director of the LGBT rights organization Freedom and Roam Uganda.

The situation for Uganda’s LGBT community is extremely difficult, with numerous documented cases of discrimination, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention, torture and other ill-treatment based solely on sexual orientation and gender identity.  Activists who work to expose such abuses are frequently targeted.

Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone publishes a list of the 100 “Top Homos” calling for the people to be hanged. (Photo Courtesy of San Diego Gay and Lesbian News.)

In late January, Ugandan gay rights activist David Kato was murdered after the Ugandan tabloid Rolling Stone published a list of Uganda’s 100 “Top Homos” and called for the people named in the list to be hanged.  Nabagesera’s name also appeared on the list.

“I’ve lived my life fighting openly for gay rights in Uganda, and I’ve had to pay a price for that,” Nabagesera previously told Amnesty International.  “I’ve been evicted from house to house; my office has been evicted; I can no longer move on the streets openly; I’ve been attacked.”

Currently, homosexuality is a criminal offense that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.  On Tuesday, Parliament voted to reopen a debate over a bill that seeks to expand on the criminalization of homosexuality and make it punishable by the death penalty.

The legislation was first proposed in October 2009 by Ugandan lawmaker David Bahati.  The Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Committee suggested that the penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” should be the same as for “defilement,” a crime that is punishable by death.  The bill could mandate the death penalty or life in prison for people who are identified as gay, or caught engaging in homosexual acts.

The bill had failed at the end of the previous legislative session after an international outcry directed at the nation.  Both U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the bill, and more than 1.6 million people around the world signed a petition urging the Parliament to let the bill die.

However, the speaker of Parliament Rebecca Kadaga announced Tuesday that the legislature was interested in saving the bills from the previous parliament.

MP Barnabus Tinkasimire backed the bill, saying, “the anti-gays Bill is overdue because the spirit of my ancestors tell me that they lived without these practices [homosexuality]…We can’t afford to stay with such ills in our society and when it comes before the floor, we shall all pass it and support it.”

Bahati had previously said that the bill is aimed at stamping out western-imported immoral behaviors from society, protecting the moral fabric of the nation, saving the traditional family and buttressing legislation against ‘gayism.’

Uganda is not the only African nation currently dealing with gay rights.  Various other countries, including Ghana and Malawi, have passed laws making homosexuality illegal, while some in Zimbabwe are seeking to have gay rights included in the constitution.

For more information, please see:

Advocate.com – Ugandan Parliament Revisits Kill-The-Gays Bill – 25 October 2011

AllAfrica.com – Zimbabwe: Prime Minister Criticised for Supporting Gays – 25 October 2011

San Diego Gay & Lesbian News – “Kill the Gays Bill” returns, passage could be “imminent” – 25 October 2011

The New York Times – Uganda: Anti-Gay Bill Is Revived – 25 October 2011

Bikya Masr – Uganda gay activist wins human rights award – 15 October 2011

Brazilian Doctors Declared Guilty of Harvesting Organs From Patients Before Death

by Emilee Gaebler
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America 

BRASÍLIA, Brazil – After 25 years a sentence has finally been handed down in a criminal case involving illegal organ harvesting.  Last Thursday a judge sentenced Doctor Rui Sacramento, Doctor Pedro Torrecillas and Doctor Mariano Fiore Jr. to seventeen years and six months each in prison.

The criminal justice system in Brazil is notorious for its protracted cases like this one which took 25 years to reach a sentence. (Photo Courtesy of CTV News)

The three doctors were charged with removing kidneys from four patients that were not really dead.  The patients had signed off on being organ donors in the event of their respective deaths.  The victims were patients in the time period from September to December of 1986.  They were incorrectly declared brain dead by neurosurgeon Mariano Fiore Jr. who then authorized the removal of the organs.    

Torrecillas and Sacramento were the doctors who removed the organs and prepared them for transplant.  Following the removal of the organs, the patients did actually die.  Another neurosurgeon, Antonio de Carvalho Monteiro was also accused but died last year.

The organs were harvested at a public hospital and then sent to a private organ transplant facility.  At public hospitals, transplants are free but the waitlists are long.  At the private facilities the organ transplant process can be accelerated for those wealthy enough to pay the price.  For each kidney, it is estimated that US $41,000 was paid.

Two organ recipients testified in the trial that they paid that amount for a kidney transplant at the private facility.  Both noted that they were not informed of where the organ donation was from. 

The case first came to light in December of 1986 when the head Doctor at the University of Taubate’s medical school noticed irregularities in records regarding organ transplants.  He investigated further into the transplants and the team of doctors who performed them then turned the information over to the Federal Council of Medicine.

The state prosecutor on the case, Marcio Friggi de Carvalho said that the victims, “simply did not have the diagnosis of brain death.”

The doctor’s defense attorney, Sergio Salgado Badaro told the jury, “[I]f you convict them, you will be the first jury in the country to convict doctors for killing people who were already dead.” 

When the sentence was handed down, Baldaro noted that he respected the jury’s decision but his clients were going to appeal.  The doctors will be permitted to continue practicing while their appeal is considered.

Family members of the victims present when the sentence was handed down cried and hugged each other.  The decision has long been awaited and Brazilian authorities have termed it extremely complex in order to explain the 25 year wait.  The Brazilian criminal justice system is known to be a slow machine and it is not uncommon for cases to take years or even decades to be decided. 

 

For more information, please see;

Bio Edge – Brazilian Transplant Doctors Convicted After 25 Years – 22 October 2011

CTV News – Doctors Guilty of Harvesting Organs of Live Patients – 21 October 2011

WHDH News – Brazil Doctors Found Guilty of Killing Patients – 21 October 2011

MSNBC News – Docs Charged For Removing Organs From Live Patients – 17 October 2011

Court Dismisses Magnitsky’s Mother’s Complaint Over Resumption Of Prosecution

By Terance Walsh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia —  The Moscow City Court has upheld a lower court’s ruling to reopen Sergie Magnitsky’s tax evasion case.  Natalia Magnitskaya, mother of the late anti-corruption lawyer Magnitsky, had sued a senior Moscow judge for the denial of access to justice and in opposition of Deputy General Prosecutor’s decision to reopen the prosecution of her deceased son last summer.  She had claimed that the reopening of the prosecution of her son was a violation of her constitutional rights.

Sergei Magnitsky (Photo courtesy of RAPSI)

Magnitsky died in a Russian pre-trial detention center two years ago, at the age of 37, after being tortured and denied medical treatment.  The Prosecutor General’s Office named Magnitsky’s cause of death “cardiovascular insufficiency.”  A hearing was held for her lawsuit on Monday, 24 October at the Moscow City Court.

A judge of the cassation board said announced the dismissal of Mrs. Magnitskaya’s claim, declaring, “The Tverskoy District Court’s decision to dismiss the complaint is legal and founded.”

When Mrs. Magnitskaya opened her lawsuit she stated her cause of action against Judge Igor Alisov as a “failure to consider her legal action to stop the prosecution by Russian authorities of her dead son.”  Magnitsky’s friends have deplored the prosecution as barbaric and medieval.

Explaining the basis of her lawsuit, Mrs. Magnitskaya said, “Judge Alisov, in his position as Chairman of Tverskoi District Court, deprived me of the right to protection from courts. I believe he was obviously aware that this denial of justice was against the law. I consider his actions as a hidden form of mockery and manifestation of his conflict of interest.”

“Earlier, the Deputy General Prosecutor of Russia issued an unlawful and unconstitutional decree to prosecute my dead son making me a participant in that criminal proceeding. The fact that it is directly relevant to my rights is evidenced by summonses for questioning that I have received from Interior Ministry Investigator Sapunova who personally prosecuted my son.”

The plea was returned to Mrs. Magnitskaya without consideration on its merits so she would be allowed to revise and resubmit it.

The Deputy General Prosecutor of Russia ordered the reopening of the prosecution against Magnitksy, 20 months after Magnitsky died.  Russia allows cases against deceased defendants to be reopened upon request from their surviving relatives to reinstate and rehabilitate their bad name.

The newly opened case, however, was not initiated upon request of the family and was not for the purpose of rehabilitating Magnitsky’s name.  The case was reopened using evidence the Russian President’s Human Rights Council determined was fabricated and led by the same team of investigators that the Human Rights Council concluded.

Prior to Magnitsky’s death he testified against these very investigators, claiming theft of his client’s companies and embezzlement of $230 million of public funds.

Russian authorities decided to prosecute Magnitsky on “trumped up charges” instead of going after the officials named in the Human Rights Council’s report.  As part of the investigation Mrs. Magnitskaya was summoned to be questioned as a witness by the same officials who arrested and tortured, or authorized the torture of, her son.

Magnitsky’s former employer, Hermitage, called Mrs. Magnitskaya’s summons to testify “a cynical and cruel action designed to suppress his family’s efforts in seeking justice.  The officers who tortured Magnitsky in custody, now, almost two years after his death, are trying to pressure his relatives into withdrawing their public call for justice.”

Mrs. Magnitskaya filed a lawsuit on 5 September 2011 against the Deputy General Prosecutor for prosecuting her son after his death.  She claimed that reopening a case against a deceased defendant was only legal upon request from the defendant’s family.

Mrs. Magnitskaya said, “The criminal prosecution of my son is being resumed under the pretext of restoration of his right to rehabilitation. At the same time, the re-investigation will be carried out by the same investigators of the same department, with whose participation my son was brought to death….  It is not only that I don’t trust them, but I also fear them”

On 12 September 2011 Judge Igor Alisov refused to consider Mrs. Magnitskaya’s lawsuit.  He reasoned that Mrs. Magnitskaya was not party to the proceedings and failed to show how the reopening of her son’s case violated her rights.  Then on 20 September 2011 Mrs. Magnitskaya filed suit against Judge Alisov for refusing to hear her case.

Judge Alisov had previously absolved all officials of liability for the alleged $230 million they had embezzled.  Instead the embezzlement was pinned on an ex-convict in a proceeding in which no evidence was examined.  No compensation for the $230 million was asked of the convict.

For more information please see:

Law and Order in Russia — Magnitsky’s Mother Sues Russian Judge For The Denial Of Access To Justice — 24 October 2011

RAPSI — Magnitsky’s Mother Complaint Over Case Resumption Dismissed — 24 October 2011

RIA Novosti — Court Upholds Reopening Of Magnitsky’s Case — 24 October 2011

Law and Order in Russia — Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Accusses Russian General Prosecutor Of Murder — 26 September 2011

Emerging Markets — Mother To Be Questioned By Her Son’s Alleged Killers — 6 September 2011

RT — Case Reopening ‘Immoral” – Mother — 6 September 2011

Police in Dominican Republic Account for 10% of All Fatal Shootings

By Brittney Hodnik
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic – Amnesty International reports that the police in the Dominican Republic account for an astonishing 10% of all killings in the country.  Crime rates have soared in the past few years, which many attribute to organized crime; following in Mexico’s footsteps.  There have been reports of unlawful killings, abuses while in police custody, and even reports of enforced disappearance.

The police in the Dominican Republic have accounted for 10% of all the killings this year. (Image Courtesy of BBC News)

Statistics from the Office of the Prosecutor General show that between January and July of 2011, the police killed 154 people, according to Amnesty International.  This number is up from 125 people during the same period last year.  This means that the police committed 10% of all homicides in the Dominican Republic.

The police contend that these killings were always during “exchanges of gunfire” with criminal suspects, according to Amnesty International, but the report finds that many of these situations involved deliberate shots to kill.

Colonel Maximo Aybar is the National Police spokesperson in the Dominican Republic.  He reinforces that the police are indeed committed to protecting the public.  Aybar told CNN, “We are more than aware that we are here to defend members of society, not to assault them. . . . In those cases where excesses may have been committed, investigations have occurred and measures have been taken . . . .”

The police further point out that they too have been the victims of these violent exchanges.  CNN reports that 97 officers have been killed this year, and 176 have been injured.  The police are using gunfire as a deterrent to prevent young people from engaging in this type of organized crime that is running rampant throughout the country.

Beyond the killings on the street, Amnesty International reports that while in police custody, suspects have been threatened with death, denied food and water, beaten, had plastic bags put over their heads, or were hung on nails by their handcuffs.  Further, at least two people last seen in police custody have gone missing, and many fear the worst.  The Washington Post reports that these instances are investigated, but not very thoroughly.

The police may be using the killings to deter young locals from engaging in future violence.  Javier Zuniga, head of Amnesty International’s delegation to the Dominican Republic said, “We believe their conduct is actually exacerbating the violence and creating a climate in which human rights are completely ignored,” reported BBC News.

Hopefully, the police force will not become a totally corrupt agency, fighting against the people.  Although the Dominican government recognizes the fact that there are high levels of corruption already, it actively seeks to dismiss those involved.

For more information, please visit:

Amnesty International — Dominican Republic Urged to Tackle Alarming Levels of Police Abuse — 25 Oct. 2011

BBC News — Amnesty Accuses Dominican Republic Police — 25 Oct. 2011

CNN — Amnesty: Killings by Dominican Police ‘Alarming’ — 25 Oct. 2011

The Washington Post — Amnesty International Accuses Dominican Republic Police  of Killings, Torture — 25 Oct. 2011

Malnutrition Ravages North Korea

By Greg Donaldson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia 

SEOUL, South Korea – After a five day visit to North Korea United Nations’ humanitarian aid chief Valerie Amos declared the country to be in dire need of help to fight malnutrition. She continued “six million North Koreans urgently need food aid but the outside world is not giving enough.”

Valerie Amos, the United Nations' humanitarian chief speaks about the lack of food available to North Koreans (Photo Courtesy of Voice of America)

During her trip Ms. Amos said she was allowed to visit all of her requested locations without any restrictions. These locations included a public market, a government food distribution center, two orphanages, two hospitals, and a communal farm.

Ms. Amos found that most people were surviving on corn and cabbage. A few groups of people had access to small amounts of rice. Ms. Amos explained that children are most affected by the food crisis and one out of every two children is malnourished.

David Austin, the North Korea program director for the U.S. based relief group Mercy Corps explained that children are dying because they are eating alternative foods such as corn mixed with roots or leaves. He further explained that this kind of diet, along with the failure to find clean water to drink, has rendered many North Koreas unable to fight simple sicknesses such as the common cold.

Mr. Austin had the opportunity to interview several North Koreans during his time in the country. What he found was families spent all of their household income on food and “every single person knew the exact date of when they last had protein.”

Many critics have pointed fingers at the United States and South Korea for their recent lack of aid to North Korea. Some feel as though the United States is holding back its aid as leverage against North Korea in nuclear talks going on this week in Geneva.

While speaking with reporters Ms. Amos urged the world to not politicize the situation. “You do not judge people on the basis of the political environment in which they are living” she said following her visit.

While North Korea has taken unprecedented actions such as allowing journalists into the country to report the food situation to the world, Ms. Amos understands the world’s skepticism. She explained that she instructed the North Korean authorities about the importance of data collecting regarding the food situation.

In April the U.N. requested 218 million dollars in humanitarian aid for North Korea. Approximately, one-third of that amount has been contributed with the primary donors being the European Union and Russia.

For more information, please see:

Herald Sun — ‘Terrible’ Malnutrition in North Korea – UN – 24 October 2011

Korean Herald — U.N. Says Aid to N.K. Should be Separate from Politics — 24 October 2011

New York Times — Head of U.N. Humanitarian Aid Paints Dire Scene in North Korea — 24 October 2011

Reuters — North Korea food aid should not be politicized – U.N. official – 24 October 2011

Voice of America — UN Calls for Increased Funding to Feed North Korea’s Hungry — 24 October 2011