Impunity Watch: Europe

Belarusian Journalist Imprisoned After Clash With Police

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus - Ivan Shulha, a journalist for one of the few remaining independent media outlets operating in Belarus, was convicted of disorderly conduct and sentenced in ten days of jail after he allegedly clashed with police this past week.

Shulha, also a member of the nongovernmental organization Belarusian Association of Journalists, was arrested on Wednesday while police were attempting to enter the Minsk apartment of Michal Janczuka, a reporter for a Polish television network and coordinator of Belsat TV in Belarus.  When the police arrived at the apartment, those journalists present, including Shulha, initially refused to allow the police to enter.  After they eventually entered the apartment, Shulha was placed under arrest.  He was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest after he allegedly struck one of the officers at the scene.

Photo: Belsat TV journalist Ivan Shulha [Source: RFE]

Shulha is employed by Belsat TV, a media outlet based in Poland.  Belsat was created in 2007 by the Polish Foreign Ministry as a way to provide news coverage within Belarus that would not be under the control of the Belarusian government.  Belsat employees independent journalists to work in and cover free speech issues in Belarus.  By being a journalist accredited in Poland, Shulha is able to avoid having to go through the same process in Belarus.  An Belarusian accreditation process was recently enacted by the federal government as a way to control the remaining independent media outlets.

Belarusian law enforcement authorities have stated that they were attempting to enter Janczuk's apartment after they had received noise complaints concerning that apartment.  Critics, however, point to this action by the police as just another example of the Belarusian government attempting to gain greater control over any opposition forces in the country.  They point to the recently enacted legislation giving the federal government the authority to monitor the internet use of individual in the nation as evidence of this.

In response to Shulha's arrest, Belsat's director Agnieszka Romaszewska declared that "the actions by the Belarusian authorities towards Belsat TV channel are another attempt to impede journalistic activity and discredit independent journalists."

For more information, please see:

FROM THE OLD - Belarus - Authorities step up pressure on independent journalists - 5 February 2010

CHARTER 97 - Agnieszka Romaszewska: Repressions won't influence our position - 4 February 2010

POLSKIE RADIO - Belsat TV journalist accused of assaulting policeman - 4 February 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE - Belarusian Journalist Jailed For Hooliganism - 4 February 2010

Ukraine Releases Belarusian Activist after Two Year Detention

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine - On Monday Belarusian opposition activist Igor Koktysh was released by Ukrainian officials from a Crimean jail nearly two months after the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg ordered his release. On December 10, 2009, the Strasbourg court ruled that Ukrainian authorities had violated Koktysh's rights, and ordered them to pay Koktysh $10,000 in compensation.

  
Photo: Belarusian activist, Igor Koktysh, had been detained in Ukraine since 2007. [Source: RFE]
 
Igor Koktysh, a Belarusian youth activist and rock musician, is wanted by Belarusian authorities for alleged involvement in a murder in January 2001. The twenty-nine-year-old had been living in Ukraine since 2002, and was arrested by Ukrainian police in Sevastopol in the summer of 2007 upon the request of the Belarusian government. He spent two years and seven months in a detention center while Ukrainian officials considered whether to extradite him.

Koktysh has said that the charges against him in Belarus stem from political motivations because of his 2006 opposition activities in support of Belarusian presidential candidate Alyaksandr Milinkevich. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the charges were trumped up, acquitted Koktysh of the offense, and held that the Ukrainian authorities' continued detention of Koktysh was illegal. The court also held that if Ukraine were to extradite Koktysh back to Belarus, they would be in violation of Articles Three and Five of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting torture and ill-treatment, and securing the right to liberty and personal security.

He told Radio Svoboda that the fact the Ukraine complied with the demands of the European Court showed that there was democracy worth fighting for in Ukraine.

"I have become convinced that there is justice and it can be achieved. However the only problem is that it's hard to achieve. In my case I spent more than two and a half years imprisoned simply because there was no law on extradition. These are basic things that haven't been resolved, and that's the problem."

Koktysh plans to fight for his right to remain in Ukraine with his Ukrainian wife, Iryna, and the court hearing over his application for refugee status is scheduled for February 12, 2010.

For more information, please see:

Kyiv Post - Amnesty International: Ukraine releases Belarusian activist - 5 February 2010

KhPG - Igor Koktysh freed at last - 4 February 2010

RFE - Belarusian Activist Released from Long Detention In Ukraine - 4 February 2010

France Citizenship Application Rejected Over Islamic Veil

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PARIS, France – A Moroccan national who made his wife, a French national, wear the full-body Islamic veil, known as a burqa, in public was denied his French citizenship application. This decision effectively prevents him from settling with his wife in Paris.

Eric Besson, the French immigration minister, confirmed the decision on Tuesday February 1.According to Mr. Besson, the application was denied precisely because the man, whose name has not been made public, “forced his wife to wear the full veil, deprived her of freedom of movement with her face exposed and rejected the principles of secularism and equality between men and women.”

But some fundamentalist Islamic groups praised the Morrocan man as a hero for defending his faith. For example, one blogger’s website read: “May Allah reward the brother who sacrificed the French citizenship and related material benefits for the sake of implementing the practice of Islam.”

This is the first citizenship application rejection since a French court, in 2009, denied citizenship to a Moroccan women who wore a burqa in public. Her application was rejected on the ground that French values were incompatible with a radical expression of the Islamic faith.

This most recent citizenship rejection comes just days after a report by France’s parliament, which called for a nation-wide ban of all burqas and niqabs (masks that cover only the face) in public places, including in government offices, schools, hospitals, and aboard public transportation. President Nicolas Sarkozy supports the measure and famously said that burqas are “not welcome” in secular France.

Legislation has stalled for the time being, however, because the French government is seeking advice about the legality of such a ban, according to Prime Minister Francois Fillon. Despite this legislative caution, Mr. Fillon publicly lauded the citizenship application rejection, telling a French radio station that “[t]his case is about a religious radical: he imposes the burqa, he imposes the separation of men and women in his own home and he refuses to shake the hands of women.”

Beyond the obvious legal problems and impunity issues, France could risk alienating its large Muslim majority. But only 1,900 women in France regularly wear burqas in public, according to Interior Ministry statistics, so political ramifications of such a ban could be minimal.

For more information, please see:

LOS ANGELES TIMES – France denies citizenship to Moroccan man over burka – 5 February 2010

EURONEWS – France refuses citizenship in burqa case – 3 February 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – France: Nationality to be denied over veil – 3 February 2010

FRANCE24 – Man who forced wife to wear burqa is denied French citizenship – 2 February 2010

New Legislation Gives Belarusian Government Authority To Monitor Internet Use

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MINSK, Belarus - Recent legislation passed by Belarus will now give the federal government monitor the internet use of its citizens.

The decree, set to take effect on July 1, requires that the nation's internet providers save all data concerning the websites visited by internet users in the nation for one year.  Upon request, that information must be turned over to law enforcement agencies.  Internet providers also will have to restrict access to any website that the government chooses.

National security concerns were the impetus for the legislation, according to Belarus's President Alexander Lukashenko.  "To ensure the security of the state and it's citizens,...Internet service providers will be required to identify devices used to connect to the Internet and keep information on those devices and the services provided."

Criticism from the larger European community has called the decree a restriction of individual freedom.  Lucia Morillion, of Reporters Without Borders (RWB), commented that "whatever...president [Lukashhenko] is calling this decree, it is not done to improve the situation of Internet freedom in the country."  Another response from the RWB declared that Belarus had "[fallen] to the level of North Korea and China...as an enemy of the Internet."

The Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) was also quick to condemn the legislation, which will give the government greater control over what has been one of the few remaining arenas of free speech in the Eastern European country.  "It is complete control of information" said Andrei Bastunets, deputy chairman of the BAJ.

Belarus has long been criticized by international press watchdog organizations for the government's extensive control over the country's media.  There are currently no independent television or radio stations, and virtually all of the remaining opposition newspapers have been shut down by the government.

The recent internet legislation is likely to further damage the recent attempts by Belarus to become part of the larger European economic and political community.  President Lukashenko, who was re-elected to office in 2006 by results that were disputed by opposition groups in Belarus, has held the office since 1994.  Recent efforts by the President to gain better relationships with Europe has shaken the long-standing relationship that Belarus has traditionally had with Russia.

For more information, please see:

RADIO FREE EUROPE - EU Calls Belarusian Internet Decree 'A Step In Wrong Direction' - 4 February 2010

AFP - Opposition attacks Belarus Internet crackdown - 2 February 2010

DEUTSCHE WELLE - Belarus to further tighten Internet control - 2 February 2010

Alleged Bosnian War Criminal Arrested

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – On Monday February 1, Bosnian police arrested a Bosnian Muslim on multiple war crimes and atrocity charges for his role as a commander of a military unit during the Muslim-Croat war in 1993.

Authorities from Bosnia-Herzegovina confirmed that Zulfikar Alispago, aged 51, was arrested for charges of crimes perpetuated against civilians and prisoners of war in violation of Bosnian criminal laws and the international laws of war. Specifically, Mr. Alispago is alleged to have violated Sections 173 and 175 of the Bosnian Criminal Code for his role in leading the killing more than 20 Croat civilians and POWs and wounding several more during the 1993 war.

Mr. Alispago was the Musliam commander of a military unit known as “Zulfikar”. Five other members of Zulfikar were arrested last year and charged with war crimes and other atrocities. However, Mr. Alispago is the highest ranking commander from Zulfikar to be arrested and charged thus far from a 1993 massacre.

Zulfikar has been linked to a mass killing of a small village in south Bosnia known as Trusina. The village is located 30 miles south of Sarajevo. According to a Bosnian prosecutor statement, war crimes in Trusina . . . were committed on April 16, 1993 [and] 19 civilians and three Croat soldiers who had earlier surrendered were killed [while] four civilians, of whom two children, were wounded.”

Mr. Alispago’s case will proceed in front of the Bosnian War Crimes Court. This court was created in 2005 to ease the docket of the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal by trying “lower-level” war criminals. In the mean time a Bosnian prosecutor assigned to the case will soon decide whether to file a custody order to detain Mr. Alispago until he faces charges in the coming months.

For more information, please see:

JURIST – Former Bosnian war commander arrested for war crimes – 1 February 2010

MSNBC – Bosnian police arrest war crimes suspect – 1 February 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Bosnia Muslim Ex-Commander Arrested for War Crimes – 1 February 2010

Russia: Scores of Activists Arrested at Freedom of Assembly Rallies on Sunday

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia - Russian police arrested over a hundred protesters who gathered in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday to defend the right to free assembly and to protest the policies of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.  

 
Photo: A police officer detains a demonstrator in downtown Moscow on Sunday, January 31. [Source: AP]

Those detained included the head of the human rights group Memorial, Oleg Orlov, and Lev Ponomarev, the executive director for the Movement for Human Rights. Opposition leaders Boris Nemtsov, Eduard Limonov, and Ilya Yashin, were also among the detained. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, is the leader of the opposition group Solidarity. He is also one of the toughest critics of the Kremlin and Putin.

Eighty-two year old Ludmila Alexeeva, a Soviet-era dissident and co-founder of the Moscow Helsinki Group, was among the arrested. Alexeeva was also arrested on December 31, 2009 at another rally in support of freedom of assembly. Her arrest in December arrest drew sharp criticism from the United States. 

The Associated Press reported that protesters shouted "Shame!" and "Down with Putin!" as they were pushed into buses by police in riot gear.

Spokesman for the Moscow Police, Viktor Biryukov, said: "On Sunday, members of the opposition tried to stage an unauthorized protest. Police were forced to arrest the most active participants who were brandishing placards and shouting anti-government slogans."

 
Photo: Protesters hold up cards reading 31, representing the 31st Article of the Russian constitution which guarantees the right of assembly. [Source: AP]

Additional rallies occurred in Yekaterinburg, Vladivostok, and the central Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. Roughly 300 people were reported to have participated in the Moscow demonstration, and approximately one-third were arrested. The activists were released late on Sunday, but were ordered to appear before a judge for violation of laws regarding public gatherings.

The timing of the demonstrations - on the thirty-first of the month - is in acknowledgement of the 31st Article of the Russian constitution which guarantees the right of assembly. Demonstrators have vowed to hold nationwide demonstrations on the 31st of every month with thirty one days.

Video: Footage of Sunday's demonstration and arrests in Moscow. [Source: Radio Free Europe]

On Monday, a day after the demonstrations, a letter allegedly by an elite battalion of OMON riot police in Moscow was published by the independent "Novoye vremya" magazine. The officers' letter, addressed to President Medvedev, complained that their battalion commander, Sergei Yevtikov, demanded that each officer arrest no less than three demonstrators at the rallies. The letter stated that if they fail to make the arrests, they stand to lose bonuses and awards. The officers also said that they were ordered to arrest Eduard Limonov, head of the banned National Bolshevik Party, as soon as he is spotted at the demonstrations.

Former OMON officer and coauthor of the letter to Medvedev, Sergei Taran, told Radio Free Europe:

"There is usually an order, and I don't know where it comes from, to take certain people away [during opposition rallies]...So, [OMON members] detain them, throw them into buses and bring them to police stations. There are prewritten reports -- for instance, charging them with crossing the street illegally -- so [policemen] just fill in their names and make up these absurd reports."

Interior Ministry spokesman Mikhail Sukhodolsky was quoted by Interfax as saying that the information in "Novoye vremya" was doubtful, but would be checked.

For more information, please see:

Deutsche Welle - Senior Russian opposition leaders arrested at demonstrations - 1 February 2010

Radio Free Europe - Riot Police Complain of Corruption as Demonstrations Rock Russia - 1 February 2010

AP- Russian Police Break Up Protests, Scores Detained - 31 January 2010

RIA Novosti - Moscow police break up unsanctioned rally, detains about 100 - 31 January 2010

Jewish Cemetery Vandalized in Strasbourg On Holocaust Remembrance Day

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France - A Jewish cemetery in Strasbourg was the target of anti-Semitic vandalism on Wednesday.

Photo: One of the desecrated tombstones in a Jewish cemetery in Strausbourg. [Source: Ynet]

According to The Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF), an umbrella group of Jewish organizations throughout France, there was extensive damage done to a number of the tombs in the Cronenbourg cemetery.  In addition to swastikas being drawn on 18 gravestones, the German words "juden ruas", or "Jews out", were written on one of the tombs.  Another 13 tombs were overturned.

After learning of the desecration, French President Nicolas Sarkozy declared that he "firmly condemns this unbearable act, the expression of odious racism."  A member of the Israeli Knesset, Shlomo Molla, who was in Strasbourg attending events marking Remembrance Day, commented on the tomb's vandalism.  "It was a horrible sight, which probably stemmed from the rising anti-Semitism [in] Europe."

The fact that the vandalism occurred on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day is believed by some to be more than a coincidence.  Laurent Schmoll, a leader in Strasbourg's Jewish community, noted that the vandalism occurred "at the moment we celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of the concentration camps, and I think there has to be a link."

This is not the first time that Strasbourg's Jewish cemeteries has been targeted by anti-Semitic messages.  Similar acts in previous years have occurred on International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Strasbourg, a city home to approximately 17,000 Jews.

For more information, please see:

AP - Jewish cemetery desecrated in eastern France - 27 January 2010

JTA - French Jewish cemetery vandalized - 27 January 2010

YNET - Jewish cemetery in Strasbourg desecrated - 27 January 2010

Auschwitz Survivors, World Leaders, Mark 65th Anniversary of the Camp's Liberation on International Holocaust Remembrance Day

by Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

 
Photo: Visitors pass beneath the infamous sign marking the entrance to the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. [Source: Reuters]

AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU, Poland - Wednesday, January 27 marked the sixty-fifth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army's 100th Lvov Infantry Division. Memorials marking the anniversary took place across Europe to honor those who lost their lives in the Holocaust.

At the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camps, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke to crowds of survivors and world leaders who had gathered to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

He said: "I have come here today from Jerusalem to tell you: We will never forget. We will not allow the Holocaust deniers or those who desecrate [Jewish] graves and signs to erase or distort [our] memory.

At the same time, Israel President Shimon Peres addressed the Bundestag in Berlin, not far from Wannsee, where, in 1942, the Nazis formulated plans to carry out their goal of the industrialized mass murder of Europe's Jews. Peres explicitly drew parallels between Nazi Germany and present-day Iran, which he called a "fanatical regime" and a "danger to the entire world."

In his reflections on the Holocaust, Peres said that those who carried it out were "still [alive] on German and European soil, and in other parts of the world." He told German MPs: "My request of you is: Please do everything to bring them to justice."

Approximately 1.5 million people were murdered at the Auschwitz camps; ninety percent of whom were Jews. Victims also included non-Jewish Poles, Roma gypsies and Soviet prisoners of war.

Auschwitz survivor, Lilly Ebert, 79, from north London, told the BBC that she remembers the camp "so vividly, it could have happened yesterday." Ebert was taken to Auschwitz with her family in 1944 and remains traumatized by the experience to this day. She said:

"It's important to be tolerant with each other. It makes no difference what religion you are or the color of your skin."

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI recalled "the horror of crimes of unheard-of brutality that were committed in the death camps created by Nazi Germany." He said:

"May the memory of those events, especially the tragedy of the Shoah that has struck the Jewish people, induce respect for the dignity of every person so that all men can perceive themselves as one big family."

Marian Turski, an Auschwitz survivor, recalled the lice, the humiliation, the starvation and the bitter cold of the winter sixty-five years ago. He said:

"I had secretly made myself a vest, cut from a cement bag...A guard found it, told me I had stolen German property, and beat me terribly."

Those who gathered at Auschwitz on Wednesday passed under a replica sign reading "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Makes You Free." The original was stolen last month and cut into three pieces.

Survivor August Kowalczyk who spent two years at Auschwitz said: "This place determined who I am today, aged nearly ninety...I still have one mission - to pass on to the next generation knowledge of what happened here."

 
Photo: Some of the 600 children liberated from the Auschwitz-II extermination camp showing their tattooed arms. [Source: Reuters]

For more information, please see:

The Jewish Chronicle - The last survivors return to Auschwitz - 28 January 2010

BBC - Holocaust Day marked at Nazi death camp Auschwitz - 27 January 2010

BBC - Auschwitz Survivors mark Holocaust Memorial Day - 27 January 2010

The Jerusalem Post - Netanyahu at Auschwitz: Never again - 27 January 2010

Telegraph.co.uk - Holocaust Memorial Day marked on Auschwitz liberation anniversary - 27 January 2010

 

 

Russian Police Raid Offices of Environmental NGO

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

IRKUTSK, Russia – Local police from the far-east Russian city of Irkutsk raided the offices of an environmental non-governmental organization on Thursday without a search warrant, claiming the group was using pirated or unlicensed software.

After raiding Baikal Ecological Wave’s offices, the police officers took several computers, other equipment, and staff files and documents from the premises. The officers were members of the Irkutsk city police consumer market and extremism departments. Moreover, some of the six Baikal employees that were present during the searches claimed that the officers were intoxicated.

Baikal Ecological Wave is one of the oldest and most prominent environmental groups in Russia. The group has been an outspoken opponent of a controversial recent decision by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to re-open a large paper mill on Lake Baikal.

The paper mill was closed in 2008 because of the massive amounts of pollution that it emitted into the proximate lake. In addition, environmental groups, including Baikal Ecological Wave and Greenpeace, indicated that the area around Lake Baikal is a unique ecosystem that contains some 1,500 species of rare flora and fauna, many of which exist nowhere else on the planet.

Mr. Putin’s January 13 decree will effectively allow the OAO Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill to dump a large amount of waste into Lake Baikal, the world’s largest fresh water body. Oleg Deripaska, the paper mill’s owner, praised the decision as one that will allow at least 1,500 persons to go back to work.

The head of Baikal Ecological Wave, Marina Rikhvanova, claims that the officers were not looking actually looking for pirated software and denies using any illegal computer programs.

Instead, Ms. Rikhvanova claims that reason was merely a precursor for an illegal search of Baikal Ecological Wave documents related to opposition to the reopening of the mill. Ms. Rikhvanova stated that as a result of vocal opposition to Mr. Putin's decision, the Kremlin “want[s] to paralyze us.”

Moreover, Ms. Rikhvanova claims that Russian officials have a history of using searches for illegal software pretextually. She told the press that “[t]his has happened to other civic groups, so we bought licensed software for all our computers some time ago.” Several media outlets report that Russian police “often” use such searches against unfavorable NGOs and opposition groups.

The Moscow Times is reporting that Baikal Ecological Wave’s website was taken down some time Thursday evening.

Despite these claims by civic groups, NGOs, and the media, Russian police have vehemently and consistently denied using trumped up charges in order to pressure opponents of Kremlin policy. Officials have said that charges may be brought against Baikal and that decision is expected in the next several days.

For more information, please see:

MOSCOW TIMES – Baikal Preservation Group’s Offices Raided – 29 January 2010

TAIWAN NEWS – Environmental group says office raided over Baikal – 29 January 2010

WALL STREET JOURNAL – Russian Police Raid Environmental Group's Office – 29 January 2010

RADIO FREE EUROPE – Russian Police Seize Computers From Irkutsk Environment Group – 28 January 2010

Russian Opposition Organization Appeals Ban on Freedom of Assembly Rally

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia - The Russian opposition group The Other Russia has declared its intention to appeal the rejection of their application to stage a rally supporting the need for greater freedom of assembly rights in St. Petersburg.

The Other Russia had intended to stage the rally on January 31st along one of the main avenues of St. Petersburg, Nevsky Prospect.  The city's Law and Order Committee rejected the organization's permit to hold a rally, citing concerns about the potential protest's effects on local traffic.  Immediately after the Committee announced its rejection, the opposition group stated that it would seek a legal appeal to the decision.

The planned rally is part of the larger Strategy 31 movement in Russia, a long term effort to bring the issue of continued restrictions on the freedom of assembly to the attention of the Russian public.  The campaign's name is based on Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which is supposed to guarantee each Russian citizens' fundamental right to assemble.

The Other Russia leaders have indicated that regardless of the city's final determination about their permit to hold the rally, their members will follow through will the protest as planned.

The city of St. Peterburg's rejection of the rally permit continues a trend in major Russian cities where local authorities have cited various reasons to forbid rallies organized by opposition groups.  When those rallies have been granted permission to occur they have often faced the police detention of those involved.  Earlier this month thirty-four protesters were arrested by Moscow police during an event remembering the deaths of human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and reporter Anastasia Baburova.

For more information, please see:

RADIO FREE EUROPE - Russian Opposition To Fight Rally Ban In Court - 27 January 2010

AFP - Rights protesters arrested in Moscow - 20 January 2010

AP - Moscow rally in memory of slain lawyer, journalist - 19 January 2010