FOREWORD
European airports and airspace have been used by planes operated or leased by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that have repeatedly been linked to renditions. Agents of a few European countries have participated in the apprehension of people destined for rendition or in the interrogation of such detainees once they have been transferred to countries where torture is known to be rife. Reports suggest that the USA may have operated secret detention facilities, known as "black sites", in eastern Europe. The rendition programme has also highlighted that foreign intelligence agencies operate in Europe outside the rule of law and without accountability.
Inquiries into complicity in the US-led programme of renditions were launched in 2005 by both the Council of Europe and the European Parliament, and have been actively pursued since – including in the face of obstructions from some governments.
New report by Council of Europe on secret detentions and renditions
On 8 June 2007 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights released the second report of its inquiry, led by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, into secret detentions and renditions in Europe (the first report had been issued on 12 June 2006). The report confirmed that the CIA operated secret detention centres in Poland and Romania, and perhaps in other Council of Europe member states, between 2003 and 2005. These secret facilities formed part of the "high-value detainee" programme, in which terror suspects were subjected to enforced disappearance, which had been an open secret until US President Bush confirmed its existence in September 2006.
Among the most interesting findings of the report were that the CIA exploited North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) military agreements to help it run the secret prisons, adding that the CIA conducted "clandestine operations under the NATO framework". With CIA assistance, military intelligence agencies in countries, including Poland and Romania, disguised the use of secret flights, operations and detention facilities from the days immediately following 11 September 2001 until at least the end of 2005. Moreover, the report made clear that collusion with the US at the highest levels of government came not just from the countries most directly involved in the secret detention programme, but from all the members and partners of NATO, who signed up to terms that allowed free reign to CIA operations.
The report, coming a year after Dick Marty’s first report into rendition and secret detention, resulted from an investigation initiated in November 2005 by the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE). The 2007 report concluded that there was "now enough evidence to state that secret detention facilities run by the CIA did exist in Europe from 2003 to 2005, in particular in Poland and Romania." The report also concluded that these countries were aware that there were CIA-run secret detention centres on their territories, and that former President Aleksander Kwasniewski of Poland and former President Ion Iliescu of Romania may have directly authorized them.
The report strengthened AI’s finding that three former secret detainees, whose cases were extensively documented by AI in 2005 and 2006, had been held in an eastern European black site.
Secret detainees were held incommunicado, and in solitary confinement, for years on end, and were subjected to other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. The report found that the detainees were subjected to "interrogation techniques tantamount to torture". Among those who were allegedly held in Poland were the 14 "high-value detainees" transferred in September 2006 from secret CIA custody, where they had been held for up to four-and-a-half years, to military detention in Guantánamo. A number of these detainees have since said they were tortured in US custody.
‘Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, for example, had been identified in news reports as one of the secret detainees who had been held in Poland. At his Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) hearing in Guantánamo in March 2007, he claimed that: "From the time I was arrested five years ago, they [the CIA] have been torturing me. It happened during interviews. One time they tortured me one way and another time they tortured me in a different way." The following exchange between the CSRT President and ‘Abd al-Nashiri then took place, according to the unclassified version of the transcript:
"President: Please describe the methods that were used.
Detainee: [Redacted]. What else do I want to say? [Redacted]. Many things happened. They were doing so many things. What else did they did? [Redacted]. They do so many things. So so many things. What else did they did? [Redacted]. After that another method of torture began [Redacted]."(1)
The Council of Europe report condemned the role of European governments in facilitating the CIA programme and attempting to obstruct the Council’s investigations. "Many governments have done everything to disguise the true nature and extent of their activities and are persistent in their uncooperative attitude," the report stated. Many countries, as well as NATO, did not respond to questionnaires distributed by the Council of Europe’s investigators. "Some European governments have obstructed the search for the truth and are continuing to do so by invoking the concept of ‘state secrets’." The report singled out the US, Poland, Romania, Macedonia, Italy and Germany for particular criticism.
The report provided new information – gained from confidential interviews with more than 30 current and former members of intelligence services in the US and Europe – about how the rendition programme operated. It included details from Eurocontrol’s aviation records, showing how CIA-operated aircraft, identifying themselves as private flights, had crisscrossed European airspace, making a number of unrecorded landings at remote airstrips in Poland and Romania. A new analysis of computer "data strings" from the international flight planning system demonstrated how the destination and departure points of some rendition flights were deliberately disguised.
Both the 2006 and 2007 Council of Europe reports cited the involvement of European governments in specific cases of rendition. The report criticized Italian and German involvement in the illegal transfer of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, kidnapped in Milan, Italy in February 2003.
On the day the report was released, the trial opened in Milan of 25 CIA operatives, one US Air Force officer and seven members of the Italian security services, accused of involvement in Abu Omar’s abduction and rendition. For over a year, Italian prosecutors had been asking their government to request the extradition of the US operatives, but the Italian government had not agreed to do so, and the trial opened without any of the US defendants present. The trial was then suspended because the Italian government petitioned the court to drop the charges on the grounds that prosecutors had violated state secrecy laws in gathering evidence against the security services, including by using wiretaps and classified documents. The Constitutional Court will hear arguments on this petition, and was expected to rule in October.
The Council of Europe report also discussed the case of German citizen Khalid el-Masri, who was apprehended in Macedonia and held there for three weeks before being flown to a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan. German authorities issued arrest warrants in January against 10 CIA agents implicated in Khaled el-Masri’s rendition. Prosecutors wanted the agents to be extradited to Germany to stand trial. US officials had made emphatically clear that if asked, they would refuse to extradite their nationals to stand trial in either Italy or Germany.
The report’s key recommendations included urging European states to:
- establish parliamentary and/or judicial oversight of both domestic and foreign intelligence agencies and other secret services operating on their territories;
- ensure that state secrecy cannot be used to shield "evidence concerning the civil, criminal or political liability of the State’s representatives for grave human rights violations";
- ensure that the victims of rendition and secret detention are fittingly rehabilitated and compensated;
- establish a "genuine European parliamentary inquiry mechanism" guided in particular "by the Canadian procedures followed in the case of Maher Arar and by national parliamentary inquiry procedures such as the rules of the German Bundestag commissions of inquiry providing for the possibility of the commission’s appointing a special investigator";
- ensure that controls sufficient to prevent illegal detainee transfers are established over both civilian and state aircraft transiting European airspace.
AI’s recommendations
AI urges the members of the Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly (PACE), its Committee of Ministers and the 47 member states to take concrete action to ensure that the truth about their involvement in secret detention and unlawful detainee transfers is revealed to the public, those responsible for human rights violations are brought to justice, and effective control is established over foreign and national security services, so that such abuses never happen again.
In particular AI calls for the following actions to be taken:
Respect for human rights and the rule of law demand no less. Our future collective and individual security depends on it.
ALBANIA
Background
Local elections took place on 18 February, following a campaign period accompanied by arguments about technical aspects of the voting procedure, and mutual accusations of malpractices and corruption. The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) criticized the hate-speech used by political parties and their exaggerated promises to the electorate. The elections took place, nonetheless, without major disturbances.
In April the Minister for Integration initiated a review of the national action plan towards implementing the commitments made in a Stabilization and Association Agreement which had been ratified by the European Parliament in September 2006.
In May the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) applauded the progress made by Albania since joining the Council of Europe in 1995, but urged the authorities inter alia to adopt without delay amendments to the Civil and Criminal Codes to decriminalize libel and reform civil defamation provisions; to "enforce speedily" recommendations made in July 2006 by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) and ensure the effective implementation of the Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities. The PACE also called on Albania to "implement effectively" the law on the prevention of domestic violence.
By the end of June, government and opposition leaders had failed to agree on a presidential candidate to replace President Alfred Moisiu, whose mandate was due to expire on July 24.
Death Penalty
On 6 February Albania officially ratified Protocol 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), thereby abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances. In April Parliament subsequently adopted amendments to the Military Criminal Code revoking all provisions providing for the death penalty, which had been abolished for ordinary crimes in 2000.
Torture and ill-treatment
Amendments to Article 86 of the Criminal Code (CC) ("Torture and any other degrading or inhuman treatment") introduced in February adopted the definition of torture as set out in the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention). The previous wording of Article 86 had been so vague that it failed to define the elements of the crime of torture and ill-treatment, and consequently had been criticized in 2005 by the UN Committee against Torture, which called for its amendment. The minimum penalty for this offence was reduced from five to four years’ imprisonment; the maximum penalty remained 10 years’ imprisonment, except in cases resulting in permanent injury or death which was punishable under Article 87 by up to 20 years’ imprisonment.
However, other articles of the CC under which those suspected of torture and ill-treatment (not resulting in death or permanent injury) have previously been indicted, in particular Article 250 ("arbitrary acts) were not abolished or amended. AI was concerned that in practice police who ill-treat detainees may continue to be charged with such offences, which are generally punished by non-custodial penalties – fines or suspended prison sentences. (In separate trial proceedings before Tirana District Court two police officers were convicted of "arbitrary acts" in February and May respectively, and sentenced to fines.)
At the end of the period under review the Albanian authorities had not yet given the CPT permission to publish its report on its visit to Albania in March 2006.
Police custody
According to a press report, at a meeting in January with the Ministry of the Interior to review the work of the police during 2006, the Ombudsperson referred to 18 complaints received concerning ill-treatment by police, of which six, on investigation, had been found to be justified. There had also been 149 other complaints, relating to breaches of procedure, arbitrary fines, corruption, or other forms of misconduct. The Ombudsperson reportedly cited a case which had occurred a few days earlier, in which three men were taken to Tirana police station no.3 for an administrative check of their identity, despite the fact that they had their identification documents. They were held at the police station from midnight until 9.30am without any check or questioning. According to the Ombudsperson, after 9.30am they were questioned by police and beaten with a plastic hose: "An examination of them showed clear marks of the violence used by the police officers".
The case of Eriguert Ceka (Update to AI Index: EUR 11/005/2005)
On 23 January Mirdita District Court issued its ruling in a civil compensation suit brought by the mother of Eriguert Ceka, who died following ill-treatment in police custody in July 2004. The Court ordered Mirdita Police Station to pay Eriguert Ceka’s mother 2,301,750 leks’ compensation (approximately 19, 208 euro) for the death of her son and for the pain and suffering caused by her loss.
In May 2004 Eriguert Ceka, aged 17, was arrested and remanded in custody on a charge of theft at Mirdita Police Station. On 5 July 2004 he became severely ill, and in the early hours of the next morning – after he had fallen into a coma - he was taken to Tirana Military Hospital where he died on 8 July 2004.
On 10 December 2004 Tirana District Court convicted Gjon Reçi, a police officer on duty in the remand section of Mirdita Police Station, of contravening guard service rules, but failed to establish how Eriguert Ceka had died. Gjon Reçi was sentenced to a year’s imprisonment, reduced to eight months. However, on 18 January 2005 Tirana Military Appeal Court found that Gjon Reçi had hit Eriguert Ceka, causing him to fall and injure his head, and that his death was caused by this injury. The Court convicted Gjon Reçi of "contravening guard service regulations with serious consequences" and sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment. However, Gjon Reçi had already been released after serving eight months’ imprisonment, and the Court suspended the remainder of his sentence.
Conditions of detention and prisons
In January the Ombudsman called on the Director General of Prisons to take measures against the ill-treatment of prisoners by guards; he referred to several incidents of ill-treatment, the most recent of which had taken place on 12 January at Rroghozhin¸ prison. Also in January, parliament adopted an amnesty law which resulted in the release of some 400 prisoners and a temporary reduction in prison over-crowding. However, by the end of June there were a reported 750 prisoners in prisons in excess of capacity.
By the end of February, responsibility for remand detention had finally been transferred from the Ministry of Interior to the Ministry of Justice, and many remand prisoners held in police stations had been moved to prisons. However, AHC monitors who visited remand facilities in Korça (attached to Korça police station) in April, while welcoming improvements in the treatment of detainees, also noted that conditions remained very poor. Cells were over-crowded (81 persons were held in cells with capacity for between 45 and 60 persons), and were humid, lacking in light and with inadequate ventilation. Little attention was paid to cleanliness or sanitation, and in the absence of beds detainees slept on mattresses on the floor. Medical care for detainees failed to meet the relevant regulations, while social workers or educationalists were not available in the facility.
In May the Ombudsperson reminded the Prime Minister of his undertaking to have telephone cabins installed in police stations and prisons to enable detainees who had been ill-treated to make complaints to the relevant ministries. He also called on the Minister of Justice to ensure that the Commission for Supervising the Execution of Prison Sentences resumed its functions. This Commission, to which prisoners may complain about violations of their rights, had reportedly not operated since 2005.
Also in May a draft of a new regulation governing the treatment of prisoners in prisons was sent to the Ministry of Justice. This reportedly provided for the education of prisoners who had not completed basic nine-year schooling, for improved access to family and lawyers, and the regulation of prisoners’ working conditions. It also provided for disciplinary measures for guards who ill-treated prisoners.
At the end of June new improved food rations for prisoners were introduced.
Enforced "disappearance" and impunity: the case of Remzi Hoxha – update to AI Index: EUR 01/005/2004
Little progress was reported in the investigation reopened in October 2006 into the "disappearance" of Remzi Hoxha, an Albanian from Macedonia, who was taken from his workplace in Tirana on 21 October 1995 by men in civilian clothes driving a car reportedly belonging to the National Information Service (ShIK), the secret police. In March the Albanian press reported that prosecutors investigating the disappearance of Remzi Hoxha considered that there was evidence to support a charge of "torture resulting in death", under Article 87 CC, an offence which was not amnestied in 1997 when many other offences, including "torture" (Article 86 CC) were amnestied. At the end of March, Arben Sefgjini, a former ShIK officer who had been arrested in 2003 in connection with Remzi Hoxha’s enforced disappearance, but was released in 2004 under the terms of the 1997 amnesty, was appointed Director General of the Office of Enforcement of Civil Court Decisions.
In February Albania was among 57 countries which signed the UN International Convention for the Protection of All People from Enforced Disappearances, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 December 2006.
Domestic violence – update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007
The law "On Measures against Violence in Family Relations" drafted by a coalition of domestic non governmental organizations (NGOs), and which had been adopted by the parliament in December 2006, entered into force on 1 June 2007. This civil law aims both to prevent such violence and to introduce procedures to give victims of domestic violence effective protection. Article 25 requires the government to issue enabling legislation within three months of the law coming into force (i.e. by 1 September); no progress in drafting such legislation was reported by the end of June.
A press report in February noted an increase in the reporting of domestic violence in the capital, Tirana, towards the end of December 2006 and throughout January 2007. However, prosecutors had reportedly expressed concerns that they were obliged to stop proceedings in all these cases because the injured party withdrew the complaint. Prosecutors and psychologists were apparently alarmed that failure to prosecute violent spouses might lead to further physical and psychological violence.
In March the chief of police for Elbasan held a meeting attended by the Director General of Police and other senior police, local government and education officials and NGOs, at which he noted an increase in reports of domestic violence in the district during the 15- month period covering 2006 and the first three months of 2007. According to the Chief of Police, out of 54 cases reported some 20 involved serious violence by men against their wives including two murders, two attempted murders, 11 threats, two woundings, two beatings and one case in which property was destroyed.
In April the Director General of State Police undertook to establish domestic violence units, as foreseen in the new law. A domestic violence unit was established within the Directorate of Serious Crimes, with overall responsibility for the establishment of such units in major centres of population. By June one such domestic violence unit had been set up in Tirana.
From March onwards the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) together with the Council of Europe and NGOs organized training for lawyers, judges, prosecutors and police.
Trafficking in human beings
On 6 February Albania ratified the Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. On 7 February OSCE officials and officials from the Albanian Ministries of the Interior, Tourism and Culture, Youth and Sport signed a memorandum which requires Albania to draft a code of conduct for tourist operators in Albania guaranteeing the protection of children from sexual exploitation. This code is to be based on the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism, a project initiated by the international NGO End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking (ECPAT), co-funded by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF and developed with the support of the World Tourism Organization.
Witness protection continued to be weak, although efforts at improvement were made. At the end of 2006 the Office for the Protection of Witnesses was up-graded to Directorate level, and in May 2007 Directorate employees received training on witness protection from the OSCE and the Police Assistance Mission of the European Commission to Albania (PAMECA). In April 2007 the Government approved standards for the treatment of victims of trafficking, proposed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. These covered social support, accommodation, information, medical, psychological and material care, education, employment, training and measures for social protection.
According to official statistics, during 2006 there were 103 prosecutions relating to charges of trafficking women for forced prostitution, and 11 to charges of trafficking children. Over the same period, 12 people were convicted of trafficking women for prostitution, and six people for trafficking children.
In January 2007 the Serious Crimes Court sentenced Fatos Kapllani and Arben Osmani to 16 and 15 years’ imprisonment respectively for trafficking children to Greece and forcing them to work as prostitutes or beggars. The court found that the two men had targeted families living in great poverty and persuaded the children’s parents to let them be trafficked, and that they had ill-treated children who resisted their orders. In February 2007 it was reported that two Albanian women, a Greek woman and a Greek lawyer had been arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece, on a charge of selling the baby of one of the Albanian women to a Greek couple.
Reported arrests and convictions of defendants accused of trafficking women for prostitution included the conviction of Spartak Balilaj by the Serious Crimes Court in January. The court found him guilty of trafficking his girlfriend in 2001 and forcing her to work as a prostitute in the UK. He was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment.
Access to Housing
AI appealed to the authorities in May following concerns that 15 people in the town of Korça, who were orphaned as children, the majority of them women in their twenties and thirties, would find themselves homeless, as they were due to be evicted from a student hall in which they had been living – in some cases for 15 years – in advance of its renovation (see AI Index: EUR 11/001/2007). A similar threat reportedly hung over some 40 other adults who were orphaned as children in Shkod¸r. The Albanian authorities had failed to ensure them adequate alternative accommodation in breach both of domestic law providing for orphans and Albania’s obligations under international and regional human rights standards.
Following demonstrations by the Korça orphans, the press on 2 June reported that the city authorities had decided to find temporary accommodation for them and to pay their rent pending a durable solution to their housing problems. However, the orphans themselves were reportedly not directly informed of this decision and remained wary of broken promises.
In the event, the orphans gained a further reprieve. Works on the student hall came to a halt later in June 2007, when the private firm entrusted with the renovation was deprived of its licence following an industrial accident at a student hall in Tirana for which it was held responsible.
Counter-terrorism
In June a report by Dick Marty for the PACE clarified Albania’s role in the unlawful rendition of Khaled el-Masri, a German national of Lebanese origin (see Partners in Crime: Europe’s role in US renditions, AI Index: EUR 01/008/2006). Khaled el-Masri had been unlawfully transferred to the US authorities in Macedonia and flown to Kabul where he had been held for over four months. He subsequently alleged that on his return he had been dropped on the Albanian side of the Macedonian border, before he was flown back to Germany from Tirana airport. Senator Marty, on the basis of flight reports, confirmed that Khaled el Masri was flown out of Kabul on 28 May 2004 on board a CIA-chartered Gulfstream aircraft to Berat-Kuçova Aerodrome, a military airbase in Albania, before being driven to the border in an apparent attempt to suggest that he had returned to Macedonia.
Eight men who had been unlawfully detained by the US authorities in Guantánamo Bay, including an Algerian, an Egyptian, an Uzbek and five Uighurs from China remained in Albania after the government in 2006 had agreed with the US government to provide them with asylum, following their release from detention. In June the Italian daily La Repubblica reported that the US State Department had asked Albania to give refuge to 15 other detainees, but that this request had been refused.
ARMENIA
Discrimination against religious minorities
AI received reports of physical attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses by unknown assailants, and is concerned that the reported failure to investigate and punish such crimes may contribute to a climate of impunity and intolerance.
On 28 February in the Shengavit suburb of the capital Yerevan, Jehovah’s Witnesses Ruben Khachaturian and Narine Gevorkian were reportedly beaten and allegedly threatened with being thrown out of a window by a neighbour living in the same block. On 13 March Jehovah’s Witness Vartan Gevorkian was reportedly attacked by unknown men in the street in Shengavit. His attackers were prevented from beating him by intervening passers-by. On 17 March a Jehovah’s Witness meeting in the village of Sevabert in Abovian region was allegedly interrupted when unknown men broke down the door, stole a music system and cut the electricity supply. Jehovah’s Witnesses have reported that police responses to these allegations have reportedly been non-existent or very slow.
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Yerevan also reported to AI that a youth organization by the name of ‘One Nation’ had been sticking up posters in Yerevan allegedly describing Jehovah’s Witnesses as ‘dangerous’. Representatives of the organization believed that this alleged activity, combined with a lack of successful prosecutions, contributed to a climate of impunity for physical attacks on Jehovah’s Witnesses. An AI delegate expressed concern regarding the allegations of the dissemination of hate speech directed against Jehovah’s Witnesses to the Head of Division for Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March; it was agreed that these allegations would be investigated
Human rights activists expressed concern at the adoption of a new law in February conferring a number of new rights on the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). The law followed an amendment introduced into the Constitution after the referendum of November 2005 affirming the AAC’s unique role in the spiritual life of the Armenian people. Armenian human rights activists expressed concern that the new law entrenched discrimination against organizations and individuals of other religious beliefs. The law confers upon the Armenian Apostolic Church a range of rights and benefits not available to other religious organizations and groups, including financial support from the state budget, the right to implement educational programmes in state education institutions, the right to have its official reports published in the media without changes, and recognition of weddings and divorces conducted by the AAC.
On 13 February the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published its Second Report on Armenia, which had been adopted on 30 June 2006. The report noted progress in the establishment of a Department of National Minorities and Religious Affairs entrusted with promoting minority languages and cultures, and in criminalizing hate crimes. However, the report also observed that despite progress with legislation on national minorities, no comprehensive body of civil and administrative provisions against discrimination has been adopted. According to the report current mechanisms do not allow for national minorities to access wider civil and political life in Armenia. The report also criticized the Law on Alternative Service as failing to provide a viable framework for an alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors, the majority of whom are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Conscientious objectors still imprisoned (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
Armenia continued to imprison conscientious objectors to military service, in defiance of its obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and despite the introduction of an alternative service to military service in national legislation in July 2004. Conscientious objectors continued to complain that in both its legislative framework and implementation, Armenia’s alternative service was under the supervision and control of the military and so did not constitute a real civilian alternative to military service.
Jehovah’s Witnesses informed Amnesty International that as of 1 June 2007 there were 75 Jehovah’s Witnesses imprisoned in Armenia (70 tried and convicted, five charged and in pre-trial detention). Numbers of conscientious objectors imprisoned have increased due to lengthened sentences and greater reluctance to release them on parole.
Death in custody of Levon Gulyan
On 12 May Levon Gulyan, a restaurant-owner in Yerevan, died in suspicious circumstances while in police custody. Levon Gulyan was detained for questioning on 10 May as a possible witness to an incident outside his restaurant earlier that evening, in which one man was shot dead. He was questioned until late in the evening on 10 May, then released for a few hours before being required to return the following morning. According to his relatives, he told the police questioning him that among the participants of the fight outside his restaurant he could only identify the murder victim, Stepan Vardanyan, the son of a local businessman. Having returned to the police station in the morning of 11 May Levon Gulyan was then held for 24 hours, before being released on 12 May for a few hours to return home and to vote in the general election. According to Levon Gulyan’s family, after presenting himself at the police station again on 12 May he was then taken to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Later that day at 5pm his family were informed of his death.
Ministry sources claim that Levon Gulyan died as a consequence of falling out of a third floor window, either as a result of an attempt to escape or to commit suicide. A number of human rights activists and his family members rejected these explanations and claimed that he died as a result of torture and ill-treatment. Relatives alleged that they had observed bruises on Levon Gulyan’s body on the occasions when he was allowed to come home after his initial detention. A forensic expert affiliated to the Armenian Helsinki Association, who was able to examine only photographs of Levon Gulyan’s body, also asserted that what he had seen was consistent with the family’s claim that Levon Gulyan had been tortured. An autopsy carried out by German and Danish experts concluded that while some of his injuries were consistent with a fall, some of the lesions present on his body could have been caused by blows to the body prior to a fall. The results of the official forensic examination carried out under the auspices of the Prosecutor’s Office, which were published on 31 May, supported the Ministry’s conclusion that Levon Gulyan’s injuries were consistent with a fall. Levon Gulyan’s relatives also claimed that journalists reporting on his death received anonymous death threats. The investigation was still under way at the end of the period under review.
Threats to freedom of expression
Civil society and human rights activists continued to express concern that although conditions for freedom of expression in the print media were relatively good, the electronic media remained overwhelmingly pro-governmental. Monitoring conducted by the Yerevan Press Club, a non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in media freedom, found significant bias towards pro-government parties across seven television channels during the campaign period prior to parliamentary elections in May. Moreover, many human rights activists and representatives of civil society believed that a number of opposition political figures were ‘black-listed’ by electronic media during the pre-election period and given no coverage, an observation supported by the Yerevan Press Club’s findings. Moves to reconfigure appointments to media regulatory bodies did not result in the intended decrease in presidential or ruling party influence in their composition. There were incidents of the harassment of independent journalists writing on themes of corruption and official malpractice, and the damaging of journalists’ property. An AI representative expressed concerns relating to issues of freedom of expression to the Head of Division for Human Rights and Humanitarian Issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in March.
The case of Gagik Shamshian (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
On 17 January the trial of Gagik Shamshian, a freelance correspondent for the Chorrord Ishkhanutyun (Fourth Power) and Aravot (Morning), newspapers began. Gagik Shamshian was charged with libel, fraud and extortion under Articles 136, 178 and 182 of the Armenian Criminal Code, charges brought against him shortly after he claimed to have been assaulted in the Nubarashen suburb of Yerevan by associates of the local mayor in July 2006. Gagik Shamshian told AI in March that he rejected all charges made against him. He stated that the six alleged victims of extortion were in fact all close associates of the local mayor. He also claimed that both judiciary and security forces personnel had tried to induce him to withdraw his allegations regarding the July assault against him, and that the local prosecutor had threatened him with a month’s incarceration in a psychiatric hospital. He had also received a number of threatening phone calls during the reporting period.
On 6 June the court sentenced Gagik Shamshian to a suspended sentence of two and a half years’ imprisonment with a probationary period of two years. He was further required to pay AMD 200,000 (approximately equivalent to US$590) in damages. The sentence related to the charge of fraud, while the other charges were rejected by the court. Proceedings instituted against Gagik Shamshian’s alleged attackers in 2006 by the Prosecutor’s Office of the Erebuni and Nubarashen suburbs had been dropped in November 2006 due to a reported lack of evidence. Gagik Shamshian challenged this decision in February, but the case was again closed on 5 February.
Freedom of assembly restricted
During the campaigning period preceding the 12 May parliamentary election, there were widespread and credible reports of administrative obstacles being used to forestall public rallies by opposition groups, such as the artificial booking up of public spaces for other activities and unreasonable delays in granting authorizations to hold demonstrations. On 9 May police reportedly used truncheons and tear gas to disperse several thousand participants at an opposition rally staged by the opposition parties Hanrapetutiun (Republic), Nor Zhamanakner (New Times) and Aylentrank (Alternative). Officials blamed what they called the ‘cynical and disrespectful’ behaviour of the protestors for the rally’s violent dispersal.
International scrutiny
Armenia in European Court of Human Rights judgments
In its first ruling on Armenia, on 11 January the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the 14 May 2002 arrest of plaintiff Armen Mkrtchian, after attending an opposition rally organized by the Hanrapetutiun party was a violation of the right to freedom of assembly. Significant numbers of protesters were detained under similar circumstances in February-March 2003 and April-May 2004.
PACE adopts resolutions on Armenia’s compliance with Council of Europe standards and the situation of women in the South Caucasus
On 23 January the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted resolution 1532 on the honouring of Armenia’s obligations and commitments as a member state of the Council of Europe. The Resolution welcomed a number of reforms in the Constitution which was amended as a result of the November 2005 referendum. These included the granting of a right of access to the Constitutional Court for ordinary citizens, the Ombudsman (also known as the Human Rights Defender), members of the National Assembly (subject to the support of the application by at least one-fifth of its total membership), local authorities and the courts,. The Resolution also welcomed the strengthening of the Ombudsman’s position represented by the incorporation of principles on the Ombudsman’s selection and tenure into the Constitution, and the end of practices of administrative detention. However, the Resolution also deplored continued allegations of ill-treatment in police custody and extortion perpetrated by police and the National Security Service. It also called for the Armenian authorities to implement their obligation to create a genuinely alternative civilian service for conscientious objectors. Concern was also expressed regarding excessive governmental influence in media regulatory bodies.
On 16 March the Standing Committee of PACE adopted on behalf of the Assembly Resolution 1544 (2007) and Recommendation 1790 (2007) on "the situation of women in the South Caucasus". The Resolution contained a call by PACE on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to take part in the Council of Europe campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. It also urged the authorities of these countries to "raise awareness among all relevant authorities and the public at large about the existence of violence against women, in particular domestic violence"; to "take effective measures to combat such violence by adopting legislation, if they have not already done so, including on marital rape, and by establishing penalties in line with the seriousness of the offences committed and providing compensation for victims, including by setting up a compensation fund"; and to "set up shelters for victims when there is no other way of protecting them against the perpetrators".
AZERBAIJAN
Harassment of religious minorities
On 13 January, Cengiz Hüseynov, a British citizen and Jehovah’s Witness arrested on 24 December 2006 while attending a Jehovah’s Witness religious meeting, was deported, allegedly for ‘engaging in religious propaganda’. Cengiz Hüseynov claimed that he had not been able to lodge an appeal against deportation. Equipment and literature confiscated during the December raid was reportedly not returned.
On 25 May the European Commission on Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published its second report on Azerbaijan. The report noted progress in the areas of education for children of non-citizens without legal status and the teaching of minority languages, and in the implementation of measures to improve the socio-economic situation of internally displaced persons and refugees. However, the report also expressed concern at instances of inflammatory rhetoric and hate-speech directed against Armenians, Russian citizens of Chechen ethnicity and some religious groups.
In May AI received reports of discrimination against the Evangelical Baptist Church in the village of Aliabad in the ethnic Georgian-populated district of Zaqatala. This region is known as Saingilo to the local Georgian-speaking population, Muslim representatives of which are known as Ingilos. The Baptist Church, whose congregation is made up of Christian converts from the Ingilo population, has been denied legal status in Azerbaijan for 13 years and there have been repeated reports of harassment directed against it. On 20 May the Church’s minister, Zaur Balaev, was arrested on charges of violently resisting the police, charges which he and human rights activists in Georgia and Azerbaijan claimed were false. Relatives making enquiries at the Zaqatala police station where he was being held were allegedly beaten and not permitted to visit him. According to reports Zaur Balaev’s health deteriorated following his arrest and in mid-June he was transferred to the hospital unit of the prison in the city of Gəncə. Zaur Balaev was still in detention at the end of the period under review.
No respite for journalists as freedom of expression continued to be curtailed (update to AI Index EUR 55/003/2007)
A number of opposition and independent newspapers were prosecuted under libel and insult laws. In several cases charges of libel related to published allegations of corruption and abuse of office by state officials. One journalist was seriously assaulted by unknown men. AI also received persistent reports of the routine use by police of undue force in preventing journalists from reporting or filming public events such as authorized and unauthorized opposition party rallies, and dispersing demonstrations organized by journalists. There were also persistent reports that journalists associated with opposition media were not admitted to report on trials with a substantial political content, such as that of former Minister of Health Ali Insanov, whereas journalists reporting for media associated with the government were freely admitted.
On 14 June a reported 200 policemen dispersed an unauthorized rally by some 50 journalists protesting government curtailment of freedom of speech. According to reports, journalists were kicked and punched, and one had to be hospitalized with stomach injuries.
There were some positive developments. In early February the Court of Appeals reduced fines imposed on the opposition Azadlýq (Freedom) newspaper for articles printed in the newspaper allegedly libelling state officials in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the armed forces. On 27 April the National Television and Radio Council granted a six-year licence to the television channel ANS, which had been temporarily taken off air in November 2005 as a result of alleged violations of industry standards. However, on 3 February Economic Court No.1 rejected the appeal of opposition daily newspaper Azadlýq, the news agency Turan and the opposition newspaper Bizim Yol (Our Way), which were required to vacate their premises at 33 Xagani Street in the Azerbaijani capital Baku on 24 November 2006. These outlets were offered alternative premises after eviction from 33 Xagani Street which they claimed was inadequate. A cassation complaint against Court No.1’s decision was rejected by the Supreme Court on 25 May.
The case of Faramaz Novruzoðlu and Sardar Alibeylý
Despite President Ilham Aliyev’s call for reduced application of Azerbaijan’s libel and insult laws to imprison journalists, on 30 January journalist Faramaz Novruzoðlu (also known by the surname Allahverdiev) and editor-in-chief Sardar Alibeylý of the Nota Bene (Note Well) newspaper were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and one and a half year’s corrective labour respectively. Their appeal was rejected by the Court of Appeals on 13 April. The case was brought against the Nota Bene newspaper by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Lt.-Gen. Ramil Usubov, and chair of the State Committee for Work with the Diaspora, Nazim Ibrahimov. The charges related to two articles written by Faramaz Novruzoðlu and published in Nota Bene in December 2006. Based on ‘undisclosed’ sources the first article alleged the involvement of the head of the presidential administration Ramiz Mehtiəv and Nazim Ibrahimov in claims made on Turkish television relating to the personal life of Vasif Talybov, head of the administration of the Autonomous Republic of Naxçivan, while the second reportedly speculated on the Minister of Internal Affairs’ relations with previous president Heydar Aliyev. Without taking a position of the content of the articles authored by Faramaz Novruzoðlu, it is a source of concern that journalists continue to be imprisoned on account of published articles.
The case of Eynulla Fatullayev and the Realny Azerbaydzhan and Gündelik Azərbaycan newspapers (update to AI Index: EUR 55/008/2007)
A persistent campaign targeting Eynulla Fatullayev, an outspoken opposition journalist and editor of the opposition Realny Azerbaydzhan (Real Azerbaijan) and Gündelik Azərbaycan (Azerbaijan Daily) newspapers, culminated in his imprisonment in April on charges of libel and insult and the closure of both newspapers. AI considers Eynulla Fatullayev a prisoner of conscience.
In a separate incident on the night of 20 April an editor and military affairs reporter for Gündelik Azərbaycan, Uzeyir Jafarov, was assaulted by two men as he left the newspaper offices. He was hit about the face and head with metal objects; reportedly, his attackers drew a knife but withdrew after seeing other staff from the newspaper coming to his assistance. Uzeyir Jafarov was hospitalized and was treated with stitches. According to reports he recognized one of his attackers as having been present during the court proceedings against Eynulla Fatullayev. Earlier that day Uzeyir Jafarov had testified in defence of Eynulla Fatullayev.
One month after Eynulla Fatullayev’s sentencing to two years’ imprisonment on 20 April, the premises held by the Realny Azerbaydzhan and Gündelik Azərbaycan newspapers were targeted by a series of inspections by state agents apparently aimed at shutting both newspapers down. On 20 May staff from the Ministry of Emergency Situations conducted an operation removing the employees of both newspapers and sealing their offices shut on grounds of structural deficiency; the newspapers’ technical equipment was not removed. According to reports, the building is a recent construction and residents inhabiting apartments in its upper floors were not asked to move out. On 25 May the offices’ landlord cancelled the rental agreement with Realny Azerbaydzhan and Gündelik Azərbaycan and all remaining property belonging to the newspapers and their staff was removed from the building by police. The equipment was returned to the newspapers.
State investigators on 22 May instituted a new criminal case against Eynulla Fatullayev under Article 214.1 of the Criminal Code (perpetration or incitement of terrorist acts), punishable by up to 12 years’ imprisonment. The charges related to an article published in Realny Azerbaydzhan on 30 March, which criticized the Azerbaijani government’s support for the UN Security Council resolution on Iran. The article then listed a series of strategic objects which could become targets of Iranian military action if hostilities were to open between Iran and Azerbaijan. State Prosecutor Zakir Qaralov claimed this constituted a threat of terrorist action against Azerbaijan. At a hearing in the Court of Appeals on 6 June, Eynulla Fatullayev reported that a gun had been pressed to his head while he was being transferred from Bayil Prison to the detention centre of the Ministry of National Security on 29 May, and that in his new place of detention he was being denied food and water.
The case of Rovºan Kebirli and Yaºar Agazade
On 16 May Yasamal District Court sentenced editor-in-chief Rovºan Kebirli and journalist Yaºar Agazade of the opposition daily newspaper Müxalifət (Dissent) to two and a half years’ imprisonment each for ‘libel and insult’. The charges related to a February article alleging the abuse of political connections in the import-export business run by Jalal Aliyev, the uncle of President Ilham Aliyev.
The case of Bextiyar Haciəv
On 13 January Bextiyar Haciəv, a youth activist and chair of the local chapter of the international students organization AIESEC (an acronym originally standing for Association des Étudiants en Sciences Économiques et Commerciales), was arrested and then reportedly held in solitary confinement in the Narimanov district police station in Baku. He was charged with refusal to cooperate with the police, a charge which he denied. On 14 January Bextiyar Haciəv was sentenced to 12 days’ imprisonment by the Narimanov district court after a closed court session taking place on Sunday night. Reportedly, Bextiyar Haciəv had no legal representation at the hearing. He was, however, released two days later. He attributed his arrest to his initiation of a recent campaign against corruption in higher education institutions in Azerbaijan. He had also founded a website entitled www.susmayaq.biz (meaning ‘let’s not remain silent’ in Azeri) as a platform for protests against price rises in fuel and communal services announced by the Azerbaijani Tariff Council on 8 January. The website posted petitions and messages of protest against the price rises and was closed after only two days.
The case of Rafig Taði and Samir Sadagatoðlu (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
On 4 May journalist Rafig Taði and editor Samir Sadagatoðlu of the independent newspaper Senet (Art) were sentenced to three and four years’ imprisonment respectively under Article 283.1 of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code (incitement of national, racial or religious hatred). The charges related an article published in the newspaper in November 2006 entitled ‘Europe and Us’, in which it was claimed that Islam had hindered Azerbaijan’s economic and political development. The article did not advocate violence.
Human rights activists intimidated
AI received reports of the harassment of human rights activists, which they believed was directed at intimidating them in order to curtail their activities for human rights. On 18 April Javid Aliəv, the son of Akifa Aliəva, Gəncə coordinator for the Helsinki Citizens Assembly, was stopped by traffic police for hanging a curtain in the back window of his car. When Javid Aliəv asked the policemen to refrain from using obscene language and to identify themselves, he was arrested on grounds of resisting the police. His family were not informed of the arrest, nor was Javid Aliəv permitted to call his family. On 19 April he was sentenced to three days’ imprisonment at a hearing during which he was not permitted access to a lawyer. Akifa Aliəva had received threats from police officers in 2006 that her human rights activism was putting her children in danger; two days before her son’s arrest she had submitted a report on human rights violations to the United States embassy in Azerbaijan.
The Yeni Fikir case (update to AI Indexes: EUR 01/017/2006, EUR 55/004/2006 and EUR 01/001/2007)
A presidential decree annulled the five year suspended sentence given to Said Nuri, a member of the Yeni Fikir (New Idea) youth movement arrested on 12 September 2005 on charges of conspiring to violently overthrow the Azerbaijan government. In June, the father of Yeni Fikir leader Ruslan Baºirli, sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment on the same charge in July 2006, claimed that his son was being subjected to mental and physical abuse in prison.
Allegations of torture and other ill-treatment
National Committee against Torture presents findings
According to the annual report issued by the non-governmental organization the National Committee against Torture on 6 February, 10 people died of torture and ill-treatment in Azerbaijan in 2006, while a further 43 cases of torture and ill-treatment were documented by the organization. No instances of disciplinary action other than the demotion of some officials involved in cases of torture and ill-treatment were recorded in the report. Some improvements were noted, however, in the standards of food, medical treatment and living conditions of prisoners administered by the Ministry of Justice.#
Allegations of torture not investigated as trial of three minors reached conclusion (update to AI Index: EUR 55/007/2007)
On 18 June the Court of Grave Crimes sentenced teenagers Dmitri Pavlov, Maksim Genashilkin and Ruslan Bessonov, charged with the murder of another teenager Vusal Zeynalov, to 10 years’ imprisonment in a strict regime prison, after an unfair trial. The three boys continued to deny the charge. The verdict attributed primary responsibility to Dmitri Pavlov, despite the fact that witnesses providing an alibi for him had testified during the trial. According to the boys’ families, both Dmitri Pavlov and Maksim Genashilkin had been beaten by Procuracy officials in the days preceding the hearing and bore bruises on their faces and necks. No investigation of these allegations was initiated by the authorities. The boys’ parents claim that the trial had been characterized by multiple irregularities. They told AI that the alleged time of the murder had shifted on a number of occasions in the light of the alibis presented during the trial, and that they believed forensic evidence had been artificially manufactured. The boys continued to be detained in pre-trial detention facilities pending their appeal.
Conditions in Qobustan still a concern
Three deaths in custody, hunger strikes, living conditions and the failure of the authorities at the maximum security prison in Qobustan to protect inmates from violence by other prisoners, including those reportedly suffering from mental illness, continued to be sources of concern. No progress was made in the investigation of the death of Maxir Mustafaəv, who died of burns in December 2006 (see AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007).
In February reports were received that prisoner Mexman Muradov had cut open his stomach in order to protest his continued serving of a life sentence as opposed to having his sentence commuted to 15 years. Allegedly, he did not receive adequate medical care for his injuries.
On 17 February lifer Ayaz Imanov died in his cell after a three-day meeting with his mother and sister, who alleged he was in good health. Prison staff suggested that he may have died of an overdose, although Ayaz Imanov was not reported as having a history of drugs use.
On 16 June lifer Famil Mirzoev was murdered in his cell in Qobustan’s medical unit. His throat had been cut. According to information supplied by relatives, Famil Mirzoev was sharing his cell with three other prisoners including one with a history of mental illness. According to reports, this prisoner had already been identified by a monitoring group and other prisoners as a prisoner at risk of self-harm or harming others, yet he was not separated from other inmates.
On 17 February prisoners serving life sentences and their relatives sent an appeal to President Ilham Aliyev to intervene to improve prison conditions in Qobustan. The appeal cited cases of deaths in custody, torture and failure to administer necessary medical care; there were some 130 prisoners serving life sentences at the time
International Scrutiny
Council of Europe, OSCE express concerns
On 16 April the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe passed resolution 1545 (2007) on Azerbaijan’s honouring of commitments and obligations as a Council of Europe member state. The resolution noted that the Assembly could ‘not consider the issue of political prisoners to have been finally resolved’. The resolution noted the presidential decree of 19 March pardoning 14 individuals appearing on a list drawn up by the task force established in 2005, comprised of representatives of government and civil society. However, it also called for greater activity on the part of the task force in its review of outstanding cases. The resolution further noted the Assembly’s serious concerns with regard to continued violent incidents directed against journalists, and urged the Azerbaijani authorities to decriminalize defamation.
On 17 May Miklós Haraszti, the Representative for the Freedom of the Media for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), expressed concern at the continuing imprisonment of journalists for libel and insult. He said that Azerbaijan had become one of the most dangerous places for journalists in the OSCE region.
Azerbaijan in European Court of Human Rights judgments
On 11 January the European Court of Human Rights issued a Chamber judgment on the case of Mammadov (Jalaloðlu) vs Azerbaijan. The case related to the treatment of Sardar Mammədov (known more widely by the name of Sardar Jalaloðlu), who was arrested on 18 October 2003 when serving as Secretary General of the opposition Democratic Party of Azerbaijan (DPA). The European Court ruled that Articles 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of torture and investigation into allegations of torture) and 13 (the right to effective remedy) had been violated in Sardar Mammədov’s case.
On 1 February the European Court issued a judgement ruling that the right to freedom of assembly and association (Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights) had been violated by the four-year delay in the registration of the non-governmental organization (NGO) ‘Assistance to the Human Rights Protection of the Homeless and Vulnerable Residents of Baku’ by the Ministry of Justice.
Refugee and extradition concerns
On 10 January the Council for Chechen Refugees in Azerbaijan addressed an appeal to UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR. The appeal described what the Council saw as a seriously worsening situation for Russian citizens of Chechen ethnicity seeking refuge in Azerbaijan, including incidents of abduction and officially sanctioned intolerance. There were reportedly more than 4,000 Russian citizens of Chechen ethnicity in Azerbaijan during the period under review, of which 2,500 were reported as having been registered by the Baku Office of UNHCR. In April it was reported by Chechenpress that the body of Ruslan Eliyev, a refugee from the Russian Federation granted mandate status by UNHCR’s Azerbaijan office and then abducted from Baku on 9 November 2006, had been found among a number of mutilated bodies discovered in the Samashki forest in Chechnya. It was reported that his body bore the marks of severe torture and ill-treatment.
The case of Hadi Musevi
Hadi Sid Javad Musevi, an Iranian citizen and activist of the Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement (SANAM), was arrested on 7 April and on 12 April extradited to Iran despite the risk of torture or other ill-treatment. Hadi Musevi fled Iran for Azerbaijan in September 2006 after previously being arrested and reportedly tortured in connection with activities associated with SANAM, an organization lobbying for the rights of Iran’s estimated 25-30 million ethnic Azeris. SANAM is an organization registered with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and does not advocate violence. Hadi Musevi’s application for refugee status was refused by the State Committee for Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons in February. Hadi Musevi’s lawyer, Alovsat Aliəv, reported that he had been prevented from meeting his client, who he claimed was not given the opportunity to lodge an appeal against extradition at the Court of Appeals. A protest action planned on 16 April by the youth group Dalða (Wave) in response to Hadi Musevi’s deportation was dispersed by police.
The case of Elif Pelit (update to AI Index EUR 01/001/2007)
On 1 May the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT) issued a decision relating to the case of Elif Pelit, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish ethnicity extradited by Azerbaijan to Turkey on 13 October 2006. The Committee ruled that Elif Pelit’s extradition was in breach of Article 3 (against the refoulement of persons to states where there is substantial risk of their being subjected to torture) of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
PACE resolution on the situation of women in the South Caucasus
On 16 March the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted on behalf of the Assembly Resolution 1544 (2007) and Recommendation 1790 (2007) on "the situation of women in the South Caucasus". The Resolution contained a call by PACE on Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to take part in the Council of Europe campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence. It also urged the authorities of these countries to "raise awareness among all relevant authorities and the public at large about the existence of violence against women, in particular domestic violence"; to "take effective measures to combat such violence by adopting legislation, if they have not already done so, including on marital rape, and by establishing penalties in line with the seriousness of the offences committed and providing compensation for victims, including by setting up a compensation fund"; and to "set up shelters for victims when there is no other way of protecting them against the perpetrators".
BELARUS
International concern about human rights in Belarus
In a resolution on the "State of Human Rights and Democracy in Europe", adopted on 18 April, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe identified Belarus as "a country of particular concern where democratic principles and the rule of law had not yet been implemented". On 17 May, UN Member States did not vote in favour of the candidacy of Belarus for the UN Human Rights Council. General Assembly resolution 60/251, establishing the Human Rights Council, stipulates that when electing members of the Council, Member States "shall take into account the contribution of candidates to the promotion and protection of human rights and their voluntary pledges and commitments".
Freedom of Expression
The authorities continued to harass opposition activists by detaining them and charging them under both the Administrative and Criminal Codes in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and assembly. Opposition activists were targeted during the preparations for the Freedom Day march on 25 March. The date is the anniversary of the creation of the Belarusian People's Republic in 1918, and is not recognized by the government, but is celebrated as a symbol of national pride by opposition members. Prominent opposition activists, Vintsuk Vyachorka, and Vyachaslau Siuchyk, alleged that they were detained and charged under the Administrative Code to hamper their activities. Vintsuk Vyachorka was arrested on March 13 at the entrance to his home and charged with using obscene language. Police initially detained Vyacheslav Siuchyk for his likeness to a known criminal and then charged him with urinating on the street. Both politicians denied these charges. At separate trials on 4 April both were found guilty of petty hooliganism, but the judge did not impose a fine or detention because the offences were so "insignificant". According to local human rights activists police used fists and batons against the demonstrators on 25 March in an effort to stop them gathering on October Square in the centre of the capital city of Minsk. Some 50 to 60 demonstrators were reportedly detained, and subsequently sentenced by a court to up to 15 days’ administrative detention.
On 3 April, Andrei Klimov, an opposition leader, was arrested and accused of "calling for the overthrow or the change of the constitutional order with the aid of the mass media." He had published a number of articles on the internet calling for peaceful change of government. In July, he remained in detention awaiting trial, and facing a potential prison sentence of two years.
On 26 April, after the traditional "Chernobyl Way" march in commemoration of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster, police reportedly used force to disperse the participants, and detained several dozen demonstrators briefly.
On 29 May, five members of a non-governmental youth organization named Malady Front (Young Front) were convicted under Article 193, Part 1 for ‘organizing or participating in an activity of an unregistered non-governmental organization’. Four of the accused were fined and the fifth member of the group received an official warning. AI continues to campaign for the release of Zmitser Dashkevich, a leader of Malady Front who was sentenced to one and half years’ of imprisonment under article 193, Part 1 in November 2006 (see AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007).
Human Rights Defenders
Belarusian Helsinki Committee (Update to AI Index: EUR 01/017/2006)
Pressure against Belarus’ only remaining national registered human rights organization continued. On 19 December 2006, the property department of the presidential administration informed the organization that they must vacate their office premises by 20 January 2007. However, after considerable international pressure, the Presidential Administration granted them an extension of the lease on their office for a further year on 31 January.
The courts continued to hand down death sentences and to carry out executions. There were no figures available for the number of executions carried out in the period under review. Execution is by a gunshot to the back of the head, and relatives are not officially told of the date of the execution or where the body is buried. According to press reports, on 22 May the Supreme Court imposed a death sentence on Alyaksandr Syarheychyk. He was convicted of six murders, of concealing a murder as well as rape, theft, malicious hooliganism, and several other offences.
Restrictions on Religious communities
Restrictions on religious communities continued. Under the restrictive 2002 Religion Law, only registered nation-wide religious associations have the right to establish monasteries, missions and educational institutions, as well as to invite foreign citizens to preach or conduct other religious activity in Belarus. State permission is required to hold religious services in non-religious buildings, yet communities such as Protestant churches which do not own their own property find it increasingly difficult to rent property.
In June AI wrote to the Prosecutor General concerning Jaroslaw Lukasik, a Protestant pastor and member of the Union of Evangelical Faith Christians. Jaroslaw Lukasik had been detained on 27 May when police raided a church service that was being held in the home of Pastor Antoni Bokun of the John the Baptist Pentecostal Church. He was released the same day after the Polish consul visited the police station. On 30 May he was sentenced under Article 23 (43) of the Code of Administrative Infringements for holding an unsanctioned meeting, and engaging in "illegal religious activity". He was issued with a deportation order and fined one month’s salary. Jaroslaw Lukasik is a Polish citizen who has been resident in Belarus since 1999, and his wife and three children are all Belarusian citizens. AI was concerned that Jaroslaw Lukasik had been found guilty of offences that amounted to no more than the peaceful exercise of a number of rights including the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and the rights to freedom of expression, and to peaceful assembly. The organization called on the Belarusian government to rescind the order for Jaroslaw Lukasik’s deportation, but Jaroslaw Lukasik was deported regardless on 8 June.
Allegations of police ill-treatment
Allegations of ill-treatment by law enforcement officers were made in connection with attempts to forcibly expel the Tahiri family from Belgium to Albania on 5 June, following their failed asylum claim. On the night of 4 June the family were allegedly held in an isolation cell at the detention centre of Steenokkerzeel 127bis in Brussels, where they were allegedly harassed throughout the night by staff from the centre telling them to "prepare to return", which prevented them from being able to sleep.
According to the testimony of Naim Tahiri, at 4.30am numerous police officers arrived at the detention centre to take the family to the Zaventem airport. At this time, the family members were separated and the baby was taken by social service workers, despite Naim Tahiri and Etleva Tahiri’s protests. Naim Tahiri claims that he and his wife were insulted and threatened by police officers who told them the expulsion would be more aggressive and they would be drugged (by injection) if they did not cooperate. Naim Tahir was tied by the ankles, thighs and waist with adhesive tape. Etleva Tahiri was made to strip naked and was humiliated and insulted. Her arm was twisted.
They were allegedly carried on to the plane by police officers and once on board the officers tried to silence them using violent means. Naim Tahiri was beaten by officers present while being restrained by the neck. Two other people were being expelled on the same flight and became distressed by witnessing the incident. Their shouts attracted the attention of other passengers boarding the flight who demanded that the police officers cease their use of violence.
The attempted expulsion was aborted and the Tahiri family was returned to the detention centre. During the return journey Naim Tahiri states that he was kicked and he and his wife were insulted by officers again. He claims the three family members were separated again and on return to the detention centre they did not receive a medical examination.
On 11 June the Tahiri family was transferred to the Merksplas detention centre near Anvers. Two non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the Ligue des droites de l’Homme and CIRE have made a complaint with the police inspectorate (Comité P) regarding the ill-treatment suffered by the family during the expulsion attempt. The family’s lawyer intends to make a criminal complaint and has made a request for subsidiary protection. At the time of going to print the family was still awaiting deportation.
In a separate incident, four police officers from Bruxelles-Ixelles were charged on 25 June for assaulting a detainee, according to media reports. It is alleged he was punched and kicked by the four officers after being detained for "suspicious behaviour" but he was not charged with any crime. After an internal hearing by the police on 25 June the suspects appeared before the public prosecutor who has sent the case directly on to the criminal court to be heard in October, without being investigated by an investigating judge. The officers are currently suspended from duty pending the outcome of the case. One of the officers is also accused of ill-treatment in another case.
Asylum
New asylum legislation (see AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007) came into full effect from 1 June. The change in asylum request procedures aims to have all claims resolved within 12 months of presentation and transfers competency for first instance decisions on asylum requests from the Aliens’ Affairs Department (l’Office des étrangers) to the Commissioner General’s Office for Refugees and Stateless People (Commissariat general aux réfugiés et aux apatrides, CGRA). Appeals will be heard by a newly created independent body, the Council for Aliens’ Disputes (Conseil du contentieux des étrangers). A spokesperson for UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, has raised concerns that the new procedures are more formalised than the previous process, rely more heavily on written submissions and have shorter submission deadlines. As a result, asylum-seekers may be at greater need of specialist legal representation which, particularly in the case of those held in detention centres, can be difficult to obtain. The new law also increases the grounds on which asylum-seekers can be held in detention.
The new law has also been criticised by human rights organisations, particularly those working with migrants, for failing to address the problems of irregular migrants seeking regularisation of their status.
According to figures cited in the press, the number of asylum demands fell by 27 per cent in 2006 compared to 2005, to produce a total of 14,648. This is the lowest figure in 15 years and follows a consistent falling tendency seen since 2000. There are estimated to be around 100,000 irregular migrants in Belgium.
According to media reports 16 of the Afghan asylum-seekers occupying the Minimes church in Brussels (believed to be between 60 and 100 people in total) went on hunger strike in March, protesting at the difference in treatment of Afghan asylum-seekers arriving before and after 2003. Those arriving before 2003 had been entitled to a renewable six-month residence permit which was frequently replaced by permits of undetermined duration after two years. Those arriving after 2003 were not entitled to such measures, although they still had the right to seek asylum. The hunger strike ceased after assurances were given that their claims for asylum and/or subsidiary protection would be heard. AI does not have any further information on whether their asylum claims were accepted.
In June, the case of an Iraqi couple seeking asylum in Belgium came to public attention. In December 2004 they fled Iraq, describing how they had suffered death threats as a result of sectarian conflict, and travelled to Greece where they were detained for three months on the grounds of illegal entry. They applied for asylum, but this was rejected in the first instance decision. They were unable to appeal because Greece has suspended all decision-making on Iraqi cases at the appeal level since 2003. They were ordered to leave the country.
In November 2005, the couple travelled to Belgium, where their son was living legally. On arrival they applied for asylum and were held in detention by the Belgian authorities, who argued that Greece was responsible for their asylum claim under the so-called Dublin II Regulation, which establishes criteria and mechanisms for determining which European Union (EU) state will examine an asylum application. The Belgian authorities sent the couple back to Greece, where they were held for two weeks at the airport before being issued with an order to leave the territory on the grounds that their case had already been decided on and was closed.
In 2007 they travelled to Belgium again and were detained upon arrival on February 7. UNHCR has called on the Belgian authorities to allow the couple to remain. On 8 June a final decision was made by the Belgian authorities and they were released from detention on 15 June. At the time of writing AI was not aware of whether they had been granted asylum or not.
Children continued to be detained in closed centres for failed asylum-seekers and irregular migrants pending return to their country of origin. A study published in April, commissioned by the Minister of the Interior, concluded that such centres were not suitably equipped for the detention of children and that child-friendly family centres should be created. The report failed to analyse possible alternatives to detention for children.
Discrimination
On 20 June the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Against Racism (Centre pour l’égalité des chances et la lutte contre le racisme, CECLR,) published its annual report. In 2006 it recorded 20 complaints of racism and anti-Semitism under judicial investigation. It received a total of 1,649 complaints of discrimination, racism and incitement to hatred during the year, of which 40 per cent were racially or ethnically motivated. Racial or ethnic discrimination featured in 50 per cent of cases relating to employment. Complaints of anti-Semitism on the internet doubled. The CECLR also looked into cases of discrimination on the grounds of disability and sexual orientation.
New legislation came into force from 30 May aimed at combating discrimination. A public education campaign against discrimination was launched on 1 June.
Counter-terrorism (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
On 19 April the Supreme Court quashed the convictions in the case of Bahar Kimyongur and others, on the grounds that a statement made by the trial judge (Freddy Troch) gave rise to an appearance of partiality in the proceedings. A re-trial has been ordered which will be conducted by the Court of Appeal in Anvers, expected to commence in September 2007.
On 28 February 2006, Bahar Kimyongur and six other people (Kaya Saz, Musa Asoglu, Sükriye Akar, Fehriye Erdal, Zerin Sari, and Dursun Karatas) were convicted by Bruges Criminal Court to between four and six years’ imprisonment (later increased to seven years for some) under new Belgian legislation (introduced 19 December 2003) for belonging to a terrorist organisation. Bahar Kimyongur is a Belgian national and supporter of the Turkish opposition group Revolutionary People’s Liberation Party-Front (Halk Kurtuluº Partisi/Cephesi,, DHKP-C). The DHKP-C is illegal in Turkey and was declared a terrorist organisation by the EU in 2002. On 7 November 2006 the Court of Appeal in Gand rejected the appeal presented by Bahar Kimyongur and his co-defendants against their original conviction and increased several of the sentences. All seven defendants were convicted on charges relating to membership of or support for a terrorist or criminal organisation but were not charged for committing or planning terrorist acts.
Lawyers for some of the defendants have made allegations of ill-treatment, particularly in relation to the "special detention regime" which has been applied to them. AI is concerned that elements of this regime may constitute a violation of human rights. AI is concerned in particular at reports that Sükriye Akar was blindfolded during transfer from prison and that during her court hearing on 27 March 2007 she was shackled and handcuffed, and that while in prison Kaya Saz, Musa Asoglu and Sükriye Akar were subjected to intrusive half-hourly cell checks throughout the night, which prevented them from being able to sleep. The organisation is also concerned by reports that these prisoners have been subjected to excessively frequent strip-searching and intimate body searches. AI is furthermore deeply concerned that between April and December 2006 the prison authorities of Bruges and the Ministry of Justice repeatedly failed to comply with the judicial ruling of the Court of First Instance in Brussels which ordered the suspension of the "special detention regime" on 6 April 2006. The Court’s decision found that no convincing or objective argument had been presented by the prison authorities to confirm that the affected prisoners posed a greater than average threat which would justify special security measures. This decision was reconfirmed by the Court of Appeal in December 2006.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
General and political developments
Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) remained divided in two semi-autonomous entities, the Republika Srpska (RS) and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), with a special administrative status granted to the Brèko District. The international community continued to exert significant influence over the political process in BiH, as part of the civilian implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, led by a High Representative whose nomination is proposed by the Peace Implementation Council (PIC), an intergovernmental body that monitors implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement. Preparations to close down the Office of the High Representative (OHR) in 2007, which had been ongoing since mid-2006, were halted after the PIC decided in February against the closure of the OHR including as a result of the lack of progress in the process of political reform and of the backlash of nationalist rhetoric that had accompanied the general elections held in October 2006.
Following the October 2006 elections, in February a new State government took office, headed by Prime Minister Nikola Špiriæ of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (Savez nezavisnih socijaldemokrata, SNSD). The government coalition also includes six other parties.
Also in February, the European Union (EU) Political and Security Committee gave final approval to reduce the number of troops of the EU-led peacekeeping force EUFOR from approximately 6,000 to 2,500. EUFOR’s reconfiguration and the withdrawal of troops was completed at the end of the period under review. In addition to EUFOR, a small North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) presence remained in BiH, mainly to assist the BiH authorities in defence reform and also ostensibly providing support to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (Tribunal) with regard to the detention of persons indicted for war crimes.
Following the judgement in February by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the case BiH vs. Serbia and Montenegro (see below), local residents of Srebrenica, mainly Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) returnees, formed a coalition to request a special status for Srebrenica outside the RS. Although demands to separate Srebrenica from the RS were rejected by the RS leadership, extra funding was earmarked by the RS government to promote development in Srebrenica and in April a high level coordination group, composed by representatives of the OHR, the RS and FBiH authorities, was created to address the social and economic problems affecting the municipality.
No progress was made by BiH towards EU integration. Although technical talks between the EU and BiH on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) were completed, the EU made the signing of the SAA conditional to progress in the areas of police reform, cooperation with the Tribunal, the reform of public broadcasting and public administration. However, at the end of the period under review political parties failed in particular to reach an agreement on police reform.
War crimes and crimes against humanity (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
International investigations and prosecutions
The Tribunal continued to try alleged perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the violent collapse of Yugoslavia. Under the terms of the "completion strategy", laid down in UN Security Council Resolutions 1503 and 1534, the Tribunal was expected to complete all trials including appeals, by 2010. As a result of the tight deadlines imposed by the "completion strategy", the Tribunal continued with its policy of referring cases involving lower level perpetrators to national jurisdictions in the former Yugoslavia. In April the Tribunal’s referral bench decided to transfer the case of Milan and Sredoje Lukiæ to BiH. The two former members of a Bosnian Serb paramilitary group are indicted on counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the non-Serb population in the Višegrad area, including persecutions, extermination, murder, inhuman acts and cruel treatment. In June the case of Milorad Trbiæ was transferred to BiH, following a decision by the Referral Bench in April. He is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role, as a Captain in the Bosnian Serb Army (Vojska Republike Srpske, VRS) in the systematic killing of thousands of Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
In April the Tribunal’s Appeals Chamber reversed certain first instance convictions against Radoslav Brðanin in particular with regard to the commission of torture in detention camps by members of Bosnian Serb forces in north-western BiH and the wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages in the municipality of Bosanska Krupa and reduced his sentence to 30 years’ imprisonment. Radoslav Brðanin, a former Bosnian Serb leader, had been sentenced by the Trial Chamber in 2004 to 32 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed against the non-Serb population.
Also in April, Dragan Zelenoviæ, a former member of a VRS military unit in Foèa, was found guilty of torture and rape committed against Bosniak women and girls in 1992. He was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment.
In May, the Appeals Chamber partly reversed Vidoje Blagojeviæ’s first instance conviction finding him not guilty of complicity in genocide and reducing the sentence of 18 years’ imprisonment imposed on Vidoje Blagojeviæ in 2005 by the Trial Chamber to a sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment. A former VRS officer, Vidoje Blagojeviæ had been also found guilty of murder, persecutions, and inhuman acts committed against non-Serbs.
In June Tribunal indictee Zdravko Tolimir was transferred to the Tribunal’s custody after having been arrested at the border between Serbia and BiH by the RS police, reportedly acting after a tip-off by the Serbian police. Zdravko Tolimir, former Assistant Commander for Intelligence and Security of the VRS Main Staff, is accused of genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in the killing of thousands of Bosniak men and boys in Srebrenica in 1995.
Cooperation between BiH and RS authorities and the Tribunal improved. In June, in her address to the UN Security Council, the Tribunal Prosecutor stated that BiH’s level of cooperation with her office had progressed in recent months and was now generally satisfactory. She pointed to improved coordination between the State and entity level institutions in targeting the fugitives’ support networks and welcomed the role of BiH and the RS in facilitating the arrest and transfer of Zdravko Tolimir to the Tribunal.
In February the ICJ ruled in the case of BiH vs. Serbia and Montenegro confirming that genocide was committed in Srebrenica in 1995. The judgement, which is binding, found that Serbia did not commit or was complicit in genocide but that it had violated its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) by having failed to act to prevent genocide in Srebrenica and by having failed to transfer Ratko Mladiæ, indicted inter alia for genocide and complicity in genocide, to the Tribunal. The ICJ decided that Serbia should immediately take effective steps to ensure full compliance with its obligation under the Genocide Convention, and to transfer individuals accused of genocide, as well as other indictees, to the Tribunal.
Domestic investigations and prosecutions
War crimes proceedings before domestic courts continued, including at the War Crimes Chamber (WCC) within the BiH State Court, although efforts to bring perpetrators to justice remained insufficient to provide justice to the victims given the scale of the crimes committed and the potentially huge number of crimes to be investigated and prosecuted. In February a joint financing agreement was signed by the BiH Ministry of Justice, the Registry of the Court and the BiH Prosecutor’s Office and the development agencies and authorities of a number of European countries. The donors have pledged approximately 8 million Euros for the period 2007-2009 to support the work of the BiH State Court and Prosecutor Office.
In January, an Appellate Panel at the BiH State Court revoked the first instance verdict in the case of Boban Šimšiæ and ordered a retrial. Boban Šimšiæ had been found guilty in 2006 of having assisted members of the VRS in committing in 1992 the crimes of enforced disappearance and rape of Bosniak civilians in the Višegrad area. A retrial started in March.
In February, Gojko Jankoviæ, a former leader of a military unit of the Foèa Brigade of the VRS, was sentenced to 34 years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity including murders, torture, rape, sexual slavery, and forcible transfer of population, committed against the Bosniak population in the Foèa municipality in 1992 and 1993.
In March Radisav Ljubinac, a former member of Bosnian Serb forces, was found guilty of crimes against humanity committed against non-Serbs in the Rogatica area and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment. In particular, he was found guilty of having taken part in the forcible transfer of non-Serbs, of having inflicted great suffering or serious physical or mental injuries on detained civilians and of having driven 27 civilians to the village of Duljevac, where they were used as human shields during an attack by the VRS.
Also in March, an Appeal Panel increased the prison sentence imposed on Radovan Stankoviæ from 16 to 20 years. He had been convicted in 2006 of having participated in the enslavement, torture, forced pregnancy and persecution of women held in detention by Bosnian Serb forces in 1992 in the Foèa municipality. The case of Radovan Stankoviæ was the first which had been transferred from the Tribunal to BiH. Radovan Stankoviæ escaped from detention in May, while he was being escorted to a medical examination outside the prison. Following the escape, the director and the deputy director of the Foèa Prison, where he was detained, were sacked by the RS Minister of Justice and criminal charges were brought against prison guards who were escorting Radovan Stankoviæ when he escaped.
In April the appeal filed by Marko Samardžija was partly upheld and a retrial was ordered. Marko Samardžija, former VRS commander in the Kljuè area, had been found guilty of crimes against humanity in 2006 and sentenced to 26 years’ imprisonment, including for his role in the killing of at least 144 Bosniak detained men.
Also in April, former member of Bosnian Serb forces Radmilo Vukoviæ received a prison sentence of five years and six months having been found guilty of the physical abuse and repeated rape in 1992 of a woman in Miljevina, in the Foèa municipality.
Goran and Zoran Damjanoviæ were found guilty of war crimes they committed against the non-Serb population as members of the VRS in 1992 in the Sarajevo area. They were sentenced to 12 and 10 years’ imprisonment respectively. Also in June, a former member of the VRS was found not guilty and acquitted of all charges of crimes against humanity of which he was accused.
Gojko Klièkoviæ, former Prime Minister of the RS between 1996 and 1998, was extradited from Serbia to BiH in June. He had been arrested in Belgrade in 2006 and was suspected of having committed crimes against humanity against the non-Serb population during the initial phase of the 1992-95 war.
Some war crimes trials of low-level perpetrators were also held in local entity courts, which continued to face difficulties in dealing with war crimes cases, including as a result of lack of staff and other resources. In these proceedings, victims and witnesses remained without adequate protection from harassment, intimidation and threats including as a result of a failure to implement existing witness protection legislation.
In January, in proceedings at the Mostar Cantonal Court, eight former members of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina were found guilty of the inhuman treatment in 1993 of Bosnian Croat detainees in the Mostar municipality, some of whom died as a result. The accused were sentenced to between one and four years’ imprisonment.
In February, the Sarajevo Cantonal Court sentenced Predrag Miškoviæ, a former member of Bosnian Serb forces, to eight years’ imprisonment for war crimes against the civilian population committed in the Sarajevo suburb of Grbavica. Predrag Miškoviæ was found guilty of taking part in the ill-treatment and rape of a Bosniak woman in 1992.
In April the trial of Kosta Kostiæ, a former member of Bosnian Serb forces, ended at the Brèko Basic Court with a guilty verdict and a prison sentence of 15 years. He was found guilty of having participated in the murder of 14 non-Serb civilians and in the rape of a non-Serb woman. Two other co-defendants were acquitted.
In May Dominik Ilijaševiæ, former member of the Croatian Defence Council, (Hrvatsko vijeæe obrane, HVO), the war-time Bosnian Croat armed forces, was sentenced at the Zenica Cantonal Court to 15 years’ imprisonment for war crimes, including for his role in the killing of 38 non-Croat civilians in the village of Stupni Do in 1993.
Proceedings at the Sarajevo Cantonal Court were ongoing against a man suspected of having committed, as a member of Bosnian Serb forces, war crimes against the civilian population and prisoners of war. The indictment inter alia alleges that the suspect was involved in the beating and abduction of Vladimir and Radislav Maðura from their home in Ilidža, a suburb of Sarajevo. The bodies of Vladimir and Radislav Maðura had been exhumed and identified in 2004.
Enforced disappearances (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
According to estimates by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), over 13,000 persons who went missing during the 1992-1995 war were still unaccounted for. Many of the missing were victims of enforced disappearances, whose perpetrators continued to enjoy impunity.
Progress continued to be slow in transferring competencies from the missing persons commissions of the FBiH and the RS to the national Missing Persons Institute (MPI). In May BiH Prime Minister Nikola Špiriæ pledged to take the necessary measures to make the MPI operational and in June the BiH Council of Ministers nominated its appointed members to the Steering Board of the MPI.
In May the bodies of 28 victims were exhumed from a mass grave in Sokolac, near Sarajevo. The remains are thought to be those of non-Serb detainees of the Kula detention camp, run by Bosnian Serb authorities. In June four complete and 44 incomplete skeletons were exhumed from a mass grave in the Zeleni Jadar area, near Srebrenica. The bodies are believed to be those of victims of killings by members of the VRS in and around Srebrenica in 1995.
Although in December 2006 a commission tasked with investigating the enforced disappearance of Avdo Paliæ had been reactivated, reported attempts to locate his mortal remains were unsuccessful. ABiH Colonel Avdo Paliæ had "disappeared" after reportedly being forcibly taken by VRS soldiers from the UN Protection Force compound in Žepa on 27 July 1995. He had gone there to negotiate the evacuation of civilians from the town which had just surrendered to the VRS.
Right to return (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
Since the end of the war, out of an estimated 2.2 million people displaced during the conflict, more than a million refugees and internally displaced persons were estimated to have returned to their homes. Progress in the return of those still displaced was limited. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in BiH registered approximately 800 returns between January and March. Of these, approximately 700 were returns in a minority situation.
In the period under review the security situation for returnees and members of minority communities improved. Reportedly, initial investigation into the murder in May of a Bosnian Croat returnee in Banja Luka suggested that the crime was not ethnically motivated.
Minority returnees continued to face discrimination in access to economic and social rights. Lack of access to employment continued to be a major obstacle to the sustainable return of refugees and the internally displaced. The unemployment rate was high in general, reflecting the weak economic situation and difficulties of economic transition and post-war reconstruction. In addition, returnees faced discrimination on ethnic grounds. Budget resources to cover the cost of claims for severance pay of those workers who were unfairly dismissed during the war remained insufficient.
‘War on terror’ (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
The six men of Algerian origin who in 2002 were unlawfully transferred by the authorities in BiH to US custody and detained in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, remained in detention. The BiH authorities continued to fail to take meaningful steps to assist the men and ensure their release.
In January, the European Court of Human Rights decided to grant priority treatment to applications filed in September 2006 on behalf of the six men detained in Guantánamo. The applications claim that the failure of the authorities in BiH to implement binding decisions by domestic courts and to act to protect the rights of the detainees is in violation of a number of provisions of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its Protocols No. 6 and No. 13.
Also in January, the European Parliament’s Temporary Committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transportation and illegal detention of prisoners adopted its final report. The report inter alia condemned the extraordinary rendition in 2002 of the six men of Algerian origin acknowledging that they were abducted in Sarajevo, handed over to US soldiers and then flown to Guantánamo Bay, where they remain detained without trial or legal guarantees. The report welcomed the fact that the Government of BiH is the only European government that does not deny its participation in such an extraordinary rendition and has accepted formal responsibility for its illegal actions. However, it regretted that the steps undertaken by the BiH authorities have not yet resulted in the release of the six men from Guantánamo.
The BiH State Commission for the Revision of Decisions on Naturalization of Foreign Citizens, which had begun its work in March 2006, continued its activities amidst numerous statements to the media by politicians to the effect that those stripped of their citizenship, and in particular those deemed to represent a "threat to BiH’s national security" would be deported. Moreover, it was reported that the Commission concluded that only three of the six men of Algerian origin detained in Guantánamo were BiH citizens. The Commission can propose to the BiH Council of Ministers to withdraw the citizenship of, among others, those who are deemed to have obtained it not in accordance with the relevant regulations, or on the basis of false information, in those cases where the individuals affected would not be rendered stateless. Reportedly, the activities of the Commission could affect approximately 1,500 individuals, many of whom reportedly came to BiH to join Bosniak forces as volunteer foreign fighters during the 1992-95 war, or to work for Islamic charities during and after the war.
In May AI, the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in BiH and Human Rights Watch sent an open letter to the BiH authorities raising their concern about the deportation, extradition or other removal of those stripped of their citizenship to countries where they would be at risk of serious human rights abuses. The organizations urged the authorities in BiH to safeguard the fundamental rights of those who could be subjected to removal after having been stripped of their BiH citizenship.
Discrimination against Roma (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
Members of Romani communities continued to suffer discrimination in the enjoyment of their human rights. Primary school attendance rates for Romani children were low and extreme poverty remained one of the main causes of the exclusion of Roma from education. Moreover, Romani language, culture and traditions were not included in a systematic way in school curricula. Insufficient progress was made by the authorities at state, entity and cantonal level, in the implementation of the 2004 Action Plan on the Educational Needs of Roma and Members of Other National Minorities. A Council for National Minorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina, tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Action Plan, was not yet operational.
In April, representatives of Romani refugees from Kosovo who remain in BiH expressed concern about the authorities’ plans to lift their temporary admission (protection) on 30 June 2007. According to UNHCR, some 3,057 persons from Kosovo remained in BiH, of whom approximately 27 per cent are Roma. AI considers that many members of minority communities from Kosovo, including Roma, continue to remain in need of international protection.
In June the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights urged the BiH authorities not to withdraw temporary admission permits for Kosovo refugees at the set deadline of 30 June and called for a lasting solution to be found for those refugees who could not return to Kosovo involving the granting of asylum, a permanent residence permit or citizenship. On 28 June, the BiH Council of Ministers extended for a further 90 days the temporary admission status of refugees from Kosovo.
Violence against Women (update to AI Index: EUR 01/001/2007)
The reported incidence of domestic violence remained high. In the first six months of 2007, Cantonal Ministries of Internal Affairs in the FBiH recorded 377 criminal acts of violence in the family, eight more than in the corresponding period of 2006. However, both local non-governmental organizations and police authorities estimated that a significant proportion of cases of domestic violence went unreported.
BiH continued to be a country of origin, transit, and destination for women and girls trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. In March the BiH Council of Ministers adopted its Operational Plan for the Implementation of the State Action Plan for combating trafficking in human beings and illegal migration for 2007. The Operational Plan inter alia envisaged the ratification, by June 2007, of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and a number of legislative measures and the coordination of different institutions involved in combating trafficking and in providing assistance to victims. At the end of the period under review, BiH had not yet ratified the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings.
In June the BiH Council of Minister adopted the Annual Report on state of human trafficking and illegal immigration in BiH and implementation of the Action Plan for combating human trafficking and illegal immigration in BiH for 2006. The document reported a decrease in the number of foreign victims of trafficking and an increase in the number of BiH citizens who had been trafficked
Human rights defenders
In February member and co-founder of the RS Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Duško Kondor died from injuries after being attacked by persons with machine gun fire in his own apartment in Bijeljina (see AI Index: EUR 63/001/2007). His daughter was seriously wounded in the attack. Duško Kondor had repeatedly reported death threats to the RS police. However, no security measures had been undertaken by the RS police to protect him. Following the murder, local police arrested two persons on suspicion that they took part in the murder. Reportedly, police investigation indicated that the murder was not in direct connection with the activities of Duško Kondor as a human rights activist.
BULGARIA
On 1 January Bulgaria and Romania became member states of the European Union (EU). On 27 June the European Commission (EC) issued its report on the progress made by both states in meeting the accompanying measures decided by the EC when they joined the EU. The EC warned both states to take more action to fight corruption, but did not impose any sanctions for their failure to meet reform targets. The EC noted that Bulgaria and Romania had made progress with judicial reform but needed to do more to implement the changes. The EC urged Bulgaria to adopt constitutional amendments on the independence of its justice system; continue with reforms of the judiciary; and investigate high-level local government and border corruption. The Bulgarian authorities were also told to implement a strategy to fight organised crime.
A National Plan for Protection against Discrimination (NPAD) was passed on 19 January. The NPAD includes all the grounds of discrimination featured in the Bulgarian Law for Protection against Discrimination, including sexual orientation and "gender expression". The priorities of the NPAD include: education and training, further development of the anti-discrimination legislation, coverage of issues in the media and the creation and maintenance of a national database on discrimination.
However, in spite of such legislative initiatives, members of the far-right "Attack" party (Ataka) continued to make declarations against minorities in the country. In February, one of the leaders of the party reportedly placed an anti-Turkish poster in the parliament building. The poster, which stated "No to Turkish votes," made reference to the possibility for the Bulgarian citizens of Turkish ascent to vote the Bulgarian representatives in the European Parliament (EP) on 12 May´s election.
The Romani community
On 12 March, the non-governmental Fridriech Ebert Bulgaria foundation issued a report stating that between 65 and 70 per cent of Bulgaria's Roma labour force were unemployed. According to the report, the main obstacles encountered by Bulgarians of Romani descent were in access to housing, employment, professional qualifications and education. On education, the report found that some 18 per cent of the Roma in Bulgaria were completely illiterate and another 65 per cent never completed their high school education.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in its report Breaking the cycle of exclusion. Roma children in South-East Europe issued in March, reported that around 50 per cent of Romani homes in Bulgaria were not connected to running water and that 20 per cent of Romani children never went to school.
Violations of the rights of asylum-seekers and refugees
According to a report in the newspaper Kapital in June, at least 36 people had been held at the Special Centre for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners (SCTAF) in Busmantsi, near the capital Sofia, for more than six months. Some of these 36 people had also been held previously in another centre. The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Legal Clinic for Refugees and Immigrants (LCRI), the Bulgarian branch of the International Helsinki Federation and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) have persistently alleged that asylum-seekers, refugees and other migrants detained in that centre are detained for months and even years waiting for expulsion. They are allegedly not informed of the internal regulations and of the applicable disciplinary rules, and not bought promptly before a judicial or other authority. The Law on Foreigners stipulates that detention at a Special Centre be used only as a last resort, but there is no maximum period set for such detention.. The LCRI and BHC claim that detention of asylum-seekers, refugees and migrants at the SCTAF has become customary practice, being used routinely, rather than on a case by case basis as a last resort.
The LCRI has also claimed that the authorities at the SCTAF in Busmantsi have allegedly used the isolation room in an arbitrary way and without proper guarantees for the health of persons. For example, they report that on 21 May, 14 people detained in the centre requested an explanation for the reasons of their detention and its length. As a result they were allegedly sent as a punishment to the isolation room for about seven to 10 days until they signed a declaration acknowledging that they had allegedly broken the "residential rules".
Case of Annadurdy Khadzhiev
Annadurdy Khadzhiev, a leader of the Turkmen opposition group Watan and the husband of Turkmen human rights defender Tadzhigul Begmedova, was held in detention in Bulgaria on 19 February in connection with a request lodged by Turkmenistan with Interpol. Reportedly, Turkmenistan had requested his extradition to try him on embezzlement charges. Both Annadurdy Khadzhiev and his wife have lived in Bulgaria since 2001 and were granted humanitarian status in March 2003. To AI’s knowledge, an earlier extradition request by the Turkmen authorities was turned down by Varna district court in May 2003. Reportedly, in its decision the court referred to Annadurdy Khadzhiev’s membership in the opposition Watan movement and to human rights violations in Turkmenistan, including limitations of the right to freedom of expression.
AI contributed to a letter of support on behalf of Annadurdy Khadzhiev that was submitted to Varna district court on 13 March, and urged the Bulgarian authorities not to extradite him to Turkmenistan where he would have been at risk of serious human rights violations, including torture and ill-treatment, and imprisonment after an unfair trial (see AI Index EUR 15/001/2007). Any attempted return would have been a violation of Bulgaria’s obligations under regional and international human rights law. On 12 April, Varna district court ruled that Annadurdy Khadzhiev should not be extradited to Turkmenistan and was released. However the Prosecutor protested the court's verdict and an appeal hearing was scheduled for 3 May.
The appeal court finally decided not to extradite Annadurdy Khadzhiev to Turkmenistan and he was subsequently released.
International scrutiny (Update AI Index: EUR 01/001/2001)
On 11 January, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found Bulgaria in breach of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) and Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) in the case Musa and others v. Bulgaria. The case involved Ahmad Naim Mohammed Musa, a Jordanian national of Palestinian descent, who obtained a residence permit in 1994 following his marriage to a Bulgarian national. On 25 May 2000, he was informed that his permanent residence permit was being withdrawn, on grounds of state security, and told to leave Bulgarian territory within 10 days. Ahmad Naim Mohammed Musa was not informed of the factual grounds on which the order had been based, but was told that no appeal was possible against it. He nevertheless submitted appeals to the Ministries of Justice and Interior, the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Bulgarian President, which all were dismissed. The Sofia Court declared his appeal inadmissible in September 2001.
Ahmad Naim Mohammed Musa was detained on 4 August 2000 and held at the Sofia detention centre until 6 August 2000, when he was expelled by the Bulgarian authorities to Jordan. AI expressed concern at the time that the decision of the Directorate of National Police to expel him from Bulgaria was arbitrary and in violation of international human rights standards
The ECtHR noted that it had already held that an expulsion carried out in application of the 1998 Bulgarian Law on Foreigners did not meet the requirement of lawfulness on account of the absence of sufficient guarantees against arbitrariness. The ECtHR also considered that, where matters touching on fundamental human rights were concerned, the national legislation would run counter to the rule of law if, as in the present case, the margin of appreciation granted to the executive was unlimited. As the Bulgarian Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) did not amend its case-law in this matter until 2003, the ECtHR noted that the interference in the applicant’s right to respect for his family life had not been "in accordance with the law". Hence, it concluded unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 8. The ECtHR further noted that, at the relevant time, no judicial review was possible against a withdrawal order of a residence permit on the grounds of national security. There was no reversal of the case-law in this area by the SAC until 8 May 2003. Thus, the ECtHR concluded unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 13. The applicants were also awarded 1,500 Euros jointly for costs and expenses by the ECtHR.
Policing concerns
In its annual report issued in March the BCH no
