justice

Teenage thieves abused by vigilantes

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:16:16 +0100

Several hours after five teenagers were caught stealing from a luxury apartment in the Mexican city of Tepic two weeks ago, they were found half naked and severely beaten on one of the city's main thoroughfares. A week later, mobile phone footage documenting the psychological abuse they were subjected to surfaced on YouTube. Who was behind this brutal incident and what role did the police play in it? So far, there's no one answer.

One of our Observers in Mexico, Gabriel Infante brought our attention to this footage.

Bringing Uruguay's tyrants to justice

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:15:07 +0200

Uruguay's last military dictator was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Thursday for the role he played in the brutal oppression of the early eighties. On Sunday, the country will decide whether hundreds of others involved can also be brought to justice.

Eighty-three-year-old Gregory Alvarez, who led the country's dictatorial regime from 1981 to 1985, was charged with 37 "aggravated homicides". He follows eight others involved in the 1973-1985 regime who have so far been sentenced. They will be the first and last, however, if in a referendum held simultaneously with Sunday's presidential election, the electorate votes to uphold a law that protects the remaining hundreds of military officials involved.

Around 6,000 people were imprisoned for "political reasons" during the regime, meaning that one in every 500 citizens was imprisoned at some point. On top of that, 300,000, or ten percent of the population, fled the country.

To give a "yes" to annulling the protection law, voters are asked to place a pink ballot slip inside their voting envelope. The poll will need a 50% turnout to be validated. Two decades into democracy, the issue remains a controversial one. But on Tuesday (Oct. 20), some 60,000 people filed into the streets of Montevideo, completely donned in pink, in support of the vote.

UPDATE (27/10/09 - 9pm Paris time): exit polls indicate that only 47.36 % voted in favour of repealing the amnesty law. Former guerrilla fighter Jose Mujica won 48% of the presidential vote. He will face a second round against centre-right Luis Alberto Lacalle on 29 November.

Entomo, a real-life “superhero” in Naples

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:02:29 +0200

In classic superhero style, citizens around the world are taking it upon themselves to fight crime. Just like their illustrated icons, "real-life superheroes" create a second identity and patrol the streets in the dark of the night.

The latest victim of a shoe-hurling

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:10:27 +0200

In launching his shoe at Gerorge Bush in January, journalist Mountazer al-Zaidi also launched a global trend. China's Prime Minister Wen Jiabao was subjected to a similar attack in February in Cambridge. This time, it's Indian Interior Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram. The weapon - a trainer. The assailant - a Sikh journalist.

Jarnail Singh is a reporter for Hindi daily Dainik Jagran. On 7 April, he attended a press conference given by the interior minister. The subject at hand was the acquittal of Jagdish Tytler, an Indian National Congress party member and one of those accused of the Sikh massacre of November 1984. The riots, in which 3,000 Sikhs were killed, were in retaliation to the murder of the then Prime Minister of India, Indira Ghandi, who was killed by her two Sikh bodyguards.

The new shoe-hurling journalist, Sikh himself, is reported to have thrown his shoe after he become exasperated by the minister's alleged dodging of questions over the responsibility of the massacre. Palaniappan Chidambaram says he has forgiven the journalist for the act.

Florence Cassez, victim of Mexican injustice

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 10:31:06 +0100

This comment was sent to us by one of our Observers for Mexico, Gabriel Infante. The information has not been verified by France 24 journalists.

In the past week I posted a series of commentaries on my blog as well on The Observers, where I said openly that I gave Florence Cassez the benefit of the doubt of her innocence, but basically the center of my commentaries was to expose the dark background of the man who is in charge of the Mexican federal police and to fight the organized crime, Genaro García Luna, with the only intention to give you more facts that would allow you a better understanding of the situation that Florence Cassez is facing right now in Mexico.

A lot of the facts that I exposed, many of you, may seem beyond belief , but these are reliable facts. These were known to the Mexican public opinion last November, when the book "The Accomplices of the President"(Los cómplices del presidente), written by the Mexican National Journalism Award 2002, Anable Hernández, came out for sell. Unfortunately many Mexicans don't even know about the book or they refused to accept the veracity of what is stated there. The truth is that the book is well documented with reliable sources and until now any of what is expose there hasn't been denied by the people who is mention in this book.

In brief, the book reveals and puts in evidence the network of complicity, corruption, traffic of influence of the two more trusted and closest collaborators of President Felipe Calderón. The late Minister of Interior, Juan Camilo Mouriño, - who died on a plane crash in Mexico City on the night of November 4^th 2008- and Genaro García Luna, Minister of Public Security. The first one used his political position to benefit his family business and the second one in charge of fighting the organized crime is pointed out to have links with them.

Anabel Hernández recently published an article on the online magazine "Reporte Indigo" titled "Simulation or justice? " where she narrates, base on Florence Cassez case file (PGR/SIEDO/UEIS/190/2005), that Reporte Indigo had access to, the first ministerial testimonies of the victims during and after there captivity, including the former boyfriend of Florence Cassez, Israel Vallarta, where it apparently demonstrates her innocence.

The following are some parts of the transcript of Anabel Hernández article that I found very revealing.

The AFI pressured Cristina, the hostage mom

... She also narrate the moment of her rescue. Her testimony leaves in evidence that the AFI deceived her.

... in that moment I open my eyes and I noticed that the person hooded had a uniform with the acronyms of the AFI, immediately they took us out of the house and they aboard us to an AFI patrol and they brought us to this office; while we were aboard on the patrol I notice two person faced toward the wall, a man and a blond woman; learned by one of the police man, that these persons where detained in the house where we were in captivity, but I ignore the participation that they had in my abduction", declared Cristina.

However, the AFI lied, because Florence Cassez was detained, according with the file case, while traveling on a car in the highway Mexico- Cuernavaca.

During the present diligence I saw the persons that now I have knowledge that their names correspond to Israel Vallarta Cisnero and Marie Luise Cassez Crepin, and after observing them carefully I manifest that I don't know these persons and it's the first time I see them, that's because the persons detained that I saw in the security house, they were giving me their back, but they wore the same cloths. I also heard articulate some words and I manifest that I don't recognized their voices, that is because the voices of my different captors was more hoarse and I consider that they always fake it. I also want to point out that I never saw physically my captors, so it would be difficult for me to identify physically and I am aware by the AFI agents that these persons that they detained are two of my kidnappers, for which I claim the crime of unlawful deprivation of liberty in the form of kidnapping committed toward my person and grievance to my youngest son, Cristian Hilario Ramírez Ríos and I proceed against Israel Vallarta and Marie Luise Cassez Crepin and who or whom found responsible", stated the victim to the public prosecutor.

...The minor Cristian Hilario, assisted by an lawyer and accompanied by his father, also presented his declaration on December 9^th 2005. He did recognized fully Israel Vallarta, because of his voice as the "chief" of the gang, that is because he was the one who gave the orders.

Likewise he pointed out the person by the name of Florence Marie Louise Cassez Crepin, did not recognized her neither physically nor the voice", stated the minor. [..]

Israel confession

...According to Israel Vallarta testimony he started getting fully involve with the gang and recognized to have participated in six kidnappings. His role was taking care of the victims and talking to them "to calm them down". That's how he met Cristina Ríos Valladares and his son Cristian in Octuber 2005, whom he talk to them frequently.

He also admitted to have met Ezequiel Yadir, but he couldn't talk to him, because "Salustio" told him that it was a personal affaire with the former partner of the business. He was referring to Ezequiel father, Enrique Elizalde Menchaca.

According to his declaration, when Eustaquio, one of the partners de "Sagitario", he wanted to put pressure to the victims family by mutilating the hostages, he defended them, which cause the anger of the members of the gang.

"...to get out of the problem with Salustio, he told me if I really love them so much these victims why don't I take them to my house, that's the reason why since two weeks ago (by end of November 2005) in company of Salustio, we transfer Mrs. Cristina and he sons Cristian to my house", stated the ministerial statement.

Later on they brought in Ezquiel Yadir Elizalde, stated that he had the three in the house which he rented in Las Chinitas Ranch.

It should be clarify at the back of the ranch is where I live, I have a small cottage, in which about three months ago, my girlfriend by the name of Florence Marie Luise Cassez Crepin, which I have know her approximately a year ago, when I run into her on an elevator, same one which currently she spends all t day working in a hotel by the name of Fiesta Americana of Polanco, reason for which she didn't had knowledge that I had people kidnapped inside my house".

The article is very long, about five pages, but the essence of it reveals once again the intervention of the AFI in modifying the "crime scene" lies, deceive and pressuring the victims to incriminate individuals without having the certainty. The patron of this case is very much similar of the other cases that Anabel Hernández exposes in her book.

To read the full article (in Spanish).

For the Mexicans, Cassez is a criminal and Sarkozy a hypocrite

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:24:08 +0100

Police photos of Florence Cassez when she was arrested in December 2005.

Both the press and politicians in France have come to the defence of a French woman condemned to sixty years of jail in Mexico for kidnapping charges. Former victims of the crime however see the accused in a much darker light.

Found guilty of kidnapping and carrying arms, 34-year-old Florence Cassez was sentenced to 60 years in prison by a Mexican court. The French citizen however, insists that she's innocent. Her defenders call on case irregularities and contradictions in the witness statements. Even President Nicolas Sarkozy has demanded her return to France to serve out her sentence - something which has outraged the Mexican public, especially victims of the criminal gang which Cassez was supposedly part of. For them, there's no doubt that the former girlfriend of ringleader Israel Vallarta is guilty.

Swedish justice system attempts to topple The Pirate Bay

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:27:45 +0100

UPDATE (17.04.2009 - 12.30pm): A court in Stockholm has found the three founders of The Pirate Bay and one of its investors guilty of breaking copyright law, each receiving a one year jail sentence. They've also been ordered to pay 30m kroner (€2.7m) in damages to several companies in the music, cinema and videogame sectors.

It's the biggest ever legal case against a file-sharing website. The three founders of The Pirate Bay, the world's biggest BitTorrent tracker, this week find themselves in front of a judge for making intellectual property available to the public. Fredrik Neij (alias TiAMO), Gottfrid Svartholm Warg (Anakata), and Peter Sunde (Brokep), made it possible for their 22 million users to locate and download music, films and videogames shared by the online community.

The IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), which deals with record industry law breaches across the world, is leading the trial with compensation demands of 117 million kroner [10.5 million euros]: the amount they say has been lost through illegal downloads on The Pirate Bay. File-sharers who use the site, however, have rallied against the charges. They've driven a press-informing bus around Sweden and set up various internet tools in order to be able to follow the trial minute by minute. They're transmitting press conferences live on Bambuser and commenting on developments as they surface on their blogs (here and here). The prosecutor in charge of the case had a bit of trouble explaining to the audience how technically peer to peer file-sharing works. On 17 February he got particularly tangled up in explaining the functions of The Pirate Bay tracker (especially the DHT), which led to half of the original charges being dropped.

Kigali demonstrates against the extradiction of Rose Kabuye

Julien — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:17:38 +0100

Several tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out on Wednesday to denounce the extradiction of Rose Kabuye, director of protocol for Rwanda’s president Paul Kagame. A Kigali resident sent us photos of the procession from his iPhone. He explains why he took part in the demonstration.

Jailed for liking FC Barcelona more than the king

Sophie Team Observers — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 11:56:07 +0100

Yassine Belassal (right) and his father, Mohamed Belassal.

For replacing "God, The Nation, The King" with "God, The Nation, Barcelona" on the blackboard at school, a Moroccan football fan was condemned to 18 months in prison. His father tells us that after calling for an appeal, his son has now been released on bail but faces retrial on November 5.

Yassine Belassal risked paying a high price for his passion for FC Barcelona. The 18-year-old student thought it would be funny to rub out the end of the country's national slogan "Allah, Al Watan, Al Malik", (God, The Nation, The King) and replace it with "Barca" (God, The Nation, Barcelona); his favourite football club. His teacher didn't find it quite so funny. Reported and then arrested, Yassine was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment in a closed jail for insulting the king. On Wednesday, his father, Mohamed Belassal, told us that his son had managed to win the right to appeal and was to be released on bail until November 5. Until then, human rights groups, the Moroccan blogosphere, and even FC Barcelona, are campaigning for his acquittal.

"Afghan justice is under the influence of fundamentalists"

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:55:34 +0200

An Afghan student has been condemned to 20 years in prison for having downloaded and handed out a text, found on an Iranian blog, about sexual inequality in the Koran.

Afghan student Perwiz Kambakhsh received a 20 year prison sentence for "blasphemy" on 21 October. He had been originally sentenced to death after a basic trial.

His lawyer, Mohammad Afzal Nooristani, gives his account.

"I'm not surprised that Perwiz has been sentenced to twenty years in prison, because the Afghan justice is under the influence of fundamentalists. Most of the judges have graduated from a Madrassa where they've only studied theology, not law. That's why they don't respect the Afghani law and the criminal procedure. Most of the judges had only six month's training to familiarise themselves with the judicial system, which is not enough at all.

Perwiz denied downloading and distributing an article criticising Islam about the inequality between men and women, and even if he did it, it's not a crime regarding the law. He may have been targeted because of his brother, Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi. He's a reporter who's investigated the political situation in northern Afghanistan, more precisely, warlords and their related groups.

My client's case will be re-examined by the Supreme Court in five months. Fortunately, some of the judges there have studied law and have a different approach, so we can expect a better judgment."