Press Release: Russian Authorities Defy Council of Europe Magnitsky Resolution by Upholding Posthumous Guilty Verdict Against Sergei Magnitsky

Press Release
For Immediate Distribution

31 January 2014. – Today, the Russian authorities defied the resolution adopted three days ago by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) byupholding the posthumous  guilty verdict against Sergei Magnitsky who was tortured and killed in Russian custody four years ago.

The Moscow City Court announced this morning that the posthumous verdict against Magnitsky “automatically” came into force “because nobody challenged it”.

Just three days ago, delegates from 47 member countries of PACE have adoptedwith an 81% vote the resolution entitled “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”, calling on Russian authorities “to close the posthumous trial against Mr Magnitsky.” Instead, the Russian officials went ahead with the posthumous case.

The PACE resolution calls for “targeted sanctions against individuals (visa bans and freezing accounts)” by Council of Europe member states in the case of Russia failing to address the recommendations contained in the resolution.

“It is clear from today’s decision that Russian authorities have immediately defied the PACE resolution and deserve sanctions. Moreover, it shows that the justice system in Russia has been bastardized to support high-level government corruption,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.

Last year, President Putin promoted judge of Tverskoi District Court Igor Alisov who issued to Sergei Magnitsky a guilty verdict in the first posthumous trial in Russian legal history.

For more information please contact:

Law and Order in Russia

 

PACE Documents “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”

PACE Resolution 1966 (2014)1: http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20409&lang=en

“18. The Assembly resolves to follow closely the implementation of the above proposals. It recalls its Resolution 1597 (2007) and Recommendation 1824 (2007) on United Nations Security Council and European Union blacklists. It further resolves that if, within a reasonable period of time, the competent authorities have failed to make any or any adequate response to this resolution, the Assembly should recommend to member States of the Council of Europe to follow as a last resort the example of the United States in adopting targeted sanctions against individuals (visa bans and freezing of accounts), having first given those named individuals the opportunity to make appropriate representations in their defence.”

PACE Recommendation: http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/X2H-Xref-ViewPDF.asp?FileID=20410&lang=en

“1. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its Resolution 1966 (2014) on refusing impunity for the killers of Sergei Magnitsky, and invites the Committee of Ministers to examine ways and means:

1.1.     of improving international co-operation in investigating the “money trail” of the funds originating in the fraudulent tax reimbursements denounced by Mr Magnitsky; and, in particular,

1.2.     of ensuring that the Russian Federation fully participates in these efforts and holds to account the perpetrators and beneficiaries both of the crime committed against Sergei Magnitsky and that denounced by him.”

PACE Report “Refusing Impunity for the Killers of Sergei Magnitsky”:http://www.assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=20084&wrqid=0&wrqref=&ref=1&lang=EN

Snowden’s Leaked Documents Shows Canada Spying On Airport Travelers

By: Brandon R. Cottrell 
Impunity Watch Reporter, North America 

OTTAWA, Canada – The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported today that leaked documents by Edward Snowden show Canada’s electronic spying agency collected data from “ordinary airline passengers” travelling through Canadian airports over a two week period.

Airline passengers who used the airport’s free wi-fi were the victim of a Canadian spying effort, per an Edward Snowden leaked document (Photo Courtesy CBC News).

Though Canadian law prohibits the Communications Security Establishment Canada (“CSEC”) from targeting any individual in Canada without a warrant, the CSEC has defended its action by citing its mission, which is to collect foreign intelligence by intercepting phone and internet traffic in order to protect Canadians.  CSEC has also said that no Canadians were spied on, yet most find no merit to that claim, as it is mostly Canadians that frequent Canadian airports.

Ronald Deibert, one of Canada’s foremost authorities on cyber-security, said, however,  that he “can’t see any circumstance in which this would not be unlawful, under current Canadian law, under our Charter, under CSEC’s mandates.”

The CSEC further defends its action by saying that it only collected metadata, which it is legally authorized to collect and analyze.  Metadata, the information about a communication, such as the date and location of the communication but not the details of what was said or written, is however, still valuable information and considered by most to be an invasion of privacy.

Deibert, in regards to metadata, said that it is “way more powerful than the content of communications . . . you can tell a lot more about people, their habits, their relationships, their friendships, even their political preferences, based on that type of metadata.”

The report also indicates that the metadata was collected using a new powerful software program that was being developed by the United States’ National Security Agency (“NSA”), and is now fully operational.  Experts say that the program, after initially capturing information, “would have enabled the agency to track them for a week or more as they showed up in other wi-fi ‘hot spots’ around Canada, such as other airports, hotels or restaurants.”  The new program is also considered to be “game-changing,” as it could be used for tracking “any target that makes occasional forays into other cities/regions.”

A spokeswoman for the Canadian agency was critical of the leak, and defended the document as a “technical presentation between specialists exploring mathematical models built on everyday scenarios to identify and locate foreign terrorist threats [and that] the unauthorized disclosure of tradecraft puts our techniques at risk of being less effective when addressing threats to Canada and Canadians.”

Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor, is currently living in Russia after fleeing the US in May 2013 after he leaked thousands of documents that revealed extensive internet and phone surveillance by US intelligence services.

For further information, please see: 

BBC – Snowden Leaks: Canada ‘Spied On Airport Travellers’ – 31 Jan. 2014 

Bloomberg – Spy Agency Tracked Canadians At An Airport – 31 Jan. 2014 

CBC News – CSEC Used Airport Wi-Fi To Track Canadian Travellers: Edward Snowden Documents – 31 Jan. 2014 

RT – Attention Fliers: Canada’s Electronic Spy Agency Is Following You – New Snowden Leaks – 31 Jan. 2014 

Vital Supplies Enter Besieged Syrian Camp

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria-On Thursday, a food convoy entered the besieged Syrian Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp.  Dozens have died within the camp due to food and medicine shortages, declared the United Nations.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency delivers supplies to the Yarmuk Camp (photo courtesy of Al Jazeera)

“1,028 food rations had been delivered to the camp south of Damascus, in a modest launch of the rescue operation.  Each ration is enough to keep a family of eight going for 10 days,” stated UN Palestinian refugee agency spokesman Chris Gunness.

“We hope to continue and increase substantially the amount of aid being delivered because the numbers of those needing assistance is in the tens of thousands, including 18,000 Palestinians, among them women and children,” stated Gunness.

Initial deliveries into the camp have been reported as “chaotic scenes” while the food was being distributed.  The last delivery of food occurred on January 21, when the UN Palestinian refugee agency sent in 138 food parcels.

SANA, the Syrian state news agency, also reported on the aid distribution.  “New food aid has entered Yarmuk camp, with the application of a peaceful, popular initiative supported by the Syrian government to alleviate the suffering of the residents surrounded in the camp, taken hostage by armed terrorist groups,” it said.

Hostilities have been steadily growing in the Yarmuk camp as at least 86 people have died in recent months due to starvation or lack of medical care.

The camp is principally controlled by rebel forces and surrounded by a siege since June, making it nearly impossible to get food and medicine into the camp or for residents to leave.  Many residents have reported eating grass, cats, and dogs in order to survive.

At the outset, the camp began as a place for Palestinian refugees, but has since developed into an active district, housing nearly 150,000 Palestinians, as well as numerous Syrians.  However, now only an estimated 18,000 Palestinians remain in the camp, which has been destroyed by fighting.

With the present of the aid, many are hoping that conditions will improve.  “We are encouraged by the delivery of this aid and the cooperation of the parties on the ground,” stated Gunness.

For more information, please see the following: 

Al Jazeera-Chaos as food aid enters Syria’s Yarmouk camp-30 January 2014

Daily Star-Food aid enters Syria’s besieged Yarmuk camp-30 January 2014

Haaretz-Food supplies enter Palestinian camp in Syria-30 January 2014

Naharnet-Food Aid Enters Syria’s Besieged Yarmouk Camp-30 January 2014

EU Authorities Arrest Kosovo Serb Politician on War Crimes Charges

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MITROVICA, Kosovo – A top Kosovo Serb politician has been detained by the European Union’s police and justice mission on suspicion that he committed war crimes.

Ivanovic was ordered detained for a month on Monday, EU officials say. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

EU officials state that Oliver Ivanovic has been identified as a suspect as a result of a war crimes investigation that examined the Kosovo conflict of the 1990’s. No details of the alleged crimes have been released to the public, but reports indicate that Ivanovic, 60, is suspected of having tortured and killed numerous Albanians. Ivanovic is also believed to have a main organizer of a since-disbanded Kosovo Serb vigilante group widely known as the “Bridgewatchers.” The Bridgewatchers are suspected of widespread violence against ethnic Albanians.

Ivanovic turned himself into EU authorities voluntarily on Monday while accompanied by his lawyer. He was ordered to be detained for a month while investigators look into crimes “which occurred in 1999 and 2000 against Albanian victims,” Ivanovic’s lawyer, Nebojsa Vlajic, stated. Ivanovic has been transferred to a prison in Pristina.

Ivanovic is considered to be a moderate politically. He lost a recent election to be mayor of the Serb area of the northern town of Mitrovica to Krstimir Pantic. Ivanovic’s supporters believe that the recent war crimes charges are politically motivated, and untrue.

Ivanovic is the first senior Kosovo Serb official to be arrested by the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) on suspicion of war crimes against ethnic Albanians. EULEX has authority to investigate and prosecute cases that the local judiciary and police are either unable or unwilling to handle.

The 1998-1999 conflict began in Kosovo after ethnic Albanians rebelled against NATO bombings in Belgrade, which prompted an extreme crackdown.

Roughly 120,000 ethnic Serbs currently live in Kosovo, which declared independence from Serbia in 2008 and accounts for 1.8 million inhabitants, most of whom are ethnic Albanians. However, the approximately 40,000 Kosovo Serbs living in the northern part of the country do not recognize Kosovo’s independence. Serbia also rejects Kosovo’s secession. Despite this, Kosovo has been recognized by over 100 countries, including the United States and most EU states.

For more information, please see:

B92- Lawyer: Accusations Against Ivanovic “Politically Motivated” – 29 January 2014

BBC News – Kosovo Serb Politician Oliver Ivanovic Arrested Over War Crimes – 28 January 2014

InSerbia – Ivanovic Suspected of Crimes Committed in 1999, 2000 – 28 January 2014

Reuters – EU Arrests Moderate Kosovo Serb Leader in War Crimes Probe – 27 January 2014