AI Index: NWS 11/05/92

Distr: SC/PO

No. of words: 1512

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Amnesty International

International Secretariat

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 8DJ

United Kingdom

TO: PRESS OFFICERS

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

DATE: 7 FEBRUARY 1992

WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 05/92

Contained in this weekly update are an external item on Haiti, El Salvador

and Sri Lanka.

1. NEWS INITIATIVES - INTERNAL

Philippines - 26 February 1992

An international news release and possible questions and answers to go with

a document on extrajudicial executions. The campaign launch is tentatively

planned for Manila.

Tunisia - 4 March 1992 (NEW INFORMATION)

A document and news release, tentatively titled "The collapse of human

rights". More details next week.

India - 25 March 1992

An international news release for the campaign against rape, torture and

deaths in custody. A major international launch is planned for London.

Togo - tentatively 8 April 1992 (NEW INFORMATION)

A document and targeted news release about impunity are tentatively

scheduled for 8 April 1992, to coincide with the anniversary of a massacre

on 10 April 1991.

POSSIBLE NEWS INITIATIVES, STILL TO BE CONFIRMED

Western Sahara (NEW INFORMATION)

The tentatively news release mentioned last week now looks more likely to

be a weekly update item in late February, early March.

South Africa

The research team is planning a document, but as yet cannot give a definite

date. It will have an international news release - we will keep you

informed of a date.

Weekly Update NWS 11/05/92

2. AMR 36/WU 01/92 EXTERNAL

7 February 1992

HAITI: AI CONDEMNS US RETURN OF HAITIAN ASYLUM SEEKERS

AI condemns the actions taken by the US authorities to begin returning

large numbers of Haitian asylum-seekers from the US naval base at

Guantánamo, Cuba.

AI recognizes that, since the screening procedure on Guantánamo

commenced in November, a number of the Haitian asylum-seekers have been

assessed as having a plausible claim to asylum and therefore are entitled

to proceed to the US to lodge an asylum claim.

Nevertheless, AI reiterates its concerns about the deficiencies in

the screening procedure on Guantánamo, most notably the absence of

appropriate legal advice and the right of an effective appeal against a

negative decision. In late December 1991 the US authorities refused AI's

request to send delegates to Guantánamo to interview asylum-seekers and to

evaluate the screening procedures followed there.

In view of the deficiencies in the screening procedures followed at

Guantánamo, AI is concerned that some of those screened out could be at

risk of human rights violations after return to Haiti. Its concern on this

point is heightened by recent reports of continued widespread human rights

violations such as extrajudicial execution, arbitrary arrest, torture and

ill-treatment, and by the 25 January attack on a meeting of political

leaders by armed men in civilian clothes identified by victims as belonging

to the police force. Prime Minister designate René Théodore, former

presidential candidate Louis Déjoie and eight other political leaders were

beaten and kicked in the head, and René Théodore's bodyguard, Yves Jean-

Pierre, was shot dead by the assailants.

AI is therefore deeply concerned that this repatriation is going

ahead. Moreover, this is being done without any reliable guarantees for the

security of those being returned.

Weekly Update NWS 11/05/92

3. AMR 37/WU 01/92 EXTERNAL

7 February 1992

EL SALVADOR: ARMY OFFICERS SENTENCED TO 30 YEARS FOR KILLING JESUIT PRIESTS

On 24 January a colonel and a lieutenant of the Salvadorian army were

sentenced to 30 years in prison for the murder of six Jesuit priests, their

housekeeper and her daughter at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA)

during a night-time raid by troops of the Atlacatl battalion in November

1989. Amnesty International considers these sentences to be an important

step, but nevertheless remains concerned about serious irregularities in

the investigation and trial.

Colonel Guillermo Benavides, director of the military academy at the

time of the killings, had been convicted in September 1991 on all eight

counts of murder. Lieutenant Yusshy Mendoza, who coordinated the operation,

had been found guilty of murdering Celina Ramos, the 15-year-old daughter

of the UCA housekeeper (see Weekly Update 37/91). Both were given maximum

sentences.

Another two officers were sentenced to three years each for

conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. They and five other lower ranking

soldiers of the Atlacatl battalion had been acquitted of murder by the

court in September, despite their admission in the course of the trial to

having carried out the killings. In related proceedings, a lieutenant who

was second in command at the Military Academy was sentenced to three years

for destroying evidence during the investigation.

Colonel Benavides is the highest ranking military officer to have

been convicted and sentenced for a gross human rights violation in El

Salvador. The unprecedented sentences were handed down eight days after the

signing of a peace accord between the government and the armed opposition

Frente Farabundo Martí para la Liberación Nacional, which included

agreements aimed at ending impunity and guaranteeing respect for human

rights. AI considers that the sentences mark a crucial first step towards

holding the armed forces accountable for human rights violations.

Nevertheless Amnesty International remains concerned about numerous

irregularities at the investigative and trial stages of the proceedings.

For example, it was never made clear how the nine officers and soldiers

accused were originally identified as the only suspects by the military

Commission of Honour in early 1990. The Commission later denied having made

a definitive selection of suspects, yet the subsequent investigation

limited itself to the scope defined by the Commission. Although

considerable circumstantial evidence indicated that Colonel Benavides may

have been acting on higher orders, the possible involvement of superior

officers was never probed. Senior military officials are said to have

attended a meeting the day before the killings at which the order to murder

the priests was given, yet the officials implicated were not called to

testify. Military personnel presented obstacles throughout the

investigations by providing false or contradictory information to the court

and covering up or destroying key evidence.

Amnesty International, which observed the jury stage of the trial in

September 1991, was also concerned at apparent inconsistencies in the

jury's verdict. The jury acquitted the seven lower-ranking soldiers who

admitted to carrying out the killings under Colonel Benavides' orders,

despite the fact that under both Salvadorian and international law a

soldier cannot be absolved if he or she has carried out a manifestly

illegal order. In a seemingly inconsistent decision, Lieutenant Mendoza was

convicted for the killing of Celina Ramos, although another of the accused

had admitted shooting both Celina and her mother with the same burst of

gunfire. Amnesty International concluded that the verdict, which absolved

those who pulled the trigger, and limited the investigation of chain-of-

command responsibility, appeared to have been influenced by political

considerations.

Unprecedented steps were taken to hold the military accountable for

its actions in this case, largely due to the prominence of the victims and

the international pressure exerted on the authorities. However, hundreds of

killings and "disappearances" of less prominent Salvadorians allegedly

carried out by the Salvadorian military and security forces in the course

of the 12-year war have gone uninvestigated and unpunished. Moreover, the

recent outcome of several other less publicized trials indicates that,

despite the landmark result in the Jesuit case, there is a continuing lack

of political will to prosecute human rights violators within the military.

Amnesty International believes that investigations should continue to

determine the extent of the alleged involvement of senior officials in

planning, condoning or covering up the killings at the UCA. It has noted

that the Legislative Assembly has been requested by relatives and

colleagues of the murdered priests to create a commission of investigation

for that purpose. Amnesty International believes that all those found to

have been involved in the killing, at any stage, must be brought to justice

so as to send an unequivocal message that human violations will no longer

be tolerated.

Weekly Update NWS 11/05/92

4. ASA 37/WU 02/92 EXTERNAL

7 February 1992

SRI LANKA: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGES THAT SOLDIERS RESPONSIBLE FOR

CIVILIAN KILLINGS ARE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE

Amnesty International has written to the Sri Lankan government urging that

soldiers alleged to have massacred 67 civilians in June 1991 are brought to

justice.

On 30 January, the government made public the preliminary report of

the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into allegations of extrajudicial

executions at Kokkadichcholai, Batticaloa District, on 12 June 1991. The

report concluded that soldiers from a local army camp had deliberately

killed 67 civilians in retaliation for the death of two of their colleagues

in a landmine explosion earlier that day. This confirmed information

published by Amnesty International in a September 1991 report on violations

in northeast Sri Lanka.

According to reports, the Minister of Industries, Science and

Technology told journalists the government is awaiting the full report

before deciding what action to take. A military officer reportedly stated

that five soldiers, including one officer, were in military custody and

could face court martial proceedings.

In a letter to the Presidential Adviser on International Affairs of 4

February 1992, Amnesty International urged the government to establish an

independent commission of inquiry to ensure effective and impartial

investigations are carried out into all cases of human rights violations,

including the tens of thousands of extrajudicial executions and

"disappearances" which have occurred in Sri Lanka during the last nine

years.

AI Index: NWS 11/05/92 ADD

Distr: SC/PO

No. of words: 591

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Amnesty International

International Secretariat

1 Easton Street

London WC1X 8DJ

United Kingdom

TO: PRESS OFFICERS

FROM: PRESS AND PUBLICATIONS

DATE: 10 FEBRUARY 1992

ADDITION TO WEEKLY UPDATE SERVICE 05/92

Contained in this addition is an external item on Bhutan.

Due to a research training programme this week, many researchers will be

unavailable, which may result in the weekly update being late again.

Apologies in advance.

1. ASA 14/WU 01/92 EXTERNAL

10 February 1992

BHUTAN: AI WELCOMES RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS, BUT REMAINS CONCERNED

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS BY SECURITY FORCES

Amnesty International welcomes the news that 313 political prisoners were

released on 4 February 1992 in an amnesty declared by the King of Bhutan.

The February releases bring the number of political prisoners whose release

the government has announced in successive amnesties since early 1990 to

1348.

Among those released on February 4 were Jogen Gazmere and Sushil

Pokhrel, two of six prisoners of conscience who had been detained for over

two years without charge or trial. Three of the other prisoners of

conscience - Ratan Gazmere, Bakti Prasad Sharma and Biswanath Chhetri -

were released last year on 17 December, the National Day of Bhutan. Amnesty

International is continuing to call for the unconditional release of Tek

Nath Rizal who is starting a third year in detention without trial at

Wangdi Phodrang prison. The six men were held responsible by the government

for initiating opposition in southern Bhutan to the government policy of

"national integration". The organization continues to be concerned that

between 200 and 300 political detainees are still held without charge or

trial for alleged "anti-national" activities.

Amnesty International has also been concerned about reports received

during 1991 that hundreds of Nepali-speaking people from southern Bhutan

were subjected to arrest, ill-treatment and in some cases torture,

including rape, at the hands of the security forces. Government opponents,

termed "anti-nationals" by the authorities, are also reputed to have

arbitrarily and deliberately killed civilians. These events have occurred

in the context of opposition in southern Bhutan to the government policy of

"national integration" and to the carrying out of the national census

initiated in 1988, under which many Nepali-speaking people in southern

Bhutan have been classified as illegal immigrants. Some are reported to

have been forcibly evicted from their homes and land. Following widespread

disturbances in late 1990, hundreds of people of Nepali origin were

arrested on suspicion of being "anti-nationals" - that is members or

sympathizers of opposition groups, including the Bhutan People's Party

(BPP), a political organization founded in India in June 1990.

At the invitation of King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, Amnesty

International visited Bhutan for the first time in January 1992. Whilst

there, the three-member delegation had an audience with the King, met

ministers and officials to discuss human rights and also visited Samchi

District in southern Bhutan. The Amnesty International delegation expressed

concern about the prolonged detention without charge or trial of suspected

government opponents and reports of torture and ill-treatment, deaths in

custody and the practice of keeping prisoners in shackles.

Since the delegation's visit, a high level team led by the Home

Minister conducted investigations into allegations of forcible evictions,

beatings and rape in two districts of Southern Bhutan. It has stated that

there had been misuse of authority and violations of laws both by the civil

administration and the security forces in one district, although many

allegations were "baseless and grossly exaggerated." The Cabinet has

ordered written allegations to be forwarded to the High Court so that

people responsible for violations of the law could be brought to justice.