Alleged Former Auschwitz Guards Released

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany – Amidst the last chance effort to bring Nazi war criminals to justice before they die, German courts have released four alleged former SS guards in two weeks.

Auschwitz was the largest death camp during World War II, and killed approximately 1.5 million people. (Photo courtesy of Chicago Tribune)

In February 2014, police arrested three elderly men after searching six homes in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg. Police based their search on information from the Central Office of the Judicial Authorities for the Investigation of National Socialist Crimes.

Prosecutors stated that “significant evidence” suggested the men could be charged as accessories to murder for serving as Auschwitz guards. The complex of camps at Auschwitz in Nazi-occupied Poland witnessed the deaths of approximately 1.5 million Jewish, Roma, and Polish persons. Under German privacy guidelines, their names were withheld.

During the week of 3 March 2014, the alleged SS guards of the Auschwitz death camp have been released from custody. However, prosecutors claim the investigation against them will continue.

Germany began a push to prosecute all remaining SS guards under a new legal doctrine, which considers an accessory to murder anyone who worked at extermination camps, even absent evidence of any personal violent acts.

One of the men was freed due to failing health, while another was released on bail, and the third’s detention was successfully challenged. A week before, yet another man, Hans Lipschis, was released because he suffers from dementia.

“The court has refused to open the trial,” a court statement said of Lipschis. “The chamber is of the opinion that the 94-year-old is incapable of standing trial. It bases this judgment on its own personal impression and the opinion of a psychiatrist.”

In 2013, Lipschis claimed that he left his position as a cook at Auschwitz to fight on the Eastern Front toward the end of World War II. However, he could not remember which unit he joined.

For a total of thirty, 26 other living men are believed to be former SS guards from Auschwitz. In February 2014, prosecutors ordered a search for Nazi-era documents from several German states, as several crimes from that era have gone unpunished in Germany.

Much difficulty came from a 1969 federal court ruling, which required proof of individual guilt to prosecute a defendant. In 2011, the precedent changed when a Munich court relied on personnel records to convict former Sobibor guard John Demjanjuk of aiding and abetting 28,000 murders. Demjanjuk died in a nursing home.

To achieve justice, strong efforts must be made to collect sufficient evidence that will be determinative of whether alleged war criminals are who prosecutors believe they are.

For further information, please see:

Washington Post – 3 Auschwitz Guard Suspects Released from Custody – March 6, 2014

Haaretz – Ailing  Auschwitz Guard Suspect Granted Bail in Germany – March 5, 2014

Chicago Tribune – Ex-Chicagoan, a Suspected Auschwitz Guard, Found Unfit for Trial – February 28, 2014

Independent – Three Suspected Ex-SS Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 21, 2014

Reuters – Three Suspected Former Auschwitz Guards Arrested in Germany – February 20, 2014

Nurse Paralyzed in Beating by Chinese Official

By Kevin M. Mathewson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

NANJING, China – A Chinese official and her husband have been detained over an attack on a nurse in Jiangsu province which left the nurse paralyzed, police and state media say.

Chen Xingyu, the nurse injured in the alleged attack. (Photo Courtesy of Weibo)

The incident occurred when the Nanjing Stomatological Hospital arranged for a critically ill male patient to be placed in the same ward where the couple’s daughter was being cared for. After the couple unsuccessfully protested about the male patients placement, Yuan Yaping, the mother, struck a nurse on the back and shoulder with an umbrella and dragged her out of the nurse’s station.

Yuan is deputy director of the government-run Jiangsu Science and Technology Museum in Nanjing and Dong is a senior publicity official at the Jiangsu Provincial Procuratorate office. Both have been suspended by their employers following the alleged attack, media reports said.

Chen Xingyu, the 20-year-old victim remains in the hospital receiving treatment, according to authorities in Nanjing. She has been diagnosed with paralysis of the lower limbs.

“Given that Chen Xingyu has not recovered her functions after a week of medical care, we have decided to place suspect Yuan Yapin under criminal detention, in accordance with the public security bureau’s regulations for injury cases,” police said in a statement.

The case has prompted outrage in China, with the term “Nanjing nurse beaten” becoming the third-most-popular search term on Thursday.

The fact that police took more than a week to detain Yuan has especially angered observers online. Many have blamed police for yielding to the political influence of Yuan’s family and speculated they had hidden major evidence from the public.

Nanjing police later explained they were only able to detain Yuan after the seriousness of Chen’s injuries had been determined by medical experts.

Since the attack, more than 30,000 medical workers have added their names to a website calling for a harmonious relationship between patients and hospitals after the attack. Since the online signature drive was launched on February 28 it has attracted thousands of medical professionals from across the country.

China has seen an outburst of violence against medical staff in recent years and the problem of patient-doctor conflicts has drawn the attention of the central government.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – China nurse ‘paralysed by beating’ from official – 6 March 2014

South China Morning Post – Nurse paralysed as shocking hospital attack by Nanjing official is caught on camera – 6 March 2014

China Daily – Medical workers call for harmony – 6 March 2014

English News – Gov’t official couple punished over nurse’s attack – 6 March 2014

Kerry Meets Russian Counterpart in Paris

by Michael Yoakum
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America

PARIS, France – Secretary of State John Kerry met with with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Paris Wednesday to discuss peaceful solutions to the standoff in Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula. The meeting came just a day after Lavrov announced that economic sanctions by the US would not change the position of the Russian government.

Kerry denounced the Russian occupation of Crimea Sunday, calling the action “an incredible act of aggression.” (Photo courtesy of Bloomberg News)

Despite their differences, Kerry noted before the meeting that all parties agreed that the situation should be resolved diplomatically rather than militarily.

“All parties agreed today that it is important to try to resolve these issues through dialogue,” said Kerry.

The talks were described as “very constructive” and Kerry considered them to be the beginning of negotiation that would hopefully lead to a peaceful solution. Despite the Secretary’s optimism, the Russian Foreign Minister refused to have a one-on-one meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart, opting instead to travel home.

While speaking in to press after the meeting, Kerry renewed his call for Russian forces to withdraw from the Crimean peninsula and allow UN monitors in to the region. Whether or not Russia will heed such a call, Kerry added that the parties agreed to meet again.

“We agreed to continue intense discussions in the coming days with Russia, with Ukrainians, in order to see how we can help normalize the situation, stabilize it and overcome the crisis,” he said.

While Kerry traveled to Paris, President Obama continued to communicate with EU leaders, collaborating with German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday on a resolution to the situation. Their proposal would require Russian forces to partially withdraw, limiting their deployment to 11,000 troops.

The President also directed remarks to Russian President Vladimir Putin Tuesday, saying that Russia was not “fooling anybody” by denying Russia deployed forces to Crimea.

France 24 reports that sources confirm President Obama will not be attending an upcoming G8 summit scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia unless the situation in Crimea improves.

For more information, please see:

Bloomberg News – Kerry Makes Push to Ease Ukraine Tension in Lavrov Talks – 5 March 2014

CNN – Kerry: Ukraine talks will continue – 5 March 2014

France 24 – US-Russia to hold Ukraine talks in Paris – 5 March 2014

MSNBC News – Kerry Says Russia and Ukraine Willing to Keep Talking – 5 March 2014

The Washington Post – Kerry says ‘Russia is going to lose’ if Putin’s troops continue to advance in Ukraine – 2 March 2014