Illness Postpones Nazi War Crimes Trial

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MUNICH, Germany – The trial of a former Nazi prison guard who has been charged with the murders of thousands of Jews at a Polish camp was postponed on Wednesday because of a medical infection.

The judge of the Munich Court determined that the 89-year old John Demjanjuk was not medically capable to attend the court proceedings.  Demjanjuk had attended the first few days of hearings, albeit in a hospital bed.  Because of a worsening infection, however, prison doctors advised against transporting him to the courtroom.  The trial has been scheduled to resume Dec. 21.

During the first few days of the trial, Demjanjuk did not say anything.  While there he was either in a hospital bed or wheelchair.  He has maintained his denial in playing any role in the killings at the Sobibordeath camp in Poland in 1943.  Demjanjuk claims that during that time he was a Soviet prisoner of war in a German camp.

Originally born in Ukraine, Demjanjuk was a soldier in the Russian army before being captured by Nazis.  He then worked as a prison camp guard.  After the war, he was able to emigrate to the United States.  In 1986 the United States deported him to Israel and subsequently sentenced to death in 1988.  His conviction was overturned, however, by the Israeli Supreme Court.

In 2002 the U.S. Department of Justice revoked his citizenship for lying when he first arrived in the country about his past as a Nazi.  Until he was extradited in May from the United States he had been living in Ohio.  Following his extradition to Germany, he was formally charged with 27,900 counts of being accessory to murder.

For more information, please see:

AP – Demjanuk trial day canceled due to illness – 2 December 2009

JTA – Illness forces Demjanjuk trial postponement – 2 December 2009

NEW YORK TIMES – Germany: Demjanjuk Trial Delayed – 2 December 2009

REUTERS – German court cancels third day of Demjanjuk trial – 2 December 2009

RTT NEWS – Demjanjuk’s War Crimes Trial Postponed Due To Illness – 2 December 2009

November Death Toll Lowest Since Beginning of Iraq War

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – The civilian death toll in Iraq dropped to its lowest level in November since the beginning the US-led invasion in 2003. At least eighty eight Iraqi civilians were killed during the month according to an Iraqi Interior Ministry official. This is the first month in which less than one hundred civilians were killed since the beginning of the conflict. Overall one hundred and twenty two Iraqis died in November. Twenty two police officers and twelve soldiers died in addition to the civilians who were killed.

The November total is a noticeable drop from October’s death toll in which a total of four hundred and ten individuals were killed throughout Iraq. A large number of these deaths came during a twin suicide bombing near government offices in Baghdad in which one hundred fifty people were killed. The previous lowest monthly death was in May 2009, when one hundred fifty five people were killed. Among those were one hundred twenty four civilians.

The current monthly totals for casualties in Iraq pale in comparison to those of 2006 and 2007. The period was marked by rampant sectarian violence. In January 2007 alone two thousand Iraqi people were killed.

The low death toll number comes at a time where senior Iraqi and United States officials predict a possible increase in violence leading up to the country’s parliamentary election. The top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, predicted last month that politically motivated violence would be used to undermine the Iraqi government and security forces prior to the election. General Odierno recently said, “we still have a small group of extremist elements that will do anything and everything to undermine Iraq’s progress and the people’s confidence in the government in Iraq.”

While the reports of the decreased death toll pleased senior Iraqi officials, they emphasized that the numbers still could be improved upon. Ali Mussawi, an advisor to Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki commented that, “we’re delighted with the decrease in the number of victims of terrorism, but we will only be happy when we eliminate all threats.” Mussawi also called on civilians and security forces to “remain vigilant because the enemy is waiting.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Iraq Monthly Death Toll Lowest Since US Invasion – 1 December 2009

CNN – Iraq’s Civilian Death Toll in November is Lowest Since War Began – 1 December 2009

Associated Press – Iraq Reports Drop in Civilian Deaths in November – 30 November 2009

Reuters – Iraqi Civilian Deaths Drop to Lowest Level of War – 30 November 2009

United Nations Representative Says PNG Police Need More Power

By Cindy Trinh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea – The United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture, Professor Michael Nowak, says that Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) police need new powers to deal with the violence in the country.

Nowak has been meeting representatives from the Pacific in PNG about implementing international standards on torture in the region. He has been invited to spend two weeks in PNG in May of 2010 to assess the ill-treatment of prisoners.

Nowak says that the problems are not just “internal” to the police.

He stated: “Now I’m not only talking about torture by the police, you can also talk about violence, inter-tribal warfare in the highlands for instance. The police have a very very difficult task of mediating, or you have quite a high level of domestic violence where the police might have other kinds of powers in order to deal with it.”

Christina Saunders, a human rights advisor to the United Nations PNG country team, says that according to a UN study, most of the constitutions of the Pacific countries include some kind of prohibition on torture, but the key to enforcing those prohibitions on torture requires strengthening “accountability and supervision” of police and correction officers to ensure they follow the law.

She stated: “As often is the case, even when governments have very good laws in place and they train, unless there are strong accountability mechanisms in place and oversight to ensure that those laws are implemented, unfortunately you can’t eradicate torture.”

The goal of the recent PNG meeting is to monitor “political will, which will affirm that torture and ill-treatment is morally and legally wrong.”

In response to the meeting, Saunders stated: “We’re also hoping that this meeting will encourage members of the region to ratify the convention against torture, and also the optional protocol, which will give a stronger legal framework for the action which is required to eradicate torture in the region.”

For more information, please see:
Islands Business – UN torture representative says PNG police need new powers – 03 December 2009

Pacific Islands News Association – UN torture representative says PNG police need new powers – 03 December 2009

Australia Network News – UN torture representative says PNG police need new powers – 02 December 2009

North Korea to Undergo Review by Human Rights Council

By Hyo-Jin Paik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

GENEVA, Switzerland– Following the UN General Assembly’s resolution heavily criticizing the human rights situation in North Korea last month, the Human Rights Council will conduct North Korea’s first Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on Monday.

Human Rights Watch is encouraging UN member states to put an end to the horrific human rights violations in North Korea at the upcoming UPR session.  Specifically, the organization has named executions, collective punishment and punishment of defectors among the human rights issues to be raised at the session.

In addition, Human Rights Watch has requested that Pyongyang allow international humanitarian agencies to monitor aid programs in North Korea to ensure transparency and accountability.

The organization has also asked that North Korean citizens be able to travel freely in and out of the country.  Human Rights Watch added that North Korea should stop punishing defectors who are forced to return.

Furthermore, the activist organization has stated that the North should ensure the rights of children set forth in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is a treaty North Korea ratified.

NK UN ambassadorNorth Korea’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN Pak Gil Yon.  Courtesy of Getty Images.

Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said, “North Korea should take concrete measures to address human rights, not just pay lip service…The first step in that direction is participating in the UN system and inviting the UN rights experts to observe and advise.”

Moreover, North Korea routinely executes its citizens for stealing state property and stockpiling food, as well as other “anti-socialist crimes.”  Thus, Human Rights Watch said that the Human Rights Council should call for an end to North Korea’s death penalty system.

Under UPR, each UN member’s human rights record is reviewed every four years. North Korea has participated in the review process for other member states, but it has rejected resolutions from the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council condemning its own human rights violations.

Pearson said, “While North Korea has rejected UN resolutions against it, calling them a smear campaign, it has spoken up about other countries in the review process.  If it can dish out criticism, it should show that it can take it too.”

For more information, please see:

Daily NK – UN Passes North Korean Human Rights Resolution – 20 November 2009

Human Rights Watch – UN: Use Upcoming Rights Review to Press North Korea – 3 December 2009

JoongAng Daily – North to be under UN rights review – 4 December 2009

Guinea Leader Wounded In Shooting

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

CONARKY, Guniea-Guinea’s military leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara was shot and wounded in an attack on his presidential convoy in the nation’s capital, Conakry.  The attack was lead by a renegade faction of Guinea’s presidential guard. Only limied Information regarding the extent of Camara’s injuries has been made available. However reports have been made that the degree of harm was not severe.
Neighboring country, Senegal sent a medical plane to Conakry to bring Camara to Dakar. Camara’s Communications Minister, Idrissa Cherif said, “ the president of the republic is still the president of the republic and he is in good health.”

The shooting occurred after Camara had left the country’s main military barracks from where he has been running the country since leading a military coup that saw him seize power over eleven months ago. Upon leaving his barracks, he went downtown to a military camp, which is where the shooting took place.

This shooting comes at a time of great division within the country’s military and nation. Camara had promised to hold elections when he initially seized power. Not only has he delayed these elections, he has begun hinting that he plans to run for office. Upon the news of his alleged plans to run for election, mass protests erupted on September 28. In response to the protests the country’s presidential guard opened fire on the peaceful protesters, killing 157 people and further causing the current unrest in the country.

As a result of the massacre, sanctions were imposed on Guinea by the European Union, and the African union. Travel bans were also imposed on members of the military junta along with other sanctions.

For more information please see:

AP – Guinea’s President Wounded In Attack – 3 December 2009
CNN – Guniea Leader Survives Attack – 3 December 2009
BBC – Guinea’s Leader Shot and Wounded By Aide – 3 December 2009
Bloomberg – Junta Leader Camara Hurt In Shooting By Aide – 3 December 2009