Free Press Activists Arrested in Moscow

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia – Approximately 50 people were arrested Saturday at a protest in Moscow.  The protest, which took place in Triumfalnaya Square in the center of the capital, focused on the efforts of the Kremlin since current Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rose to power in 2000 to suppress independent media sources and nongovernmental human rights organizations.  The protest was a part of Strategy 31, which has been a national effort to pressure the government to recognize and uphold the freedom of assembly rights guaranteed in paragraph 31 of the Russian Constitution.

Hundreds of city police and Interior Minister officers surrounded the approximately 100 protesters and 100 journalists who were in attendance.  The leaders of the rally disputed those numbers, claiming that 70 people had been detained and more than 500 people had been in attendance.  Among those in attendance was the United Civil Front and the National Bolshevik Party.  The protest had not received the required authorization, the government citing a prior planned ‘military celebration’ in the same square.

Among the protesters was Lyudmila Alexeyeva, a well known human rights activists in Russia.   Alexeyeva exclaimed that she had come “to defend the constitution.”  She also stated that “the idea to organize the demonstrations on the 31st of the month here in the capital is to attempt to make a tradition of peaceful gatherings to allow citizens the chance to defend the Russian constitution.”  Eduard Limonov, the National Bolshevik Party leader, was also present.

Another protester declared that he “[wanted] Russia to be free, not to rot in a policeman’s nightmare.”

A pro-Kremlin youth group, known as Rossiya Molodoya, were also at the rally.  Leaflets and flares were used by this organization in an attempt to instigate the human rights protesters.  Soon after their actions, the police who were already surrounded the human rights protesters in the square stepped in and arrested the activists.  They were taken to nearby police stations.

For more information, please see:

HUFFINGTON POST – Human Rights Protesters Arrested in Moscow for Demanding Freedom of Assembly – 3 November 2009

ITAR-TASS – Unauthorized rally thwarted in Moscow, 50 people detained – 1 November 2009

PRESSTV – 50 human rights protesters arrested in Russia – 1 November 2009

THE OTHER RUSSIA – 70 Oppositionists Detained in Moscow Rally – 1 November 2009

REUTERS – Russian police detain 50 at human rights protest – 31 October 2009

RUSSIA TODAY – Opposition leaders detained in Moscow while trying to rally – 31 October 2009

Iraqi Security Forces Held Over Baghdad Bombing

By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

BAGHDAD, Iraq – On October 29 Iraq arrested over sixty security officials for their connection to a twin suicide bombing in central Baghdad. Among those arrested were Iraqi soldiers and members of the police force.

An Iraqi military spokesperson confirmed that eleven army officers along with fifty security officials were arrested for involvement. Among those individuals were thirteen senior officials. The bombing killed one hundred fifty five people and injured over five hundred. The attack was the worst in Iraq in over two years.

The men arrested will be investigated to see if they had any involvement in the attacks themselves or if they failed to do their jobs. Iraq frequently arrests security personnel after an attack of this magnitude, but the current situation marks the first time where it has been referred to as the official policy of the Iraqi government.

The bombings that struck two government buildings have lead to a wave of public anger aimed at Iraqi security officials. The BBC’s Gabriel Gatehouse explains that the investigation gives credence to the individuals who believe that security forces are susceptible to infiltration by insurgents or are simply unable to handle the job of protecting Iraq.

The arrests come at a time in Iraq where there are questions whether the government has the ability to protect its citizens. Increasing the concerns is January’s election and the coming removal of United States troops in 2011. The Iraqi government has blamed the attacks on al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein’s Baath party.

Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, called for a United Nations investigation into the bombings. He urged the UN to investigate the bombings for external inference and accused Syria of providing a safe haven for the bombers. Syrian leaders in Damascus have denied this. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that he will be sending an envoy to Iraq to consult on the countries “security and sovereignty.”

Mr. Zebari also asserted that the security aims of the country must be met for the planned US withdrawal to proceed. He explained that “the Americans cannot just wash their hands to say ‘we are no longer engaged or interested because we have our own timetable’.”

For more information, please see:

AFP – Dozens of Security Force Members Held Over Baghdad Bombs – 29 October 2009

Al Jazeera – Officers Held Over Baghdad Blasts – 29 October 2009

AP – Iraq Arrests Security Officials Over Baghdad Blast – 29 October 2009

BBC – Police Arrested Over Iraq Bombing – 29 October 2009

Reuters – Iraq Arrests Senior Officers, Vows More Over Blasts – 29 October 2009

U.S. Authorities Fail to Question Chief Sri Lankan General

By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

COLOMBO,Sri Lanka – General Sarath Foneseka, one of the recognized masterminds behind the Sri Lankan government’s final, victorious campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam, left Oklahoma city today on a civilian visit to his daughters.  Upon hearing of the general’s arrival into the country, authorities in the United States Department of Homeland Security formulated plans to interview the general.  The discussion had the purpose of trying to substantiate allegations of war crimes the Sri Lankan military and government committed throughout the quarter-century civil war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency.  However, the General left Oklahoma City without any disturbance by U.S. authorities.  

General Fonseka played an integral role in the Sri Lankan government’s spring defeat of the Tamil Tigers.  Although the ultimate attack on the insurgency purportedly aimed cease the bloody violence reigning over Sri Lanka for over twenty-five years, reports of crimes against humanity arose in reports submitted to the U.S. congress.  The reports concentrated on heinous acts perpetrated in the final months of fighting ultimately leading to the Tamil Tigers’ defeat in May. 

The report actually asserted that both separatists and Sri Lankan government forces committed atrocities against human rights.  The Sri Lankan government, however, was accused of confining droves of citizens in schools, hospitals, and other large public structures located in designated no-fire zones.  Furthermore, human rights groups alleged that the Sri Lankan government engaged in indiscriminate bombing over Tamil territories, resulting in the deaths of thousands of civilian nationals. 

Between the inhumane acts of the government and separatists, it has been calculated that between 7,000 and 20,000 civilians had been killed over the final months of fighting. Despite the severity of the allegations and the imperative information General Fonseka could divulge concerning heinous practices in war, the Sri Lankan government swiftly pronounced its disfavor towards the idea of an interview.

 The Sri Lankan government seemed particularly leery of the possibility that U.S. authorities would inquire about Sri Lankan Secretary of Defense Gotabaya Rajapaksa.  The brother of the Sri Lankan president and a U.S. citizen himself, Rajapaksa is acknowledged as another significant figure in the Sri Lankan military’s defeat over the Tamil Tigers.  The Sri Lankan government also denies the merits of the allegations of human rights offenses. 

Without any words from the Sri Lankan government, the only corroborated information on Sri Lanka’s war practices is the lofty, tragic death toll for the bloody civil war.
For more information, please see:

Al-Jazeera – U.S. to ‘question’ S Lanka army chief – 04 November 2009

Guardian – U.S. to question Sri Lanka army chief war crimes allegations – 02 Novermber 2009

Lanka Journal – Sri Lanka’s top general leaves U.S. unquestioned – 04 November 2009

U.N. Support Suspended to Peacekeeping Unit For Ironic Civilian Killings

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DRC – The U.N. has suspended logistical and operational support for the Congolese army’s 213th Brigade which was confirmed to have killed at least 62 civilians during a peacekeeper-backed offensive against the rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

For months, human rights groups have exposed the fact that Congolese armed forces in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have brutally killed hundreds of civilians and committed widespread rape, while they received more than $6 million worth of U.N. military and logistical backing for its Kimiya operation.

The UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC, is a partner with the Congolese army in operation Kimia II, which began on March 2. The aim of the peacekeeping mission is to disarm by force the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Rwandan Hutu militia group, some of whose leaders participated in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. MONUC provides substantial operational and logistics support to the soldiers, including military firepower, transport, rations, and fuel.

Humanitarian agencies and rights groups have decried the civilian toll of the offensive, which has disarmed around 1,300 FDLR fighters at the cost of more than 7,000 women and girls raped and more than 900,000 people forced to flee their homes.

Human Rights Watch conducted 21 fact-finding missions in North and South Kivu from January to October 2009, and found that Congolese army soldiers had deliberately killed at least 505 civilians from the start of operation Kimia II in March through September. Most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly. Some were decapitated. Others were chopped to death by machete, beaten to death with clubs, or shot as they tried to flee.

“Some Congolese army soldiers are committing war crimes by viciously targeting the very people they should be protecting,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “MONUC’s continued willingness to provide support for such abusive military operations implicates them in violations of the laws of war.”

“We welcome the steps that the U.N. has taken to suspend operations to this one brigade. But I am afraid we are documenting these kinds of atrocities, not just in this one area but in many other areas as well,” said Van Woudenberg. “And we think the U.N. now needs to immediately suspend all of its support to this military operation until abusive commanders are removed and safeguards are in place in protect civilians.”

Head of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, Alain Le Roy, said despite confirmation of soldiers in the Congolese army’s 213th Brigade participated in the massacre of at least 62 people between May and September, the U.N. has no intention of withdrawing broader support for the offensive.

“(The U.N.) will continue its engagement on the side of the Congolese army in the operation, which is very important in order to neutralize the FDLR.” Said Le Roy. “We have a case [where] clearly some units have behaved badly and some civilians have been killed in quite an important number. But we are not suspending our support to the Kimiya operation, not at all,”

The U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator in Congo and the deputy head of MONUC, Ross Mountain, said that withdrawing the mission’s support for the operations would limit its ability to protect civilians. While admitting that there had been abuses by almost 50,000 government soldiers involved in the operations, Mountain denied claims made by HRW that MONUC had been aware as early as May of the widespread crimes carried out by the army.

The operation, in Congo’s volatile eastern border provinces of North and South Kivu, was part of an agreement aimed at improving relations between Congo and Rwanda, enemies during a 1998-2003 war. The presence in eastern Congo of the FDLR is considered to be a root cause of over a decade of conflict and a humanitarian crisis that has killed an estimated 5.4 million people. Despite suspending some Congolese unites, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously last month to continue supporting the Congolese army.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – U.N. Defends Congo Role Despite Army Killings – 3 Nov 2009

VOA news – Rights Group Demands U.N. Aid Cut-Off to Congolese Army – 03 November 2009

The Huffington Post – Human Rights Watch Damns MONUC in Congo: Leaked UN Internal Memo Supports the Accusations – 2 November 2009

Amnesty International – Surge in Army Atrocities – U.N. Peacekeeping Force Knowingly Supports Abusive Military Operations – 2 November 2009

Iranian Vessel Seized by Yemen

By Ahmad Shihadah

Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

SA’NA, Yemen – The Yemeni coast guard seized a boat they say illegally entered the country’s territorial waters, near the island of Midi under the suspicion that it was smuggling arms to Shiite rebels battling government troops in the Northern Yemen province of Sa’na.

The ship’s cargo, consisting mostly of anti tank shells, was seized and her crew of five Iranians were detained under a suspicion that they were “instructors” planning the delivery of weapons and the evacuation of wounded Iranians.

Al-Alam TV, an Iranian state broadcaster, reported the incident as a mere “fabrication of the media.”  While, no comment has been issued by the Yemeni central government they have long accused Iran of supporting Shiite rebels.  Last week, Yemeni President, Ali Abdullah Saleh issued a statement alleging that Iranian dignitaries were the source of funding for previously captured rebel troops.

On Tuesday, a court in Sa’na sentenced four al-Houthi rebels to death.  This is the third trial stemming from a series of rebel clashes with government forces – twelve others have been sentenced to death in earlier trials relating to the fighting.

Clashes between al-Huthi rebels and government forces have continued sporadically for the past five-years.  The Rebels accuse authorities of neglecting their needs and of allying with hard-line Sunni fundamentalists. The fighting has intensified since August, killing hundreds in the region and displacing thousands more.  A humanitarian crisis continues to loom due to the inability of aid workers accessing the region.

For more information please see:

BBC – Yemenis Intercept ‘Iranian Ship’ – October 27 2009

Associated Press – Yemen Seizes Boat off Coast, Arrests 5 Iranians – October 27 2009

Reuters – Yemen Seizes Weapons Vessel with Iranian Crew – October 26 2009