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War Crimes Prosecution Watch Volume 9 – Issue 9 July 28, 2014
Evidence of Fijian Military and Police Torture has Little Effect on Upcoming Elections
by Max Bartels
Impunity Watch reporter, Oceania
Suva, Fiji
A year ago a video surfaced on YouTube of Fijian security personnel beating two handcuffed prison escapees, one of the detainees was beaten with batons and metal bars while the other was viciously mauled by a dog that was encouraged by its police handlers. The man was mauled so badly that his leg was eventually amputated due to the severity of his injuries. After the video surfaced there was a public outcry to investigate the matter, police then dated the video to a year before its release and claimed that they would pursue an investigation.
(Photo Curtesy of ABC News Australia)
It has been a year since the case was first brought to the police, they have since closed their investigation saying they would examine their findings to look for possible prosecutions. The investigation closed last December and still no cases have been presented for prosecution. Amnesty International in both Australia and New Zealand are speaking out on the matter saying the interim military government is protecting its own and obstructing justice. Amnesty claims that it is widely known in Fiji who the men are in the video and that all the evidence in the case is very clear and there is no excuse if the case isn’t taken any further.
After the video originally surfaced a year ago the military head of the government, Prime Minister Bainimarama said that he would stand by his men. Bainimarama has since stepped down as Prime Minister to pursue the upcoming elections, however he appointed a replacement Brigadier- General Tikoitoga. Tikoitoga has expressed the same views as Bainimarama saying that in many cases where the military or the police use force such as in the video it is to keep people from creating a potentially dangerous environment.
Since the accusations from Amnesty and accusations from the Fijian People’s Democratic Party, the political party running in opposition to Bainimarma, the Police Commissioner of Fiji has said that he will continue the investigation and also investigate all complaints from the Fijian public relating to police and military brutality. Furthermore, the Commissioner has said that it does not matter who the subject of the investigation is, be they military or politician, no one is above the law.
These accusations come at a critical time for Fiji, which is undergoing political upheaval as the military government that seized power by a coup in 2006 has decided to step down and allow general elections. Despite pressure from Australia and New Zealand over the torture video the interim leaders of Fiji have not responded. In spite of widespread accusations of police and military abuses Bainimarma is ahead on the polls and he has looked in other directions for international trade and support mainly to China, India and Indonesia. The military government is not willing to take the torture matter any further, and with the video having little effect on the outcome of the elections it seems the leaders of the military government will maintain power.
For more information, Please see:
The Fiji Times — Police Promise Probe — 26 July 2014
The Fiji Times — Serious Allegations — 28 June 2014
The Sydney Morning Herald — Fiji Military Leader Admits Beatings Torture — 20 June 2014
Are “Botched” Executions Cruel And Unusual Punishment?
By Lyndsey Kelly
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States of America – Recent troubles with the lethal injection process has sparked controversy over the constitutionality of the death penalty process in the United States. “Botched” lethal injections in Oklahoma and Arizona have raised questions as to whether the medical personnel tasked with carrying out the procedures are skilled enough to humanely put an inmate to death.
Currently 32 states use the death penalty to sentence those convicted of the most heinous crimes. Nearly all of those states also require a physician to attend the executions. However, due to the nature of the procedure the American Medical association prohibits licensed physicians from assisting.
More specifically, guidelines set out by the American Medical Association state that a physician can confirm the death of an executed inmate, but cannot declare death, administer drugs, monitor vital signs, select injection sites, start an IV, supervise drug injections or consult with a person carrying out the injection. Doctors whom are discovered to have participated in the lethal injection process risk losing their licensure to practice medicine. Due to these restrictions, lesser-trained medical personnel often carry out executions.
The U.S. lethal injection process underwent fundamental changes in 2011, when the drug company, Hospira, stopped making short-acting barbiturate and general anesthetic sodium thiopental, due to concerns about its use in lethal injections. Thus, recent problems with executions could be a result of medical personnel in the death chamber not being familiar with mixing or administering the new lethal cocktail.
Recently, in Arizona, the execution of convicted double murderer Joseph Wood took at least two doses of a lethal drug cocktail to execute the inmate. Witnesses say that Wood gasped and struggles for breath for more than 90 minutes before dying. Wood’s execution was one of the longest in U.S. history. The length of time it took for the execution is not the issue. The real issue is whether the procedure constituted cruel and unusual punishment, which would be prohibited by the U.S. constitution.
Arizona has since halted executions pending a review of its death penalty procedures. Despite the stay in executions, Arizona Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan defended the execution, stating that the execution team, including a licensed medical doctor verified multiple times during the procedure that Wood was, “comatose and never in pain.”
For more information, please see the following:
BBC – Arizona Halts Executions After Joseph Wood Case – 26 July 2014.
L.A. TIMES – How Did Arizona Execution Go Wrong – 26 July 2014.
REUTERS – Troubled U.S. Executions Raise Questions About Doctors In Death Chambers – 26 July 2014.
SEATTLE TIMES – How Did The Arizona Execution Go Wrong – 26 July 2014.