Update: Congolese Soldiers Charged and Arrested for New Year’s Day Mass Rape

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch, Africa

Congolese Soldiers (Photo Courtesy of ABCNews.com)

KINSHASA, DR Congo- Government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo) have been accused of the New Year’s Day mass rape in Fizi of over a dozen women.  The coordinated attack also left many more injured and included the looting and burning of several town homes and businesses.  A spokesperson for the military, Vianney Kazarama, has confirmed that eight soldiers have been arrested in connection with the attack.  Meanwhile, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has stated that thirty-six individuals were treated for rape at the Fizi hospital and the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) clinic in Fizi.  U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said that among the suspects in custody, all are government soldiers and at least one is a ranking officer.
Rape as a weapon of war has been prevalent in DR Congo and under-reporting makes it difficult to track.  Of the almost 16,000 cases of war rape reported in 2008, 65% of those were children, most of them girls.  Unmarried women who are raped face being ostracized in their communities and are seen as undesirable for marriage.  Married women who are raped are routinely abandoned or divorced by their husbands.
This attack highlights a pattern of rape and looting by soldiers in DR Congo.  Last month, a Congolese military commander was ‘blacklisted’ by a U.N. Security Council committee for orchestrating mass rapes in the eastern regions of the country.  Several months prior, during the summer, hundreds were raped by Rwandan Hutu rebel forces and the Congolese troops who were fighting them.  Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times Reporter on human rights violations in Africa and Asia, has said of the human rights violations occurring in DR Congo, “…no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.”

For more information, please see;

AFP– DRCongo Troops Blamed For Rapes, Looting in Sud-Kivu– 12 Jan., 2011

Reuters Africa- Congo Soldiers Held Over Alleged Rapes, Looting- U.N.– 12 Jan., 2011

AllAfrica.com- Rape.  Re-rape.  Gang Rape.  But, Really, Who Cares?– 12 Jan., 2011

CUBAN EXILE AND FORMER CIA OPERATIVE FACES PERJURY CHARGES AMID TERRORIST ACCUSATIONS

By Erica Laster                                                                                                                  Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
 
HOUSTON, United States – Former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative and Cuban exile Luis Posada Carilles is set to go on trial this week in Texas. The United States has charged Posada with perjury and immigration fraud for lying to immigration officials and has been accused of orchestrating terrorist attacks on commercial airlines, tourist attractions and the attempted assassination of Fidel Castro. Posada has been recognized by Fidel Castro as “the most dangerous terrorist in the Western hemisphere.”
  
Cuban community members protest Posadas innocence near an El Paso courthouse. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press
Cuban community members protest Posada's innocence near an El Paso courthouse. Photo courtesy of the Associated Press.

Originally trained by the CIA as an explosives expert, Posada has been the target of federal investigations for attacks dating back 30 years. Unable to indict Posada on terrorist charges, some believe the perjury counts are similar to Al Capone indictment on tax evasion.

Posada enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1963 at the behest of the C.I.A., training in demolition, intelligence and propoganda before quitting after one year to become a paid C.I.A. operative in 1965. Quickly finding more lucrative positions, Posada associated himself with the Venezuelan intelligence service from 1967-1974 before starting a private security agency. Arrested in 1976 for the bombing of a commercial Cuban airliner, he remained in a Venezuelan prison until his escape in 1985, again serving the United States government.

In various interviews with the New York times, Posada admitted to orchestrating the 1997 Havana bombings in which an Italian businessman tourist died. Posada showed no remorse despite revealing the only intent was to scare tourists in an effort to destroy Cuban tourism. “I sleep like a baby,” he stated.

In a 1998 interview with the Times, Posada stated, “The C.I.A. taught us everything – everything. They taught us explosives, how to kill, bomb trained us in acts of sabotage.” His 2000 Panamanian conviction for the attempted assasination of Fidel Castro resulted in his serving four years in prison before a pardon was issued by former President Moscoso.

While the charges the 82 year old faces in Texas do not appear to be on a level as serious as terrorism, prosecutors must prove Posada’s involvement in the terrorist attacks for a court to find him guilty of perjury.

For More Information Please Visit:

CNN – Posada, Anti-Castro Exile And Former CIA Operative, Goes On Trial – 10 January 2011

NY Times – Terror Accusations, But Perjury Charges – 9 January 2011

Washington Post – Fidel Castro’s Nemesis Goes On Trial In Texas – 10 January 2011

　
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

  

 

 

 

WWII-era Nazi Mass Grave Believed To Be Found In Austria

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

The old hospital cemetery in Hall is thought to contain 220 disabled victims killed by Nazis. Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press.
The old hospital cemetery in Hall is thought to contain 220 disabled victims killed by Nazis. Photo Courtesy of the Associated Press.

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

Cordoba To Finalize FARC Hostage Release

 By Patrick Vanderpool
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America
Five Hostages Captured by the FARC (photo courtesy of Colombia Reports)
Five Hostages Captured by the FARC (photo courtesy of Colombia Reports)

BRASILIA, Brazil – Former Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba is in Brazil to finalize negotiations with the FARC to release five hostages, including three policemen and two politicians. According to Carlos Lozano, director of the communist magazine Voz, and a member of Cordoba’s peace group “Colombians for Peace,” all of the parties involved, including the Colombian Government and the FARC, have approved the final logistics of the release.

While Cordoba has been working on this release for some time, there were several sticking points between the interested parties about the exact protocals to be used. For example, the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Brazilian Government could not come to an agreement about which helicopters would be used. Brazil has a history of providing helicopters and flight crews for previous release missions.

The January release makes good on a promise from the FARC, who explicitly pledged to have the hostages home by the end of the month; however, the release was derailed earlier this month due to bad weather. The deal involves the exchange of hostages held by guerrillas with guerrillas held in Colombian and American prisons. The Colombian government has always opposed such a deal, demanding the guerrillas release their hostages unilaterally.

Cordoba’s involvement with the mission was crucial. The FARC announced that it planned to release the five hostages as an expression of support to Cordoba, who was banned from Congress because of ties to the rebels. Cordoba is hopeful for future relations with the FARC, stating that the next step will be a “humanitarian accord” resulting in the release of all hostages held by the guerrillas.

The hostages are expected the be released on five different locations in Colombia in the second half of this month.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports – Cordoba in Brazil to Finalize Logistics FARC Hostage Release – 11 January 2011

Colombia Reports – FARC Hostage Release by Bad Weather – 3 January 2011

Colombia Reports – 5 FARC Hostages Home in January – 1 January 2011

 

Kim orders shooting of North Korean refugees

By Joseph Juhn
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, Republic of Korea — North Korean border guards shot five refugees to death and wounded two others after chasing them across the frontier into China last month, according to a South Korean newspaper.

The incident took place near Hyesan, the North’s northeastern city, on December when the refugees crossed the frozen Yalu river which separates the border with China, Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, quoting a source in China.

It said North Korean border guards followed the refugees and opened fire on the Chinese side. After the shooting, the guards dragged the bodies and the wounded back across the border with the acquiescence of Chinese authorities.

According to Chosun Ilbo, such shooting by the North Korean guards after the refugees had already crossed the river has never occurred before.

It is alleged that Kim Jong-Un, son and heir apparent to leader Kim Jong-Il, has given orders to soldiers to shoot anyone who tries to cross the border without permission.

The South’s National Intelligence Service declined to comment on the report.

Open Radio for North Korea, a South Korea based radio station which broadcasts into the North, said Kim Jong-Un on January 3 called for a major crackdown on North Korean escapees currently dwelling in China.

The directive was in response to an official complaint from Chinese security authorities that the refugees are a burden on security, the radio quoted an informed source as saying.

Kim Jong-Un, the new leader of North who is believed to have also ordered an attack on Yeonpyeong Island of South On November 23, 2010, which killed two South Korean soldiers and two civilians, has denounced the refugees for undermining the communist state’s ideological foundations, it added.

Tens of thousands of North Koreans who fled hunger and poverty under the dictatorship are believed to be struggling and suffering in China as illegal immigrants, as a large number of women are sexually trafficked. If these refugees are found in China, they are repatriated to North Korea for probable harsh punishment, many of them forced into concentration camps where they could even face execution.

China, violating the UN treaty, treats North Korean refugees as economic migrants rather than refugees, a policy criticised by rights groups.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Report: N. Korea kills five refugees inside China – 11 January 2011

The Straits Times – N. Korea Kills Five Refugees Inside China – 11 January 2011

International Herald Tribune – Low Profile of an Heir Reinforces a Mystery – 7 January 2011