A Voice for the Voiceless

Mother Denied Executed Son’s Remains

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus – When Lyubou Kavalyova’s son was executed last March, all she received from the authorities was a letter from the Belarusian Supreme Court containing his death certificate.  A year later, Mrs. Kavalyova still does not know the whereabouts of her son’s remains because of an article in Belarus’ Criminal Executive Code that allows the government to not communicate the burial place of those executed to their relatives.

Lyubou Kavalyova’s fight with Belarusian authorities for the return of her son’s body earned her the title “Human Rights Defender of the Year” from fellow activists in December. (Photo Courtesy of RFE/RL)

Mrs. Kavalyova’s son, Uladzslau Kavalyou, and his friend, Dzmitry Kanavalau, both born in 1986, were executed last year in Belarus after having been sentenced to death for an April 2011 subway bombing in Minsk that killed 15 people and wounded more than 300, and two earlier bombings.

Independent investigators, including some from Russia, expressed serious doubts about the evidence used to convict the men.  Their trial was also heavily criticized for failing to meet international fair trial standards.

Mrs. Kavalyova announced at a press conference in Minsk on Wednesday her hope that Belarusian authorities would release her son’s body as she marks the first anniversary since his execution.

Alternatively, according to human rights defender Rasman Kisliak, authorities should release the burial location of the men’s bodies.  Kisliak further explained that, “It is necessary to find out who had conducted the execution in order to plan future activities and find from whom to demand answers.”  He also spoke of plans to demand the annulment of the law under which relatives of deceased convicts are refused access to the body.

The family of Dzmitry Kanavalau has declined to communicate with the press, and human rights activists believe they have been intimidated into silence.  Activist Pavel Levinau claims “[T]he whole Kanavalaus family were arrested after the arrest of Dzmitry – an elder brother and the father. They were kept in custody, as far as I remember, for about three months. Only the mother remained free – a woman who was intimidated. I can only guess what psychological pressure was put on her. Probably psychological and physical pressure was put on other relatives of Dzmitry Kanavalau’s as well. Probably, they were even promised something if they keep silent.”

Belarus remains the only nation in Europe to still sentence people to death.  Prisoners are informed of their pending execution only hours, or even minutes in advance, and the executions are carried out with a shot to the back of the head.

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a human rights violation. Failing to return the bodies of these two men compounds that cruelty,” said David Diaz-Jogeix, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia.

“The complete secrecy surrounding the death penalty denies families the opportunity to bury their relatives according to their traditions and religious beliefs . . . It is unacceptable that authorities in Belarus would not even reveal the burial site to the families, and ban them from saying goodbye to their loved ones,” he further stated.

On Friday, Russia rejected Amnesty International’s request to demonstrate against executions in front of the Belarusian Embassy in Moscow.  Although authorities offered Amnesty International two alternative sites to hold the demonstration, Amnesty International rejected them as remote and having nothing to do with the subject of the protest.

For further information, please see:

Chapter’97 – Pavel Levinau: Kanavalau’s Family Does Not Get in Touch Because of Threats of Special Services – 15 March 2013

RFE/RL – Amnesty International Refused Permission For Belarus Embassy Protest In Moscow – 15 March 2013

Viasna – A Year Has Passed Since the Execution of Kanavalau and Kavaliou: Human Rights Defenders Put New Questions – 15 March 2013

Amnesty International – Belarus: After Death, the Cruelty Continues as Bodies of Two Executed Men Still Hidden – 14 March 2013

RFE/RL – Mother Of Belarusian Executed For Terrorism Wants Son’s Body – 13 March 2013

This Week in Syria Deeply: 17 March 2013

Somalia Frees Journalist Held For Reporting Rape

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – Freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur was finally released from imprisonment last Sunday.

Local journalists demand the release of their colleague, Abdiaziz Abdinur Ibrahim, in Mogadishu. (Photo courtesy of Reuters/Feisal Omar)

Also known as “Koronto”, Abdinur was arrested last month for interviewing a woman who alleged she had been raped by Somali soldiers. He and the alleged rape victim were brought into custody without warrant and were sentenced to a year in jail for “offending state institutions”.

On Sunday, however, the Somali High Court announced that the charges against Abdinur had been dropped. High Court Chairman Aideed Abdullahi Ilkahanaf told the press that the justices found “no evidence to support his charges.”

Abdinur was relieved upon hearing the court’s decision. “I’m happy to be free,” Abdinur told reporters after thanking the international community and journalist organizations for urging the Somali government to free him. “I’m very happy that I got my freedom back, I thank those who worked in this process that helped my release including my lawyers,” he added on his way out from court.

Abdinur’s case fueled worldwide outrage from various governments and human rights groups.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was “deeply disappointed” by Abdinur’s arrest. The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, said his imprisonment “the wrong message to perpetrators of sexual and gender-based violence”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described it as “a direct assault on press freedom” in the country especially since it is in the process of recovering from civil war and dictatorship.

Condemning the government’s decision to convict Abdinur, Africa director at Human Rights Watch Daniel Bekele reminded Somali authorities that “silencing rape victims and journalists will not end sexual violence, but just reinforce Somalia’s climate of impunity.”

After announcing Abdinur’s release, Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saaid acknowledged the “deep-seated problems” with both the armed forces and judicial system. He said that his administration shall implement measures to safeguard the independence of the local media. He hopes to put an end to the threats, arrests, and attacks several journalists have been subjected to. According to him, the local media plays a critical and constructive role “during the hard times of the country.”

But the Prime Minister also reminded the press of their responsibility. He told reporters that they, in turn, “should be professional and work in the line of the ethics of the media and journalism” as they receive protection from the government.

“Somalia is returning to normalcy and peace, the local media should prioritize how to pacify the country and lead harmony within the Somali people,” Prime Minister Shirdon said.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa – Somalia: Somali Prime Minister Vows Protection of Independent Media – 17 March 2013

Al Jazeera – Somali journalist held over rape report freed – 17 March 2013

BBC News – Somalia frees rape row journalist – 17 March 2013

Reuters – Somali court frees reporter jailed for interviewing rape victim – 17 March 2013

Shanghai Daily – Somalia court frees rape reporting journalist – 17 March 2013

Police in India Arrest Local Tribesmen Suspected of Raping a Swiss Tourist

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

Local Indian police arrested five or six young men who allegedly gang raped a Swiss female tourist on Friday, bringing into question India’s commitment to providing adequate safety to women within its borders.

The suspects of the alleged rape from the local Kanjar tribe. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The Swiss woman, age 39, was vacationing with her husband when the gruesome crime occurred.  She and her husband were engaged in a 250 kilometer (roughly 155 miles) biking adventure tour from Orchha to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal when they stopped to camp near Sewda road.

They set up camp in a forested area, and the suspected perpetrators invaded their camp area during the night.  The men beat the woman’s husband with wooden sticks, and some of the men sexually assaulted and brutally raped the woman in front of her husband while he was tied up to a tree.

The suspects were reportedly carrying a firearm at the time of the assault.  Police say that the attackers also stole some of the pair’s valuables including cellular phones, laptop computer, and around 10,000 rupees ($185).

The young men suspected of committed the crime were all members of a local tribe known as the Kanjar from the village of Jharia in the Datia district.  Police checked the criminal history of the men and found their records to be clean.  Their ages ranged from 20 to 25.

The couple has made it safely to the Swiss embassy in New Delhi.  The Swiss Ministry for Foreign Affairs released a statement to the press indicating that there is an extreme interest in rectifying the situation for their two citizens, and a course of action will be implemented in due time.

The Swiss government had recently issued a travel warning last month to all tourists travelling to India regarding the alarming number of rapes and other sexual attacks occurring throughout the country.  Other countries may be prompted to release similar warnings to their general publics in the near future.

This newest incident involving a foreign victim comes at a time when sexual crimes in India are on the rise.  The National Crime Records Bureau suggests that roughly one woman is raped every 20 minutes in their country.

After last December’s brutal rape and murder of a physiotherapy student in Delhi, protestors took to the streets to demonstrate and called for the perpetrators to be sentenced to death.  India’s legislature has recently implemented harsher punishments for the crime of rape, increasing the prison terms from seven to ten years to a maximum of 20 years.

For further information, please see:

BBC – Six held over India rape of Swiss woman – 18 March 2013

The Times of India – 5 arrested for Swiss woman’s gang-rape – 18 March 2013

The Huffington Post – Five Men Arrested In Gang-Rape Of Swiss Woman In India – 17 March 2013

Reuters –  Six arrested for gang-raping Swiss tourist in India: police – 17 March 2013

SNHR: More Than 80,000 Killed Since Uprising Against Bashar Al-Assad

More than 80,000 people have been killed since Syria’s uprising against Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011, according to a statistic made by SNHR ( Syrian Network for Human Rights )

The revolution victims has been documented carefully by name , date and location of death , verified by photo or video , and all circumstances surrounding their death

The UN commissioned reports for documentation the killing in Syria , depends on SNHR as one of the most important sources of information at all , because of the  high credibility and semi-permanent communication between SNHR and Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights

SNHR doesn’t issue any statistical without supplying files contain very precise details of each death case fully identified by the name of the victim , as well as the date and location of death

Since Syria’s uprising began in March 2011 to10-3-2013 , SNHR documented at least killing of 80159 people, including :

7783 Children

7045 Women

2189 tortured to death

7483 armed rebels

(On the following link to the official website of SNHR , you can find all names and details of the victims )

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9Bj18tlYYKBQ0lSb1VXTTI1OVE/edit

Proportion of  women and children to the total number of victims accounted as follows :

80195 ÷ ( 7783+7045) = 5,4

Targeting women and children is one of the international standards to identify the percentage of targeting civilians in wars. This percentage should not exceed 2%, but in the Syrian case, it reached 5.4%, The Syrian government exceeded twice the recognized percentage in wars , and in other months exceeded three times , which is a strict evidence of targeting civilians by Alassad troops

Distribution of recorded death by Syrian Province :

Damascus and countryside : 16111

Homs : 14331

Aleppo : 10769

Idlib : 10538

Daraa : 7169

Hama : 6386

Dier Alzoor : 5463

Damascus : 5112

Lattakia : 1473

Raqqa : 836

Al -Hasaka : 569

Another nationalities ( mostly Palestinian live in Syrian ) : 565

Quneitra : 558

Tartous 338

Swaidaa : 121

It is significant to mention that if we could work freely and move around without prosecutions the actual number will be more than that in thousands , we couldn’t document hundred of massacres and killing cases for many reasons including procedures repeatedly and systematically made by Alassad troops like communications disconnect and blockade  areas for many days , not to mention that the cases like family buried the victims in mass graves as a fear of spread diseases and epidemics  .

All of that because the Syrian government has prevented any of the human right organization to perform their duty on its territory

SNHR doesn’t document Alassad troops murders of Shabiha , security , military and intelligence loyal to Alassad for lack of mechanism to verify them , cause of the ban practiced by the government on SNHR and arresting its members

We have tried repeatedly to communicate with some families of the victims , they reply with abuse , insults and accusations of treason

Results and Recommendations:

Alassad troops with its act of killing systematically more than 80000 Syrian citizens committed thousands of crimes against humanity and war crimes according to articles 7 and 8 of ROME STATUE OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT,

Murder;

(b)     Extermination;

(c)     Enslavement;

(d)     Deportation or forcible transfer of population;

(e)     Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law;

(f)     Torture;

(g)     Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity;

(h)     Persecution against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, gender as defined in paragraph 3, or other grounds that are universally recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;

(i)     Enforced disappearance of persons;

(j)     The crime of apartheid;

(k)     Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical health.

1-      2- Crimes against humanity , according to article 8 War Crimes of ROME STATUE OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT :

a)     Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:

(i)  Willful killing;

(ii)     Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;

(iii)     Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;

(iv)     Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;

(v)     Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;

(vi)  Willfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;

(vii)     Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement;

b)     xxii)     Committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, as defined in article 7, paragraph 2 (f), enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence also constituting a grave breach of the Geneva Conventions;

Therefore We demand the Security Council and the United Nations and Member States to work at a maximum speed to take all safety procedures for protecting  to protect civilians in Syria, and they are taking responsibility with the Syrian regime in droop for supporting Syrian people and the protection of civilians   ,where they have to comply with the responsibility of ethical, legal and accelerate steps toward reference all those involved in the those massacres to the international Criminal Court.

On the other hand, there are groups of armed rebels committed war crimes condemned in the strongest terms and have been recorded and documented and will be prosecuted criminals and offenders who committed, but remain within the framework of individual attacks unsystematic and non-extensive as we did not record single incident indicates a partisan political or ideological or sectarian or tribal attack

The SNHR holds Bashar Alassad as the Syrian president and the commander of the Armed forces , the hole responsibility of all acts of murders , torture and massacres that have occurred in Syria.

Assad is primarily responsible for ordering these acts, and we consider all officials of the Syrian government , which leads the security and  army operations as a direct partner of this crimes , and  the same for the Iranian government and Hezbullah participate actively killings and holds them legal judiciary and responsibility , as well as all financiers and supporters of the system and who is committing massacres an almost unstopped daily basis, systematic in day or night, and we hold them all reactions and consequences, and that may be issued from the Syrian people, especially relatives of the martyrs and their families .