Impunity Watch: Europe

Franco-Era Exiles Apply for Spanish Citizenship

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MADRID, Spain - Beginning Monday, descendants of those who fled Spain during and after the Spanish civil war and during the Franco era have a chance to apply for Spanish citizenship.  Spain's justice ministry estimates that nearly 500,000 people are eligible for Spanish citizenship under the law.

Spain's 2007 Law of Historical Memory came into effect on Monday with respect to applications for Spanish citizenship for descendants of those displaced from Spain during the Franco era.  Spanish citizenship is available to any individual who can prove that his or her mother, father or grandparent went into exile during the war and the first decades of the Franco dictatorship.  Individuals will be able to apply until 2011.

Most of those who qualify are currently living in Argentina, Uruguay, Cuba, Chile, Venezuela, Mexico, France and Russia.  On Monday hundreds lined up outside the Spanish embassy in Cuba; many people had waited in line over Christmas to obtain the application form.  In Argentina, where an estimated 300,000 eligible persons reside, citizenship application meetings have already been scheduled through July 2009. 

The Descendants of Exiles Association estimates that there are around 180,000 children and grandchildren of exiles living abroad and that the ministry's higher figure includes those who left Spain to escape poverty. 

During the Spanish civil war, which lasted from 1936 to 1939, and Franco's dictatorship which followed, hundreds of thousands fled Spain because their political associations put their lives in jeopardy.   

For more information, please see:

BBC - Exiles get Spain passport chance - 27 December 2008

Reuters - Spain offers passports to Franco exiles - 29 December 2008

TIME - 500,000 New Citizens for Spain? - 29 December 2008

Former KLA Suspects to Be Held for One Month in Serbia for War Crimes

by Ese Omofoma
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbian interior ministry personnel arrested 10 former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) fighters in the southern Serbian town of Presevo on December 26 2008, alleging that they were involved in war crimes in Gnjilane, Kosovo, in 1999. Serbian and international news agencies reported that nine of 10 of the group, all ethnic Albanians, appeared before an investigating judge on December 27. Serbian interior minister Ivica Dacic said that the group had committed war crimes, abducting more than 150 civilians and killing 51.

A court in Belgrade today ordered a one-month detention for 9 former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), who were arrested for suspected involvement in war crimes during the 1999 conflict with Kosovo.

"All the accused have been remanded in custody, considering fear that they could influence witnesses and in this way disrupt the criminal proceedings against them. At the same time, the custody has been set due to the possible sentences they could receive," explained a court spokeswoman, she added, "that another reason for keeping the group in prison was the nature of the circumstances in which the criminal acts were committed."

Serbia continues to regard Kosovo as part of its own territory. On Sunday, nearly 4,000 ethnic Albanians demonstrated in Presevo against the arrests, saying they were an attempt to push ethnic Albanians out of the area. The speaker of the Kosovan parliament, Jakup Krasniqi, has called on Serbia to free the suspects. In 2001, ethnic Albanian militants in Presevo waged an insurgency against Belgrade that was ended with the help of NATO and EU diplomacy.

For more information, please see:

B92 - KLA war crimes suspects remanded in custody - 29 December 2008

BBC - Ex-KLA men stay in Serb custody - 29 December 2008

RTT News - Former KLA Rebels Remanded To 30 Days In Custody - 29 December 2008

 

 

Tajiks Face Danger Walking to Work in Russia

by Ese Omofoma
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KHODZHA-DURBOD, Tajikistan - Tajiks and workers from other poor former Soviet republics flock to Russia seeking employment and higher wages. They frequently displace Russian workers, and experiencce racist and xenophobic sentiments. Generally, the workers travel together to protect themselves from attacks on their travels within Russia.

But on the eve of the Muslim holiday of sacrifice this month, Salohiddin Azizov traveled alone. It was a fatal mistake. He was caught, killed and beheaded on Dec. 5, not far from where he worked at the Pokrovskaya vegetable warehouse south of Moscow, his brothers said. A Russian nationalist group claimed responsibility, calling Azizov, 20, part of a "non-Russian occupation." One of his brothers identified his body by the shape of his toes.

"If we are Tajik, does it mean we are cows to be butchered and thrown away?" said the victim's father, Muhabat Azizov, in his small house here a day after his funeral in mid-December.

The killing was not unprecedented. It was a grim reminder of the vicious daily attacks against ethnic minorities that have become a part of daily life for the millions of migrants from the former Soviet Union who work in Russia. The Tajik news agency, Asiaplus, reported that the Tajik authorities had counted 324 deaths among migrants as of Dec. 16, and that at least 80 of them had been killed in ethnically motivated attacks.

"They hate us," said Nurali Bashirov, a friend of the Azizov family, who has worked in Russia. "If a week went by without an attack, we would celebrate."

After years of ignoring the violence against migrants, the Russian authorities have given the problem some attention recently. The prosecutor's office in the city of Yekaterinburg ordered a local construction company to pay back wages to Tajik workers, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported this month. And on Dec. 15, a court in Moscow convicted a group of teenagers for the murder of 20 migrants, Reuters reported.  However, many Tajiks feel that Russia must do more to protect them.

For more information, please see:

IHT - Tajiks walk a dangerous path to work in Russia - 27 December 2008

NY Times - Tajik Village Shares Fears of Migrants - 27 December 2008

BBC - Tajik alarm after Moscow murder - 12 December 2008

Serbia Arrests Kosovo Residents/ Former KLA

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia - Yesterday Serbia arrested 10 Albanians accused of being former KLA fighters (Kosovo Liberation Army) in Presevo, Serbia.  The 10 men are suspected kidnapping 159 Serbian civilians and killing 51 between June and October 1999.  Serbia's war crimes prosecutor's office released a statement accusing the 10 men of rape, mutilation, torture and looting in addition to murder.

Serbia's Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police searched 17 locations where they found proof the 10 suspects were KLA members connected with the kidnappings in 1999 in Gnjilane.  Gnjilane is a municipality in Kosovo 47 kilometers (30 miles) from Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo.  The prosecutor's office said the group had sought to rid Gnjilane of Serbs and other non-Albanians.  Three suspected leaders of the group are still at large.  Nine of those arrested have been transferred to Belgrade.

Presevo, located in Serbia near the Kosovo border, is predominantly ethnic Albanian.  There was a short ethnic Albanian rebellion in 2001 from the Serbian government that was settled through UN and NATO diplomatic measures.  The Serbian prosecutor's office reported that some of those arrested had entered Presevo to celebrate the New Year with relatives.  A few of the arrested men reside in Kosovo. 

Jakup Krasniqi, speaker of Kosovo's parliament, said the arrests were "intended to make Albanians and Serbs enemies and provoke Kosovo" and that Kosovo's parliament "calls upon Belgrade to be responsible at these important historic moments the region and our two countries are going through."  Kosovo has requested its citizens be released or returned.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said he accepted the arrests risked provoking a reaction "from those who were affected by the operation and who participated in war crimes against Serbs."

Serbia does not recognize Kosovo's government or sovereignty and considers it a part of Serbian territory.  Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in February 2008.  The 1998-99 war in Kosovo began with an ethnic Albanian separatist rebellion and ended after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign forced Serbia's army and police to pull out of Kosovo.

For more information, please see:

BBC - Serbia urged to free KLA suspects - 27 December 2008

BBC - Serbia arrests 'ex-KLA fighters' - 26 December 2008

International Herald Tribune - Serbia detains 10 ex-rebels in was crimes probe - 26 December 2008

Reuters - Serbia arrests 10 ex-Kosovo fighters for '99 crimes - 26 December 2008

Serbian Broadcast Warns Against Hiding Mladic

by Ese Omofoma
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia - Serbia broadcasted a nationwide report Thursday warning those who may be hiding Europe's most-wanted war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic that he could be putting them in danger. The broadcast on state-run television was the latest sign that Serbia is increasing its efforts to catch Mladic.

The state-run TV channel ran a report late Thursday describing Mladic as a psychologically unstable "ticking bomb" who is ready to cause death to those helping him evade justice. The report added Mladic was, "hiding like an experienced fugitive, walking around apartments in woolen socks to make no noise, has forbidden loud talking and conducts strict hygiene in fear of sickness." Fearing poisoning, he allegedly orders his bodyguards to taste his meal.

It was not clear how the report's authors could know those details but not know where Mladic is himself. Some analysts suggested the report was released to prepare the public for a possible announcement that Mladic may have died during the search operation. Government official Rasim Ljajic said Thursday that the search so far had uncovered no trace that could lead to the fugitive.

Mladic has been charged with genocide over Bosnia's 1992-95 war, including the killing of some 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 by his troops. However, Mladic is considered a hero by many Serbs for his role in a war they believed was necessary to protect Christian Orthodox Serbs from Muslim domination in Bosnia.

For more information, please see:

Taiwan News - Serbian broadcast warns against hiding Mladic - 26 December 2008

B92 - Mladic described as a "ticking bomb" - 25 December 2008

IHT - Serbian broadcast warns against hiding Mladic - 25 December 2008

Portugal, Germany May Take Guantanamo Detainees

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BERLIN, Germany - Two weeks ago Portugal indicated that it would be willing to take and resettle former Guantanamo Bay detainees.  Now, Germany has indicated that it may be interested in doing so as well.

On 11 December 2008 Portugal agreed to grant asylum to released detainees, and Portugal's Foreign Minister Luis Amado sent a letter urging other EU members to consider providing assistance when or if the U.S. decides to close its Guantanamo Bay detention facility.  In his letter, Amado said the EU "should send a clear signal of our willingness to help the U.S. government resolve this problem, namely by taking in the detainees."  The letter was sent in coordination with the 60th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration on Human Rights.

Yesterday Germany's Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier asked officials to look into the legal, political and practical aspects of accepting former inmates.  Ministry spokesman Jens Plötner said any plans would need to be discussed with the new Obama administration after 20 January 2009.  Plötner also said that Steinmeier "has made clear that he does not want to see the plan to close Guantánamo fail due to the need to find somewhere for those prisoners who cannot return to their home countries."

Around 250 inmates are currently being held in Guantanamo.  US President-elect Barack Obama has stated that closing the facility will be a top priority of his administration.  Some detainees will refuse to return to their home countries and Human rights campaigners have said around 60 detainees could face persecution deported to their home countries.  In November U.N.'s torture investigator Manfred Nowak recommended that European countries take in Guantanamo inmates who cannot be sent home.  

For more information, please see:

Deutsche Welle - Germany to consider accepting Guantanamo inmates - 23 December 2008

International Herald Tribune - Germany considers taking released Guantanamo prisoners - 22 December 2008

UN News Centre - Closing Guantánamo Bay will end ‘dark chapter’ for US, stress UN experts - 22 December 2008

AP - Portugal offers to take Guantanamo detainees - 11 December 2008

Lockerbie Terrorist Bombing Remembered

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

LOCKERBIE, Scotland - Memorial services were held around the world today as relatives and friends held services and ceremonies in memory of the victims of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing that took place over Lockerbie, Scotland on 12 December, 1988. 

Ceremonies and services were held in Lockerbie and Lockerbie's Dryfesdale Cemetery, London's Heathron Airport, Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. and at Syracuse University.

Britain's Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy called the attack "the worst terrorist attack on the United Kingdom."  Until September 11, 2001, it had also been the largest terrorist attack on United States citizens. 

Pan Am 103 was scheduled to fly from Heathrow International in London to John F. Kennedy in New York but was destroyed by a bomb shortly after take off.  The bomb killed the 243 passengers on board, including 108 Americans and 35 students from Syracuse University, 16 crew members, and 11 people in Lockerbie, Scotland.

Investigators recovered over 10,000 pieces of the plane, including the remains of a Samsonite suitcase that was believed held the bomb.  A three-year joint investigation between the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led the to indictment of Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer and the head of security for Libyan Arab Airlines (LAA), and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, the LAA station manager in Luqa Airport, Malta.  Megrahi was convicted of murder on 31 January 2001 and sentenced to life imprisonment. Fhimah was found not guilty. 

On 29 May 2002, Libya agreed to US$2.7 billion to settle claims by the families of the 270 killed in the Lockerbie bombing. The settlement was part of an agreement to suspend UN sanctions, lift US trade sanctions and removal of Libya from the US list of States sponsoring terrorism.  On 15 August 2003, Libya formally accepted "responsibility for the actions of its officials" in relation to the Lockerbie bombing.  Negotiations and the progress of the settlement are ongoing.  Megrahi, who is still in an appeals process, is suffering from cancer.

For more information, please see:

BBC - Lockerbie bomb anniversary marked - 21 December 2008

Deutsche Welle - Hundreds Mark 20th Anniversary of Lockerbie Terrorist Attack - 21 December 2008

International Herald Tribune - Doubts remain 20 years after Lockerbie disaster - 21 December 2008

Rights Activists Oppose Russian Treason Bill

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia - A new bill in front of the Russian Parliament today would redefine treason in a way that many activists fear will prohibit all dissent.  The bill expands the definition of espionage to include the passing of state secrets to foreign organizations including nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).  It also expands the definition of treason to include damaging Russia's "constitutional order," and "sovereignty or territorial integrity."  The bill could essentially criminalize interaction between citizens and NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.  Violations could result in punishment of up to 20 years in prison. 

Russian rights activist Lev Ponomaryov said yesterday that the proposed bill would create "a base for a totalitarian state."  Lyudmila Alekseyeva, associated with the Moscow Helsinki Group, says the new legislation is couched in such general terms that it may allow the authorities to interpret virtually any form of dissent as treason.  Activists are especially concerned that expanding the definition to include damaging Russia's "territorial integrity" would forbid anyone from calling for independence or perhaps autonomy, an issue of particular concern for Chechens. 

Some rights activists have opined that the bill will be successful due to the recent economic crisis and an increase in public unrest.  "The people ruling the government are afraid of the reaction of its citizens to their inability to cope with the crisis," said Lyudmila Alekseyeva.

The bill was submitted to Parliament from Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's Cabinet.  The authors of the bill say that the new definitions are necessary because many suspects have been acquitted under the current law despite strong incriminating evidence. The bill, in designating NGOs as "foreign organizations," may also be an effort to further crack down on NGOs whom the government has accused of serving as cover for foreign spies.

The bill is expected to pass.  Yesterday the parliament passed legislation ending jury trials for terrorism and treason, opting instead to allow only a panel of judges to hear the cases. 
 
For more information, please see:

Washington Post - Russian treason bill could target Kremlin critics - 17 December 2008

Radio Free Europe - Rights-Watchers Say New Russian Treason Legislation Harkens Back To '30s Terror - 10 December 2008

Deutsche Welle - Critics Call Putin Treason Bill Means to quash Opposition - 18 December 2008

U.N. Judges Deny Karadzic Legal Immunity

by Dan Forrest
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - U.N. Judges have decided that Radovan Karadzic will not be allowed to use an immunity deal to escape prosecution for war crimes.  Karadzic claims that, after the war in Bosnia ended in 1995, he made a deal with an assistant to the U.S. Secretary of State promising that he would relinquish power in exchange for immunity from prosecution.

Karadzic told the tribunal that he made the pact with then-Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Richard Holbrooke, and that Holbrooke was at the time acting on behalf of President Clinton.  "In exchange for lying low," Karadzic told the court, "the United States would fulfill its commitments."  Karadzic claims that these commitments primarily included immunity from prosecution. 

Holbrooke denies that such a deal ever took place.  He told CNN, "I negotiated a very tough deal.  He [Karadzic] had to step down immediately from both his posts as president of Serb part of Bosnia and his party.  And he did so.  But when he disappeared, he put out a piece of disinformation that I had cut a deal with him [sic] if he disappeared we would not pursue him.  That was a completely false statement." 

Karadzic stands accused of 11 counts including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes stemming from the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia-Herzgovina.  Thd indictment against Karadzic claims that forces under Karadzic's command "rounded up tens of thousands of non-Serbs and held them in camps where Serbian forces tortured, mistreated, sexually assaulted, and killed non-Serbs."  The most serious serious allegation accuses Karadzic of masterminding the 1995 mass murder of approximately 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica. 

Karadzic spent more then a decade on the run before he was captured by Serbian authorities on July 21, 2008. 

The U.N. Tribunal judges informed Karadzic today that, regardless of whether any deal was in place, it would not be honored because it would be "invalid under international law." 

For more information, please see:

International Herald Tribune - UN Judges rule that Karadzic has no legal immunity - 18 December 2008

CNN - Radovan Karadzic appears at Hague Hearing - 28 October 2008

Telegraph - Radovan Karadzic: There was no deal, says US war negotiator - 1 August 2008

Violence Continues to Paralyze Greece

By Sarah Benczik
Impunity Watch, Europe

ATHENS, Greece - The violence in Greece continued for the sixth day with no immediate end in sight.   The government has estimated that hundreds of millions of euros in property have thus far been destroyed.  The strikes and riots have shut down schools, universities, hospitals, public services and flights.  At least one person was injured today as protesters threw stones and firebombs at a police station near a university in Athens.  Students have also set up road blocks around the city.

Strikes and riots started in response to the shooting death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos during a conflict with Athenian police.  The shooting ignited public anger at t he police, the government and current economic difficulties.   Greek newspaper Kathimerini called the riots "the worst Greece has seen since the restoration of democracy in 1974."  Although the rioting was worst in Athens following the shooting, the violence spread to 10 other Greek cities, including Thessaloniki, where 1,000 protesters marched through the city, threw rocks and petrol bombs at City Hall, two police stations, shops and banks.

Protesters have begun handing out fliers listing their demands, which range from pulling riot police from the streets to reversing public spending and increasing job security and the  minimum wage.  Pressure is also mounting against Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, whose one-seat majority, conservative government has suffered from financial scandal and has passed unpopular social and economic reform.  The opposition has called for his resignation and an early election.   

The two police involved in the initial shooting incident have been indicted for the murder and today were placed in jail until their trial.  Police reports indicate that the student was killed by a bullet that ricocheted and then hit him.

University teachers and students have called for a rally in Athens tomorrow.

For more information, please see:

AP - Greek protestors broaden demands to focus on jobs - 11 December 2008

BBC - Fresh clashes hit Greek capital - 11 December 2008

The Guardian - Greek riots ease but demonstrations set to continue - 11 December 2008

Kathimerini - Police killing of youth sparks explosive riots - 8 December 2008