Newsletter N° 32 - February / March / April 2005

17/04/2005
Press release

AFRICAN COMMISSION OF HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS - 37th ordinary session
April 28, 2005 - Joint statement

At the 37th session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), the Observatory made an statement, reiterating its concern about the situation of human rights defenders on the African continent.

In particular, the Observatory pointed out the numerous cases of direct violence against defenders, notably in Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zimbabwe.

Moreover, several States, such as Ethiopia, Rwanda or Mauritania, followed a more pernicious strategy of neutralisation and progressive paralysis of independent civil society through smear campaigns or strategies aiming at closing or "replacing" independent associations.

Besides, 2004 was marked by an increasing number of particularly restrictive legislation with regards to freedom of association (Rwanda, Zambia, Zimbabwe).

Finally, as well as being affected by the direct consequences of conflicts throughout Africa, defenders denouncing human rights violations in Darfur (Sudan), Côte d’Ivoire, and in Kivu (DRC) were subjected to serious threats and hindrances to their activities.

ARGENTINA - Attacks / Threats
March 18, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

In December 2004, the Minister of Security of Neuquén, Mr. Luis Manganaro, pronounced a speech before the Police, in which he qualified the workers who manifest union claims as "irregular troops" and the sectors opposed to the government of the province as "delinquents".

In particular, Mr. Manganaro accused publicly Mr. Mariano Mansilla, Director of the section of the Committee for Legal Action (Comité de Acción Jurídica - CAJ) in Neuquén Province, of being "instigator of offence", because he supported an union mobilisation in the province.

Mr. Manganaro added that Mr. Mansilla should "go to prison" and he hoped he would not remain free "much longer".

Moreover, on March 6, 2005, the wife of a worker of the company Zanon was kidnapped during several hours and savagely tortured. Her kidnappers warned that this act was a message targeting "all the people of the union", which probably referred to those mentioned in the Minister’s speech.

Furthermore, the official Defender of the Rights of the Child, Mrs. Nara Oses, received some time before several phone calls threatening her with death and faced attempts by the provincial government to dismiss her from her function.

AZERBAIJAN - Restrictions on freedom of movement
April 6, 2005 - AZE 003 / 1203 / OBS 068.2

On April 2, 2005, Mr. Ilgar Ibragimoglu, Coordinator of the Center for the Protection of Conscience and Religious Freedom (DEVAMM), Secretary General of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA Azerbaijan) and Director of the Institute of Human Rights and Civil Stand (IHRCS), was prevented from leaving Azerbaijan in order to deliver, on April 4, 2005, a report on religious prosecution to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR), which was taking place in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 14 to April 22, 2005.

Mr. Ibragimoglu had yet notified in advance the authorities about the official invitation to participate in the UNCHR. This was the fifth time since August 2004 that Mr. Ibragimoglu was prevented from leaving the country.

AZERBAIJAN - Threats / Harassment / Defamation / Assassination
April 29, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

Since the beginning of 2005, Mrs. Arzu Abdullayeva, Chairperson of the Azerbaijani Committee of the Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly (HCA), and co-President of HCA International, has noticed several times that she was followed by unknown individuals. She also began to receive anonymous death threats.

On April 9, 2005, an unknown man came to HCA office in Baku and asked for her, saying that he had an appointment with her. Mrs. Abdullayeva was not in the office and had no appointment with him. Later, the same man visited the HCA Commission for Migrants (another HCA location), looking for Mr. Zardusht Alizade, President of the Caucasian Centre of Crisis Situations, absent at that moment. Later on the same day, an unknown man came to Mrs. Abdullayeva’s home. As she was absent, her relatives refused to let him in.

These events followed the killing of Mr. Elmar Husseinov, founder and editor-in-chief of the Monitor, a weekly newspaper which works closely with HCA, and who was shot dead on March 2, 2005.

Moreover, at the end of March 2005, Mrs. Leyla Yunus, a member of the Institute for Peace and Democracy, learned that her name was on the list of the special services and that she "had to be careful".

At the same time, she was also subjected to defamation campaigns in the pro-governmental television channels Lider TV, ATV, and Space TV, along with Mr. Eldar Zeynalov, President of the Human Rights Centre of Azerbaijan (HRCA). Both were notably accused of supporting terrorists.

BRAZIL - Assassination
February 16, 2005 - Press release

On February 12, 2005, Sister Dorothy Mae Stang, a missionary and representative of the Pastoral Commission for Land (Comissão Pastoral da Terra) and a militant at the National Movement for Human Rights (Movimento Nacional de Direitos Humanos), was shot dead while she was walking to a meeting of the Sustainable Development Project (Projeto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável - PDS) - Esperança, in Pará State.

The perpetrators of this act would be two men working for Mr. Dnair Freijó da Cunha, who recently appropriated some land lots belonging to PDS-Esperança after having violently evicted workers and their families from their lots.
In the past, Sister Dorothy Mae Stang had already been facing death threats from landowners in the region. She had been named an honorary citizen of Pará State and, on December 10, 2004, she received the Human Rights Award from the Brazilian Lawyers Bar (OAB) - Pará section.

BRAZIL - Harassment / Intimidation / Stalking / Death threats
April 19, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

Between March 21 and 23, 2005, a criminal trial took place in the municipality of Mongaguá, State of São Paulo, against two military policemen, Mr. Mauricio Miranda and Mr. Silvio Ricardo Monteiro Batista, accused of having killed, hidden the body, and exercised power abuse on two young men. Mrs. Isabel Peres, Coordinator of the Brazilian section of the Christian Association for the Abolition of Torture (Ação dos Cristãos para a Abolição da Tortura - ACAT-Brazil), as well as the lawyers Mr. Francisco Lúcio França, volunteer of ACAT-Brazil, and Mr. José de Jesus Filho, directly participated in this trial.

On March 21, 2005, Messrs. Francisco Lúcio França and José de Jesus Filho were followed by a black vehicle in Mongaguá. On March 25, back in São Paulo, Mr. Francisco Lúcio França realised that he was being followed by a man, who approached him after a while. The man identified himself as a policeman, member of the "death squad", and told him to "abandon the criminal trial, otherwise he would die". He added that "someone else would be in charge of carrying out the contract, because he was working in team".

On March 26, 2005, Mrs. Isabel Peres, who was still in Mongaguá, was also followed by a black vehicle in all her displacements within the city.

CHAD - Threat of dismissal
March 22, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

On March 9, 2005, Prime Minister Pascal Yoadimnadji requested the Platform of Human Rights Associations (Collectif des Associations des droits de l’Homme - ADH) to remove Mr. Dobian Assingar, honorary President of the Chad’s League for Human Rights (Ligue tchadienne des droits de l’Homme - LTDH), from his post as ADH representative within the Group for Control and Surveillance of Oil Resources (Collège de contrôle et de surveillance des ressources pétrolières - CCSRP).

This request followed Mr. Dobian Assingar’s intervention at Radio France Internationale (RFI) on March 2, 2005, in which he denounced the law n°001/PR/99 on the management of petrol revenues as discriminatory.

CHILE - Judicial proceedings / Arbitrary detentions / Harassment
February 11, 2005 - CHL 001 / 0205 / OBS 012

On February 5, 2005, Mr. Juan Pichún, leader of the Mapuche community in Traiguén, and his brother, Mr. Carlos Pichún Collonao, were summoned to appear, on February 8, before Mr. Sergio Moya, Prosecutor in charge of the investigation on several forest fires in the region. They are suspected of having taken part in one of these fires.

However, they refused to answer the summons, as they consider the Chilean justice as arbitrary and this action against them contrary to the respect of presumption of innocence. At the end of 2004, Mr. Juan Pichún had gone to Europe to denounce the political persecutions his community is victim of.

On February 4, 2005, the brothers José de la Rosa Nahuelpi Millapán and Lorenzo Manuel Nahuelpi Millapán, Mapuche leaders also accused of being responsible for a forest fire, were arrested.

Furthermore, Mr. Pascual Pichún, the father of the two defendants, remains detained at the prison of Traiguén (region IX) for "terrorist threats" since January 2004.

CHILE - Sentencing / Criminalisation
April 19, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

On April 6, 2005, the Supreme Court of Chile repealed the sentence of acquittal passed by the Oral Criminal Tribunal of Temuco on November 9, 2004, on a judgement against, among others, Mrs. Patricia Roxana Troncoso Robles and the Lonkos (traditional leaders) Mr. Pascual Huentequeo Pichún Paillalao and Mr. Segundo Aniceto Norín Catriman, defenders of the Mapuche’s rights who were accused of illicit terrorist association.

The appeal to make the sentence null and void, which was made by the Public Ministry of the IX Region of Araucanía, the Undersecretary of the Interior Mr. Jorge Correa Sútil as special Prosecutor, the Municipality of Temuco and the companies Agrícola Curaco S.A. and Forestal Mininco S.A., was said to be based on an alleged wrong evaluation of the witnesses presented by the plaintives. The Supreme Court also suggested that the sentence in the new judgement "should lead to a totally different sentence", which can be interpreted as an order of condemnation.

CHINA - Arbitrary detention / Harassment / Ill-treatment
March 24, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

Human rights defenders or their family members, such as Mr. Wu Xuewei, Mr. Yan Zhengxue, Mrs. Jiang Meili, Mrs. Jiang Zhongli, and Mr. Li Jianhong, were detained or placed under house arrest or surveillance in an apparent attempt to limit their activities during the National People’s Congress (NPC) and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) sessions, which were held from March 3 to 14, 2005. In some instances, they were subjected to severe physical abuse.

Mr. Wu Xuewei, the husband of detained petitioner Mrs. Mao Hengfeng, had been under strict surveillance since February 25, 2005.

Furthermore, on March 8, 2005, Mr. Yan Zhengxue, an outspoken human rights promoter as well as a well-known artist and dissident, was transported to Jiaojiang Prison after he went to the court in Jiaojiang District, Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province, to obtain a written judgment relating to his lawsuit alleging abuse of power and other unlawful activities by various local officials. Moreover, Mr. Zheng Enchong, an imprisoned Shanghai lawyer involved in the defence of economic and social rights of displaced persons, showed traces of severe beating by prison officials when his wife visited him at Tilanqiao Prison on March 9, 2005.

CHINA - Harassment
April 11, 2005 - CHN 001 / 0405 / OBS 023

Mr. Ma Wenbao, a National People’s Congress delegate, suffered official harassment after speaking out on behalf of Xi’an residents brutalised in a forced relocation scheme. Indeed, following a violent clearance operation in the Lianhu District of the city on March 30, 2005, Mr. Ma Wenbao publicly took up the cause of the displaced residents, and called for action to be taken against Messrs. Yao Xiaoling, Lianhu District Clearance Office Director, and Ma Long, vice-Director, for utilising organised crime figures in the clearance.

Both of them allegedly headed the group of more than 120 clearance workers that destroyed more than 30 homes in the Beimadao Lane district and bate some residents who offered resistance. Mr. Ma was then put under close surveillance, and his phone calls were being monitored.

COLOMBIA - Forced disappearance / Presumed murder
February 15, 2005 - COL 001 / 0205 / OBS 013

On February 11, 2005, Mr. Miguel Caro, a member of the environmental Health Office of El Castillo, Department of Meta, and a peasant leader who chaired several assemblies of communal action, disappeared, after having gone to Medellín del Ariari for professional reasons.

Mr. Miguel Caro was fearing reprisals from paramilitaries since he had lodged a complaint, on November 11, 2004, along with other people, against several civil servants, including the mayor Mr. Arvey Martínez, on corruption charges.

On February 12, policemen found Mr. Caro’s motorbike in the surroundings of Medellín del Ariari. The motorbike was riddled with five bullets, and documents about the complaint were found next to it.

COLOMBIA - Death threats
February 22, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

On February 10, 2005, several people were subjected to death threats in a tract bearing the logo of the Capital Block of the United Self-Defence of Colombia (Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia - AUC), which had been slided under the door of the National Federation of Agrarian Cooperatives (Federación Nacional de Cooperativas Agrarias - FENACOA) in Bogotá: Mr. José Antonio Guerrero García, FENACOA General Director, Mrs. Edilia Mendoza, leader of the National Association of Peasant Workers - Unity and Reconstruction (Asociación Nacional de Usuarios Campesinos - Unidad y Reconstrucción - ANUC-UR), Mr. Everto Díaz, Chairman of the National Unionist Unitarian Federation of Farmers (Federación Nacional Sindical Unitaria Agropecuaria - FENSUAGRO), as well as Mr. Germán Bedoya, Chairman of the National Agrarian Coordination (Coordinador Nacional Agrario - CNA).

COLOMBIA - Torture / Extra-judicial executions
March 1, 2005 - COL 002 / 0205 / OBS 017

On February 21, 2005, Mr. Luis Eduardo Guerra Guerra, leader and member of the Internal Council (Consejo Interno) of the San José de Apartadó Peace Community, Department of Antioquia, as well as his companion Ms. Bellanira Areiza Guzmán, and his 11-year-old son, Deiner Andrés Guerra, were extra-judicially executed. They were first detained by people in uniform who identified themselves as members of the 11th Brigade of the Colombian Army, and were then taken to the property of Mr. Alfonso Bolívar Tuberquia Graciano, a member of the Peace Council (Consejo de Paz) of the humanitarian zone of Mulatos. Mr. Alfonso Bolívar was also executed along with his wife Mrs. Sandra Milena Muñoz Pozo and his 2-year-old son Santiago Tuberquia Muñoz and 6-year-old daughter Natalia Andrea Tuberquia Muñoz.

On February 25, 2005, an enquiry commission was created by members of the Peace Community, who eventually found a mutilated child body. A judicial commission composed of members of the General Prosecutor’s Office and the Public Ministry (Fiscalía General de la Nación and Procuraduría General de la Nación) carried out the exhumation of the mass grave and found the bodies of three adults and two small children torn into pieces. Later on, three other bodies were found and recognised by the community members as those of Mr. Luis Eduardo Guerra Guerra, with visible marks of torture, and his family.

COLOMBIA - Attempted murder / Threats and harassment / Presumed enforced disappearance
March 8, 2005 - COL 003 / 0305 / OBS 018

On March 2, 2005, Mr. Rafael Cabarcas, a trade union leader of the Oil Workers’ Trade Union (Unión Sindical Obrera - USO) in Cartagena, Department of Bolívar, and one of his bodyguards, Mr. Andrés Bohorquez Ortega, were victims of a murder attempt in the city of Cartagena. The next day, as protests were organised in Bogotá, Mr. Edgar Mojica Vanegas, USO National Secretary of Communication, was followed by an unknown vehicle. On March 3, 2005, USO’s office in Cartagena received a phone call by someone who identified himself as a dissident member of the Central Bolívar Group of the AUC and informed of the existence of a plan to murder leaders of USO and of other trade unions and civil society organisations.

Furthermore, Mr. Orlando Gómez Alquichire, an engineer affiliated to USO in the Department of Putumayo, was reportedly kidnapped on February 21, 2005. His whereabouts remained unknown as of March 8, 2005.

COLOMBIA - Death threats
March 11, 2005 - COL 004 / 0305 / OBS 019

Mr. Miguel Alberto Fernández Orozco, President of the Central United Organisation of Colombian Workers (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores - CUT) in Cauca and Coordinator of the Human Rights Branch of the Committee for the Integration of the Colombian Massif Region (Area de Derechos Humanos del Comité de Integración del Macizo Colombiano - CIMA) received death threats on March 8, 2005, one day after he publicly presented a report on the human rights situation in Cauca. Mr. Miguel Alberto Fernández Orozco has been constantly subjected to threats and acts of harassment, due to his work as defender of the human rights of the local peasant and popular communities.

COLOMBIA - Arbitrary detentions / Releases / Harassment
April 4, 2005 - COL 005 / 0405 / OBS 021
April 19, 2005 - COL 005 / 0405 / OBS 021.1

On April 1, 2005, the headquarters of the Justice and Peace Commission (Comisión Intereclesial de Justicia y Paz) in Bogotá received a phone call informing them about the arbitrary detention of Mr. Enrique Chimonja, Mrs. Johana López, Mr. Edwin Mosquera, Mrs. Mónica Suárez and Mr. Fabio Ariza, members of the Commission who were accompanying the Communities of Jiguamiandó and Curvaradó, in "Pueblo Nuevo", "Bella Flor Remacho" and "Nueva Esperanza" (Departments of Chocó and Antioquia), which are recognised as humanitarian zones by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR).

The armed men who detained them introduced themselves as members of the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia - FARC). On April 8, 2005, the Justice and Peace Commission received two phone calls saying that these five persons had all been released, and that they were accompanied by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the Diocese of Quibdó.

However, members of the organisation continued to be subjected to acts of harassment. On April 4, 2005, Mr. Danilo Rueda was followed by a vehicle after having left the headquarters of Justice and Life (Justicia y Vida). Later on, Mr. Rueda and Mr. Abilio Peña were also followed by a vehicle. The same day, the lawyer Mr. Rafael Figueroa was followed by two men, one of them being armed, when he was going out of the headquarters of the Justice and Peace Commission.

Finally, on April 7, 2005, a security agent was seen around members of Justice and Peace during a day of national mobilisation against the current negotiation process with the paramilitary forces led by President Uribe (Acto de Indignación Nacional).

COLOMBIA - Death threats
April 6, 2005 - COL 006 / 0405 / OBS 022

On March 28, 2005, a pamphlet was found in the headquarters of the National Food Industry Trade Union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Industria de Alimentos - SINALTRAINAL), section of Barranquilla (Department of Atlántico), declaring as military objectives of the Bananero Block of the AUC, Costa Atlántica, the following members of the trade union, some of whom working for the Coca-Cola company: Eduardo García Pimienta, Euripides Yance, Evelio Mancera, Eduardo Arévalo, Jesús Tovar, Antonio Andrade, Roberto Borja, Tomas Ramos, Adalberto Ortega, Victor Vaca, Luis Jiménez, Osvaldo Camargo, Elicen Gárces, Jorge Eliécer Sarmiento, Freddy Páez, Ramón Camargo, Germán Castaño, Antonio García and Orlando Pérez Contreras. This pamphlet arrived while SINALTRAINAL was preparing petitions to be presented to the bottling factories of Coca-Cola in the Costa Norte.

COLOMBIA - Threats / Harassment
April 25, 2004 - COL 007 / 0405 / OBS 026

The Italian teacher and journalist Mr. Cristiano Morsolin, Coordinator of the Independant Observatory on the Andean Region "SELVAS" (Observatorio Independiente sobre la Región Andina) and in charge of social projects orientated towards the defence of human rights in Latin America and, since December 2004, specifically in Colombia, was subjected to increasing threats and acts of harassment following the denunciations he made after the massacre in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó on February, 21, 2005. In particular, Mr. Morsolin received a threatening message on April 7, 2005. Father Javier Giraldo, long-time supporter of the Peace Community, was also threatened because of the same denunciations.

Moreover, Mr. Cristiano Morsolin had accompanied the human rights defender Mrs. Gloria Cuartas, former Mayor of San José de Apartadó and General Secretary of the political group "Social and Political Front", who publicly asserted the responsibility of the Colombian army in this massacre, and who is currently subjected to threats and harassment.

COTE D’IVOIRE - Harassment / Death threats
February 2, 2005 - CIV 001 / 0205 / OBS 009
March 23, 2005 - CIV 001 / 0205 / OBS 009.1

On January 26, 2005, the Ivorian Movement for Human Rights (Mouvement ivoirien des droits de l’Homme - MIDH) published, jointly with FIDH, a report denouncing the serious human rights violations committed by all parties to the conflict after the resumption of hostilities in November 2004.

On January 28, 2005, Mr. Blé Goudé, leader of the Young Patriots’ Alliance (Alliance des jeunes patriotes), close to Mr. Laurent Gbagbo, President of the Republic, reacted to the report in an interview to Radio Côte d’Ivoire, calling it a "provocation" and "asking the patriots not to react". The next day, an anonymous email addressed to MIDH informed Mr. Amourlaye Touré, its Chairman, that its members should feel "ready to go to hell".

Besides, on March 21, 2005, Mr. Touré received a threatening e-mail, which showed that the authors were following and watching Mr. Touré’s movements.

ECUADOR - Fear for safety / Search / Harassment / Death threats
February 18, 2005 - ECU 001 / 0205 / OBS 014
March 16, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

The climate of insecurity for human rights defenders and opposition members in Ecuador has deteriorated since several months. Defenders were victims of different types of harassment such as physical attacks and death threats, and impunity prevailed among those responsible. These acts mainly targeted those opposing the Executive-led reform (and attempted take-over) of the Judiciary, which was initiated in December 2004.

On December 16, 2004, union leader Mr. Blasco Peñaherrera Solah was victim of an assassination attempt. Ms. María Paula Romo, member of the youth group "Ruptura de los 25", was threatened with death on December 17, 2004.

Moreover, Mr. Diego Guzmán Espinoza, civic rights activist, founding member of the Observatory of the Ecuadorian Media (Observatorio de Medios de Ecuador) and Director of the radio programme Buscolíos.com, has also been victim of harassment and death threats since December 2004. Most recently, armed men went on March 1, 2005 at his office and he received a threatening phone call on March 2. Journalist Orlando Pérez Torres from the HOY daily and executives of Quito’s Radio Bolívar were allegedly also threatened with death.
In February 2005, engineer Fidel Narváez, technical Secretary of the Inter-American Platform for Human Rights, Democracy and Development (Plataforma Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, Democracia y Desarrollo- PIDHDD) in Ecuador and executive of the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (Asamblea Permanente de Derechos Humanos - APDH), was followed and victim of harassment for having denounced these violations.

Furthermore, the Jesuit Foundation Mariana de Jesús, which develops social programmes, and particularly its director, Mr. Francisco Peña, were subjected to serious acts of harassment. On February 14, 2005, policemen and representatives of the Ministry of Social Affairs burst into the premises of the Foundation in Quito. They presented a "dissolution and liquidation" decision from the Ministry, which had been taken on February 10, 2005 and which would be grounded on complaints and the presumed illegal functioning of the Foundation. Mr. Francisco Peña was summoned to evacuate immediately the premises, as well as all the employees, and the bank accounts of the Foundation were frozen. However, an audit conducted in 2003 by the Ministry had concluded that the Foundation was legal.

On March 2, 2005, the organisation’s office received a phone call, warning about a bomb threat, which was later verified as invalid, and requesting that Mr. Peña resigns.

ETHIOPIA - Human rights defenders under pressure
April 14, 2005 - Publication of an international fact-finding mission report

On April 14, 2005, the Observatory published a report on the international fact-finding mission that was conducted in Ethiopia from June 26 to July 3, 2004.

Defending human rights in Ethiopia today comes down to facing constant risks of clashes with federal, regional and local authorities, who show a blatant will to control and neutralise independent civil society, while the ruling power and State agents continue to subject human rights defenders to repression, harassment and retaliation. Thus, Messrs. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, President of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), Birhanu Nega, Chairman of the Ethiopian Economic Association, and Abate Angore, member of the Executive Board of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), were still prosecuted for their outspoken position against the police violence that struck a student protest movement in April 2001.
The crackdown on fundamental rights and freedoms took the form of an increased institutionalisation and judicialisation: new restrictive press and NGO laws are currently under review, and several associations faced legal actions initiated by the government and its Ministries, aiming at curtailing their activities.

While human rights defenders and associations also had to face recurrent smear and discredit campaigns orchestrated by the authorities, State authorities tried to replace independent civil society organisations by pro-governmental NGOs.

GUATEMALA - Repression of a demonstration / Arrest warrant / Harassment / Death threats
February 3, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities
April 21, 2005 - GTM 004 / 0405 / OBS 024

On January 5, 2005, Mrs. Dominga Vásquez, indigenous mayor of Sololá and militant against the mine exploitation in the region, received an anonymous phone call threatening her because of her denounciations.

On January 11, 2005, forces of the national police and the army repressed a peaceful demonstration led by peasants opposed to the conveyance of a turbine aimed for the mines activities in San Miguel Ixtahuacán, Department of San Marcos, whose exploitation licences were obtained without the agreement of the concerned communities.

Mr. Raúl Castro Bocel, a maya Kaqchikel peasant, was killed, and almost 20 people, including several policemen, were injured.

Furthermore, an arrest warrant was issued against Mrs. Vásquez and other community leaders, who were accused of "being responsible for having excited the mob" during the January 11, 2005 events. In a note, the Criminal Investigation Service (Servicio de Investigación Criminológica - SIC) asked for these people to be charged with the following accusations: threats, constraint, sedition, terrorism, militancy within illegal groups, integrating illegal armed groups, and violation of the Constitution. The Minister Mr. Carlos Vielmann even evoked the presumed responsibility of the mayor during a public declaration.

On March 25, 2005, in the community of El Tablón, department of Sololá, Mr. Carlos Humberto Guarquez, member of the Foundation Maya (FUNDAMAYA), an organisation working in favour of human rights of indigenous people, found a car of the foundation he was used to drive on fire, along with five notes containing death threats against him, Mrs. Dominga Vásquez, as well as her husband and journalist, Mr. Alfonso Guarquez. Mr. Carlos Humberto Guarquez is involved in a campaign aiming at raising the awareness of the population about the possible environmental harm caused by the mine extraction, in particular to the indigenous people who live next to the mines.

GUATEMALA - Harassment / Death threats
February 3, 2005 - GTM 002 / 0302 / OBS 023.1

Monsignor Alvaro Ramazzini, Bishop of the San Marcos diocese, was said to be the target of an assassination plan, notably because of his support to the peasants of the region. Indeed, an unknown woman would have offered 50,000 US dollars to a former member of the intelligence services to kill him and would also have indicated that she knew his schedule. Mgr. Ramazzini and his diocese’s opposition to the development of the mine exploitation, particularly in San Marcos, his involvement in various agrarian conflicts as well as his legal support to the poor and landless farmers, could explain the existence of such a project.

GUATEMALA - Search / Harassment
February 9, 2005 - GTM 003 / 0205 / OBS 011

On February 3, 2005, while she was in her hotel room in Playa Grande, Mrs. Sara Poroj, in charge of the programme of exhumations of illegal cemeteries at the Mutual Support Group (Grupo de Apoyo Mutuo - GAM), was threatened by an unknown and armed man, who searched all her documents. This man then left the hotel, without taking anything. Other armed people would have been in the neighbourhood of the hotel.

Mrs. Sara Poroj was in Playa Grande with other members of GAM in order to get the authorisation for an exhumation in an illegal cemetery located in a military area.

IRAQ - Abductions / Assassinations
February 28, 2005 - IRQ 001 / 0205 / OBS 016

On January 4, 2005, Mr. Hadi Saleh, international Secretary of the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), was brutally tortured and murdered at his home in Baghdad. Sentenced to death in 1969 for independent labour activities, once his sentence had been commuted
he had fled Iraq after five years in prison, but still continued to work for labour rights in Iraq. Back in 2003, he had become a founding member of IFTU.

Moreover, Mr. Moaid Hamed, General Secretary of the Mosul branch of IFTU, was abducted on February 11, 2005. This followed the abduction and subsequent release of other senior trade unionists from the same organisation.

On February 18, 2005, the labour leader Mr. Ali Hassan Abd (Abu Fahad), an outspoken member of the Oil and Gas Union, was murdered near the Al Dorah Oil Refinery in Baghdad. Mr. Ali Hassan Abd was one of the first activists to organise trade unions in the oil industry, encouraging union voice in a post-Saddam Iraq as early as April 2003.

KYRGYZSTAN - Threat of arrest / Defamation
February 8, 2005 - KGZ 002 / 0803 / OBS 044.6

On February 2, 2005, two policemen went into the former apartment of Mr. Ramazan Dyryldaev, Chairman of the Kyrgyz Committee for Human Rights (KCHR). Among other, they asked for Mr. Dyryldaev’s whereabouts, claiming that they had received an order to arrest him due to his alleged plundering of financial resources. Indeed, the authorities had been informed that Mr. Dyryldaev had come back in Kyrgyzstan during the parliamentary election campaign.

On February 1, 2005, an article published in the Slovo Kyrgyzstana newspaper had claimed that Mr. Dyryldaev’s denunciations of human rights violations by the Kyrgyz State agents and government had been invented in order to obtain funding from Western institutions, and that such false information was disseminated through international organisations, such as the Vienna-based International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights.

LEBANON - Questioning / Judicial proceedings
March 2, 2005 - LBN 001 / 0005 / OBS 033.2

On February 26, 2005, Mr. Muhamad Mugraby, a lawyer registered at the Beirut Bar Association, was detained by the General Security (Sûreté Générale) forces in Beirut and released ten hours later. He was accused of "outrage to the State’s reputation and the military institution", offences that are not inscribed as such in the Lebanese criminal code. Mr. Mugraby was interrogated on his intervention before the Mashrek Committee of the European Parliament in November 2003, when he denounced his arbitrary detention in August of the same year, as well as the dysfunctions of the Lebanese judiciary system. Mr. Mugraby had already been arrested following this intervention in 2003. Although the charges against him were abandoned due to international pressure, the case was once again opened in February 2005, which led to his detention.

MAURITANIA - Arbitrary detentions / Provisional release / Judicial proceedings
March 22, 2005 - MRT 001 / 0305 / OBS 020
April 19, 2005 - MRT 001 / 0305 / OBS 020.1

On March 13, 2005, Mr. Mohamed Lemine Ould Mahmoudi, a journalist who was investigating into a case of slavery at the village of Mederdra, was arrested. On March 16, he was transferred to the civil prison of Rosso, in the region of Trarza. He was accused of "undermining the State’s security". Mr. Mohamed Lemine Ould Mahmoudi was denied access to the necessary medical care and a doctor’s visit and was detained in a 3 square meters cell with six other prisoners, some of whom being considered as "very violent".

Likewise, Mrs Aïchetou Mint El Hadar, teacher, and Mrs Moya Mint Boyah, spouse of a senator of the opposition and pregnant of seven months, were arrested at the same time and imprisoned in the women’s prison of Nouakchott. They were indicted of "complicity in attack on the State’s security". Both of them are sympathizers of the anti-slavery NGO SOS-Slaves (SOS-Esclaves) and members of the opposition party Popular Progressive Alliance (Alliance Populaire Progressiste).

On April 14, 2005, the Nouakchott Court of Appeal decided to provisionally release Mr. Mohamed Lemine Ould Mahmoudi, as well as Mrs. Aïchetou Mint El Hadar and Mrs. Moya Mint Boyah. Although the prosecutor had tried to prevent the request of release, the later was ordered by Mr. Diabira Bakary, Minister of Justice. However, the charges against these three people were not dropped, and judicial proceedings against them were still pending.

MEXICO - Death threats / Harassment
February 3, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

Mrs. Lydia Cacho Ribero, President of the Crisis Centre for Victims - Integral Women’s Assistance Centre (Centro de Crisis para Víctimas - Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres - CIAM) in Cancún, Quintana Roo, was subjected to threats and harassment acts from assailants of women who had found shelter at the Centre.

In particular, Mr. José Ramón Hernández, a former agent of the special corps against illegal confinement of Torreón, Federal Agency for Investigation (AFI), whose wife and children, victim of his assaults, found shelter at CIAM, went to the Centre with a gun and threatened with death Mrs. Cacho Ribero as well as the staff of CIAM-Cancún. Mr. José Alfredo Jimenez Potenciano, a well-known drug trafficker, had acted the same way in November 2004. Informed about these events, neither judicial nor governmental authorities took any initiative. Mrs. Lydia Cacho was also threatened with judicial proceedings on the charge of kidnapping, after the sister of Mr. Potenciano’s wife lodged a complaint before the Prosecutor of the Quintana Roo State.

Moreover, since December 2004, CIAM-Cancún has received phone threats for having denounced sexual abuses on children committed by Mr. Jean Succar Kuri, businessman, currently detained in Arizona, USA, and waiting to be deported. Mrs. Cacho Ribero also appeared on a list of people who are subjected to an assassination order from Mr. Succar Kuri, and which was sent to the local police. However, no protection from the police authorities was granted to Mrs. Cacho Ribero.

NEPAL - Arbitrary arrests and detentions / Attempt of arrest / Harassment / Attack on freedoms / Releases
February 8, 2005 - NPL 002 / 0205 / OBS 010
March 2, 2005 - NPL 002 / 0205 / OBS 010.1
February 22, 2005 - Publication of an international mission of investigation report

On February 22, 2005, the Observatory published a report on an international mission of investigation on the situation of human rights defenders since the breakdown of the ceasefire in August 2003. This report highlights in particular the violations committed by both the government forces and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) against Nepalese defenders.

Moreover, on February 1, 2005, King Gyandendra declared a sate of emergency, thus suspending fundamental civil freedoms (freedom of the press notably). As a result, both political parties and trade unions were targeted; lawyers, trade unionists, students, politicians, and journalists were arrested, along with several human rights defenders.

On February 4, 2005, Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri, Secretary General of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), was arrested at his residence in Kathmandu. On the same day, the security forces raided the Federation’s offices and the residence of its President, Mr. Tara Nath Dahal, whose family members would have been harassed by the security forces.

On February 25, 2005, Ms. Manju Bhattarai, member of the Central Committee of the Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC), Mr. Kishore Gautam, former NTUC District President, Mr. Bishnu Nisthuri, General Secretary of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ), Professor Lokraj Baral, Mr. Khagendra Bhattarai, former president of Nepal Lecturers Association, and Mr. Shiva Bahadur Basnet, were released. On February 28, 2005, at the end of the hearing on his habeas corpus petition, Mr. Gauri Pradhan, founder and President of the Child Workers in Nepal Concern Centre (CWIN), was released from police custody on the order of the Supreme Court. Yet, he was promptly rearrested outside the court house by security forces in plain clothes, who were soon ordered to release him. However, as of March 2, 2005, several human rights defenders and trade union activists remained under arrest, among which five NTUC activists, Mr. Bhakta B. Karki, Vice-President, Western Region (Dhangadi), Mr. Deepak Tamang, President, Jhapa District, Ms. Sarita Boon, District Member, Kathmandu-Teachers, Ms. Gita Pathak, Central Member, Construction Workers’ Union, and Mr. Chandra Bhattari, Senior Vice President, Construction Workers’ Union, Pokhara.

NEPAL - Restrictions on freedom of movement
March 29, 2005 - Press Release

In February and March 2005, the Nepalese government refused to issue a Travel Document (TD) to Mr. S.K. Pradhan, Secretary General of the Peoples’ Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD) and an active defender of refugees rights in Nepal, who aimed at attending the 61st session of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights held in Geneva, Switzerland, from March 14 to April 22, 2005. Mr. Basanta Raj Bhattarai, Deputy Director of the Refugee Coordination Unit (RCU), refused to issue the TD on invalid grounds.

Mr. Pradhan spent three years in prison after having been wrongfully charged in September 2001 with complicity in the murder of Mr. R. K. Budhahathoki, Chairman of the Bhutan Peoples’ Party (BPP). Since his release in September 2004, he has already been prevented from attending international conferences by the RCU, although his sentence did not include any limitation to his freedom of movement.

PERU - Threats / Harassment
February 23, 2005 - PER 001 / 0205 / OBS 015

Mrs. Cristina del Pilar Olazábal, Prosecutor in charge of human rights violations committed from 1980 to 2000 in the department of Ayacucho, was subjected to threats and strong critics from the representatives of the Aprista Peruano Party - American Revolutionary Popular Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana - APRA). These threats followed complaints for genocide and assassinations in which the party leader and former President of Peru, Mr. Alan García, as well as other civil servants, are involved, because of their alleged responsibility in the massacre of Accomarca, on August 14, 1985, when the army, led by the military Mr. Telmo Ricardo Hurtado, murdered 62 farmers.

In an interview for Radio Melody published in the newspaper Correo de Ayacucho on February 7, 2005, former senator Mr. David Sifuentes accused Mrs. Cristina del Pilar Olazábal, as well as Mrs. Gloria Cano, lawyer at the Association for Human Rights (Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos - APRODEH), of "using the law and the rule of law as bandits use a grenade ", and stated that "their minds were disturbed and their souls sick".

RUSSIA - Aggression / Search / Destruction
February 23, 2005 - RUS 001 / 0803 / OBS 042.1

On February 18, 2005, unknown people rang at the door of the Research Centre of the organisation Memorial Saint Petersburg, saying that they had an urgent message from Memorial Moscow. Mr. Emanuil Polyakov, a Memorial employee, opened the door and three men rushed in. They knocked him out with a heavy object and then continued to beat him as he laid unconscious. He was found in the late morning the next day in a critical condition, and taken to the hospital.

The attackers destroyed a part of Memorial’s office equipment, searched and turned over the archives and forced the safes of the organisation. The fact that they went directly to the room of Mrs. Irina Flige, Director of the Research Centre, and left later by the back door, could be an indication that the attackers knew the office plan. A police investigation was open.

SOUTH KOREA - Arbitrary arrests and detentions / Obstacles to freedom of assembly and association
April 29, 2005 - KOR 001 / 0405 / OBS 027

On March 15, 2005, Mr. Ahn Byeong-Soon, General Secretary of the Korean Government Employees Union (KGEU), was arrested, and on March 17, 2005, the court allowed for his continued detention. On April 8, 2005, the police also arrested Mr. Kim Young-Gil, KGEU President.

Both men were arrested after a warrant was issued against them on November 9, 2004, following a general strike organised in opposition to the Bill on the Public Officials’ Trade Union Act (which contains provisions restricting trade unions’ rights) that took place in November 2004. At the time, the government of Korea had attempted to prevent nation-wide rallies organised by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and KGEU in protest of this Bill.

SYRIA - Postponement of trial
April 22, 2005 - Press release
April 24, 2005 - Mission of judicial observation
April 27, 2005 - Press release

On April 24, 2005, the Observatory sent a mission of judicial observation, jointly with the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), to the trial of Mr. Aktham Naisse, President of the Committees of the Defence of Democratic Liberties and Human Rights in Syria (CDF), which was scheduled to resume before the Syrian Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) on that day. Mr. Naisse is charged with "opposing the objectives of the revolution", and "disseminating false information aiming at weakening the State", and risks a prison sentence of 15 years. Once again, Mr. Naisse’s sentencing was adjourned until June 26, 2005.
Before the hearing, a few hundreds of Syrian demonstrators, including of Kurdish origin, had gathered in front of the SSSC, carrying banners protesting against the Syrian emergency laws of 1963 and the use of exceptional courts. They also demanded the release of people sentenced at these courts. The demonstration took place with around 50 riot policemen surrounding the place.

TOGO - Fear for security
April 27, 2005 - Press release

Following the presidential elections in Togo on April 24, 2005, members of human rights organisations were prevented from working and their physical and psychological integrity was threatened. Indeed, human rights defenders who wanted to observe the elections were prevented from doing so by police forces; independent media were closed on order of national authorities; all means of communication were cut. In addition, since the official announcement of Mr. Faure Gnassimgbe’s victory, the city of Lomé witnessed violent encounters between security forces and young demonstrators who contested in the streets the validity of the election results.

TUNISIA - Crackdown of an NGO / Hindrance to freedom of assembly
February 15, 2005 - Press release

On February 12, 2005, more than one hundred plain clothes policemen told members of the National Council for Freedoms in Tunisia (Conseil National des Libertés en Tunisie - CNLT) that they had received the order to forbid by all means their general assembly, which had already been postponed many times.

On January 16, 2005, a high number of policemen had already prevented the general assembly, which was initially planned on December 11, 2004, from being hold. On January 28, 2005, policemen prevented CNLT members from entering the premises of the organisation, although no meeting had been planned. The next day, the office door had been forced, the computers damaged and the connection to Internet did not work anymore.

TURKEY - Death threats
April 21, 2005 - Press release

Four executives of the Human Rights Association in Turkey (Insan Haklari Dernegi - IHD), Mrs. Kiraz Biçici, vice-President, Mrs. Eren Keskin, Chairperson of the Istanbul Branch, Mr. Doğan Genç, member of the General Executive Board, and Mr. Şaban Dayanan, Board member of the Istanbul Branch, received death threatening letters at their home and offices, on April 19 and April 21, 2005.
These letters, which followed other threatening letters sent to the IHD headquarters’ email addresses during the last two months, were signed by an armed ultra-nationalist group called the Turkish Revenge Brigade (Türk İntikam Tugayı - TIT). This group had claimed responsibility for the armed attack perpetrated against the IHD headquarters in Ankara in 1988, during which the then IHD President, Mr. Akın Birdal, was very seriously wounded after having been shot with six bullets. According to the authors of the letters, the recipients might not be as lucky as him, who survived the attack.

UNITED NATIONS - 61st session of the Human Rights Commission
April 18, 2005 - Joint intervention

At the 61st session of the UN Human Rights Commission, the Observatory made a statement under item 17 (b), dedicated to human rights defenders. The Observatory reiterated the conclusions of its 2004 Annual Report (see below), and particularly drew the attention of Commission members on the situation of human rights defenders in the following countries: Algeria, Belarus, Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Iran, Nepal, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Thailand, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Zimbabwe. The Observatory also underlined the discrimination and stigmatisation of women human rights defenders in China, Iran and Pakistan.

VENEZUELA - Judicial proceedings
April 21, 2005 - VEN 002 / 0405 / OBS 025

On April 5, 2005, the lawyer Mr. Carlos Ayala Corao, President of the Andean Commission of Jurists (Comisión Andina de Juristas) and former President of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (ICHR) of the Organisation of American States (OAS) in 1998-1999, was summoned to testify within the framework of an investigation led by the Sixth Prosecutor with national juridisction of the Public Ministry (Fiscalía Sexta con Competencia Nacional del Ministerio Público). The facts under investigation were not specified. The hearing was postponed until April 14, 2005, when the Public Ministry charged Mr. Ayala Corao of presumed crime of "conspiracy", referring to his alleged participation in the writing of the Constitution Act of the Government of Democratic Transition and National Unity (Acta de Constitución del Gobierno de Transición Democrática y Unidad Nacional), a decree with which the business man Mr. Pedro Carmona Estanga tried to dissolve the public powers on April 12, 2002 through a coup d’état, and declared himself President of Venezuela.

VIETNAM - Releases / Arbitrary detentions / Harassment / Death threats
February 1, 2005 - Press release
March 29, 2005 - Press Release

On February 2, 2005, several human rights defenders in Vietnam were released after having benefited from an amnesty on the occasion of the Lunar New Year. These defenders are, among others:

 Dr. Nguyen Dan Que, sentenced in July 2004 to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for "abusing democratic rights to jeopardise the interest of the State, and the legitimate rights and interest of social organisations and citizens", after having denounced infringements of the freedom of expression and of the press in Vietnam;

 Mr. Nguyen Dinh Huy, founder of the Movement to Unite the People and Build Democracy, sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1993 for planning to organise a conference in Ho Chi Minh City on development and democracy;

 Father Nguyen Van Ly, condemned to 15 years in prison (later reduced to 5 years) and 5 years probationary detention for protesting against religious freedom abuses and sending written testimony to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom;
 Monk Thich Thien Minh, condemned to a double life sentence (in 1979 and in 1986) for supporting the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and attempting to escape from a re-education camp. His sentence was later commuted to 20 years.

However, several human defenders remained in detention in Vietnam, among which Mr. Nguyen Vu Binh, Dr. Pham Hong Son, Mr. Nguyen Khac Toan, Colonel Pham Que Duong, Scholar Tran Khue, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do, both UBCV members.

Since his release after 26 years in a re-education camp, Buddhist monk Thich Thien Minh has been continuously subjected to acts of harassment by Security Police. In particular, he received repeated phone calls threatening him with death if he did not cease all contacts with overseas human rights organisations and if he continued denouncing Vietnam’s human rights and religious freedom violations in the foreign media. Some of the calls also threatened Thich Thich Minh’s brother, Huynh Huu Nghia, and his wife.

Moreover, on March 23, 2005, a delegation of officials from the Ministry of Public Security in Hanoi, headed by Mr. Tan, went to Bac Lieu and summoned Huynh Huu Nghia for questioning at a local hotel. On March 24, 2005, the delegation visited Thich Thien Minh at his brother’s home, along with a number of local Security officials.

ZIMBABWE - Expulsion / Harassment
February 9, 2005 - Open Letter to the authorities

On February 2, 2005, a mission of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), including its Secretary General, Mr. Zwelinzima Vavi, was expelled from the country immediately upon arrival. The mission aimed in particular at meeting with members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to discuss issues and difficulties they were confronted with in conducting their work. Another such COSATU delegation had already been expelled from Zimbabwe on October 26, 2004, a few hours after its members had started a meeting at ZCTU’s headquarters, which was then raided by the police.

Publication of the Observatory 2004 Annual Report - Human rights defenders on the front line
April 14, 2005 - Press release

On April 14, 2005, the Observatory published its annual report for 2004 on the occasion of the 61st session of the UN Commission on Human Rights. On that day, press conferences were organised in Geneva, Dakar, Tunis and London. Press conferences were also organised in Burundi, Cambodia, the Ivory Coast, Sudan, and Zimbabwe.

The report addresses the cases of 1,154 defenders and over 200 organisations committed to the defence of human rights (NGOs, trade unions, etc.) targeted by acts of repression in about 90 countries because of their struggle in favour of human rights and democracy. Although the report does not pretend to be fully exhaustive, the doubling of the number of cases handled by the Observatory in 2004 compared to the 2003 Annual Report is revealing of the deteriorating situation of human rights defenders around the world at a time when human rights are instrumentalised or sacrificed to Realpolitik.

While violations have always existed, the trend today is to justify them in the name of defending other values, such as freedom and democracy, in particular in the framework of the international campaign against terrorism. In such a context, the task of human rights defenders increases in importance with the rise of arbitrariness, social inequalities and violations concomitant with abuses linked to the "security first" principle. In this regard, the repression against defenders is sometimes directly linked to a spurious use of the fight against terrorism. More generally, the values these men and women defend are undergoing constant erosion, their freedom of expression is considerably curtailed and their message is ever more difficult to transmit.

In particular, in 2004, wars and internal conflicts continued to take a heavy toll of human rights defenders, many defenders were assassinated or threatened for being an obstacle to certain economic interests, impunity remained the rule in many authoritarian regimes, as in those eroded by paramilitarism, and women defenders were often subjected to discrimination and stigmatisation.

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Paris - Geneva, June 2005

To contact the Observatory call the Emergency Line : E-mail : observatoire@iprolink.ch Tel and fax FIDH + 33 (0) 1 43 55 20 11 / 01 43 55 18 80 Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / 41 22 809 49 29

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