Violations continuing against Belarus protesters

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 15 November 2020

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MINSK - More than three months on from the disputed presidential election in Belarus, the Belarusian Government continues to “wield the machinery of the State to commit human rights violations”, the Spokesperson for the UN human rights office warned on Friday.

In a statement, OHCHR’s Rupert Colville expressed deep concern over the use of force by law enforcement officials, against Belarusians who have taken to the streets across the country in peaceful mass demonstrations to voice their grievances, since the contested result was announced of the 9 August presidential election.

Some 231 individuals, including three journalists, were reportedly detained on 1 November as suspects in a criminal case concerning the organization and active participation in actions that, it’s alleged, “grossly violate public order” – a charge that potentially carries a prison term of three years, the statement added.

Excessive use of force

Reacting to the continued reports of arbitrary mass detentions, Mr. Colville said it’s estimated that more than 25,000 people have been detained, including more than 1,000 who took part in solidarity protests in the capital, Minsk, and throughout Belarus on 8 November.

Mr. Colville, told journalists at the regular Friday press briefing in Geneva, that “Belarussian authorities were increasingly bringing criminal charges against these persons”.

Students’ right to education at risk

In recent weeks, the authorities have broadened the scope of those being targeted, with students and medical workers in particular, now facing undue restrictions and pressure, the statement detailed.

“Students who had supported people on strike were now facing undue restrictions and pressure”, being threatened with expulsion from their educational institutions”, Mr. Colville added.

Since 26 October, at least 127 students have reportedly been expelled from their courses, jeopardizing their right to education and prospects for employment.

Speaking on the latest developments in the country, Mr. Colville regretted that it “only strengthened the sense that impunity for apparently widespread human rights violations committed during the protests and in detention was continuing unchecked”.

Mr. Colville also deplored the death, on Thursday, of a 31-year-old man, Mr. Roman Bondarenko, after allegedly being ill-treated by security forces. Mr. Bondarenko’s death has led to increased tension and further protests.

Victims of violence, torture

This week, reports have surfaced that some 60 victims of violence and torture who had received financial assistance from a charity fund, had had their bank accounts frozen on the orders of the authorities, the Spokesperson said.

“The Belarusian Government has to date provided no information regarding the process and outcomes of investigations into allegations of torture and other ill-treatment against protesters, both during arrests and in detention”, he added.

He reiterated concerns that “no action seemed to have been taken to investigate such reports and bring those responsible to justice”, and reminded the Belarusian authorities of the “absolute prohibition of torture and the need for thorough, independent and impartial investigations into all allegations of human rights violations, with a view to ensuring accountability, ensuring access to an effective remedy for victims and preventing a further deterioration of the situation”.

Highlighting the need also for a thorough, transparent, and independent investigation into Mr. Bondarenko’s death, OHCHR called for the immediate liberation of “all those detained for voicing their dissent or for taking part in protests, and other peaceful actions.”

Vienna’s attack death toll rises to five

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 03 November 2020

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VIENNA - Hundreds of police spread out across Vienna on Tuesday, searching for perpetrators of attacks that left five people dead in the city's centre, after what a government minister said was an "Islamist terrorist" incident without giving any clue or details of the perpetrators.

In an early morning televised news conference, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer repeated calls for the public to stay off the streets.

Nehammer said police had shot to death one attacker, a man wearing an explosives belt that turned out to be fake, whom authorities have identified as an Islamic State sympathiser.

Police confirmed on Tuesday that three civilians - two men and a woman - were killed in the attacks, with at least 15 others wounded, including a police officer. Broadcaster ORF later said a fourth civilian, a woman, had died.

Seven of the injured were in a life-threatening condition, the APA news agency said.

A police spokesman said that reinforcements had been called in from neighbouring states and that at least 1,000 officers were involved in the search.

"We experienced an attack yesterday evening by at least one Islamist terrorist, a situation that we have not had to live through in Austria for decades," Nehammer said.

"Austria for more than 75 years has been a strong democracy, a mature democracy, a country whose identity is marked by values and basic rights, with freedom of expression, rule of law, but also tolerance in human coexistence," he said. "Yesterday's attack is an attack on just these values."

The editor of Vienna's Falter newspaper said in Twitter messages that the assailant who was killed was known to domestic intelligence agencies.

The 20-year-old had Albanian roots but was born and raised in Vienna, the editor said. He was one of 20 Austrian Islamists who had wanted to travel to Syria, the editor added.

The assailant killed by police, and other potential gunmen, attacked six locations in central Vienna on Monday evening, starting outside the main synagogue. Witnesses described the men firing into crowds in bars with automatic rifles, as many people took advantage of the last evening before a nationwide curfew was introduced because of COVID-19.

Nehammer said video material had been seized from the home of the known assailant during a search and police were investigating his potential connections.

CITY CENTRE SEALED OFF

APA reported that multiple homes had been searched and arrests made, citing the Interior Ministry. An Interior Ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment on the APA report.

Vienna's police chief declined to provide further details on the attacker's identity, citing potential endangerment of the investigation.

Police sealed off much of the historic centre of the city overnight, urging the public to shelter in place. Many sought refuge in bars and hotels, while public transport throughout the old town was shut down and police scoured the city.

Oskar Deutsch, the head of Vienna's Jewish community, which has offices adjoining the synagogue on a narrow cobbled street dotted with bars, said on Twitter that it was not clear whether the temple or offices were targeted but that they were closed at the time.

Videos circulated on social media of a gunman running down a cobblestone street shooting and shouting. One showed a man gunning down a person outside what appeared to be a bar on the street housing the synagogue.

Austria's capital had been spared the kind of deadly militant attacks that have struck Paris, London, Berlin and Brussels, among others, in recent years. Austria is part of the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS formed in 2014.

Condolences poured in from around the world, with top officials from the European Union, France, Norway, Greece and the United States expressing their shock at the attacks.

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet that "our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe."

"These evil attacks against innocent people must stop. The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists."

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned what he called a "horrific terrorist attack," adding, "We must all stand united against hate and violence."

Strong earthquake kills 14 people in Turkey and Greek islands

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Written by northsouth

Category: Europe

Published: 30 October 2020

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ISTANBUL - Fourteen people were killed in Turkey and Greece after a strong earthquake struck the Aegean Sea on Friday, bringing buildings crashing down and setting off tidal waves which slammed into coastal areas and islands.

People ran onto streets in panic in the Turkish city of Izmir, witnesses said, after the quake struck with a magnitude of up to 7.0. Neighbourhoods were deluged with surging seawater which swept debris inland and left fish stranded as it receded.

Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) said 12 people died, one due to drowning, while 419 people were injured. On the Greek island of Samos two teenagers, a boy and a girl, were found dead in an area where a wall had collapsed.

Search and rescue operations continued at 17 collapsed or damaged buildings, AFAD said. Izmir’s governor said 70 people had been rescued from under the rubble.

Ilke Cide, a doctoral student who was in Izmir’s Guzelbahce region during the earthquake, said he went inland after waters rose following the earthquake.

“I am very used to earthquakes... so I didn’t take it very seriously at first but this time it was really scary,” he said, adding the earthquake had lasted for at least 25-30 seconds.

Crisscrossed by major fault lines, Turkey is among the most earthquake-prone countries in the world. More than 17,000 people were killed in August 1999 when a 7.6 magnitude quake struck Izmit, a city southeast of Istanbul. In 2011, a quake in the eastern city of Van killed more than 500.

FLOODING

Ismail Yetiskin, mayor of Izmir’s Seferihisar, said sea levels rose as a result of the quake. “There seems to be a small tsunami,” he told broadcaster NTV.

Footage on social media showed debris including refrigerators, chairs and tables floating through streets on the deluge. TRT Haber showed cars in Izmir’s Seferihisar district had been dragged by the water and piled on top of each other.

Idil Gungor, who runs a hotel in Izmir’s Seferihisar district, told broadcaster NTV that people were cleaning the debris after the floodwaters receded. She said fish had washed up on the garden of the hotel, around 50 metres from the shore.

Residents of the Greek island of Samos, which has a population of about 45,000, were urged to stay away from coastal areas, Eftyhmios Lekkas, head of Greece’s organisation for anti-seismic planning, told Greece’s Skai TV.

“It was a very big earthquake, it’s difficult to have a bigger one,” said Lekkas.

High tidal wave warnings were in place in Samos, where eight people were also injured, according to a Greek official.

“We have never experienced anything like it,” said George Dionysiou, the local vice-mayor. “People are panicking.” A Greek police spokesman said there was damage to some old buildings on the island.

The leaders of Turkey and Greece - caught up in a bitter dispute over exploration rights in the eastern Mediterranean - spoke by phone and expressed hopes that both countries would see a speedy recovery from the quake, Turkey’s presidency said.

President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey was ready to help Greece if necessary, it added. Earlier, their foreign ministers spoke and said they were ready to help one another, Ankara said.

Cooperation between the two countries after the devastating 1999 earthquake led to a period of warmer ties between them.

AFAD put the magnitude of the earthquake at 6.6, while the U.S. Geological Survey said it was 7.0. It was felt along Turkey’s Aegean coast and the northwestern Marmara region, media said.