Romanian Customs Chief Fired Amid Allegations of Illegal Smuggling and Corruption

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

STATES SEEK PROSECUTION OF FORMER PRESIDENT BUSH FOR TREATMENT OF DETAINEES AT GUANTANAMO BAY

By Erica Laster
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

UNITED NATIONS – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released a 2,500 word indictment outlining a case against former President George W. Bush for violations of the Geneva Convention and his failure to uphold the fundamental human rights of those labeled as enemy combatants.  Katherine Gallagher, an attorney for CCR stated “Torturers, even if they are former presidents of the United States, must be held to account and prosecuted.”

Former President Bush admitted to using torture techniques in his book Decision Points. Photo courtesy of The Guardian.
Former President Bush admitted to using torture techniques in his book Decision Points. Photo courtesy of The Guardian.

60 human rights groups including the CCR and the European Center for Constitutional Human Rights backed the indictment.

Amidst warnings that he would be prosecuted and possible protests, Bush canceled his travel plans, backing out of a February 12 speech to be given in Switzerland.    “Waterboarding is legal because the lawyer said it was legal. I’m not a lawyer,” stated the former President during an MSNBC interview in November of 2010.

The actions of the Bush 6, a group of the former Bush administrations constitutional lawyers and authors of the legal framework Bush claimed to be operating under, are under investigation in Spain.  Spanish courts have invoked their universal jurisdiction for two other cases against the former President to determine the legality of the treatment of enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay and other “black sites” controlled by the United States around the world.

Judges practicing from Madrid to Geneva are seeking prosecution of the former President.

After freely admitting to authorizing water boarding as a means of interrogation in a book released this past November, rights groups have called for immediate legal action.  Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have called for the United States to investigate all complaints against former President Bush.  The known watchdogs stressed that impunity should not be tolerated.

Human Rights Watch representative Laura Pitter says “We are asking the U.S. to at least investigate the potential for prosecution.  There is no reason why U.S. courts should not open up such an investigation, even if it is based solely on what Bush has already admitted publically.”

Senior politicians connected with war, internal conflict and other alleged crimes have had to be increasingly wary of traveling since the arrest of Agosto Pinochet, former Chilean Dictator in London in 1998.

For More Information Please Visit:

IPS News – No More Immunity for George W. Bush, Abroad, At Least – 7 February 2011

Guardian – George Bush Issued Travel Warning By Human Rights Organisations – 7 February 2011

Guardian – George Bush Calls Off Trip to Switzerland – 6 February 2011

Syrian Government to Lift Ban on Internet Social Networks

By Eric C. Sigmund
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – For the first time in five years, Internet users in Syria have access to the online social networks Facebook and YouTube.  This new development comes just days after thousands of Syrians came out to protest the government in a “Day of Rage.”  While some within the country were able to access these sites and even used them to encourage the recent anti-government protests, Internet users were forced to tunnel through international proxy servers in order to log-on.  Today, users were able to openly access these sites.

A Syrian Man On Facebook for the First Time in Five Years
A Syrian Man On Facebook for the First Time in Five Years (Photo courtesy of Canadian Press)

The Syrian government has not yet commented on this relaxation of Internet restrictions.  Although the protests last weekend were smaller than anticipated, the popular flare may have increased fears among the leadership that unrest in North African my spillover into Syria.  Discussing the uprisings in North Africa, Syrian President Bashar Assad noted last week, that he would push for political reforms guaranteeing more media freedom.  While the leadership has been tightlipped about this latest change, Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, said he received “semiofficial confirmation” that some Internet bans were being lifted.

Some have opined that this shift in policy is a concession to citizens who have taken to the streets to demand more freedom of speech.   Anti-government tensions have been increasing throughout the region since the protests in started in Tunisia.  While Assad’s policy reversal may be an olive branch to calm public unrest, its significance is questionable.  Many have regarded the change as inconsequential since the public could already access restricted sites via proxy servers.   Ahmad, a Facebook user, was reported posting “We are all using it anyway – so I don’t see what difference it makes.”

While Internet users can now access Facebook and YouTube, many other popular websites, including Amazon and Wikipedia, remain blocked.   It is uncertain if more website bans will be lifted in the near future or whether this represents a piecemeal concession to the public.  While some like Mazen Darwish hope that today’s change represents a “new mentality” in the government, much progress must still be made to elevate the rights of the people of Syria.

For more information please see:

Canadian Press – Syria Media Watchdog, Internet Users Say Facebook, YouTube Available for First Time in 3 Years – Feb. 8, 2011

Forward Magazine Syria – Syria Lifts Facebook Ban – Feb. 8, 2011

Guardian – Syria to Set Facebook Status to Unbanned in Gesture to People – Feb. 8, 2011

The New Web – Facebook and YouTube Unblocked in Syria Today – Feb. 8, 2011

Argentina Admits To Malnutrition Deaths Among Poor

By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Buenos Aires, Argentina – Argentine Government officials admitted to an increased number of deaths among the country’s poor of indigenous people due to malnutrition and  promised government action to minimize the problem. Reports of malnutrition deaths stemmed from a joint study conducted by London’s Imperial College and the University of Harvard in Boston showing that Argentina, Chile and Venezuela topped the list of overweight people in Latin America.

The Argentine Government has faced criticism for not doing enough to ease poverty among the country’s non-European population. Critics of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner earlier called for more vigorous measures to pursue the government’s poverty reduction programs.

Jose Manuel Urtubey, Governor of the northern province of Salta, said in a television interview that at least five children had died of malnutrition in 2010 and officials recorded another death this year. According to Urtubey, most of these deaths are of indigenous children. The governor warned that more malnutrition cases might be present in isolated indigenous communities that may not have extensive contact with individuals or organizations outside of their group.

Fatalities included an 18-month-old toddler and a 3-year old female child; both of whose deaths were initially attributed to infections. A third case of another 18-month-old toddler, reported to have died due to “septic shock caused by malnutrition,” brought great attention on malnutrition deaths.

The Argentine media was in an uproar after learning of the deaths. The Salta and Buenos Aires media quoted the father of one of the toddlers, who said he lost his child on a day when he returned from work in the woods to find there was nothing at hand that he could feed the children. According to the father, “there are some days when we manage to have a meal to eat and days when we don’t…on that day we had nothing to eat.”

For more information, please see:

Spero News – Argentina: Missionaries Address Malnutrition and Sexual Abuse of Children – 7 February 2011

UPI – Argentina Admits to Malnutrition Deaths Among the Poor – 7 February 2011

Merco Press – Argentine Aborigine Children Die of Malnutrition and Poor Sanitary Conditions – 6 February 2011

Update: Basarwa Bushmen in Botswana Granted Water Access

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GABORONE, Botswana- The Basarwa Bushmen who live in the Kalahari Game Reserve in central Botswana have been awarded the right to access existing water wells and drill new wells by an appeals court who called the government’s actions “degrading”.  This comes almost ten years after the government sealed wells in the Bushmen’s ancestral lands and barred them from digging new wells.  The Bushmen, who have been in a legal battle with Botswana’s government since 2002 when they were evicted from their land, see this ruling as a victory.  The government argued during the appeal process that allowing the Bushmen to use and create water wells in the reserve is incompatible with the preservation of Kalahari wildlife despite allowing vacation lodges to be built in the area and most recently awarding a three billion dollar mining contract to Gem Diamonds.  After this decision in late January, Jeff Ramsay, a coordinator for the Botswana Government Communications and Information System, said, “We are a nation that is governed by the rule of law and always have been. Of course we will respect the decision of the courts.”

Since the Botswanian government sealed the wells in the Kalahari, the population of Bushmen has declined.  Those that remained in the reserve have survived by rainwater and melons or making the long journey from their homes to taps and other water sources outside of the reserve.  Said Basarwa resident and advocate Amohelang Segotsane, “I am happy with the judgment but not completely happy. . .[the g]overnment was supposed to give us water without going through the legal process.”

For more information, please see;

BBC- Botswana Bushmen Win  Back Rights to Kalahari Water– 27 Jan., 2011

NY Times- Bushmen Win Water Rights– 27 Jan., 2011

AP- Botswana Court Gives Kalahari Bushmen Water Rights– 27 Jan., 2011

Impunity Watch– Botswana’s Bushmen Denied Access to Water– 24 Jan., 2011