Two Young Activist Bloggers Jailed

By Brandon Kaufman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAKU, Azerbaijan– On Wednesday, November 11, the Sabail District Court of Baku convicted Emin Milli and Adnan Hajizade of hooliganism and inflicting minor bodily harm, sentencing each of them to two and a half years in prison. Milli is a blogger for an online television site and a coordinator of exchange student alumni. Hajizade is a video blogger. They were charged in relation to an incident in July in which they say they were attacked.

The defendants allege that on July 8, they had been discussing their youth movement in a Baku restaurant when two strangers approached them, demanded that they stop discussing such matters, and attacked and injured them. That evening, Milli and Hajizade went to the police station, filed reports about the attack, and requested medical assistance.

Human Rights Watch contends that the restaurant fight was staged to provide grounds for a bogus case against the bloggers.  Human Rights Watch further asserts that the convictions come amid deteriorating media freedoms in Azerbaijan as journalists and media representatives have been harassed, threatened, or attacked for their professional activities.  According to Giorgi Gogia, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, “There is a longstanding pattern of Azerbaijani officials filing trumped-up charges against journalists to punish them for critical or satirical comment.”  And in the United States, State Department officials condemned the court decision, calling it “a step backwards for Azerbaijan’s progress towards democratic reform.”

The bloggers maintain that they were arrested and convicted because of their online criticism of the authorities.  Isakhan Ashurov, the attorney for Adnan Hajizade, said his client was charged for political reasons and that he had not been involved in violence. Various civil society organizations in Azerbaijan have expressed anger at the sentences.

Milli and Hajizade, who have been in prison since July 8, plan to appeal the verdict, but in the meantime “The imprisonment of Milli and Hajizade sends a chilling message to bloggers and any sharp government critic in Azerbaijan,” Gogia said. “It reflects growing government hostility towards the freedom of expression.”

For more information, please see:

Human Rights Watch- Azerbaijan: Young Bloggers Jailed– 12 November 2009

BBC News- Azeri Bloggers Given Prison Terms– 11 November 2009

New York Times- Azerbaijan: Bloggers Convicted– 11 November 2009

Peru’s Vice President Charged for Illicit Arms Deals

By Sovereign Hager

Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru-Peru’s Vice President, Luis Giampietri is facing criminal charges for alleged irregular arms deals and faces a motion that he be removed from office. A five year investigation revealed that Giampietri was responsible for questionable arms purchases for the Peruvian Navy in 1994 and 1995.

Giampietri is a retired vice admiral in Peru’s Navy. The accusations are from the period where Giampietri was in charge of arms procurement for the Navy, when Alberto Fujimori was in office. Giampietri is accused of using his position to favor supply companies belonging to members of a corrupt network headed by then presidential security adviser Vladimiro Montesinos.

Giampietri is accused of collusion and conspiracy to commit a crime. Allegations detail how Giampietri approved purchases of military equipment from companies specifically selected by Montesinos, who then received millions of dollars in commissions in return. The money was found in his name in Switzerland. The allegedly illicit deals total 49.9 million dollars.

Giampietri denies all charges against him and insists that the arms deals did not do the state any harm, “because equipment . . . was used for national defense.” However, prosecutors are most concerned that the bidding procedure was rigged to favor companies owned by Israeli citizen Moshe Rothschild and Peruvians Enrique Benavides and Claus Corpancho.

Rothschild and Benavides have been fugitives from justice since 2001, and Corpancho has been in prison in Lima since 2007, when he was extradited from Spain. Fujimori admitted that Montesinos accepted a bribe for the sale to Peru of thirty-six MiG-29 warplanes from Belarus. Rothschild, Benavides, and Corpancho organized the sale.

The charges are the reason for the recent motion to remove Giampietri as first vice president. “We view it as improper that a person accused by a prosecutor should be acting president,” said a spokesman for the opposition Peruvian Nationalist Party.

Giampietri was also a part of the trial for those responsible for the 1986 massacre committed by naval forces during a Sendero Luminoso riot. 118 people were killed. Giampietri is among those said to be responsible for the massacre.

For more information, please see:

IPS-Peru: Vice President Accused of Corruption-14 November 2009

Defense News-Peruvian Navy Officials Probed for Contract Fraud-6 November 2009

Radio Programas del Peru-Giampietri califica de “insostenible e infundada” denuncia en su contra-5 November 2009

Child Health Days Campaign Benefits Thousands of Somalis

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least 83,000 Somali children and women benefited from the Child Health Days Campaign carried out with United Nations support in the Afgooye corridor, which hosts displaced people who fled their homes due to the violence in the capital, Mogadishu.

Child Health Days was launched with the purpose to improve child survival rates in the violence-wracked country. The five-day campaign, carried out with the support of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), reached at least 46,000 children under-five and 37,000 women of child-bearing age with critical health services, including vaccinations, vitamin supplements and hygiene education.

The 30-kilometre stretch of road west of Mogadishu is the world’s most densely populated settlement for internally displaced persons (IDPs), who live in harsh conditions and lack even the most basic social services, according to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The Child Health Days were launched in Somalia in December 2008 reaching over one million children under five and 800,000 women across the country during the first round. It is repeated every six months to help promote child survival and boost immunization rates, in addition to promoting demand for public health services among communities.

The large-scale campaign was made possible, despite poor infrastructure and lack of appropriate health facilities, thanks to the efforts of more than 200 vaccinators and 300 health workers.

Fighting since early May between Government forces and Al Shabaab and Hisb-ul-Islam has displaced around 160,000 IDPs in the strife-torn country. Around 3.7 million people, about half the population, are dependent on humanitarian aid due to the combined effects of conflict, drought, high food prices and the collapse of the local currency.

For more information, please see:

AllAfrica – Tens of Thousands of Women and Children Benefit From UN Health Initiative – 12 November 2009

UN News Center – UN Agencies Launch Next Round of Child Health Initiative in Somalia – 14 August 2009

AllAfrica – UN Agencies Launch Child Health Initiative – 14 August 2009

EU Concerned About Fiji’s Isolationism

By Eileen Gould
Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

SUVA, Fiji – Fiji’s decision to expel Australia and New Zealand’s top diplomats has prompted the European Union to speak out.

Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama expelled Australia’s High Commissioner James Batley, as well as New Zealand’s envoy, pursuant to a memorandum issued by Fiji’s chief justice, Anthony Gates.

The memorandum criticized Australia’s policy aimed at preventing foreign justices from holding positions on Fiji’s court.

Several Sri Lankan judges and magistrates were unable to obtain transit visas from Australia and were thus prevented from taking up their assignments in Fiji. A similar incident occurred in New Zealand.

According to some, Gates’ statements were misleading.

Prior to this incident, Bainimarama threatened to take action against both nations regarding the travel bans, but without specifically referencing the Sri Lankan justices.

In response to Bainimarama’s decision to expel the diplomats from Fiji, the European Union issued a statement last Tuesday, encouraging Fiji to re-think its position.

The Swedish Presidency of the EU stated that the isolationist tendencies of Fiji’s military leader have led to deteriorating relations with the international community.

Further, the EU noted that “[b]y isolating itself, Fiji puts at risk the concerted efforts to bring about the return of rule of law and democracy”.

The countries of the Pacific region and Fiji must work together to prevent the country from encouraging additional negative developments.

The EU has also insisted that Bainimarama’s administration restore democratic rule to the tiny nation.

Australia and New Zealand have been the most outspoken in condemning the military leader’s rule.

Last May, the Pacific Islands Forum suspended Fiji’s membership after the Prime Minister refused to hold elections.

The military has occupied the country since December 2006, when Fiji’s leader ousted the elected government.

For more information, please see:
News.com.au – EU regrets Fiji expulsion of top envoys – 11 November 2009

ABC News – Fiji’s expulsion of envoy unwarranted – 09 November 2009

The Australian – Coup culture ‘risks starving people of Fiji – 09 November 2009

The Australian – Flawed memo behind Fiji’s decision to expel top Australian diplomats – 08 November 2009

Russian Police Officer Posts Allegations of Corruption on Internet

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – A Russian police officer, with his remarks on widespread corruption within the country’s police forces, has taken the rare step of voicing his concerns publicly.

In a video posted on his own website this past week appealing directly to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Major Alexei Dymovsky accused his superiors in Novorossiisk’s police force of a number of actions and policies, indicating a widespread culture of corruption within the police force.  According to Dymovsky, as an officer he was required to met monthly arrest quotas, even if it meant arresting the innocent.  Additionally, the low pay of officers have led many officers to accept bribes as a means of supplementing their income.  Following the posting of his video, Dymovsky was immediately fired from his position.

In a Moscow press conference on Tuesday, Dymovsky stated that he possessed over 150 hours of taped conversations with his superiors that will support his allegations of criminal behavior in the department.  In addition to losing his job, Dymovsky claimed that his phone has been tapped and he was being followed.  His bank and cell phone accounts have also been shut off.  He is asking to present the evidence he has compiled to Putin personally.

In his homemade video Dymovsky declared that “We have to serve the law, not the generals.  I want to keep working and I want to achieve justice.”

Dymovsky’s recent statement are only the latest allegations regarding police corruption.  This past April a Moscow police officer killed three people in a supermarket.  The aftermath of this led to the Moscow chief of police being fired.  Just last month a regional Interior Minister was arrested for the selling of contraband materials.  These stories have diminished the credibility of Russia’s law enforcement community among the public.  A poll published by the Levada Center indicated that two-thirds of Russians do not trust the police, while 64 percent do not believe that the police are effective.

Interior Ministry representatives, as well as local Novorossiysk officials, have publicly denied the Major’s allegations.  An investigation by regional officers has concluded that Dymovsky’s claims are false.  Nevertheless the Interior Minister promised there to be a investigation into the Major’s claims, and any police officer linked to these allegations would be prosecuted.

Since being posted onto YouTube on Tuesday, Dymovsky’s video has been viewed over a million times.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Russia admits police corruption – 10 November 2009

CBS NEWS – Whistleblower Tackles Russian Police Corruption – 10 November 2009

RADIO FREE EUROPE – ‘YouTube’ Whistleblower Arrives In Moscow On Police Day, As Scandal Deepens – 10 November 2009

REUTERS – Russian ex-officer’s anti-corruption blog causes stir – 10 November 2009