A Voice for the Voiceless

Protesters Killed In Peruvian Market Relocation

By Brendan Oliver Bergh
Impunity Watch Reporter, South America

LIMA, Peru – A new local ordinance in Lima was enacted with the intent of relocating a market due to hygiene concerns. The police tasked with closing down the markets in La Parada were met with violent protests from stall-owners and local citizens. While resistance was expected, the police were not originally prepared for the levels of violence they encountered.

Protesters Clash With Police. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

The market at La Parada is known to be filled with criminals and a place where you can buy stolen and black market goods. The resistance that the National Police of Peru have faced may have been a shock, but protesters have a method for their madness. Beyond the mere criminal aspects of the market, numerous law-abiding shopkeepers are being forced to relocate into this new market. Critics of the relocation claim that the new market space will not provide sufficient space with a much higher rent.

The forced market relocation began with a  riot. Police originally used concrete blocks and bricks to stop supply trucks from entering the La Parada market. They were attacked with clubs and bricks, the police responded with live ammunition and tear gas.

On the first day, one person was shot and killed and a police officer was beaten to near death. The protests continued and two more people died in clashes with the police.

Lima’s Mayor, Susana Villaran, has accused stall-owners of hiring criminals to stall the police with rocks and clubs, claiming that the real merchants want to move into the new market. She continued that “We are regaining order and security in an area that has only been one of disorder, chaos, insecurity and filth.”

As the police have managed to pacify the area 2,000 officers have remained to enforce public order and restrict the recreation of the markets. 1,500 have been stationed at supply centers to prevent recurrence of violence or allow trucks to enter the area and restock the protesters and bring food into the area. Another 500 have been sent to patrol the area to ensure that peace and dissuade criminals from re-continuing their illegal acts.

The Ministry of Interior has announced a campaign to identify the criminal who caused the riots and began attacking policemen. They plan on n using surveillance equipment in order to identify protesters  The police will also begin putting up physical and digital posters with the faces of the agitators. The Ministry expects the support of the population in this matter.

To date 101 people have been arrested, including 6 minors.

For further information, please see:

Andina Agencia Peruana De Noticias – More Than 2,000 Officers Remain At The Stop To Ensure Public Order – 28 October 2012

La Republica – The Stop: Interior Minister Announces Campaign To Identify Attackers Of Police – 28 October 2012

RPP Noticias – Pedraza Assumes Some Responsibility For Acts Of La Parada – 28 October 2012

The BBC – Peru Clashes: Two More Die In Lima Market Protests – 27 October 2012

Chinese Teacher Detained for Allegedly Abusing Kindergarten Children

By Irving Feng
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – Photographs depicting kindergarten teachers in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang allegedly abusing young children were posted on the social networking site “Weibo” last Wednesday.

Yan holds up the screaming child by the ears. (Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post)

The pictures that were taken and uploaded on China’s social networking site, Weibo, showed a teacher holding up a student by the ears as the student screamed and writhed in pain.  The teacher can be seen smiling in the photograph as she is holding up the child by the ears.

Additional photographs displayed a child being put upside down in a trash can and a child’s mouth being sealed with tape.  A video also circulated on social networking sites which showed a teacher slapping a five year old girl in the face repeatedly.

Parents of the students at The Blue Peacock Kindergarten, the location where these abuses took place, have cried out in public outrage for the alleged abuse that their children have suffered.  The father of the girl who had been slapped repeatedly alerted local police after his daughter arrived home from school with bruises on her face.  The classroom’s security camera confirmed the physical punishment.

The teacher who held up the student by the ears was later identified as Yan Yanhong, a 20 year old private kindergarten teacher from Wenling city.  Yan was detained by local police on Thursday after the infamous photos were posted on the internet.

Yan, a 20 year old unlicensed teacher, commented to local news sources that the photo depicts her and the student merely having some fun.  Her fellow teacher who had helped Yan take the pictures was punished by being placed under a 7 day administrative detention.  The teachers have also been ordered by local authorities to publically apologize to students and parents.

Because kindergarten is not about of China’s nine-year compulsory curriculum, it does not enjoy the adequate necessary government funding and assistance.  There is a severe shortage of public kindergartens so the rise in private schools providing early education to Chinese students has stepped up to fill the void.  Unlicensed teachers, like Yan, have also been hired hastily by these private schools to help relieve the shortages of available private education for young Chinese children.

Private kindergartens often do not have proper supervision like their public counterparts.  The teachers are also severely underpaid due to cost cutting measures implemented due to the financial pressures of operating these schools.  An average private kindergarten teacher in the Zhejiang province of China can expect to earn roughly 20,000 RMB, which is about 30% of the salary enjoyed by their public school counterparts.

Local laws also do not provide favorable protection to the students.  Chinese law does allow for the charge of abuse to be applied to teachers who harm their students.  The punishment of these abusive teachers is also left up to school administrators and the educational authorities.

Pundits have expressed a need for the Chinese government to up their spending on early childhood education.  Currently, the Chinese government spends about 1.2 of total educational expenditures on kindergarten education programs; developed countries spend an average of 6-8%.

For further information, please see:

Shanghai Daily – Abuse scandal kindergarten head sacked – 28 October 2012

BBC – China outcry over picture of teacher hurting pupil – 25 October 2012

China Daily – Abusive teacher exposes lack of supervision – 25 October 2012

Global Times – Kindergarten teachers detained for “ear pulling” in East China – 25 October 2012

Huffington Post – Chinese Kindergarten Teacher Allegedly Lifts Student Off Ground By Ears, Shares Photo On Internet – 24 October 2012

President Zuma Withdraws from Lawsuit Over Cartoon

By Heba Girgis
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CAPE TOWN, South Africa—The South African President, Jacob Zuma now intends to drop a four-year-old lawsuit that claimed about $600,000 in damages from a political cartoonist who depicted the President poised to rape “Lady Justice.” The defendant in the case was The Sunday Times—who also said that it had reached an agreement with Zuma and Zuma’s lawyers for the end of the suit and all other claims.

Cartoonist Shapiro is No Longer on the Hook for His Cartoon of President Zuma of South Africa. (Photo Courtesy of Global Post)

The Presidency noted that “in depicting President Zuma as a would-be rapist, the cartoon sought to play a discredited and legally disproved accusations made against him in 2006. The newspaper and the cartoonist wanted to perpetuate an image of the President as a sexual deviant, despite a court law rejecting the allegations against him and clearing his name.”

The cartoon, considered to be both “hurtful and defamatory,” was printed at a time when Zuma was not yet president. At the time, he was also fighting graft charges, which later were withdrawn, and two years later he was acquitted of raping a family friend. Even though he was acquitted, he admitted to having unprotected sex with a woman who he knew was HIV-positive.

The President’s office, in a statement to the press and the people said “The President…would like to avoid setting a legal precedent that may have the effect of limiting the public exercise of free speech, with the unforeseen consequences this may have on our media, public commentators and citizens.” The office, however, still believes that the cartoon was and is an affront to the dignity of the President.

Dropping the lawsuit will send an important signal showing that the President respects the right of the media to criticize his conduct. Zuma noted that racial and cultural prejudice and bigotry could not be exclusively handled through the court system. Zuma, however, is also suing several other newspapers and a radio broadcaster for about 50 million rand.

Jonathan Shapiro, the cartoonist involved in the suit, is known to write controversial cartoons. He told the Sunday Times that he had mixed feelings about the case being dropped because he believed that he would have won “hands down.”

“This is a vindication of what I was saying in the cartoon and it’s a vindication of the Sunday Times for publishing it,” Shapiro said.

 

For further information, please see:

Associated Press – South Africa’s Zuma Drops Lawsuit Over Rape Cartoon – 28 October 2012

The Australian – South Africa’s Zuma Drops Lawsuit Over Cartoon – 28 October 2012

Global Post – Zuma Drops Rape Cartoon Lawsuit Against Shapiro – 28 October 2012

Reuters – South Africa’s Zuma Drops Suit Over Rape Cartoon – 28 October 2012

Russian Leftist Leader Charged with Riot Conspiracy; Activist Claims Kidnapping, Forced Confession

By Madeline Schiesser
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia— Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Russian Left Front Movement, was charged with conspiracy to organize mass riots against the presidency of Vladimir Putin on Friday.  Also charged are Konstantin Lebedev (an assistant to Udaltsov) and Leonid Razvozzhayev (an assistant to an opposition State Duma deputy), who has claimed he was kidnapped from Ukraine and forced to sign a confession while in handcuffs in Moscow.  All face up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov was charged Friday with conspiring to organize mass riots, and detained by police as of Saturday. (Photo Courtesy of RFE/RL)

On Friday, Udaltsov, who last week was placed under a travel ban after Russia’s Investigative Committee (SK) began to scrutinize him, appeared before the SK and denied all charges.  Although he was permitted to leave the SK office Friday, Udaltsov was detained Saturday by police at a protest in Moscow.

Udaltsov is well known for his involvement in Moscow street protests, for which he has served several short periods in jail in the past. Before appearing before the SK, Udaltsov stated the following to a group of reporters: “[T]his case is based on tortures, it’s shameful, it hurts Russia’s image. . . I have not committed any crime. I am going in there with my head up.  And if I am arrested today, I hope society will not ignore it, and mass protests will begin.  As for me – I’ll be ok, I hope everything will be fine and Russia will be free and that’s what I wish you all.”

Razvozzhayev, also charged with plotting mass riots and being held in Moscow’s Lefortovo prison, signed a lengthy 10-page confession concerning orchestrating riots, which the Investigative Committee of Russia (ICR) claims he penned himself after turning himself in.  Razvozzhayev has asserted that he was forced to sign after being kidnapped, and has since retracted the confession.

Leonid Razvozzhayev remains in custody at Moscow’s Lefortovo prison after vanishing from Kiev, Ukraine. (Photo Courtesy of the Guardian)

Razvozzhayev claims that, after meeting with a lawyer for advice on seeking political asylum Friday 19, he was kidnapped off the streets of Kiev, Ukraine, by four men who put a hood over his head and forced him into a van, which then drove him across the Russian border against his will.

Razvozzhayev claims that he was then psychologically tortured; he was kept handcuffed in a basement without food or water or use of a toilet.  He says he signed the confession in handcuffs.

As Razvozzhayev was being removed from a courthouse on Sunday, where his arrest had been sanctioned, he shouted to reporters: “Tell everyone that they tortured me. For two days. They smuggled me in from Ukraine.”

The charges against Udaltsov, Lebedev, and Razvozzhayev stem from a documentary film, “Anatomy of a Protest 2,” aired by a pro-Kremlin television station, NTV, at the beginning of October, which allegedly showed Udaltsov meeting with a member of the Georgian government to discuss plans and seek foreign money for organizing street unrest in Russia.

In the middle of October, the apartments of all three were searched, as was the apartment of Udaltsov’s parents.  Udaltsov’s wife and children are staying in Ukraine.

Putin’s spokesman has stated that the Kremlin cannot and should not comment on the case, and it only concerns the investigators, prosecutors, judges, attorneys and rights activists. Likewise, the parliamentary majority party, United Russia, has denied a parliamentary probe into Razvozzhayev’s claims, arguing that such falls to the Prosecutor General.

For further information, please see:

RFE/RL – Russian Police Detain Opposition Leaders at Moscow Rally – 27 October 2012

BBC News – Russian Leftist Sergei Udaltsov Charged with Conspiracy – 26 October 2012

RFE/RL – Udaltsov Charged With Plotting Unrest – 26 October 2012

RT – Leftist Leader Udaltsov Charged with Conspiracy to Organize Riots – 26 October 2012

International Herald Tribune — Jailed Russian Opposition Leader was Abused, Groups Say – 23 October 2012

RFE/RL – Russian Activist Charged With Preparation of Mass Disorders – 23 October 2012

BBC News – Russian Anti-Putin Activist ‘Admits Riot Plot’ – 22 October 2012

The Guardian – Putin Opponent Claims he was Tortured into Moscow ‘Riots’ Confession – 22 October 2012

RFE/RL – Udaltsov Aide Charged, Faces 10 Years in Jail – 18 October 2012

China Offers Reward for Information About Recent Self-Immolations

By Karen Diep
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – On Thursday, authorities offered up to a $32,000 reward for information revolving around the series of self-immolations in China’s Tibetan-inhabited region, Gannan.  Furthermore, authorities anticipate awarding $7,7000 for information regarding planned immolations.

The most recent self-immolation. (Photo Courtesy of BBC)

According to BBC, Chinese authorities issued a notice stating that the immolations have “seriously impacted social stability and harmony as well as people’s ability to live and work.”

The note further stated, “Anyone who reports and informs the legal authorities on the people who plan, incite to carry out, control and lure people to commit self-immolation will be awarded 50,000 yuan.”  Furthermore, anyone is able to provide information regarding the “black hands,” those behind four recent self-immolations, will be receive 200,000 yuan.

Since February 2009, approximately 60 ethnic Tibetans, many of whom were nuns and monks, have committed self-immolation to protest China’s rule in Tibet.  Moreover, the recent “black hands” incident occurred near the Labrang monastery.

As China’s dominant ethnic group, Han, moves into historically Tibetan areas, countless Tibetans accuse the Chinese government of eroding their culture and suppressing their religious freedom.

“This fourth self-immolation in the space of a week underlines that protests in Tibet are continuing and intensifying. We can only expect this to continue until Tibetans are granted the freedom they demand,” shared Free Tibet’s Stephani Brigden.

On Wednesday, the government attributed the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Dalai Lama, for promoting self-immolation.  However, according to AFP, the Dalai Lama has not denounced such acts and prefers to remain “neutral.”

 

For further information, please see:

Examiner – China offers rewards for information about immolations – 26 Oct. 2012

Hindustan Times – Self-immolation: China police offer reward for info on “planned” suicides – 26 Oct. 2012

AFC – China offers rewards to expose Tibetan immolations – 25 Oct. 2012

BBC – Tibet immolations: China offers rewards for information – 25 Oct. 2012