“Guatemalan Sentenced to 6,060 Years”

Taken from: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2108890,00.html#ixzz1p2RmTj00

March 13, 2012

A former member of an elite Guatemalan military force extradited from the United States last July was sentenced to 6,060 years in prison Monday for his role in the killings of 201 people in a 1982 massacre.

Pedro Pimentel Rios was the fifth former special forces soldier sentenced to 6,060 years or more for what became known as the “Dos Erres” massacre after the northern Guatemala hamlet where the killings occurred during the country’s 1960-1996 civil war.

The sentence was handed down by a three-judge panel is largely symbolic since under Guatemalan law the maximum time a convict can serve is 50 years. It specified 30 years for each of the 201 deaths, plus 30 years for crimes against humanity.

Pimentel Rios, 54, is a former instructor at a Guatemalan training school for an elite military force known as the “kaibiles.”

Pimentel lived in Santa Ana, California, and worked in a sweater factory for years until he was detained by immigration authorities in May 2010. He was extradited to Guatemala the following year.

Guatemala’s civil war claimed at least 200,000 lives before it ended in 1996. The country’s U.S.-backed army was responsible for most of the deaths, according to the findings of a truth commission set up to investigate the bloodshed.

In December 1982, several dozen soldiers stormed the village of Dos Erres, searched homes for missing weapons and systematically killed men, women and children. Soldiers bludgeoned villagers with a sledgehammer, threw them down a well, and raped women and girls before killing them, according to court papers filed in a case brought by U.S. prosecutors against another former kaibil.

Guatemala opened an investigation into the killings in 1994 and unearthed 162 skeletons. Several years later, authorities issued arrest warrants for 17 kaibiles but the cases languished.

In August 2011, a Guatemalan court sentenced three other former special forces soldiers to 6,060 years in prison each for the massacre, and sentenced a former army second lieutenant to 6,066 years.

KONY 2012

Taken from: http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

Whether you support the movement or not, if you are interested, you can get more information and join the movement using the link above.

“UN human rights chief welcomes start of second Khmer Rouge trial”

Taken from: http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=40455&Cr=Cambodia&Cr1=

November 21, 2011

The United Nations human rights chief today welcomed the opening of the genocide trial of three former senior Khmer Rouge leaders in Cambodia, while stressing the need for vigilance to ensure that victims’ rights are respected.Opening statements are scheduled today from the prosecution and defence in the trial of former foreign minister Ieng Sary, former so-called Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, and former head of State Khieu Samphan on charges including genocide, crimes against humanity and torture.It is the second case to be brought to trial by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a mixed court set up under a 2003 agreement signed by the UN and the Government to try those deemed most responsible for crimes committed between 1975 and 1979 during which nearly two million people are thought to have died.

“This is another historic day for the people of Cambodia, many of whom have waited a long time to see the start of this trial, and who can at last begin to hear evidence of the atrocities committed all across the country over 30 years ago,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay. “The survivors’ testimony will undoubtedly help a new generation of Cambodians to understand their history and add impetus to the international community’s efforts to prevent future mass crimes,” she added in a news release.

Nearly 1,000 visitors came to the court to watch today’s proceedings, during which National Co-Prosecutor Chea Leang depicted what types of crimes took place and how millions of Cambodians endured forced labour, tortures and inhumane conditions before being perished.

From the mass evacuation of the capital Phnom Penh on 17 April 1975 onwards to the torture and execution at security prisons around the country to genocide against the Cham Muslim and the ethnic Vietnamese, she illustrated how a series of crimes were committed under the regime presided over by the accused. “Democratic Kampuchea… was one of the most brutal and horrific regimes in modern history,” she concluded after speaking almost all day.

The trial in what is referred to as Case 002 is considered one of the most significant in international criminal justice due to the magnitude of the crimes and its complexity, according to a news release issued by the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge trials (UNAKRT). “We’re embarking on an unprecedented journey,” International Co-Prosecutor Andrew Cayley said, speaking on the roles of the defendants during the regime and the legal framework for the case. “One in four Cambodians perished during the four-year reign of Democratic Kampuchea. The scope of human catastrophe during the regime was incompatible.”

Despite the progress made so far by the tribunal, Ms. Pillay noted that it continues to face challenges, particularly regarding the need to safeguard the integrity of its proceedings. In a series of recent decisions, the minority judges of the pre-trial chamber have found “serious deficiencies” in the application of international standards in the cases still before the court’s investigating judges. “It is essential that these concerns are squarely addressed as the court moves forward,” said the High Commissioner, adding that allegations of interference “mar the credibility of any court in the eyes of the public.”

Last week the ECCC’s trial chamber ruled that Ieng Sary’s wife, 79-year-old Ieng Thirith, the former Social Affairs Minister for the Democratic Kampuchea who was on trial for genocide and other crimes against humanity along with the other three men, is unfit to stand trial and ordered her unconditional release.

“Mexican Rights Activists Seek ICC Investigation of President, Others”

This man has guts. It’s thanks to people like him that we can hope that “never again” is not an empty promise.

Taken from: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/americas/Mexican_Rights_Activists_Seek_ICC_Investigation_of_President_Others.html

November 25, 2011

A Mexican human rights lawyer has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing President Felipe Calderon, other top Mexican officials and drug traffickers of crimes against humanity. Netzai Sandoval filed the complaint Friday with the court in The Hague, calling for an investigation into the deaths of hundreds of people at the hands of the Mexican military and drug traffickers.  More than 20,000 Mexican citizens signed the document.

The prosecutor’s office said it had received the complaint and that a decision on the request will be made “in due course.” Mexico’s government denies the accusations listed in the complaint.

Earlier this month, Human Rights Watch released a report accusing the Mexican military and police of widespread human rights violations in efforts to combat organized crime.  The group’s Americas director, Jose Miguel Vivanco, has said that instead of reducing violence, Mexico’s “war on drugs” has led to a dramatic increase in killings, torture and other appalling abuses by security forces.  He said this makes the climate of lawlessness and fear worse in many parts of the country.

An estimated 45,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since President Calderon took office in late 2006 and began a crackdown on the cartels.

“Ex-Guatemala General Sent to Prison for Genocide Case”

Taken from: http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2011/10/14/ex-guatemala-general-sent-to-prison-for-genocide-case/#ixzz1apXN6IF0

October 14, 2011

Guatemalan prosecutors have arrested another former army general who was allegedly involved in dozens of massacres of indigenous people during the Central American nation’s civil war.

According to Siglo21, judge Patricia Flores, ordered prison to former Gen. Mauricio Rodriguez for genocide charges and crimes against humanity. Rodriguez headed the feared G-2 military intelligence force in 1982 and 1983. A truth commission found the G-2 may have participated in as many as 71 operations against civilians.

General Hector Mario Lopez Fuentes, the first former military arrested in this case, could stand trial on genocide charges involving alleged massacres. Lopez was arrested in June and is the first person in Guatemala to face genocide charges.

“South Korea presses Japan at U.N. over ‘comfort women’”

Taken from: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2011/10/reporting-from-seoul-following-decades-of-frustration-personal-protests-and-governmental-declarations-south-korea-on-we.html

October 12, 2011

REPORTING FROM SEOUL — After decades of frustration, personal protests and government  declarations, South Korea on Wednesday appealed to the United Nations in its demand that Japan take “legal responsibility” for enslaving an estimated 200,000 Korean women as prostitutes during World War II.

Known euphemistically as “comfort women,” the victims were forced to provide sexual services for Japanese soldiers based on the Korean peninsula. For years, Japan has paid lip service to South Korean demands for monetary payments to surviving victims, leading South Korea to seek support through the court of world opinion.“This systematic rape and sexual slavery constitute war crimes, and also, under defined circumstances, crimes against humanity,” Shin Dong-ik, South Korea’s deputy chief envoy to the U.N., told a General Assembly committee.

The statement is the first time in nearly a generation that a Korean diplomat has raised the issue at the U.N.’s Third Committee. Each year since 1992, South Korea has broached the issue at the less influential U.N. Human Rights Council.

A Japanese representative at the committee hearing acknowledged the use of Koreans as comfort women during the war, and he  expressed remorse. However, Japan, which occupied the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, has insisted that the issue was settled by a 1965 compensation package in which South Korea reportedly received $300 million.

Many surviving comfort women have waged regular protests at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. In December, the women will hold their 1,000^th protest. The issue will be revisited during an Oct. 19  summit here between South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.