Impunity Watch: Europe

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

Moscow’s Mayor to Prohibit “Satanic" Gay Parades

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Europe – Yuri Luzhkov, the mayor of Moscow, said in a public statement on Monday January 24 that he will not permit gay parades in Russia’s capital, noting in particular one specific parade planned for this coming May. Mr. Luzhkov characterized such events as “satanic”.

In rationalizing his prohibition, Mr. Luzhkov said: “We cannot complacently watch numerous displays of blasphemy under the guise of creative work or freedom of speech.” He described gay parades as “sexual aids [with] pictures, one glance at which insults the soul of even an adult.”


Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov [Source: AFP]

Mr. Luzhkov has a record of public statements that show hostility towards gay persons. For example, in June 2009 on a Moscow television program Mr. Luzhkov used the Russian word “gomiki”, a derogatory term that refers to homosexuals. Gay rights groups sued the mayor immediately, but a court in Moscow promptly dismissed their claim.

Moreover, Mr. Luzhkov has a demonstrated history of resisting pressure from gay rights groups to allow parades and other public rallies.

For example, in May 2009, an unauthorized parade by a gay rights group was dispersed by Moscow police on Mr. Luzhkov’s orders. Several human rights campaigners were publicly dragged through the streets. This occurred after the city refused to grant a permit to the group, which wanted to draw attention to their cause publicly while Moscow hosted the international Eurovision Song Contest that month.

Human rights groups have threatened to bring a lawsuit to the European Court of Human Rights if Mr. Luzkhov continues to illegally ban their ability to demonstrate in public. But in the meantime gay rights groups insist that they will continue with plans to hold a parade in May 2010 in spite of the ban. Campaigner Nikolai Alexeyev told the press that his group still “plan[s] to hold a gay parade on May 29.”

Mr. Luzhkov responded by indicating possible further criminal repercussion for gay groups who engage in organized public activity. The mayor said that “[i]t's high time that we stop propagating nonsense discussions about human rights, and bring to bear on them the full force and justice of the law.”

For more information, please see:

NEW YORK TIMES – Russia: Mayor Vows to Stop Gay Parade – 25 January 2010

ITAR-TASS – Gay parades will be ruled out in Moscow in future, too – 25 January 2010

AFP – Moscow mayor calls gay pride parade ‘Satanic’ – 25 January 2010

RIA NOVOSTI – Moscow renews vow to ban 'satanic' gay parades – 25 January 2010

Bosnian Serb General's Trial Set to Start Next Month

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Former Bosnian Serb general, Zdravko Tolimir, is scheduled to go on trial next month. Tolimir, sixty-one-years-old, faces charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the massacres of thousands of Bosnian Muslims in the towns of Srebrenica and Zepa between July and November of 1995. 

 
Photo: Zdravko Tolimir [Source: AFP]

Tolimir, responsible for intelligence and security, was one of seven deputy commanders in the Bosnian Serb army during the 1992-1995 war. He reported directly to military chief Ratko Mladic. Mladic has been in hiding since 1995.

The trial was to have started on December 17, but was delayed due to Tolimir's poor health. At pre-trial proceedings on December 16th, he plead not guilty.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) announced on Friday that opening statements would be made on Friday, February 26. The prosecution is slated to present its evidence during the week of March 8.

Tolimir's trial will be the last trial to start before the ICTY, which was created by the UN Security Council in 1993 to prosecute individuals accused of serious crimes during the 1990s Balkans wars. To date, the ICTY has indicted 161 individuals.

For more information, please see:

SETimes - Tolimir's trial at The Hague to start in a month - 25 January, 2010

AFP - Bosnian Serb general to go on trial next month - 22 January, 2010

ICTY - Case Information Sheet - Zadravko Tolimir

 

.

EU Court Finds UK Provision of Anti-Terrorism Statute In Violation of Human Rights Convention

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

STRASBOURG, France - The European Court of Human Rights ruled last week that a provision of a United Kingdom anti-terrorism law violated an article of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

The Court ruled that sections 44-47 of the United Kingdom's Terrorism Act 2000, which gave police the authority to 'stop and search' any person without 'reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing,' violated a section of the Convention that ensures privacy for the individual and the family.  Under those sections, the police have been able to require an individual to remove certain articles of clothing and all objects from their pockets, as long that the officer believed that person may have objects that could potentially be used in a terrorist act.  Failure to adhere to such a request requested possibly in a fine or possible imprisonment.  In striking down this authority, the Court noted that rather than providing an objective test for which the police could use to determine when the search authority, the power could be applied based on the "'professional intuition' of the police officer."

The case decided by the ECHR was brought In 2003 by British citizens Kevin Gillian and Pennie Quinton, who were stopped and searched by London police while traveling to an arms demonstration protest.  Both Gillian and Quinton sought judicial review in the UK legal system, appealing their claim to the nation's high court, the Law Lords, but their claims was eventually dismissed.  Following the Court's decision, Quinton indicated that he was pleased with the court's ruling.  "There has to be a balance between private life and security."  He also noted that "the Court has shown that section 44 is an invasion of people's right to liberty and privacy.  Hopefully the government will have to put a fairer law in place to protect us."

Until the court ruling earlier this month, the use of the authority by police in the United Kingdom had become more common.  While approximately 33,177 people were stopped in 2004, the police had used the authority 117,200 times in 2008.  Prior to the ruling, the Metropolitan Police had already indicated that the use of the authority would be reduced as a result of its growing controversial nature.

The Court noted that "the absence of any obligation on the part of the officer to show a reasonable suspicion made it almost impossible to prove that the power had been improperly exercised."  Additionally, there lacked any safeguards against abuse of the authority.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson has indicated that the government was disappointed with the Human Rights Court's ruling.  "We are considering the judgment and will seek to appeal."

For more information, please see:

IRISH TIMES - Strasbourg court rules against UK 'stop and search' powers - 25 January 2010

CNN - Britain to fight ruling on police searches - 13 January 2010

BBC - Stop-and-search powers ruled illegal by European court - 12 January 2010

THE GUARDIAN - Stop and search powers illegal, European court rules - 12 January 2010

Russia: Policeman who Exposed Police Corruption on 'YouTube' Arrested

By Elizabeth A. Conger
Impunity Watch, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia - Alexei Dymovsky, a former Russian police officer who posted two videos on the internet alleging corruption in his home town's police force, has been arrested and charged with fraud and corruption. Investigators claim that Dymovsky had threatened them. He was placed in a criminal investigative detention center in the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in Russia's southern Krasnodar Territory.

One supporter said:

"They loaded Alexei into a police van with an escort of several...and took him to the detention center. His wife and I think that he'll hold up, but we're scared that today he'll wind up in a 'press-hut,' a term for a special cell where prisoners are tortured by other prisoners with the intent of extracting a confession."

Fired from his job after the videos aired, Dymovsky moved his family to Moscow after they received threats against their safety. He had predicted that he would be detained, and told Reuters that authorities wanted to silence him and get revenge for what he had done.

  
Photo: Police Major Alexei Dymovsky [Source: RIA Novosti]

In the video, which registered more than a million hits, Dymosvksy spoke out about the corruption within the police force in his home town, and said that he could no longer tolerate orders to arrest innocent people to meet monthly targets. Dymovsky also appealed directly to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to clean up Russia's law enforcement agencies.

Just days after Dymovsky posted his video, Russia's interior minister admitted that the nation's police force had evolved into a criminal enterprise.

Dymovsky's lawyers plan to fight the arrest, and protesters are planning on holding a demonstration outside of the Novorossiisk police headquarters and Primorsky Regional Court to show their support.

His attorney, Sergei Gubar, told Radio Free Europe that the authorities are seeking to "discredit him and make him look like an ordinary crook in order to humiliate him and belittle his role and public statements."

Gubar added that the arrest will also serve to discourage future whistle blowers.

Dymovsky had confirmed earlier that he was to be formally charged with fraud, but said that the investigators had declined to issue him a list of the charges. He said that the charge was unclear to him, but involved "a sum of not more than $800."

If sentenced, he faces a maximum of six years in prison.

For more information, please see:

The Other Russia - 'YouTube Cop' Detained Per Court Order - 23 January 2010

BBC - Russia's 'YouTube policeman' Dymovsky accused of fraud - 22 January 2010

RIA Novosti - Russian police whistleblower taken into custody pending trial - 22 January 2010

Radio Free Europe - Russia Arrests Whistleblowing 'YouTube Cop' - 22 January 2010

 

 

Murder Trial in Greece Set to Begin Friday

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

AMFISSA, Greece – A court in Amfissa, Greece postponed the trial of a Greek policeman and his accomplice accused of shooting a teenager in Athens in 2008. However, the trial will begin Friday in the small village in central Greece.

Epaminodas Korkoneas is the Greek police officer accused of shooting and killing Alexis Grigoropoulos, aged 15, during his night patrol in Exarchia, an affluent district in Athens. Mr. Korkoneas’ accomplice, Vassilis Saraliotis, is also being tried and is accused of complicity in the homicide. Mr. Korkoneas is being tried for voluntary homicide. Both men deny the charges against them.


Mr. Saraliotis (left) and Mr. Korkoneas (right) [Source: BBC]

More specifically, Mr. Korkoneas claims he only fired his weapon into the air, in an effort to disperse a group of violent anarchist youths hurling stones at his vehicle. Lawyers for the teenager contest that Mr. Korkoneas aimed and fired directly at him. The autopsy report confirms that the teenager was struck by a bullet that ricocheted into him.

The trial was moved initially in order to protect public safety and isolate it from anarchist protests there. Several attempts by Mr. Grigoropoulos’ lawyers to move the trial back to Athens, where the alleged homicide occurred, have been denied by the Greece Supreme Court.

Various groups in Amfissa have continued to protest the location of the trial. Some 200 anarchists demonstrated in Amfissa on Wednesday. The family of the teenager, in particular his mother Gina Tsalikian, agrees. Ms. Tsalikian says that holding the trial in Amfissa is unjust because Athens is more than 125 miles from Amfissa and thus key witnesses may be unable or unwilling to testify.

In addition, just last week another extremist group threatened Mr. Korkoneas’ life, which led national officials to send additional police from Athens to supervise public safety when the trial commences. Various media outlets report the additional police presence will range between 400 and 700 authorities.

Many local places of business have nonetheless boarded up their buildings in central Amfissa in fear of impending violence. The head of the local traders’ association, Chrysoula Matatana, said that despite police assurances of public order during the trial, most business that can afford to increase security have done so.

The trial judge pushed back the trial, which was supposed to start Wednesday, to Friday because of a scheduling conflict with Korkoneas’ principal attorney, but insists the trial will commence this week.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Greek court postpones trial on teen killing – 20 January 2010

BBC – Greece police trial over Athens shooting opens – 20 January 2010

KATHIMERINI – Amfissa braces for Grigoropoulos trial – 20 January 2010

SOUTHEAST TIMES – Greece postpones high-profile trial involving police officer – 20 January 2010

24 Russians Detained At March Remembering Slain Activists

By David Sophrin
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

MOSCOW, Russia - Twenty-four people were detained on Tuesday by Moscow police during a rally in remembrance of the killing of an activist human rights lawyer and a prominent reporter.

Approximately one thousand marchers attended the rally in remembrance of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova.  Markelov had worked with human rights victims in Chechnya while Baburova, a journalist for the Novaya Gazeta, had published a number of articles critical of extremist Russian nationalist groups.  Both were murdered after leaving a building in downtown Moscow where they had been attending a news conference.  Protesters at yesterdays rally declared that those neo-Nazi nationalist forces were responsible for their deaths.

Leading human rights activists, including representatives from For Human Rights and the opposition political party Yabloko, were in attendance at the rally.  Russian human rights activist Gary Kasparov noted that those Russians who had been willing to speak out on human rights issues were becoming targets for extremist groups, and the government was not taking the necessary steps to protect them.

In addition to drawing attention to those responsible for the deaths of Markelov and Baburova, those participating sought to draw more scrutiny on the growing prominence of extreme nationalist groups in contemporary Russia.  Sergei Udaltsov, a human rights activist who attended the rally, noted that "we are here to say our firm "No" to nationalism, fascism, and inactivity of authorities."

Photo: Police arrest a protester at the rally for Markelov and Baburova. [Source: AP]

The protesters arrested were held by police on the grounds that they were participating in a march that had deviated from the permitted march route.  The city had originally denied a permit for the rally but eventually agreed to the event with certain restrictions.  Participants were not allowed to carry signs with political symbols and they could march in groups no greater than fifty people.  According to the Interfax agency the police put those who had been arrested onto buses before transferring them to another location.

Regarding the arrests at the rally, a police spokesman offered an explanation for the decision by police to arrest the protesters.  "[Those] twenty four people were detained after they tried to hold an illegal march.  There was an agreement with the authorities for a rally, but after the rally they provoked police by trying to stage a march."

Nikolai Tikhonov and Yevgenia Khasis, members of a neo-Nazi group, were arrested in November and charged with the killing of Markelov and Baburova.

For more information, please see:

MOSCOW TIMES - 500 Rally in Memory of Markelov - 20 January 2010

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

DEUTSCHE PRESS-AGENTUR - 30 arrested in unauthorized Moscow demonstration - 19 January 2010

OTHER RUSSIA - 600 Participate in Memorial March for Slain Lawyer - 19 January 2010

REUTERS - Police Detain 24 At Russian Rally For Murdered Activists - 19 January 2010