Chinese Victim of Police Torture Dies

By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

ZHENGZHOU, China – After a man died suddenly while being questioned in Henan Province, a Chinese police chief was ordered to resign and a deputy chief was fired after allocations that they were responsible for his death while in custody.

According to state media, Wang Yanhui died while being detained by officials over alleged theft. The death occurred three days after Wang’s arrest while police were conducting an interrogation. Wang’s family came to identify his body, and they reacted immediately upon finding that his body was appeared battered showing signs of injury.  Their concern led to suspicion of abuse, which  fuelled public anger, as there had been a series of reports of torture and deaths of people in police detention.

Wang’s family released several photographs of him showing that Wang’s back and arms were covered with large bruises and scars. A hole was found in his head. His nipples were cut off and his genitals showed notable traces of injury.

In responding to the incident, authorities have confined four police officers involved in the interrogation, according to the local police bureau.

Qin Yuhai, director-general of the Henan public security department, told the Beijing News that the department would, “thoroughly investigate the problems in law enforcement and severely punish the violators.”

Even before Wang’s death, the government had already launched a nationwide campaign to crack down on illegal activities in prisons and detention centers. For instance, last April, China launched a campaign to “eliminate unnatural deaths” among detainees and prison inmates. Presently, these efforts are being stepped-up. According to Beijing News, there will be various penalties which are already in place, any they will actually implemented and imposed on violators. Other changes are also being considered.  

Early last week, the Ministry of Public Security issued new guidelines to regulate the operation of detention centers. The revised rules require strict supervision of law enforcement officers and call for greater protection of detainees’ legal rights.
 

For more information, please see:

Shanghai Daily – China police ordered to resign – 1 March 2010

Global Times – Another suspect suddenly dies in custody – 1 March 2010

China Daily – Police chief ordered to resign after inmate death – 1 March 2010

BBC News – China police ordered to resign over detainee ‘torture’ – 1 March 2010

Karadzic Calls Serb Cause During the Bosnian War “Just and Holy”

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic stated during his trial today that the Serb cause in the Bosnian war was “just and holy.” The statement was made as Karadzic began his defense today at his genocide trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.  He said:

“I will defend that nation of ours and their cause is just and holy…I stand here before you not to defend the mere mortal that I am, but to defend the greatness of a small nation in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which for 500 years has had to suffer.” 

Karadzic, age sixty-four, led the Bosnian Serbs during the war in the 1990’s.  During his statement today he said that a core group of Muslims in Bosnia – then and now – wanted 100 percent power, at the expense of the Christian majority. He also said that the Serbs acted in self-defense after their peace plans were rejected. He accused former Croat leader Franjo Tudjman and former Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbecović of pursuing “ethnocentric” objectives, and stated that the two, respectively, desired to create Croatian and Muslim states.

He denied charges that the Serbs ran concentration camps where non-Serbs were tortured and killed, referring to them as “collection centers” for refugees. He said: “It was a transit point for persons who had nowhere to go because of the fighting going on around them.”

 The former Bosnian Serb leader is accused of masterminding the worst act of genocide since World War II.  In 1995 at Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave and U.N. safe zone, roughly 8,000 Muslim men and boys were massacred during the course of a week. Karadzic is also accused of leading the bloody forty-four month siege of Sarajevo.

Prosecutors have charged Karadzic with orchestrating the campaign in order to destroy the Muslim and Croat communities in eastern Bosnia in order to create an ethnically pure Serb state. Karadzic insists that that he is innocent of all eleven charges he faces, which include charges of genocide and war crimes. However, he has failed to enter a formal ‘not-guilty’ plea with the court.

For more information, please see:

Balkan Insight – Karadzic: Defence in the Name of the Serbian Nation – 1 March 2010

BBC – Karadzic calls Serb cause ‘holy’ – 1 March 2010

Eurasia Review – Bosnians React to Karadzic Opening Statements – 1 March 2010

The Guardian – Karadzic defends ‘just and holy Bosnian war – 1 March 2010

 

 

New Civil Rights Movement Headed by Undocumented Students

By Brenda Lopez Romero
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

WASHINGTON, D.C., United States – Last week marked the start of a new movement of students that are promoting the Dream Act.  Most of the student organizers are unique because they are undocumented.  The students see a link with the civil rights movement of African Americans and decided to start taking action during African American History Month.

This is definitely a new bolder movement.  As Nancy, media relations coordinator, from DREAM Team LA said, undocumented students are “willing to take the risk of putting ourselves out there and putting ourselves in danger, because for us it’s more of a risk to remain silent and not to speak about our realities and the everyday obstacles that we go through. Right now we are not afraid to speak up and to come out, because that’s what we need to do in order to be heard, in order to create change.”

A national umbrella organization, United We DREAM, coordinates some of the movement’s efforts and is run by many undocumented students who are affected.  They also see the timing of the events as parallel to the civil rights movement of the 1960s.  One of the DREAM Activist stated we “are constantly being denied certain rights in the U.S. and within our school campuses. We are fighting for our own humanity. A lot of tactics that we’re using as undocumented students are borrowed frameworks that were established in the 60’s with the civil rights movement.”  Furthermore, undocumented students are also victims of discriminatory law, segregation as a second class, and have been victims of violence and targeted crime including beatings and murder.

Tolu, from the National Immigration Law Center noted that the DREAM Act is not a Democratic or Republication issue; instead “it’s about finding a just and humane way for people who are in an untenable situation. It’s amazing what the students have been able to achieve even with this obstacle, imagine what they can do without that drawback. These are very passionate, involved, devoted, active, intelligent individuals and it would be a great loss to the country to give up on them. I believe that we’re better as a people having DREAMers amongst us and we would be a better country if we passed the Dream Act. It would affect the lives of hundreds of thousands, and we’ve put everything on the line to get this done.”

Longitudinal studies conclude activist young adults during the civil rights movement were more likely to be in leadership positions at all levels 20 years later.  We should expect the same from the DREAMers.

For more information, please see:

Indiana Daily Student – Students ‘DREAM’ for Congress to pass act – 24 February 2010

The Huffington Post – A New Civil Rights Movement: Undocumented Students for Immigration Reform – 24 February 2010

WSHV News – DREAM Act Advocates Lobby Congressmen – 24 February 2010

BRIEF: Rwandan Accused of Genocide Requests Defense case be Reopened

ARUSHA, Rwanda – Justin Mugenzi, the former Rwandan Commerce Ministe filed a motion February 25th to reopen his defense case in his trial for a 1994 genocide. Mugenzi’s defense filed a brief with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) claiming that the prosecution withheld documents that might have an impact on a finding of guilt. The documents were given to Mugenzi’s defense February 18th, but the statements in the documents were allegedly made one-year before the trial began. The motion also requests that the prosecution be instructed to conduct a review of all materials in its possession to determine if additional disclosures to the defense are necessary.

For more information, please see:

allAfrica .com – Rwanda: Ex- Minister Wants His Case Re-Opened – February 29 2008

Devastation in Chile After Earthquake, 700 Dead

By Sovereign Hager
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

Photo Courtesy of BBC
Photo Courtesy of BBC

CONCEPCION, Chile-The search for survivors of the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Chile on February twenty-seventh continues, as the death toll climbs to over seven hundred people. Chile’s main highway was severed and over 1.5 million homes were damaged or destroyed. The epicenter of the quake was the coastal city of Concepcion, which is two hundred miles from Santiago. Coastal cities were also hit by a giant wave causing even greater devastation after the earthquake.

Chile’s interior minister called the disaster “a natural event the like of which none of us have experienced in our lifetime.” Field hospitals are being set up as the Chilean government awaits emergency supplies being sent by the United Nations. The Defense Minister Francisco Vidal told members of the press that the Army is deploying 10,000 troops to secure the most devastated areas. The hope is that the soldiers will be able to decrease the incidence of looting. So far troops have fired tear gas on looters in Concepcion. A curfew has been established to aid in these efforts.

Photo courtesy of San Francisco Sentinal
Photo courtesy of San Francisco Sentinal

While the earthquake was felt even in Argentina, more than fifty aftershocks measuring 6.0 have increased the devastation in Chile. The government has called on private companies to aid in the emergency efforts and reconstruction. Highways and airports are currently closed and there has been damage to some of Chile’s copper mines, prompting a spike in copper prices. Economic damage is estimated to be as much as $30 billion, or roughly fifteen percent of Chile’s gross domestic product.

The damage to infrastructure has slowed relief efforts. Food is reportedly running out because it is impossible for supplies to reach the city. A coastal town mayor stated that “people are running out of food at home and that encourages looting. If we don’t solve that problem . . . social tension will be very high.”

President Bachelet stated that about 2 million people have been affected by the earthquake, which is the fifth strongest world wide since 1900. President elect Pinera, to be sworn into office on March 11th, vowed to reallocate funds to reconstruction efforts.

For information about  groups you can support to help earthquake victims in Chile click here.

For more information, please see:

BBC-Chile Troops Tackle Quake Looters-1 March 2010

Business Week-Chile Deploys Soldiers to Quell Looting After Quake-1 March 2010

CTV News-Chileans Wait for Aid in Aftermath of Massive Quake-1 March 2010

The Economist-Chile’s Earthquake in Need of Repair-1 March 2010