Hospital Director Receives 15 year sentence For Deaths of 26 Psychiatric Patients In Havana
By Erica Laster Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
HAVANA, Cuba – A Cuban court is making its final decisions in the sentencing of 13 hospital staff charged with the negligence of minors, disabled and ill patients, embezzlement and abandonment. The defendants face up to 15 years for the deaths of 26 psychiatric patients found dead from cold and neglect in January of 2010 after temperature dropped in the winter. Many of the patients lacked blankets, clothing and were suffering from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.
Various staff department heads, including the cook and hospital nutritionist, have been charged and face sentencing in the next few days.
A once reputed institution, various groups began to doubt the Havana Psychiatric Hospital’s responsibility in caring for patients. In the months leading up to the January deaths, friends and family members submitted complaints about the actions of hospital staff. Many claimed the hospital staff was stealing blankets, food and other items which they later sold on the black market.
Granma, the main newspaper of Cuba, released word Monday regarding the case, which garnered much shock and criticism, but offered little information during the investigation.
Granma’s report substantiated family members and neighbors complaints regarding the hospital staff. The investigation included an assessment of each patient, some of whom were found to have suffered from malnutrition, anemia and vitamin deficiencies. On average, Havana Psychiatric received enough food for up to 2,458 patients. Only 1,484 patients were present at the facility.
“The neglect and irregularities were already problems before, and you wonder how it is that no one saw them,” says retired communicator Marta María Céspedes. “Weren’t there inspections?” Despite the renowned hospital’s reputation and state of the art facilities, this is a blow to the reputation of Cuba’s health care system which provides universal free healthcare.
Elizardo Sanchez of the Cuban Human Rights Commission indicates he has evidence that up to 40 patients died at Havana Psychiatric, a fact hidden by the Cuban government. “This reaffirms our conviction this has been a judicial farce. All the defendants are really just scapegoats, the responsibility lies with senior government officials,” says Sanchez.
Fidel Castro first instituted universal healthcare in 1959 after the revolution, leading to an excess supply of doctors and a healthcare system which rivaled most countries, including the United States.
The staff members’ trial took place from January 17 to January 22, 2011 resulting in the hospital director’s sentence of 15 years for his involvement in the patient deaths.
For More Information Please Visit:
CNN – Cuba Hospital Staff Get Long Jail Terms For Patient Deaths – 1 February 2011
Havana Times – Shock At Cuba’s Psychiatric Hospital Trial Revelations – 25 January 2011
Global Issues – Cuba: Shock At Deaths And Corruption In Psychiatric Hospital – 25 January 2011
MSNBC – Cuba Seeks Long Jail Terms For Mental Asylum Deaths – 24 January 2011
Brazil’s “Monster Dam” To Proceed Despite Outcry
By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
BRASILIA, Brazil – Last week, environmentalists and indigenous people adamantly rejected the Brazilian government’s decision allowing work to begin on a giant hydroelectric dam. The project will proceed while the state prosecutor filed an appeal to suspend the ruling.
Brazil’s environmental agency approved “necessary infrastructure” for the controversial $15-billion Belo Monte dam, which is set to become the third-largest in the world. This initial ruling authorizes Norte Energia to destroy 600 acres of forest and build roads to the Xingu River in the northeast Brazilian state of Para.
Sixty civic groups and non-governmental organizations representing everyone from environmentalists to local peasants have formed a coalition called “Xingu Lives Forever.” In a recent statement responding to the ruling, Xingu Lives Forever called this a “dictatorial act.” The group also added that they were “going to continue opposing this project with all our might.”
Opponents of the dam claim that it is “not economically viable” and that the dam’s construction will displace up to 30,000 people because of the planned flooding on the banks of the Xingu River. Other critics of the project say only a small proportion of the electricity to be generated by the dam will meet residential needs, while the bulk will go toward industrial and mining development, also likely to spread environmental damage in the area.
Philip Fearnside of the National Amazon Research Institute said that the forests flooded by the dam’s reservoirs will generate enormous qualities of methane, a greenhouse gas estimated to be 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
State prosecutor Felicio Pontes filed an appeal, arguing that agreed-upon conditions have not been met, particularly concerning the rehabilitation of degraded zones.
In a statement to the public, Pontes said “[d]ue to decisions like this, we can say today, (the environmental agency) is the author of the worst offense against the environment in the Amazon.” The federal government says Belo Monte is vital to the economic development of the country and claims that no native land is threatened. The state has also claimed that it is spending millions of dollars to offset the social and environmental impacts of the dam.
For more information, please see:
United Press International – Brazil Going Ahead with “Monster Dam” – 31 January 2011
AFP – Brazil Dam Go-Ahead Sparks Anger – 28 January 2011
Yahoo News – Brazil Green Lights Amazon Dam in Disregard for Environmental Laws and Local Opposition – 27 January 2011
Egyptian protesters plan ‘March of Millions;’ military is deployed to the streets
By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa
CAIRO, Egypt – In anticipation of Tuesday’s “March of Millions” in Cairo and Alexandria, the Egyptian government has restricted travel and communications, shut down the rail service and increased the military presence around the city.
A spokesman on state television addressed the people of Egypt on Monday, saying, “The presence of the armed forces in the Egyptian streets is for your benefit to protect your safety and peace. Your armed forces will not use violence against this great people, who have always played a significant role in every moment of Egypt’s great history.”
Demonstrations erupted in Egypt on January 14, when anti-government activists took to the streets to protest President Hosni Mubarak’s nearly thirty-year rule. On Monday, Mubarak appointed a new government, including Vice President Omar Suleiman, who promised to engage in constitutional and legislative reform discussions with the protest’s leaders. It was the first time since 1981 that Mubarak has filled the post of vice president.
Mubarak named General Mahmoud Wagdy as the new interior minister and former air force commander Ahmed Shafiq as prime minister. Mubarak’s new appointments, made in an attempt to defuse the uprising, have been deemed by some to be, “too little, too late.” Angry demonstrators are continuing to call for Mubarak to surrender power.
Though Mubarak has not indicated any plans to step down, protestors have tossed around names of possible future leaders, including Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The scenes in Cairo and Alexandria remained chaotic all day Monday, even after a curfew order was imposed at 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET). Protestors continued to gather in Tahrir Square, one of the focal points of the protests.
Human Rights Watch confirmed eighty deaths from two hospitals in Cairo, thirty-six deaths in Alexandria, and thirteen deaths in Suez.
ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS
The toll on Egypt’s economy has been staggering. Essential supplies are running low and gas stations are closing because they have run out of fuel. State television reported that the crisis had cost the country an estimated sixty-nine billion Egyptian pounds (nearly twelve billion dollars), setting its economy back six months.
On a broader level, the crisis has exposed the defects in Egypt’s strong, yet fragile, economy. Such problems as debt, poverty and soaring unemployment have become exposed amidst the uprising.
Moreover, much of Egypt’s economic stability hinges on foreign investors, tourists and overseas companies, all of which have retreated in the wake of the protests.
Most devastating could be the closure of the Suez Canal, which would drastically drive up oil prices. On Monday, world oil prices topped one hundred dollars a barrel.
IMPACT ON ISRAEL
World leaders have been careful to refrain from calls for Mubarak to step down, focusing instead on calls for stability and an orderly transition to democracy.
This is in part because Egypt has long been considered a stable region in an often unstable Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he feared a radical Islamist takeover in Cairo. British Foreign Minister William Hague said, “We certainly don’t want Egypt to fall into the hands of extremists. We want an orderly transition to free and fair elections.”
Israeli officials have been in strategy sessions since the protests started, as the country’s military and economy rely heavily on its relationship with Egypt. Netanyahu has ordered his government to remain silent on the events in Egypt while the protests continue.
Egypt is Israel’s strongest ally in the region, and Mubarak has been a staunch supporter of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
Officials have stated that a breakdown in Egypt could effectively end the peace talks between Israel and Palestine.
Dan Schueftan, director of the National Security Studies Center at the University of Haifa, said that were Israel to lose Egypt as its ally, “the threats become much more realistic than before.”
FOREIGN RESPONSE
As countries scrambled to fly their citizens out of Egypt, chaos erupted at Cairo’s main airport. The airport was poorly staffed, as curfews and traffic deterioration made it nearly impossible for employees to get to work. At one point on Monday, the airport departure board stopped announcing flight times, which only further agitated the crowd. When it was announced that the Danish, German, Chinese, British and Canadian governments had sent planes to evacuate their citizens, passengers stampeded to the gates. Shouting matches and even fistfights were commonplace, as thousands of stranded passengers piled into the airport to await a flight out.
The State Department said that more than five hundred Americans had departed on five flights.
The European Union foreign ministers urged a peaceful transition to democracy, while President Barack Obama called officials in Britain, Turkey, Israel and Saudi Arabia over the weekend to express the White House’s desire for restraint and an orderly transition.
Finnish foreign minister Alex Stubb said, “It is values versus interests. On the values side we want democracy, freedom and human rights. On the interest side we don’t know what we will get. We want stability – we don’t know what is stable – is it the current regime? The E.U.’s current answer is ‘no.’”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton tread lightly when asked whether the current administration still backs Mubarak.
“We have been very clear that we want to see a transition to democracy. And we want to see the kind of steps taken that will bring that about. We also want to see an orderly transition,” Clinton said.
“I also believe that this is in Egypt’s long-term interests. It’s in the interest of the partnership that the United States has had with Egypt.”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said it was not Washington’s place to support or oppose the possible removal of Mubarak.
Daniel Korski, from the European Council on Foreign Relations, explained the serious predicament that the E.U. and U.S. face.
“Should they back the protests, support what has been a friendly regime or sit uncomfortably on the fence, talking about the need to show restraint and start reforms but stand back from actually supporting regime change in case the transition becomes violent or the outcome problematic?”
For more information, please see:
BBC – Egypt protesters step up pressure – 31 January 2011
BBC – Cracks in Egypt’s fragile economy have been exposed – 31 January 2011
CNN – Mubarak’s VP promises swift reform; military won’t fire on protests – 31 January 2011
Independent – Egypt’s opposition calls for one million on streets – 31 January 2011
Independent – Cairo airport a scene of chaos as foreigners flee – 31 January 2011
New York Times – E.U. Calls for Orderly Transition in Egypt – 31 January 2011
New York Times – Government Offers Talks With Protesters After Army Says It Will Not Fire – 31 January 2011
Reuters – Mubarak shuffles cabinet but protesters say “Go!” – 31 January 2011
New York Times – Clinton Calls for ‘Orderly Transition’ in Egypt – 30 January 2011
New York Times – Israel Shaken as Turbulence Rocks an Ally – 30 January 2011
10 Month Sentence For Soldiers Found Guilty of Torture
David L. Chaplin II
Impunity Watch; Asia
JAKARTA, Indonesia – Sentenced to less than a year by a military tribunal, were three Indonesian soldiers, whom being caught on videotape, tortured two men in the country’s restless Papua Province, a remote site of sporadic fighting between separatist rebels and Jakarta. This was a grave disappointment for angry human rights activists who have denounced the legal proceedings as a farce for soldiers tried for human rights violations.
Presiding judge, Lt. Col. Adil Karo-Karo found the three soldiers guilty on charges of insubordination for failing to inform their superiors that they had detained and tortured the two Papuan civilians, Tunaliwor Kiwo and Telangga Gire, on May 27 last year.
The release of the video outraged activists and residents in the province and prompted an uncharacteristic admission of wrongdoing by the military, which has long been accused of brutality in Papua.
The 10-minutes of torture caught on video, taken on a cellphone, incited international horror when it was displayed on YouTube in October.
The video captured Tunaliwor being burned on the genitals with a smoldering stick, soldiers at a military post kicking and suffocating Mr. Kiwo, and soldiers holding a knife to the face of Mr. Gire. Mr. Kiwo said he was further tortured over a period of three days.
The harshest sentence, 10 months in jail, was received by the commander of a military checkpoint near Gurage village in Puncak Jaya district, where the torture took place, Sgt. Irwan Rizkiyanto.
“Although this court-martial has concluded, there is hope for a torture charge given the need to try these soldiers at an independent human rights tribunal,” Poengky told the Jakarta Globe.
The government ratified the United Nations Convention Against Torture in 1999, but activists say this has remained a paper measure. “The government and the House of Representatives must amend the law on military tribunals, which has been a major obstacle in prosecuting military officials under civilian law.”
The Military Criminal Code and its Code of Conduct so far also do not recognize torture as one of the punishable crimes within military tribunal.
Elaine Pearson, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, highlighted irregularities in the court-martial.
“There were six men depicted in the video but only three were brought to trial,” she told the Globe.
The pursuit of insubordination charges, rather than those of torture, in the second trial and the focus on a small number of low-level perpetrators appears to be aimed at denying the existence of widespread abuses in Papua, Ms. Pearson said.
“If they had been prosecuted for torture, then that requires complete evidence,” Colonel Priyatna said. “If we couldn’t come up with the evidence at the hearings, then our worry is they could have been freed.”
Local and international rights groups have long accused the Indonesian police and military of human rights violations in Papua despite Indonesia’s overall transition to democracy after the 1998 ouster of the dictator Suharto. Since then, Indonesia has become a democracy.
For more information, please see:
Jakarta Global – Anger at Light Sentence for Papua Torture – 25 January 2011
New York Times – Indonesian Military Trial Angers Activists – 24 January 2011
Voice of America News – Indonesian Soldiers Charged With Torture Sentences to Prison – 24 January 2011