North Korea to Put American on Trial

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – An American from Boston is to go on trial for illegally entering North Korea.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, had been teaching English in South Korea for several years. Acquaintances described him as a devout Christian who was dedicated to his students.

His family spokeswoman said that it is unclear why Gomes went to North Korea. 
However, activists in South Korea did comment that Gomes was an acquaintance of Robert Park, another American missionary who was detained and then released by North Korea last month.

Days after Park’s arrest, Gomes attended rallies calling for Park’s release where a Seoul-based activist said he saw Gomes weep.  Jo Sung-rae, a South Korean activist, said that Gomes contacted Jo about working in his rights group and met Park in Seoul last summer.

Jo said, “I felt [that] he may have gone to North Korea after being inspired by Robert Park.”

Although a trial date has not been set, Gomes is believed to be the fourth American North Korea said it detained back in January.  In addition to Gomes and Park, two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were arrested a year ago and sentenced to twelve years of hard labor.  However, the two journalists were freed after former U.S. President Bill Clinton made a high-profile humanitarian visit to North Korea and negotiated their release.

U.S. State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley said on Tuesday that the United States had not been formally notified regarding charges against Gomes.  However, Crowley did say that Swedish diplomats have been in contact with Gomes.

North Korea’s announcement that Gomes is to go on trial also comes at a time when Pyongyang’s neighbors have been pressuring North Korea to rejoin international talks concerning dismantling of its nuclear weapons program.

Gomes’ family spokeswoman Thaleia Schlesinger said, “The family is praying for him and for his speedy return home.”
For more information, please see:

AP – US man held in NKorea rallied against Pyongyang – 25 March 2010

Guardian – North Korea to put US citizen on trial for illegal entry – 22 March 2010

USA Today – North Korea to try American on trespassing charge – 22 March 2010

Journalist Murdered in Colombia

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

BOGOTA, Colombia-Clodomiro Castilla, a Colombian magazine editor and radio reporter was shot dead at his home in the city of Monteria. An unidentified gunman reportedly shot Castilla eight times before being picked up by another man on a motorcycle.

CPJ spoke with a local journalist who stated that Castilla had been receiving threats for four years for disclosures of links between local politicians, landowners, and illegal right-wing paramilitary groups. Castilla declined government protection. However, Castilla was under protection for threats from 2006-2009.

An anonymous journalist told CPJ that just before his death, Castilla was reporting on the participation of a local landowner in the murder of a local lawyer, corruption in local government agencies, and links between paramilitaries and local government officials. The Colombian National Police have not yet discussed possible motives.

A new report published by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on “The Safety of Journalists and the Risk of Impunity”  highlights acts of violence against journalists in Colombia. Four reporters were killed in the last four years according to the AFP. This is higher than Brazil, El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Venezuela, and Honduras.

The report found that the bulk of reporters killed world wide operate in outside of war zones are typically covering local stories on corruption, human rights abuses, and drug trafficking.

For more information, please see:

Colombia Reports-UN Report Highlights Journalist Murders in Colombia-24 March 2010

CPJ-Colombian Journalist Shot Dead by Unidentified Gunman-22 March 2010

Latin America News Dispatch-Journalist Killed by Gunman While Reading on his Terrace-20 March 2010

Washington Post-Colombian Journalist Shot and Killed-20 March 2010

Chinese Rights Lawyer Alive

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – After being missing for over a year, any presumed dead by many, China’s well known rights lawyer, Gao Zhisheng, appears to be alive.

After defending members of China’s banned Falun Gong spiritual organization, and writing openly about China’s public leaders and their “brutal and illegal persecution of Falun Gong members,” Gao disappeared on February 4, 2009. He was abducted by an unknown group from a relative’s home in Shanxi province. At the time of Gao’s disappearance, his wife and children had already escaped from their home, and were en route to Bangkok where they applied for asylum in the United States.

Initially, Gao’s family had feared he was dead, after a cryptic comment from police that he had “lost his way and gone missing” in September. China’s government has been under international pressure to say where Gao Zhisheng is and whether he is alive and well. Despite repeated requests, Chinese authorities have provided little information about his fate.

Gao gave a telephone interview with Reuters and another dissident lawyer, and he stated that he was released about sixth months ago after his initial disappearance. He confirmed that he had survived difficult circumstances, and that he was living near Wutai mountain, a sacred Buddhist landmark in coal-rich Shanxi province.

Reuters reported that another human rights lawyer, Li Heping, who had a lot of contact with Gao before he was jailed, confirmed that he spoke with Gao, and that the voice was in fact his. Gao’s brother, Gao Zhiyi also claimed to have spoken to his brother on the telephone within the past three weeks and said:, “I know that he’s fine.” Gao Zhiyi said the conversation was brief, and his brother did not say where he was. He claimed to have had three or four such calls since Gao Zhisheng vanished.

Gao’s account of surviving the harsh conditions and torture imposed on him is in stark contrast with a recent public press conference given just one week ago. When asked about the whereabouts of Gao, Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said, “Gao Zhisheng was sentenced for subverting state power. His personal rights have been protected according to Chinese law. There is no so-called torture upon him.”

Conflicting statements and murky accounts of the past year make it clear that there remains a large amount of uncertainty and mysteriousness about the events surrounding Gao Zhisheng disappearance and recent resurface.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Well-known missing Chinese rights lawyer alive – 27 March 2010

The Associated Press – Missing lawyer says he is living in northern China – 27 March 2010

BBC World News – Missing Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng ‘is fine’ – brother – 17 March 2010

Russia Poised to Upgrade Prison System

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – In a long overdue effort to upgrade antiquated prisons, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has ordered that career criminals be isolated from the general population of prisoners and placed in cell blocks instead than barracks.

Over 70 years ago, when Joseph Stalin ruled the USSR with an iron-fist, a penal system for prisoners was developed where inmates are arbitrarily separated into barracks with around 100 men regardless of the nature or severity of the crime committed.

Through today the vast majority of Russian prisoners are forced to live in these inhumane and over-crowded barracks or penal colonies often in remote areas in Siberia, no different from the prison camps instituted by Stalin in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Of Russia’s 862,000 prisoners, 724,000 today are housed in barracks.

President Medvedev, who went to law school, has ordered a gradual, three-stage plan to rid Russia of its barracks housing system. Ultimately, all 755 penal colonies will be abolished as a result of these reforms.

The first stage involves moving recidivists, the so-called “career” or “hardened” criminals, to separate colonies in order to isolate the general prison population. According to one press account, 64,000 of the 149,000 recidivist prisoners have already been transferred.

The second stage, which will not be complete until 2016, involves separating petty criminals from violent first-time offenders.

Finally, by 2020, the third stage will be completed when recidivists are moved into newly constructed prisons that have cell blocks.

All of these changes replace a system where prison wardens and guards used social groupings within the barracks to self-enforce order in the barracks.

Human rights groups praised the decision. The Deputy Director of the Center for Criminal Justice Reform, Lyudmila Alpern, expressed pleasure at getting rid of penal colonies where conflicts were “resolved through a crude hierarchy” and where prisoners lived like “male tribe[s]”.

For more information, please see:

THE CRIME REPORT – Russian Prison Upgrade to Take Career Criminals Out of Barracks – 24 March 2010

SCOTSMAN – Stalin’s Gulags facing reform – 24 March 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – Russia to Alter System of Penal Colonies – 22 March 2010

Japanese Man Exonerated After 17 Years

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

TOKYO, Japan – After spending seventeen years in jail for murder of a four-year-old girl, a Japanese man who was serving a life sentence was acquitted at a re-trial.

Toshikazu Sugaya, a former kindergarten bus driver now in his 60’s, was placed behind bars back in 1991 for kidnap, sexual assault and murder.  Sugaya did confess to the murder, but the court found that the false confession was made under duress and that the DNA evidence found at the murder scene does not match that of Sugaya.

The judges bowed in apology to Sugaya and the presiding judge, Masanobu Sato, said, “As a judge, I sincerely apologi[z]e that the court failed to listen to Mr[.] Sugaya’s real voice, which resulted in depriving him of his freedom for 17 . . . years.”

Judge Sato added, “I strongly hope something like this will never happen again.”

Sugaya’s acquittal was only the sixth one in Japanese history since World War II where a defendant who was serving a life sentence was acquitted at a re-trial.

Japan has 99% conviction rate for criminal cases, and human rights activists have long been critical of Japanese authorities for relying on confessions instead of building cases based on solid evidence.  Rights group have pointed out that such practice by the Japanese authorities led to police extracting false confessions from suspects and convictions of innocent people.

In addition, activists have criticized Japan’s interrogation system where suspects can be detained for up to twenty-three days and be questioned without a lawyer present.

During the initial investigations, prosecutors in fact neglected to inform Sugaya that he can consult with a defense attorney and that he has the right to remain silent.

After Sugaya’s verdict, Japan’s Justice Minister Keiko Chiba did say that the government will into whether or not interrogations should be taped.

Chiba said, “It is necessary to systematically and legally review evidence examination while considering [the appropriateness of introducing] videotaping of the interrogation process.”

Sugaya left the court in tears and said, “I feel completely different today from yesterday.  I feel refreshed by the verdict of complete innocence.”

The four-year old girl’s real murder is still at large.
For more information, please see:

BBC – Reform call after Japanese man acquitted of murder – 26 March 2010

Gulf Times – Man cleared after 17 years in Japan jail – 26 March 2010

NYT – In Rare Reversal, Japan Clears Man Convicted of Murder – 26 March 2010