1 February 2013 – Today it was reported by RIA-Novosti Russian news service that Russian law enforcement agencies have begun investigating Sergei Magnitsky for allegedly being responsible for the Russian default during the 1998 financial crisis. This is the fourth posthumous accusation put forward by Russian authorities, who refuse to investigate officials responsible for the thefts uncovered by Mr Magnitsky, his arrest, ill-treatment and death in custody. Mr Magnitsky died more than three years ago, on 16 November 2009 when he was found dead on the cell floor after the use of rubber batons and handcuffs.
“The Russian authorities look like they have gone completely mad,” said a Hermitage Capital representative. “In their attempt to escape from US and EU visa and financial sanctions for the death of Mr Magnitsky, they are coming up with crazier and crazier attacks against Magnitsky in the hope of clouding the debate about who killed him and why.”
RIA Novosti reported that a source in the Russian law enforcement agencies said “We can talk about fraudulent schemes before the default in Russia in 1998, when the Federal Reserve Bank of New York wired $4.8 billion intended for the stabilization of operations of the Central Bank of Russia to the account of Republic National Bank of a Browder’s companion Edmond Safra. Subsequently, it was not possible to trace the money, Safra died in the fire in Monaco in 1999,” (http://russian.rt.com/Russia/3721/)
The same source told RIA Novosti that the Russian law enforcement agencies are initiating a further posthumous case against Magnitsky for “illegal purchasing of Gazprom shares”. The trading of Gazprom shares by locally-held branches of foreign firms was reviewed at the time by the Russian Federal Securities Commission, who found that those purchases were in compliance with Russian law. The purchase of Gazprom local shares by foreigners was organized by Gazprom’s own bank as well as dozens of market participants.
“Following the ban on adopting orphan’s, the expulsion of USAID, the termination of cooperation in drug trafficking, the Russian government is now issuing multiple posthumous accusations against Sergei Magnitsky, one more outrageous than the next, and clearly following a political order from the very top,” said a Hermitage Capital representative.
In the absence of leaders, no dialogue is possible, and in the absence of dialogue no salvation is possible for a state crumbling along ethnic and regional lines. But with killers representing one side and nincompoops the other, our tragedy is bound to drag on for many months to come, and Syria’s fate might have already been sealed. Our only hope lies in having those few voices of rationality out there, represented by the like of opposition leader Moaz Al-Khatib and the Revolution’s top thinker, Yassin Al-Haj Saleh, finding enough soulmates in time to enable the opposition to project a strong alternative that can be embraced and empowered both by the international community and rebel leaders. Perhaps when one side finally stumbles on capable leadership and a viable program, the other side will be compelled to do the same to stave off defeat.
Today’s Death Toll:144 martyrs, including 7 children and 3 women: 39 in Aleppo, 42 in Damascus and suburbs, 27 in Homs, 13 in Idlib, 7 in Hama, 6 in Hasakeh, 3 in each of Raqqah, Deir Ezzor, and Dara’a, and 1 in Qunteira(LCCs).
Points of Random Shelling:374 points, including 13 points from warplane shelling, 2 points have been recorded from the use of phosphorus bombs, and 1 point each from cluster bombs, Thermobaric bombs, and TNT barrel. Artillery shelling has been recorded as 146 points and was most violent in Damascus, followed by 130 points of mortar shelling, and 80 points of missile strikes (LCCs).
Clashes:133 locations. Successful operations included the downing of two warplanes in Karnaz and Kafar Nabouda in Hama, liberating the military Gas Station on Aleppo-Latakia Highway, and hitting various loyalist checkpoints in Harran Al-Awamid and Qadam neighborhoods in Damascus (LCCs).
News
Israeli Jets Blast Arms Shipment Inside SyriaThe early-morning strike in a border area west of Damascus targeted a convoy of trucks carrying Russian-made SA-17 missiles to Hezbollah, the anti-Israel Shiite militant and political group in Lebanon, according to a Western official briefed on the raid.
Syria Opposition Leader Would Talk to Assad RegimeAl-Khatib was chosen in November to head the Syrian National Coalition, a new umbrella group designed to represent most of the rebels and soothe Western concerns about the ability of the opposition to pull together and present a viable alternative to Assad’s rule. His offer to talk to regime officials threatened to fracture the opposition once again. After an outcry, al-Khatib said he was just expressing his own opinion.
Piecing Together Accounts of a Massacre in SyriaThe rebels and the government have blamed each other for the mass killing, but Ms. Sherlock, of The Daily Telegraph, reported that many of the dead were residents of rebel-held areas whose families said they disappeared after traveling to government-held areas. “It was impossible to be certain who was responsible for their deaths. But those identified, at least half the total by nightfall, were from rebel-held districts, and locals blamed government checkpoints on the other side of the river.”
Special Reports
The Battle for Syria’s Minakh Air Base
Located on flatlands and ringed by wheat and potato fields that offer little cover or concealment, the base and the village at its eastern side have even been nigh unapproachable. To venture near has been to risk machine-gun and rifle fire, as well as high-explosive ordnance from armored vehicles and tanks or an attack from one of the patrolling aircraft that serve as the lifeline for entrapped soldiers within. The rebels hope to change that this winter. In recent weeks they have rejoined the battle for Minakh with greater intensity, driven in part by a sense that the government garrison on the base – thinned by casualties and defections – is significantly weaker than what it was.
Will Syria Bleed Hezbollah Dry?
Reports indicate that Hezbollah recently expanded its actions in Syria to include its most valued resource — its highly trained and strategically irreplaceable special forces units. Hezbollah’s secretive military wing is reportedly composed of 2,000 to 4,000 professional soldiers and thousands of reservists hailing from Shiite villages south of the Litani river and the Bekaa Valley, meant to be called into action to repel a future Israeli invasion. During the 2006 conflict with Israel, the loss of roughly one quarter of Hezbollah’s special forces was assumed to constitute the group’s most severe setback. Varying reports from Syria suggest that the direct participation of these special forces units in combat zones nationwide has increased, and additional forces may be on the way.
Impossible Dialogue, Improbable Politics
The willingness of Syrian opposition leader Moaz Al-Khatib to dialog with the Assad regime was misrepresented and misinterpreted by all. For in order to conduct such dialog with regime figures, Mr. Al-Khatib stipulated the release of all 160,000 political prisoners currently languishing in regime jails, granting Syrian passports to all Syrian exiles, and holding the talks somewhere outside Syria. A regime that has already failed to honor its commitment to release 2,300 detainees as part of a much publicized prisoner exchange program that led to the release of 50 Iranian hostages held by rebels, the regime released only 200 detainees to date, is unlikely to accept these conditions, and Mr. Al-Khatib knows it. So, why even make the overture, one might ask? Smart politics.
Rejecting dialog outright when international leaders are calling for a political solution is simply not smart politics, entering dialog without any conditions as some opposition groups who recently met in Geneva seem willing to do is equally dumb. But asking for something that makes sense, sch as freedom for all political detainees so they can take part in monitoring the dialogue, and so that conditions on the ground for making dialogue possible are created, now that’s smart politics. That’s brave politics, and Mr. Al-Khatib has shown to be a capable leaders. Unfortunately though, he has also shown himself to be a lone voice in a political wilderness. The criticism he has received from the very coalition he is leading proves it.
I have commented on this leaked video before, but now it comes with English subtitles: Soldiers of Al Assad’s army arrest a civilian and torture him to entertain themselves. They try not to hit him hard in order to keep him alive so that they can have more fun. He begs them to let him see his kids one last time, but they insult him by agreeing on one condition which is letting them sleep with his wife. At the end of this footage, some of them get angry and sad because he died and they lost their enjoyment! http://youtu.be/XGcQoScTWn8
Rebels in Salaheddine Neighborhood, Aleppo City, stand by a no-man’s land separating them from positions of regime loyalists http://youtu.be/u7uj67yevu0
By Justin Dorman Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BAGHDAD, Iraq – French-Australian journalist, Nadir Dendoune, was arrested in Iraq for taking pictures in a restricted area of Baghdad without formal permission. Dendoune, who had first entered Iraq on January 16th, has been held in detention since January 23rd. Iraqi government officials claim that the journalist for the Le Monde Diplomatique is healthy, and that his case is still being investigated.
Dendoune in front of the Iraqi embassy in Paris showing his visa he received to conduct journalism. (Photo Courtesy of the Iraq Civil Society Solidarity Initiative)
The Committee to Protect Journalists, who admonishes the Iraqi government’s actions, claims that the arrest was a result of Iraq’s 2011 media law which places a series of impediments between journalists and the ability to gain information.
Sherif Mansour, a spokesman for the Committee to Protect Journalists further stated that, “[t]he arbitrary jailing of a journalist is a vestige of the Saddam Hussein regime that is completely out of place in Iraq’s democracy today.”
Iraqi officials have stated that Dendoune had lacked the requisite permits to take photographs by the water treatment plant in the southern Dora district. “[He] did not tell authorities about his activities, and did not ask for authorization to take photos,” said such official.
Those who support Dendoune, have not been sitting idly by and waiting for his release. Patrick Le Hyaric, Director of Humanity, has written letters to Viviane Reding, the Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship and Vice-President of the European Commission, to Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and to Fareed Yasseen, the Iraqi Ambassador in France.
The embassy has been working diligently with Iraqi officials to ensure that Dendoune has the healthiest of detention conditions and to find out why he is seemingly being arbitrarily held. Despite requests made by the embassy, Dendoune has been denied any consular visitation.
Additionally, a Facebook page was created by Dendoune’s family and friends, with articles, pictures, and information for support rallies, which aim to shed light on Dendoune’s situation. Others who have demanded the release of the journalist from arbitrary detention include Reporters Without Borders, the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative, and the National Union of Iraqi Journalists.
The Journalistic Freedoms Observatory points out that this is not the first time that the Iraqi government has detained a foreign journalist. Just last year, Daniel Smith, an American journalist was arrested and held for five days before he was granted release by order of the Prime Minister.
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala — A Guatemalan judge began accepting evidence Thursday in the case against former dictator Jose Efrain Rios Montt.
Relatives of victims during Guatemala’s civil war listened to court proceedings last week in the case against Jose Efrain Rios Montt, who is the first former president charged with genocide and crimes against humanity in Latin America. (Photo Courtesy of the New York Times)
The hearing to accept testimonies, documents, and other evidence marked the final step before Montt’s trial would begin. Montt, who rose to power during a coup in March 1982, is accused of ordering the murder, torture, and displacement of more than 1,700 indigenous peoples between 1982 and 1983.
Earlier this week, Judge Miguel Angel Galvez ruled that Montt could stand trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the so-called “scorched earth” campaign aimed at eliminating support for leftist guerrillas when he was president from 1982 to 1983, one of the bloodiest periods in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
Montt is the first former president to be charged with genocide by a Latin American court. Many human rights advocates say his trial also will shine the spotlight on the United States’ involvement in Guatemala’s civil war.
In an effort to prevent the spread of communism into Latin America, the United States supported the Guatemalan government during the war — a government that was responsible for much of the human rights violations.
In 1983, despite confirmation of mass killings in Guatemalan villages by anti-guerrilla forces, U.S. President Ronald Reagan overturned an arms embargo imposed by U.S. President Jimmy Carter three years earlier. Reagan pointed to improving human rights conditions in the Central American country.
Lifting the embargo allowed the United States to provide military, economic, and political assistance — including military weapons and vehicles — to the Guatemalan government. Meanwhile, a CIA cable at that time highlighted an increase in suspicious violence resulting in more bodies being discovered in ditches.
Critics of the United States’ role in the Guatemalan war blame its actions decades earlier. In 1954, the CIA helped organize a coup to remove a reformist government from power. Many believe Guatemala’s civil war may not happened if the CIA had not exercised its influence in the coup.
The United States has tried to make amends since Guatemala’s civil war ended in 1996. It released 1,400 pages of documents in 1997 about its role in the 1954 coup and the civil war. Several of those documents have been used in trials in Guatemala. In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton apologized during a visit to Guatemala for the U.S. support during the conflict.
The United Nations estimated more than 200,000 people were killed during the civil war, which lasted from 1960 to 1996. Human rights advocates have tried for years to have Montt prosecuted. Montt’s attorneys argue he was never aware of the massacres committed by the army, and they planned to appeal the decision to let the trial move forward.
Also facing trial for the crimes against humanity is former general Jose Rodriguez.
By Madeline Schiesser Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
MOSCOW, Russia – The year 2012 began in Russia with street protests demanding that the newly elected parliament honor its promises of political reform. It ended with Russian President Vladimir Putin signing a ban terminating American adoptions of Russian orphans. In between, the collection of human rights abuses caused U.S.-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) to describe the year as the worst for human rights since the fall of the Soviet Union in a newly released annual report.
2012 began with a bang as thousands of Russians took to the streets to demand the then newly elected parliament enact reforms; what followed was the worst year for human rights in two decades. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)
The report analyzed key human rights issues in more than 90 countries, including Russia. (The United States was also examined.) The report found that since his return to power, Putin “oversaw the swift reversal of former President Dmitry Medvedev’s few, timid advances on political freedoms.” Critics say that the Kremlin’s actions have been aimed at quashing public dissent. The authors of the report suggest that Putin’s acts, backed by a parliament dominated by members of the pro-Putin United Russia party, are motivated by a fear of mass street protests.
The year has seen a sharp increase in laws and government control that, according to Rachel Denber, deputy director of HRW’s Europe and Central Asia division, create an atmosphere of fear. A June law significantly raised fines for people found participating in unapproved public demonstrations, re-criminalized libel, and imposed new restrictions on internet content.
Another summer law, which went into effect in November, requires nonprofit groups that receive foreign funding to register as “foreign agents.” Many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fear this label, which has Soviet-era undertones, will scare away the very people they want to help. USAID (United States Agency for International Development) was forced to stop operating in Russia in September, and, thanks to a December law, NGOs can further be sanctioned if they engage in “political” activities and receive funding from US citizens or organizations.
Furthermore, a widened definition of treason has loomed since autumn, which could threaten organizations and individuals conducting international advocacy.
It has furthermore been a difficult year for opposition leaders and opponents of Putin’s Russia. In May violent protests erupted in response to Putin’s inauguration; the courts have been slow to deal with the protestors, but have been harsh. Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov was charged with conspiracy to organize mass riots. Facing the same charge is Leonid Razvozzhayev, who claims he was kidnapped from Ukraine and forced to sign a confession.
The report further discussed persecution and torture of practitioners of Salafism (a form of Islam) in the North Caucasus by authorities who assume the practitioners support the Islamist insurgency there. The report further criticized Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s system of collective punishment against insurgents’ relatives and suspected supporters.
Concerning the Olympic Games in Sochi scheduled for February 2014, the report additionally condemned the removal of hundreds of local families to make way for Olympic buildings. Although most homeowners were compensated, often the amounts were unfair and the process lacked transparency.
Russia’s sudden termination of the bilateral adoption agreement between the United States and Russia in retaliation for the Magnitsky Act, catching Russian orphans, some with disabilities, in “an eye for an eye” crossfire, was not included in the report, although HRW commented on it in a subsequent press release. Sergei Magnitsky is expected to be tried posthumously later this year.
Creating a permanently broken system, the authors noted that while the European Court of Human Rights has issued more than 210 rulings against Russia, the government only pays the required compensation, and fails to conduct effective follow-through investigations, thereby failing to carry out the core of the judgments.
Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director explained, “Instead of meaningfully investigating human rights abuses, the government is spending time and energy retaliating against civil society and free speech.”
Rachel Denber stresses “We can’t be silent about the situation in Russia today,” because, as part of the Kremlin crackdown, Russian authorities equate human rights work with violating Russian sovereignty. She summarized, “Any activity can be portrayed as betrayal.”
Moscow has yet to make an official statement on the report, however, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich, dismissed the severity of the situation in Russia while he remarked an official statement would be issued soon. “I have not read the report yet,” Lukashevich said. “I think we will make a comment later and show that the human rights situation in Russia is not the worst.” Instead, he suggested the United States and European Union look at their own histories “before criticizing others.”
However, although Williamson considers this “the worst year for human rights in Russia in recent memory,” he notes that “Russia’s civil society is standing strong.” Yet, he also says, “With the space around it [civil society] shrinking rapidly, it needs support now more than ever.”
