INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
(IHF)
PERIODIC REPORTS FROM THE OSCE REGION
SUMMER 1999
E-mail: office@ihf-hr.org
Tel. +43-1-402 7387
Fax +43-1-408 7444
This is the third of the "IHF Periodic Reports from the OSCE Region" that the IHF publishes on a regular basis. It contains information on recent human rights issues in some participating states of the Organization on Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) provided by IHF member committees and partner NGOs. The IHF intends no political statement in the selection of countries and issues described in this report. For more information on human rights violations in the OSCE region, please visit our web page, http://www.ihf-hr.org
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
ALBANIA: Police violence against journalists.
AZERBAIJAN: Journalists continue to fight for their rights; defendants’ rights in administrative cases upheld; journalists and human rights activists visit prisons.
BELARUS: Peaceful assemblies again attacked, participants arrested; increasing pressure on the media.
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA (Republic of Srpska): Obsolete judicial system – no independence of judiciary; Helsinki Committee investigates prison conditions; few returnees in 1999.
BULGARIA: Legal amendments to stop imprisonment of journalists; ethnic Macedonian commemoration hindered.
GREECE: "Operation Broom" against Immigrants; public appeal for the recognition of minorities; exclusion of Roma continues; Jehovah’s Witnesses still face harassment.
KYRGYZSTAN: Harassment against media increases; "tax inspections" and arrest attempts at "Vecherni Bishkek."
TURKEY: Amnesty scandal
UNITED STATES: Police misconduct remains in focus; indefinite detention of immigrants ruled unlawful; judicial system ambivalent towards gender-based asylum claims; seven executions in June; Congress report – sexual abuse of female prisoners a central problem in U.S. prisons.
ALBANIA:
POLICE VIOLENCE AGAINST JOURNALISTS
On 1 July 1999, the newspaper "Koha Jone" published an article entitled "Why do You Keep Policemen Who are Criminals, Mr. Minister of Order?" The article reported on the ill-treatment of two "Koha Jone" journalists, Mr. Murati and Mr. Sadiku, by police officers in the town of Elbasani. According to "Koha Jone," a police patrol had stopped the journalists’ car because the driver had allegedly broken traffic rules. By law, the police officer could have issued a fine or initiate other legal proceedings – but not to ill-treat the journalists in the street and at the police station.
According to a medical report, Riza Sadiku suffered serious injuries and had to stay on sick leave for 14 days.
The Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC) called for a through and independent investigation of the incident. At the same time it stated that – whatever the circumstances – it again denounces any illegal acts by the police against citizens. It reminded that the police are entitled to use force only in specific situations defined by the law. Furthermore, they are obliged to rigorously abide by the law and to respect the code of ethics of the police force.
The AHC proposed to the Ministry of the Public Order that in cases such as the above-mentioned ill-treatment of journalists it is necessary to display more transparency in the investigations and to publish the results. Such openness would be an important step to increase confidence among the public toward the law enforcement institution as such, and to the police officers whose task is to protect the order.
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Source: Albanian Helsinki Committee (AHC)
For further information please contact: AHC, tel/fax: +355-42-40 891, E-mail helsinki@ngo.org.al
AZERBAIJAN:
JOURNALISTS CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR THEIR RIGHTS
The Azerbaijani journalists’ fight for their rights continues. On 6 July, journalists picketed the General Prosecutor’s Office protesting the harassment of the media by Jalal Aliyev, MP and bother of the incumbent president who has filed several libel cases against critical papers and journalists (see Second Periodic Report). On the same day, some newspapers were published with blank pages as a sign of solidarity.
On 9 July, on the initiative of the Editors’ Association, journalists gathered in front of the largest publishing house "Azerbaycan" and demanded, that the cases of harassment against journalists
be properly investigated and the legislation on the mass media changed. The police arrested journalists Shahin Jafarli ("Yeni Musavat") and Javid Jabbaroglu ("Hurriyyet") and took them to a police station where they were held for an hour.
As a result of international protests, journalist Fuad Qahramanli was released on 10 July. He was arrested in June 1998 and sentenced to 18 months in prison for "public appeal to crimes against the state." His "crime" was an unpublished text about civil disobedience found on his computer during an illegal search. On 19 June, a pro-governmental newspaper published his article. Ironically, therefore, he was punished for an act undertaken by state officials.
On 26 July, a trial opened at the Yasamal District Court of Baku against "Sharg" newspaper correspondent Vafa Abdullayeva. The charges were raised by parliament speaker Murtuz Aleskerov because of an article in which Abdullayeva had written about a possible resignation of the speaker. Aleskerov demanded 50 million Manats (US$11,600) in compensation for "moral loss" allegedly caused to him.
In late June and early July, a group of Armenian journalists visited Baku within the framework of a project sponsored by the Swiss government. They met Azerbaijani journalists, politicians, and human rights activists, and interviewed people in the streets. They were also received by the high officials, including the President Heydar Aliyev. Azerbaijani journalists had visited Armenia earlier for the same purpose.
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Source: Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan (HRCA)
For further information please contact: HRCA, 165-3 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Baku 370000, Azerbaijan, tel/fax +994-12-942471, 947550, E-mail eldar@azeurotel.com
DEFENDANTS’ RIGHTS IN ADMINISTRATIVE CASES UPHELD
The Constitutional Court of Azerbaijan decided in July, that individuals charged with administrative offenses have the right to access to legal counsel and to file a complaint against a court decision. In the past, such rights have been granted only to persons accused of criminal offenses. In 1988-1999, thousands of demonstrators, members of religious minority groups and others have been punished arbitrarily without a right to complain.
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Source: Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan (HRCA)
For further information please contact: HRCA, 165-3 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Baku 370000, Azerbaijan, tel/fax +994-12-942471, 947550, E-mail eldar@azeurotel.com
JOURNALISTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS VISIT PRISONS
On 21 July 1999, Azerbaijani journalists and human rights activists visited two post-trial prisons, or "colonies." One of them was the Special Correction Treatment Institution for TB-infected Prisoners. The visit was carried out within the framework of a seminar on the penitentiary system organized by the Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan (HRCA).
On 27 July, the director of the HRCA visited the remand prison No. 1 of the Ministry of Interior in the Bayilov settlement, and two days later, the remand prison No. 3 in Shuvelian. It was the first time the local human rights defenders visited the famous "5th wing" (former death row wing) of the Bayilov prison.
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Source: Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan (HRCA)
For further information please contact: HRCA, 165-3 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Baku 370000, Azerbaijan, tel/fax +994-12-942471, 947550, E-mail eldar@azeurotel.com
BELARUS:
PEACEFUL ASSMBLIES AGAIN ATTACKED, PARTICIPANTS ARRESTED
According to the Belarusan constitution, the term of President Alexandr Lukashenka expired on 20 July 1999. On 20-21 July, mass protests against Lukashenka’s remaining in power were held, as well as an unsanctioned "celebration" called "Dembel'-99" (i.e., Demobilisation -99). The Belarusan Helsinki Committee observed the assemblies.
On 21 July, a performance organized by the artist Ales' Pushkin took place. It was entitled "Gratitude to Aleksandr Lukashenko for his hard and ungracious work in office as the first president of the Republic of Belarus." The performance heavily criticized Lukashenka’s staying in power. As a result, 53 individuals were detained in Minsk and another 11 in other cities.
On 27 July, a mass protest took place in Minsk. About 40 people were arrested, among them the leader of the Social-Democratic Party and Mikola Statkevich. The latter was sentenced to 10 days in administrative detention for organizing an unauthorized demonstration. However, after he was released, a criminal case was initiated against him. Therefore, Statkevich was charged twice for one "crime." Some demonstrators were fined or detained for periods of 3-15 days.
Yevgeny Osinski, a young opponent of Lukashenka’s regime, was also arrested in connection with the 27 July march in Minsk. At this writing, he was still held in a detention center, facing charges for "malicious hooliganism" because he had defended himself against assault by police officers. Other young political activists in custody include Andrei Klimov and Vladimir Koudinov. Vladimir Antonov, Vadim Kartsev, and Yevgeny Skochko face judicial prosecution.
According to the Belarusan Helsinki Committee, the lawfulness of court judgements in the above cases – and in general - depend on the personal qualities of judges because in Belarus the courts are completely dependent on the Lukashenka administration.
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Source: Belarusan Helsinki Committee (BHC)
For further information please contact: BHC, tel +375-17-222 48 00, fax +375-17-224801, E-mail bhc@user.unibel.by
INCREASING PRESSURE ON THE MEDIA
With the expiry of the official presidential term of Alexandr Lukashenka on 20 July 1999, the opposition press faced increasing pressure.
Following the demonstration of the opposition on 21 July in Minsk, law enforcement officials arrested the chief editor of the independent weekly "Imya," Irina Halip, for several hours. On the same day, the correspondent of the independent newspaper "Naviny," Aleksei Shidlovskii, was also arrested while he was covering the demonstration of the opposition Popular Front. The following day, police searched the editorial office of "Imya" and produced a warrant to arrest Irina Halip. Judicial proceedings were initiated against "Imya" because it had published articles criticizing a person presumably belonging to the close circle of the President Lukashenka.
On 22 July, Yegor Mayorchik, a journalist with the independent weekly "Belorusskaya Gazeta," was summoned to the Procurator's Office of the Frunzenskii region of Minsk. The interrogator Grigorii Mishnev asked him questions about the article entitled "Whereabouts of Yurii Zaharenko Still Unknown" ("Belorusskaya Gazeta," 17 May 1999), written by Mayorchik together with the journalist Yuras Dubina, who was also summoned for interrogation.
In July, judge Nadezhda Chmara won a case against "Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta." The paper and its journalist V. Martinovich were ordered to pay 1 milliard 11 million Belarusan roubles for reporting a fact that a sentence of the Kirovskii Regional Court was not typed in the court building as there was no computer in that building. Judge Chmara could not disprove that information but nonetheless won the case with the help of her lawyer, Ivan Minets, head of the Belarusan Council of Judges,.
On the eve of the expiry of the presidential term, all the state mass media were ordered to cover the achievements of the Lukashenka regime. Displeased with the state television information on the opposition demonstrations in the capital, Lukashenka warned the head of the state television and radio Grigorii Kisel: "You’d better go to the province and cover the life of simple people."
In June and July, the newspapers "Naviny" and "Imya" received warnings from the State Press Committee for criticism of he ruling government. The State Press Committee can close down any mass media after two warnings without giving any motives for its actions.
On 9 August, Reporters Sans Frontières stated that it regarded the Belarusan government - together with China, North Korea, Cuba, Iraq and others - as the enemy of the Internet community because it controls access to websites and censors them.
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Source: Belarusan Helsinki Committee (BHC)
For further information please contact: BHC, tel +375-17-222 48 00, fax +375-17-224801, E-mail bhc@user.unibel.by
BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA:
REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA
OBSOLETE JUDICIAL SYSTEM - NO INDEPENDENCE OF JUDICIARY
The judicial system in the Bosnian Serb-led Republic of Srpska (RS) remains largely organized in the same way it was in the former socialist Yugoslavia. During the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the judiciary was completely subordinated to the politicians whose ends it served, including ethnic cleaning and brutal violations of human rights. Following the end of war and the signing of the Dayton Agreement, significant judicial reforms were expected, but in vain.
There have been many obstacles to judicial reforms in RS. The most important one is the fact that those in political power are still trying to keep the judiciary under their total control through electing and appointing judges loyal to them and through financial compensation. Politicians and politics often directly interfere with the operation of the courts. No politicians either on the local or the republican level have been convicted by courts for criminal acts, misconduct or corruption despite overwhelming evidence.
In addition, there are numerous other problems. The courts are technically and materially poorly equipped. They have huge personal problems, as judges, who are not satisfied with irregular and low salaries, are leaving courts and becoming attorneys. Most judges are very young and inexperienced, and their lack of competence often has adverse effect on the operation of the judiciary. Cooperation between prosecutors, judges and police is poor, resulting in the failure to come up with verdicts.
The courts are overburdened with tens of thousands of unsolved cases dating back to the war. Most of them deal with property issues and labor relations.
The courts discriminate against the members of minority nationals; in most cases trials involving minority members are dragged out, sometimes they are not opened at all.
The international community is engaged in trying to bring about radical judicial and legal reforms. The Helsinki Committee in the Republic of Srpska stresses, that measures taken to improve the quality of the judiciary and police system are among the utmost priorities.
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Source: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska.
For further information please contact the Helsinki Committee, tel/fax +381 76 472 851, or +381 76 401 821, E-mail helcomm@inecco.net
HELSINKI COMMITTEE INVESTIGATES PRISON CONDITIONS
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska is carrying out research on the law on the execution of prison sentences and penal sanctions for juveniles in the Republic of Srpska. So far it is clear that the RS law is largely compatible with the standards set out in the 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as well as European standards. In addition, RS laws are in accordance with the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, that obligates the state parties to apply it in any circumstances, including the state of emergency.
The death penalty is still in the books but is to be abolished with the coming into force of the new Criminal Code that is expected to be adopted soon. Three death penalties have been handed down in the past seven years, but none of them have been executed. So far the Helsinki Committee has found that the most drastic violations of the defendants rights are committed by the police during the first stage of investigation, in order to extract "confessions."
A cause for concern is the fact that many prison facilities have been adapted from store or office spaces, and cannot provide for adequate accommodation and conditions for the rehabilitation of prisoners. On the positive side, in the past four years there has been constant improvement in the prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners.
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Source: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska.
For further information please contact the Helsinki Committee, tel/fax +381 76 472 851, or +381 76 401 821, E-mail helcomm@inecco.net
FEW RETURNEES TO REPUBLIC OF SRPSKA IN 1999
Regardless of new laws promoted by the High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which are supposed to make the return of refugees and displaced persons faster and easier, in 1999 there has not been significant increase in the number of returnees in the Republic of Srpska (RS). In early 1998, when a new RS government was appointed, local monitors expected easier return, but this has not been the case. The main reasons for this has been the political instability both in RS and the region in general and political obstruction on all levels. An additional problem was the 1999 war in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and a flow of new refugees and displaced persons. Moreover, there is no global return strategy, and different organization often resort to improvised or badly organized return procedures that in many cases result in serious incidents, even with fatal consequences.
The reconstruction of houses and other buildings proceeds at a very slow pace and stronger international financial support is needed. A new problem emerges with the social reintegration of returnees, which is a painful process. There are already registered cases of returnees who again have left their homes and moved away due to the difficulties to reintegrate. In this context, economic reconstruction in Bosnia and Herzegovina is needed to give the returnees opportunities for employment and in other ways make the families financially self-supporting.
A special problem connected with the return of refugee and displaced persons is the fact that local authorities and different paramilitary and para-police groups are under the control of local politicians and other important personalities. They are the perpetrators of most attacks on returnees and activities aimed at obstructing the return process.
Also, the arrest of suspects of war crimes and ethnic cleaning is one of the necessary preconditions for a peaceful and safe return. In addition, the Helsinki Committee in the Republic Srpska emphasizes the need for a judicial reform and the establishment of a well-trained multiethnic police force that would protect the citizens and implement court verdicts.
The process of return should be observed on a wider regional scale, particularly taking into account the return the refugees and displaced persons in Croatia, according to the Helsinki Committee. It called upon the High Representative to make more efficient and comprehensive use of his mandate regarding the return, and to insure that those individuals on the local and republican level who are obstructing the return face punishment.
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Source: Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in the Republic of Srpska.
For further information please contact the Helsinki Committee, tel/fax +381 76 472 851, or +381 76 401 821, E-mail helcomm@inecco.net
BULGARIA:
LEGAL AMENDMENTS TO STOP IMPRISONMENT OF JOURNALISTS
On 22 July 1999, the Bulgarian parliament passed on first hearing amendments to the Penal Code revoking the provisions that had provided for the imprisonment of journalists for slander and libel. Furthermore, the penal proceedings will no longer be initiated by the Prosecutor’s Offices when public officials are defamed. From now on, public officials will have to follow the general procedure of finding a lawyer and paying the necessary expenses themselves, and not have the prosecution carry out the case on their behalf.
The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee stated that the changes would undoubtedly result in a drastic reduction in the number of criminal cases against journalists for slander and libel. The adoption of the amendments is all the more important bearing in mind that similar proposals have been turned down by the parliament on a number of occasions; the Prosecutor’s Office has categorically denounced such changes; and the Constitutional Court in 1998 failed to declare the overruled provisions unconstitutional.
Some of the sanctions foreseen for slander and libel, however, continue to raise concern. The maximum amount of fine for slander and libel is 30 000 BGL (30,000 DM) - an obviously absurdly high sanction in Bulgaria. The proposal of one MP to send journalists to prison for a failure to pay a fine could lead to a larger number of imprisoned journalists than before the Penal Code was amended. Such high sanctions run counter of the reform of those of provisions of the Penal Code that deal with slander and libel and - if they remain unchanged - will continue to restrict freedom of expression.
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Source: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC).
For further information please contact: BHC, Krassimir Kanev, tel.+359.2.951 62 95, E-mail helsinki@geobiz.com
ETHNIC MACEDONIAN COMMEMORATION HINDERED
On 29 July 1999, the mayor in Petrich prohibited the United Macedonian Organization (UMO) "Ilinden" from commemorating the anniversary of the Ilinden Uprising at the Samuilova Krepost [Castle of Samuil] near Petrich. The celebration was scheduled to take place on 2 August. The mayor motivated his decision with the fact that the organization was not registered and that students from local schools were carrying out their own commemoration at the castle at the same time. The decision has been challenged in court.
On 1 August, several UMO "Ilinden" activists tried to leave the town of Sandanski early so as not to be stopped by police on their way to a commemoration. Nevertheless, one minibus and five cars were turned back at the nearby village of Strumeshnica by a police patrol of about a dozen police officers. A plain-clothes policeman presented a decree of the district prosecutor prohibiting the commemoration.
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Source: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC).
For further information please contact: BHC, Krassimir Kanev, tel.+359 2 951 62 95, E-mail helsinki@geobiz.com
GREECE:
"OPERATION BROOM" AGAINST IMMIGRANTS
In early July 1999 all foreigners found in the streets in Greece were rounded up by the police and, even if holders of legal residence documents, brought to police stations and sometimes to open stadiums. There, they all had their fingerprints taken for possible match against pending criminal cases. If illegal, the immigrants were expelled from the country. TV crews were invited to film this humiliating and degrading treatment of the immigrants as an indication of the government’s determination to fight criminality.
This was done in violation of countless international human rights conventions and aroused the wrath of over 300 intellectuals who signed a protest petition on 6 July. Leftist groups organized a protest rally on 22 July, but their extremist leftist slogans did not help much. What did help was the outcry of the Greek farmers, worried about their crops. Rather than face a new farmers’ march to Athens, the government returned to old practices and immigrants were set free to offer again inexpensive labor force.Contrary to the general view, official statistics show that, in the first quarter of 1999, only 27 percent of all crimes were committed by foreigners.
On 11 July, the newspaper "Ethnos" published the results of a ‘Metron Analysis’ Greater Athens poll (carried out between 7-9 July among 805 adults). In it, 90 percent of the interviewees agreed with the ongoing and highly televised expulsions of Albanians, despite the media’s low credibility; 87 percent believed (erroneously) that criminality has risen since a year ago; and 77 percent believed that most criminals in Greece are Albanians (9 percent correctly mentioned that most criminals are Greeks).
The police themselves contribute to inflate the figures so as to misrepresent reality. Dimitris Gogolos, President of the Policemen Union of Attica, thus claimed publicly and misleadingly that Albanian criminals held the first place in robberies in the first semester of 1999, reaching almost 50 percent of the total criminality. No disciplinary action was taken against him.
The Greek media are even more responsible for building up the feeling of profound xenophobia. If a Greek allegedly commits a crime against a foreigner, hardly anyone reports it, however serious the crime may be.
On 5 July a Greek stole 130,000 Drs. from two Albanians at gunpoint and then raped an underage Albanian. No one bothered to write anything more than a few lines. Had the roles been reversed, the story would have made headlines and sensationalist coverage in the main television newscasts.
On 14 July an Albanian hijacked a public bus, took Greek hostages and attempted to force the bus to flee to Albania while asking for a ransom. On the next day, the headlines of most Greek papers were Albanophobic. Eventually, even though disarmed, the hijacker was shot dead by a Greek police sharpshooter. In a similar case in May, another Albanian hijacker and a hostage were shot dead by an Albanian police officer while fleeing to that country. No investigations were carried out for these killings.
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Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
For further information please contact: GHM, tel.+30-1-620 01 20, fax +30-1-807 57 67, E-mail office@greekhelsinki.gr
PUBLIC APPEAL FOR RECOGNITION OF MINORITIES
Greece is the only Southeast European country that does not recognize the presence of any national minorities in its territory. Turks are recognized as a mere "religious, Muslim" minority (which nevertheless is educated in Turkish), while Macedonians are not considered even a linguistic minority. The words "Turkish" and "Macedonian" have repeatedly led to the prosecution of their users, with courts handing down prison sentences or banning minority associations.
On 23 July 1999 a public appeal was sent to the speaker of parliament and to the party leaders for the recognition of the Macedonian and the Turkish minorities, the unconditional ratification of the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the respect of minority rights. The appeal was supported by the three Turkish MPs in the Greek Parliament, by three Macedonian and seven Turkish minority organizations, as well as by three human rights NGOs, including Greek Helsinki Monitor and Minority Rights Group-Greece.
Coincidentally, in a 26 July interview with the monthly magazine "Klik," Foreign Minister George Papandreou said: "No one doubts that there are many Muslims of Turkish origin… If no one contests the present borders, I couldn’t care less if one calls himself a Muslim or a Turk, a Bulgarian or a Pomak." In two subsequent interviews, he defended his statements arguing that Greece is committed to the respect of the right to self-identification by member of both minorities.
At the same time, the Ministry of the Interior leaked to the media plans to radically change the citizenship policy. It called for allowing immigrants, after some years or residence, to qualify for citizenship, without excluding those from neighboring countries or of the Muslim faith. Even the problem of allowing the return of ethnic Macedonian political refugees, who fled as a result of the civil war in the late 1940s, was to be finally settled.
Greek media, intellectuals and politicians reacted in a near unanimously hostile manner to the initiatives of the ministry. With the exception of the leftist daily "Avghi," all other 21 Greek national dailies engaged in unscrupulous misinformation campaigns of personal slander and hate speech against the signatories of the appeal. It was also reported that the parties summoned all three deputies for explanation in low level disciplinary actions. The intellectuals’ silence was eloquent. The prevailing opinion was that "Anyone who feels a Turk should move to Turkey" ("Ethnos 24 July) and that "the Greek people is one and indivisible" ("To Vima," 30 July). Foreign Minister Papandreou came under intense fire from political foes and even members of the ruling PASOK party who asked for his resignation.
On 20 August, the IHF sent an open letter to Prime Minister Costas Simitis expressing its strong support for the public appeal as well as for the statements by Foreign Minister George Papandreou, in which he acknowledged the rights of people to identify themselves as minorities. At the same time, the IHF said it was deeply concerned by the strong hostile reaction these proposals met, a reaction that reflects a lack of understanding about international standards and Greece’s international obligations, and the urgent need for information campaign aimed at clarification of these issues and a renewed commitment to dialogue.
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Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
For further information please contact: GHM, tel.+30-1-620 01 20, fax +30-1-807 57 67, E-mail office@greekhelsinki.gr
EXCLUSION OF ROMA CONTINUES
Three years following the announcements of the government plan to accelerate the integration of Roma into the Greek society, and one year after the Greek delegation to the OSCE Implementation Meeting publicly acknowledged the situation of the Roma as "unacceptable," the exclusion of Roma (in particular, the nomads) persists.
Despite the good will of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office for Quality of Life, little has been done in practice. On the contrary, the Ministry of Interior has blocked the dialogue initiated by NGOs between Roma and municipal and governmental representatives on the problems of nomad Roma. Moreover, there has been no progress in the elaboration of a bill for the establishment of self-administered camps, that would commit the state to implement article 21.4 of the constitution. That article stipulates that the "the acquisition of a home by the homeless or those inadequately sheltered shall constitute an object of special state care."
With rare exceptions, the municipal authorities have kept their traditionally hostile attitude towards Roma: evictions, attempted evictions and threats have continued.
In February 1999, municipal authorities destroyed and burned five Roma barracks in Aspropyrgos (Nea Zoi). The operation was carried out without a court decision – it was based on the decision of the town planning office that the shacks of 100 Roma families were illegal. The houses of non-Roma residents in the area were also deemed illegal, but they were not destroyed. Further evictions were suspended following protests by local and international NGO.
Forced evictions from four camps in Agia Paraskevi, Halandri, Spata (Greater Athens) and Nea Alikarnassos (Crete) have also been suspended. To be able to evict the Roma, authorities have accused them of trespassing and constructing illegally. The eviction orders were given despite the fact that three of the four municipalities could not offer relocation alternatives - claiming that no land was available - while the mayor of Alikarnassos blocked a viable proposal to transfer the camp. The upcoming 2004 Olympics in Athens are used as a pretext: according to authorities, more space is needed for new sports facilities.
In August, police officers evicted 35 families from a private lot in Ioanina without producing any legal documents to justify the act. The Roma had been paying rent for the land for four years. The operation ended with a bulldozer leveling the lot. When authorities first threatened with eviction, they had promised human rights activists that no action will be taken until the Roma could be relocated.
Despite declared willingness to resolve the problems of Roma, the state measures have proceeded at an unjustifiably slow pace. The construction works in a former military barrack - which will accommodate 3,500 Roma expelled from Evosmos (Thessaloniki) - were supposed to take three months, but are still in process one year later. Also under pressure, the municipality of Kalamata has initiated measures to acquire land for its Roma residents after having unsuccessfully tried to expel them.
There has been no progress in two cases of ill-treatment of Roma by police officers in 1998, although the officers were charged with "torture" and "manslaughter." In the first case, Lazaror Bekos and Eleftherios Kotropoulos were ill-treated while in custody in the town of Mesolongi. In the second, Angelos Celal was killed by police officers while trying to escape police control in Partheni, near Salonica.
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Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
For further information please contact: GHM, tel.+30-1-620 01 20, fax +30-1-807 57 67, E-mail office@greekhelsinki.gr
JEHOVAH’S WITNESESS STILL FACE HARASSMENT
In January 1999 the European Court of Human Rights struck out of its list the appeal of a Jehovah’s Witness plaintiff who had been under surveillance by the Greek state, following a settlement between Greece and the plaintiff (Tsavachidis vs. Greece). Greece, admitting the surveillance, promised that neither Tsavachidis nor any other member of that church ever be under surveillance again.
However, Jehovah’s Winesses continue to face harassment. They are still summoned to police stations for "identity checks," face difficulties in burying their dead in the cemeteries, and in carrying out legal building works.
In January, Panayotis Pantazis was buried in a field outside the cemetery in Trymoniko near Serres, because the local authorities refused to bury him inside it.
On 11 July, the Mayor Papayanis incited the residents of Kassandreia to hold a protest rally to impede the construction of a house of worship by local Jehovah’s Witnesses, who had obtained the necessary building permit in 1995 - which the municipality had objected with both lawful and seditious means – and other necessary permits in 1999. During the July protest the mob dug a trench around the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ property using the municipality’s bulldozer and then proceeded to park cars in front of the property to make access impossible. Under that pressure, the Zoning Office temporarily revoked the permit and construction stopped.
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Source: Greek Helsinki Monitor (GHM)
For further information please contact: GHM, tel.+30-1-620 01 20, fax +30-1-807 57 67, E-mail office@greekhelsinki.gr
KYRGYZSTAN:
HARASSMENT AGAINST MEDIA INCREASES
The independent Kyrgyz media have recently faced increasing harassment which has taken different forms of restrictions on the journalists’ freedom of movement, arrests, fines, judicial proceedings, repeated tax inspections and even direct threats by authorities.
In July 1999, Melis Eshimkanov, the founder of the People's Party of Kyrgyzstan and a well-known reporter working with the "Asaba" weekly, was denied entry to the provincial center of Karakol where a group of party activists planned to hold electoral rallies. As Eshimkanov did not abide by the police’s illegal order to stay out of Karakol, he was arrested on 8 July and warned about the "inadmissibility of unauthorized meetings." Shortly afterwards the journalist was fined and released.
On 19 July, the City Court of Osh ruled that "Asaba" is to pay 30,000 som (US$ 750) in compensation for "moral damage" to the state university of Osh for a series of articles "Asaba" had published in April and May. Additionally, Alisher Toksonbaev, who wrote one of the most critical articles, was ordered to pay 5,000 som ($125).
On 20 July, the Pervomaiski District Court ruled that the opposition weekly "Res Publica" is to pay Amanbek Karypkulov, head of the National Radio and TV Corporation 5,000 som (US$125) in compensation for "moral damage." On 6 April the paper had written that Karypkulov had misused public funds to celebrate his victory in another court case against "Res Publica" (in which the weekly was order to pay Karypkulov 200,000 som). Karypkulov claimed he was celebrating a Muslim holiday.
On 28 July, Duishen Makeshov, Chief Procurator of Bishkek, officially warned Zamira Sydykova, chief editor of the opposition weekly "Res Publica," that the recent publications of the newspaper were not in line with the media regulations. "Res Publica" had analyzed the political situation in the
country with the focus on recent arrests of some MPs. In her editorials, Sydykova compared the latest anti-corruption actions undertaken by the government with the notorious "troika" trials of the Stalin era. Procurator Makeshov said these statements (that are not uncommon for post-Soviet media) are on the verge of criminal libel. This was the second official warning for Zamira Sydykova who already received the similar notice in November 1998.
At the same time, the chief Procurator warned Ernis Asek uulu, chief editor of "Asaba," that the newspaper should refrain from publishing articles that are not in line with the current legislation. The journalist believes that no media regulations have been violated when the paper has reported on the activities the opposition parties. The fact that several reporters working with "Asaba" have taken part in unauthorized meetings, and that the paper has widely covered these events, can by law lead to no
legal responsibility for the newspaper as a legal entity. Therefore, the journalists regard the procurator's warning as a pressure.
On 16 July, the Supreme Court announced that it had overturned the decision of the Bishkek City Court in the case of Member of Parliament Ishenbai Kadyrbekov against pro-governmental journalist Kalen Sydykova, ruling in favor of the latter. In June, Sydykova had published an article with allegations that some MPs were involved in "grey zone" business activities. Sydykova had won the case in the first instance but lost in the City Court.
In a positive development, on 13 August, Irina Stepkitcheva, a journalist working with the "Slovo Kygyzstana" daily, won a case she had filed against the General Procurator's Office seeking protection for her personal honor and dignity. Two deputies of the General Procurator of Kyrgyzstan, Galina Pugatcheva and D. Mukashev, had reportedly concocted an official letter to the President's Office with false statements against Stepkitcheva.
The General Procurator's Office has lost several lawsuits and two major cases in the Constitutional Court to Irina Stepkitcheva. As a result, some substantial amendments have been made to the current legislation, all of them unfavorable to the procurators.
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Source: Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law.
For further information please contact: Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law , 40 Manas avenue, Room 77, Bishkek 720001,Kyrgyzstan, tel.+996 312 211874, fax +996 312 223924, E-mail rights@imfiko.bishkek.su
"TAX INSPECTIONS" AND ARREST ATTEMPTS AT "VECHERNI BISHKEK"
On 24 August 1999, the tax police, accompanied by 15 officers of a special squad raided the editorial office of the daily "Vecherni Bishkek." When the staff asked them to produce a warrant, the police officers said they had an order to arrest chief editor Aleksandr Kim for his failure to submit financial documents to the tax inspection a day earlier. Kim had refused to do so because there had already been a full tax inspection in the office on 20 August and, by law, it is forbidden to repeat the inspection that soon.
It is worth noting that, according to earlier statement by the National Tax Inspection, "Vecherny Bishkek" was among the most accurate taxpayers.
Chief interrogator Balbaev Aleksandr initiated criminal proceedings against case Aleksandr Kim on the spot, in the presence of dozens of witnesses. Kim pointed out to numerous procedural breaches and refused to follow the police order.
Kim said the pressure on the newspaper had been enormous following some critical articles and profiles of well-known opposition politicians it had published. He assumed that the attacks – which he presumed to have been initiated by the presidential administration - were related to the forthcoming elections and the efforts to silence all critics of the government.
Also, on 20 and 23 August, the paper had written in its editorials about the transparent threats from the highest presidential officials "to dispose of you all in half an hour," addressed to all media and to "Vecherny Bishkek" in particular.
Both the tax and ordinary police attempted to arrest Aleksandr Kim several times on 24 August but, with the support of other journalists and human rights activists, it was not possible. The building of "Vecherny Bishkek" remained surrounded by the police with the staff remaining inside the building overnight.
According to the Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law, the overreaction by the authorities to
a routine case (tax disputes are not uncommon and are usually settled in civil courts without pre-trial arrests) proves the allegations that the independent media in Kyrgyzstan are facing a "witch hunt."
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Source: Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law.
For further information please contact: Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law , 40 Manas avenue, Room 77, Bishkek 720001,Kyrgyzstan, tel.+996 312 211874, fax +996 312 223924, E-mail rights@imfiko.bishkek.su
TURKEY:
AMNESTY SCANDAL
In August 1999, the Turkish parliament passed a governmental amnesty bill that covers 58,518 prisoners. Ironically, while covering officers sentenced for torture and individuals involved serious human rights abuses as members of criminal gangs (e.g. the so-called Yuksekova gang) responsible for organized crime, abductions and extrajudicial killings, it does not grant amnesty to individuals imprisoned solely on political grounds. The bill covers journalists only on the condition that they will not commit the same "crime" again in near future. The president returned the law back to the parliament without approving it.
The special clause of the amnesty bill that covers members of criminal gangs - that have close links to high state officials and operate with wide impunity - was pushed through by the National Action Party (MHP), some of whose members have been revealed to belong to the criminal gangs. MHP is now the second largest party in parliament. Some of its deputies have been indicted for political killings and mass murder committed before 1980 (i.e. the military coup). The media has accused the MHP for devising this clause to release Haluk Kirci, a leading Gray Wolf, convicted of killing left-wing students before 1980 and sentenced to death. The Grey Wolves is a MHP youth organization that is accused of involvement in Mafia and paramilitary activities, violence against left-wing and Kurdish students and organizations, and non-Muslim communities – all allegedly committed under the protection of the police. Its active members are regularly recruited for the police force and particularly as members to special police teams, gendarmes and prison officials.
While article 312 (1) of the Turkish Penal Code, which deals with crimes committed via the press, is included in the amnesty bill, paragraph 2 of the same article on crimes committed through oral propaganda is not included. Therefore, "criminals of thought" such as Esber Yagmurdereli, Akin Birdal and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were excluded from the amnesty bill. Nevertheless, those sentenced for the attempted assassination against Akin Birdal are granted amnesty.
According to the bill, journalists will be able to benefit from it on the condition that they will not commit the same "crime" within the next three years. In line with the amnesty law, the sentences of 50 journalists in prisons would be reprieved.
Civic organizations and legal authorities demanded President Süleyman Demirel to reconsider the law. Demirel has reportedly ordered his legal advisors to look into the amnesty bill with regard to its compatibility with the constitutional principle of equity. Yücel Sayman, chairperson of the Istanbul Bar Association, stated that the enforcement of the bill in this form would cause tensions in society: "The persons whom the Supreme Court has established to have tortured the youths in Manisa are included among the beneficiaries of the amnesty, but the persons who have been tortured are not. This is a shame."
Human Rights Association (IHD) President Hüsnü Öndül emphasized that the government was pardoning torturers and gangs while calling thought a crime and keeping in prison Akin Birdal, IHD chairperson and a founding member of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. He said a non-discriminatory general amnesty should be declared.
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Sources: Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, "Cumhuriyet", "Radikal" "Özgür Bakis" (29-31 August).
For further information please contact: Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, tel.+90-312-4177180, E-mail tihv@tr-net.net.tr
UNITED STATES:
POLICE MISCONDUCT REMAINS IN FOCUS
Although the trial of four New York City police officers accused of torturing Haitian immigrant Abner Louima (see previous "IHF Periodic Reports") concluded in early June, the issues of police brutality and accountability continued to beset the New York Police Department (NYPD) throughout the month. Two other NYPD police officers were indicted on charges related to the Louima case.
Officers Rolando Aleman and Francisco Rosario were accused of lying to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents investigating the incident, undercutting Mayor Giuliani's claims that police cooperation in the case proved that the "blue wall of silence" was a myth. Court papers contend that the two officers denied any knowledge of Louima until confronted with evidence that they had been in a cell area with him; only then did they admit that they had in fact seen him in the precinct station house being escorted with his pants around his ankles.
In a separate case, an NYPD officer was acquitted of attempted murder, assault, and reckless endangerment in the shooting of an unarmed squeegee man (a windshield cleaner) in the Bronx. Officer Michael Meyer, in possession of his service weapon at the time of the incident but removed from patrol duty because of six excessive force complaints, argued that the squeegee man, Antoine Reid, had threatened his life. Meyer's testimony in the non-jury trial contradicted that of other eyewitnesses, who said that Meyer was the aggressor. In acquitting Meyer, the judge ruled that the prosecution had the burden of demonstrating that Meyer's claim of self-defense was false and that the
prosecution had failed to do so. The judge had earlier decided that the six complaints filed against Meyer with the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) were inadmissible in court because they had not been substantiated. NYPD officials have indicated that they will most likely file departmental charges against Meyer and seek his dismissal. A lower standard of evidence prevails in such administrative hearings although the officials have said that it will still be difficult to establish Meyer's guilt.
United States Attorney Zachary Carter reportedly concluded his office's two year investigation of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in early July. Carter initiated the investigation following the beating and sexual assault of Haitian immigrant Abner Louima by NYPD officers in August 1997.
Although the report was not made public, news reports indicated that it found systemic problems in the NYPD's handling of excessive force complaints and called for substantial reforms. Discussions between the U.S. Attorney's office and New York City officials reportedly continued through July and early August. New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani declared that he would not accept the appointment of an independent police monitor, a possible recommendation stemming from the federal probe.
In early August, NYPD Commissioner Howard Safir announced a proposal that would end the police department's practice of "re-investigating" cases investigated by the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB), a civilian body that evaluates complaints of police abuse. The NYPD would still conduct
reviews for evidentiary weaknesses, but CCRB staff rather than police would attempt to resolve any shortcomings in the investigations. The NYPD's re-investigations had undermined the operations of the CCRB and called into question whether the CCRB was having any effect at all, since its findings
were often ignored by the police department. Simply ending the re-investigations, however, does little to ensure that officers responsible for brutality will be punished appropriately.
In another incident that raised questions about police use of force, New Jersey police officers shot and killed an unarmed black man during a car chase on Interstate 80. Stanley Crew fled from officers who were trying to question him after one noticed he was driving erratically. After trapping Crew's car
against a highway embankment, state troopers Robert Parry and Eliecer Ayala and local officers Michael Doyle and William Underwood fired twenty-seven bullets at Crew as he tried to maneuver his car back on to the road. The local prosecutor has suggested that the officers were afraid that Crew would hit them with his car as they tried to apprehend him, but because three of the four officers are
white while Crew was black, some believe the shooting was motivated by race. The local prosecutor has ordered a grand jury to investigate possible criminal acts.
In August in New Jersey, a report by a state panel detailed a culture of racial and gender bias among state police. Three months after finding that state troopers systematically discriminate against minority drivers, the panel argued that white male officers have been disproportionately granted key assignments and promotions; racial slurs and crude sexual terms have been openly used by state troopers in discussions with their colleagues; and supervisors have largely tolerated bigoted behavior. The panel's report cited accusations that the agency's Internal Affairs Bureau, which handles allegations of discrimination, has been used by commanders to retaliate against officers who file discrimination complaints. In response to the report, New Jersey Governor Christine Whitman announced that she was ordering the state attorney general to create new guidelines for promotions, restructure the Internal Affairs Bureau, and consider changes in the police's chain-of-command. She also indicated that she would designate an assistant attorney general to monitor troopers' complaints and oversee the police force. Some criticized Whitman's reforms as "too little, too late" and suggested that federal oversight was necessary.
In a report released in early June, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) charged that the Drug Enforcement Administration's "Operation Pipeline" has contributed to racial profiling on U.S. roadways by unfairly creating the perception that blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities are more likely to have drugs in their possession. The ACLU has lawsuits pending in Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and Oklahoma to end race-based traffic stops and is urging police departments to voluntarily begin collecting statistics regarding the race of drivers whose vehicles are stopped or searched.
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Source: New York Times, Associated Press, HRW report, Shielded from Justice,
July 1998, ACLU report.
For further information please contact: Human Rights Watch, Allyson Collins, tel. +202 612-4321, fax
+202 612-4333, E-mail collina@hrw.org
INDEFINITE DETENTION OF IMMIGRANTES RULED UNLAWFUL
A federal court panel in Seattle, Washington ruled in early July that indefinite detention of immigrants by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) constitutes an unlawful deprivation of liberty and is unconstitutional. In a victory for immigration detainees, the INS later announced that it was changing its interpretation of its detention obligations under the 1996 immigration law.
The 1996 immigration law enjoins the INS to deport all immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies, including non-violent, drug-related crimes. The INS has previously held that the law obligates it to detain such immigrants pending their removal hearings. Immigrants subject to deportation but whose countries will not accept them for political or other reasons - mainly Cubans and citizens of some Southeast Asian countries – have been held indefinitely in federal detention centers and state and local facilities with which the INS contracts.
Under the new INS interpretation, immigrant detainees awaiting adjudication of their deportation cases may be released if they are determined not to be a threat to public safety or a flight risk and if they finished their criminal sentences before October 9, 1998.
In early August, the INS also said that it was putting new procedures in place to ensure regular case reviews for long-term detainees, immigrants who have a final order of removal but cannot be deported because their country of origin refuses to accept them, and that those immigrants who are not deemed a threat to the public may be paroled.
At the end of June, local Miami, Florida television broadcast Coast Guard officers using water pumps and pepper spray in an attempt to turn back a boatload of Cubans near the Miami Beach coastline. Under an agreement between the U.S. and Cuba, Cubans who make it to U.S. soil are usually paroled and eventually granted asylum while those caught at sea are generally returned after brief interviews with INS officials aboard Coast Guard ships. The incident provoked protests in Miami, which has a large Cuban immigrant population. Coast Guard officials said they were investigating the officers' conduct.
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Sources: New York Times; Washington Post; INS Office of Public Affairs; HRW report "Locked
Away: Immigration Detainees in Jails in the United States," September 1998.
For further information please contact: Human Rights Watch, Allyson Collins, tel. +202 612-4321, fax +202 612-4333, E-mail collina@hrw.org
JUDICIAL SYSTEM AMBIVALENT TOWARDS GENDER-BASED ASYLUM CLAIMS
The judicial system's ambivalence toward gender-based asylum claims was manifest in two decisions in late June. Under U.S. law, asylum seekers must demonstrate persecution, or a well-founded fear of persecution, because of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion. In 1995, the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) revised its guidelines to give greater legitimacy to appeals based on fears of genital circumcision or sexual violence. U.S. immigration judges, however, are not obligated to follow the INS guidelines, and they have sometimes been reluctant to do so, especially in cases of domestic abuse.
In late June, the full Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) reversed a lower court's decision to grant asylum to a woman from Guatemala who alleged that Guatemalan police did not intervene after she was raped and beaten by her husband. The board did not dispute Rodi Alvarado Pena's claims; instead, it held that in her case, gender was not a sufficiently cohesive "social group" for the purpose of U.S. asylum law. In a similar case, a BIA panel ruled one week later that a sixteen-year-old Mexican girl who accused her father of severe and ongoing abuse was ineligible for asylum. The BIA's Alvardo decision may undermine the asylum claims of other women who are victims of domestic violence but are unable to connect that abuse to other forms of persecution. Alvarado's lawyer said she will appeal the decision to federal court.
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Source: Washington Post
For further information please contact: Human Rights Watch, Allyson Collins, tel.+202 612-4321,
fax +202 612-4333, E-mail collina@hrw.org.
SEVEN EXECUTIONS IN JUNE
The United States carried out seven executions in June. Human Rights Watch appealed to officials to halt the executions of Scotty Moore, Leslie Beasley, William Holland, Bruce Kilgore, Joseph Stanley Faulder, Michael Poland, Brian Baldwin, Robert Walls, and Emanuel Kemp. All but Beasley, Holland, and Kemp were executed. Faulder's execution came despite appeals from the Canadian
government, the World Court in the Hague, and U.S. federal officials to Governor George W. Bush and the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole. Unfortunately, neither Governor Bush nor the board were persuaded by arguments that Faulder's death sentence should be reconsidered because Faulder, a Canadian national, had not been informed of his right to seek the assistance of his consulate upon his
arrest, a provision of the Vienna Convention to which the U.S. is a party. U.S. violations of the Vienna Convention continue despite the United States' insistence that notification of the right to consulate assistance be afforded its citizens abroad.
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Sources: Associated Press, Death Penalty Information Center
For further information please contact: Human Rights Watch, Allyson Collins, tel. +202 612-4321, fax
+202 612-4333, E-mail collina@hrw.org
CONGRESS REPORT: SEXUAL ABUSE OF FEMALE PRISONERS A CENTRAL PROBLEM IN U.S. PRISONS
In late July, the General Accounting Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, released a report contending that sexual abuse of female prisoners remains a central problem in U.S. prisons. The study focused on the District of Columbia, California, Texas, and the federal prison system.
Despite statutes in all four jurisdictions criminalizing certain types of sexual interaction, the report found, only the federal system had any prosecutions leading to convictions between 1995 and 1998. According to the study, none of the prison systems compiled comprehensive data on allegations
of sexual abuse and their outcomes. In the case of the District of Columbia, the lack of record-keeping may have been a violation of a December 1994 court order enjoining corrections officials to inform D.C. police of sexual misconduct allegations and document subsequent investigations. District of
Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton called on the House of Representatives to require that states document allegations of sexual misconduct and to employ federal funds to encourage states to make sexual abuse in prisons a crime.
In California, a plan to give the state Attorney General control over the prosecution of prison brutality cases collapsed after intensive lobbying by the California Correctional Peace Officers Association (CCPOA), a union of correctional guards in the state. California district attorneys reportedly
find it difficult to pursue cases against correctional officers because of the power of the officers' union; the resources the union employs to support its members; and guards' code of silence. The plan, developed last year after hearings on rampant abuses in Corcoran State Prison, would have created an
autonomous unit under the authority of the Attorney General with adequate resources and support to investigate members of the CCPOA. The track record of local prosecutors suggests that such reform is necessary; no district attorney has prosecuted a guard in connection with any of the thirty-nine shooting deaths of prison inmates or the wounding of an additional two hundred that have occurred in the state over the past decade.
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Sources: New York Times; Los Angeles Times; HRW reports "Nowhere to Hide: Retaliation against Women in Michigan State Prisons, September 1998" and "All to Familiar: Sexual Abuse of Women in U.S. State Prisons," December 1996.
For further information please contact: Human Rights Watch, Allyson Collins, tel.+202 612-4321, fax +202 612-4333, E-mail collina@hrw.org.