Amnesty InternationalVol V No 7 July 1975 newsletter

LAW IS 'UNACCEPTABLE LIMITATION ON FREE SPEECH'AI CALLS ON BRITAIN TO HALT TRIAL OF 16 MEMBERS OF GROUPSEEKING WITHDRAWAL OF TROOPS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL urged the British Governmenton 17 June to end prosecutions under the Incitement toDisaffection Act and to repeal the act itself. Al called the act"an unacceptable limitation on free speech".

Al alsoexpressed concern at the continued detention with-out bail of one of 16 persons currently facing trial and amaximum sentence of life imprisonment under conspiracychaiges connected with the act. It said in a press statement thatit would adopt as prisoners of conscience any of the 16 who areimprisoned.

The act, passed in 1934, outlaws any attempts "maliciouslyand advisedly" to "seduce any member of Her Majesty's forcesfrom his duty or allegiance to Her Majesty", and also pos§essionof "any document of such a nature that the dissemination ofcopies thereof among members of Her Majesty's forces wouldconstitute such an offence".

The 16 awaiting trial under the act are pacifists and mem-bers of the British Withdrawal from Northern IrelandCampaign. Fourteen were arrested last autumn when some ofthem were found in possession of a leaflet describing ways thatsoldiers could legally avoid service in Northern Ireland and giv-ing practical advice to soldiers who "have decided to go absentwithout leave". The other two were charged under the act thisspring. During committal proceedings in March, none of the 14

BRITON FACES FIRING SQUAD IN UGANDA

Al Deputy Secretary General HANS EHRENSTRALEcabled Organization of African Unity SecretaryWILLIAM ETEKI MBOUMOUA and several Africanheads of state on 12 June in a bid to save the life ofDENNIS HILLS, a 61-year-old Briton sentenced todeath for "treason" by a Ugandan military tribunal.

Mr Ehrenstrale urged the African leaders to appealto President IDI AMIN of Uganda to commute thedeath sentence and cease using Mr Hills' case for polit-ical ends. President Amin had earlier announced thatMr Hills would be executed by firing squad if theBritish Government did not comply with a list ofdemands.

Soviet Writers' Union Expels RudenkoMIKOLA RUDENKO, the 56 year-old science fiction writerand member of Al's Moscow group who was detained by theKGB for two days in April (May Newsletter), has been expelledfrom the Union of Soviet Writers of the Ukraine, according towell-authenticated reports in early June,

The report said that Mr Rudenko had been expelled for"behaviour incompatible with membership in the union".Unofficial reports said he was also charged at the meeting withmembership in a "bourgeois organization" (Amnesty Interna-tional). Mr Rudenko, who has had a long and distinguished

was charged with actually distributing the leaflet amongservicemen nor did the prosecution accuse them of this. Twelvewere charged with mere possession of the leaflet and all werecharged with conspiracy to contravene the act.

All the defendants have been free on bail since their arrest,but one of them, WILLIAM HETHERINGTON, aged 40, wasre-arrested on 5 June in 6onnection with a conversation he hadon a train with a sailor. He was remanded in custody on 6 Juneafter being refused bail and taken to Brixton Prison. He wassimilarly remanded without bail a week later.

In a letter sent earlier to United Kingdom Attorney GeneralSAMUEL SILKIN, Al Deputy Secretary General HANSEHRENSTRALE expressed concern at the continuing prosecu-tions under the act, called for a halt to them and urgc., MrSilkin to stop criminal proceedings against all 16 defendants.Mr Ehrenstrale said the use of conspiracy charges was evenmore disturbing than the charges under the act itself since theyraised the maximum punishment of 2 years' imprisonment anda £200 fine, called-for under the act, to life imprisonment.

An AI spokesman said the organization also considered theact to be incompatible with articles 9 and 10 of the EuropeanConvention on Human Rights which respectively guarantee theright to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and theright to freedom of expression.

literary career, was not invited to the meeting.When he was arrested on 18 April—on tne same day that the

secretary of the Moscow group, ANDREI TVERDOKHLEBOV,also was detained—Mr Rudenko was charged with "anti-Sovietslander" and told that his association with AI "compounded hiscrime". Unlike Mr Rudenko, Mr Tverdokhlebov is still indetention, despite many appeals both inside and outside theUSSR for his release.

AI has received no further news of the third arrested memberof the Al group, SERGEI KOVALYOV, who has been detainedsince last December. Reports in May (June Newsletter) said MrKovalyov had been returned to Moscow from Lithuania, butdoubts have now been cast on this and other reports since thensay he is still in Lithuania.

Paraguay Frees Some Detained PeasantsAI learned in June that some members of one of thecommunities of peasants in Paraguay who were harassed by aarbitrary arrests last February were released at the end of May.The village communities, members of the Christian-orientatedcooperative movement, the Agrarian Leagues, were allocated toAI groups as "group adoptions" following the series of arrests.The peasants whose release was reported are members of theSan Isidro de Jejui community.

But Al has also received fresh reports that other members ofthese communities are still being harassed by short-term arrestsand brutal treatment. The persecution reportedly is so strongthat the peasants generally are afraid to name either the victimsor those guilty of the abuses.

2Al Delegate Meets Officials in TaiwanAfter Government Commutes SentencesProfessor JAMES SEYMOUR, an American sinologist, visitedthe Republic of China (Taiwan) on 15-21 May as Al's officialdelegate for talks with government officials. On 20 April it wasannounced that, in honour of the late President CHIANGKAI-SHEK, sentences of all prisoners were to be commuted.For the first time, this measure was to include politicalprisoners, of which the government now admits to over 400.Just over half of these are thought likely to benefit from theclemency measure.

While in Taiwan, Professor Seymour was able to meet anumber of leading officials, including Justice Minister WANGJEN-YUAN, Minister of State GEORGE K.C. YEH and theDeputy Commander of the Taiwan Garrison Command (thecentral detention agency), General YUAN CH'ENG-CHANG.He was able to discuss at some length the official attitudetowards political imprisonment in Taiwan and to state Al'sinterest in a number of individual cases under adoption orinvestigation by Al groups. Professor Seymour also gave adetailed exposition of Ars aims and working methods to thenewly-appointed Director of the Government InformationOffice, DING MOU-SHIH.

The draft bill on the commutations has been presented tothe Legislative Yuan (National Assembly), and its full scopewill not be known until mid-July.

TWO AI DELEGATES ATTEND UNMEXICO CONFERENCE ON WOMENAl appointed two delegates to the United Nations con-ference held in Mexico from 19 June-2 July on the subject ofInternational Women's Year. The two delegates, ProfessorBARBARA SPROUL of Al's United States Section, andMARICLAIRE ACOSTA, of the Mexican Section, were hopingto bring to the attention of the participants—who representedgovernments and non-governmental organizations—Afsconcern about the plight of women prisoners of conscience,and particularly about the torture of women detained forpolitical or religious reasons.

Ars list of 252 women detained in 25 countries (preparedin March 1975 and partially updated in April 1975) and ageneral document relating to the situation of women, political

Al CITES HAITI IN IACHR SUBMISSION

In a submission in June to the Inter-AmericanCommission on Human Rights of the Organization ofAmerican States, Al Secretary General MARTINENNALS drew the commission's attention to the con-tinuing violations of human rights in Haiti. Althoughthere have been political changes since the presidency ofthe late FRANCOIS DUVALIER, the human rightsscene remains practically unchanged since the previousIACHR reports on Haiti in 1963 and 1969: arbitraryarrests of prisoners of conscience; no legal safeguards fordetainees such as access to defence lawyer, habeas corpus,intervention by magistrate on the validity of theaccusations; virtually no trials; appalling prison conditionswith no contact with family, not even a priest.

Part of the submission was a list of 74 La t•J underadoption or investigation In AI groups. Mr Ennals referredto the IACHR's long-standing interest in human r ghtsHaiti and recommended that a new investigation be milk.

detention and torture, was made available to all participants.AI also presented to the conference for adoption a

resolution calling for the need t);) abolish all forms of torture;adequate conditions and medical care for women in prison and

pre-natal care for pregnant women prisoners and adequatefacilities for their children. The resolution also requests theUN's Commission on the Status of Women to receive reliablyattested information on the detention and particularly the tor-ture of women prisoners and recommends the granting of ageneral amnesty for women political prisoners in honour of theInternational Women's Year. It further Calls on all women'sorganizations to work, at national and international level, forthese goals and themselves to act.on all instances of the tortureof women prisoners brought to their attention.

Judgement Postponed in Lesotho TrialJudgement on the remaining 22 defendants in Lesotho's secondtreason trial has now been postponed to 8 July, according toinformation Al received in June. Nine other defendants wereacquitted during the course of the trial, and a further 18detainees were released when the state decided not to proceedwith charges against them shortly before the trial began on9 April.

Those accused are members of the opposition BasutolandCongress Party and were arrested after an abortive coup inJanuary 1974. Some 22 other Congress Party members receivedsentences for various offences at the end of the country's firstmajor treason trial in March 1975 (April Newsletter).

Vietnam Confirms Release of PrisonersThe Vietnamese Liberation Radio, (Sai Gon Giai Pkong), hasnow confirmed that 1,813 prisoners held on the prison island ofCon Son were returned to their homes between 6 and 20 May(June Newsletter). Among their number were more than 500women. Earlier press reports had spoken of the release of pris-oners, mentioning specifically 8,500 prisoners let out ofSaigon's Chi Hoa prison, and the return of prisoners from theother offshore prison island of Phu Quoc.

The Prison Reform Committee in Saigon, which operated atconsiderable risk on behalf of political prisoners under the for-mer Thieu regime, is continuing its work to help rehabilitateformer prisoners. According to unconfirmed reports, it is beinggiven space in the former United States Embassy in which towork.

All Al groups with Vietnamese prisoners have now beenasked to consider these cases closed. Groups may, however,continue to send money for the time being for the rehabilita-tion of former prisoners through Al's International Secretariatin London.

Cameroun Frees 50 Political PrisonersOn 17 May, President AHMADOU AHIDJO of Camerounannounced the release of 50 political prisoners to mark the in-auguration of his fourth presidential term of office. Those freedinclude the former Bishop of Nkongsamba, MonsignorNDONGMO, sentenced to life imprisonment atter the commu-tation of his death sentence in 1971.

Last December, Al called for a general amnesty for allpolitical prisoners in Cameroun (January Newsletter).

UNESCO Grants AI Consultative StatusAl has been given consultative status with UNESCO followinga meeting of UNSKO's executive board in May. The boarddecided to admit Al to Category B among non-governmentalorganizations—"Information and Consultative Relations".Previously, AI had been placed in Category C—"mutual infor-mation relationship".

The new status will enable AI to play a much more directrole in relation to UNESCO's program than was previouslypossible. The change was reflected almost immediately. On 16and 17 June, Al Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS andMARIE-JOSE PROTAIS, a member of Al's InternationalExecutive Committee, attended a meeting in Paris of the

of the MeathParticipants in the Camps* we reminded that appeals must only be sent to the officials named

at the end of each caw. In nocirounstances should communications be sent to the-prisoner.

3

Irina STASIV-KALYNETS, Soviet UnionIRINA STASIV-KALYNETS (born 1940) is a Ukrainianpoetess. Both she and her husband (the poet Igor Kalynets)were arrested during the widespread purge of the Ukrainianintellectual community in 1972 and 1973. She was con-victed of "anti Soviet agitation and propaganda", consistingof her having espoused Ukrainian nationalist sentiments.She was sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment to be followedby 3 years in exile. She is presently serving her sentence inthe strict regime women's camp (ZhKh 385/3) in theMordovian prison complex.

She and several fellow Ukrainian women prisoners in thecolony requested in 1974 to be allowed to donate part oftheir work earnings (most of which they are not allowed tospend) to a fund for Chilean prisoners of conscience. Thisrequest was officially refused, as was their request in 1973to be allowed to mark Easter with religious ceremonies, in-cluding giving confession.

Over the past two years it has been reported a number oftimes that Mrs Stasiv-Kalynets is suffering from serious liverand kidney disorders. Members of her family have tried tosend her medicines for treatment of her condition alongwith warm items of clothing. On each attempt, the parcelhas failed to reach the prisoner. It is unlikely that MrsStasiv-Kalynets is receiving adequate medical treatment.Please send politely worded cards appealing for her releaseto: SSSR, Moscow, Kremlin, Mr L I Brezhnev, GeneralSecretary, Central Committee, CPSU.

Eduardo VIERA, UruguayEDUARDO VIERA, a 60-year-old journalist and memberof parliament until its dissolution in June 1973, was firstarrested in December 1974 after an investigation into thepro-communist newspaper El Popular, of which he was theeditor, which has since been closed. In January 1975,Amnesty International made an urgent intervention on hisbehalf as his incommunicado detention, his precarious stateof health and the maltreatment of other detained membersof the Communist Party all gave serious cause for concern.At the end of January a judge ordered his release but SeriorViera remained in custody, under the emergency legislationot Medidas Prontas de Seguridad, till the end of March.

A month later he was re-arrested and charged withatentado a la fuerza moral de las fuerzas armadas (whichmeans literally "attack on the morale of the armed forces"),which can cover virtually any criticism of the armed forcesor the expression of political views which do not conformto the "democratic republican system" as interpreted bythe present government. This charge can carry a penalty ofup to 6 years imprisonment.Please write courteously worded cards calling for his release

Standing Committee of UNESCO Non-GovernmentalOrganizations. In addition, they met with UNESCO Director-General AMADOU-MAHTAR M'BOW.

Al already enjoys consultative status with the UnitedNations (ECOSOC) and the Council of Europe, is recognizedby the Inter-American Commission pn Human Rights of theOrganization of American States (see page 2) and has observerstatus with the Organization of African Unity (Bureau for thePlacement and Education of African Refugees).

and stressing the basic rights of freedom of association andexpression to: Sr Secretario del Consejo de SeguridadNacional, Casa de Gobierno, Plaza lndependencia,Montevideo; and to: Sr Presidente del Consejo de Estado,Palacio Legislativo, Montevideo.

Victor NAMUNERA, TanzaniaV ICTOR NAMUNERA is a freelance journalist who hasbeen detained without trial under the Preventive DetentionAct for over seven years. His health is reported to be poor,and he suffers from epilepsy. Mr Namunera is a Mozam-biquan citizen, but apparently while working in Kampala,Uganda, in 1967, he was arrested and handed over to theTanzanian authorities. He does not know why he wasarrested, and he has never been charged or brought to trial.

Under the Preventive Detention Act (1962) MrNamunera may be detained indefinitely, but his releasecould be secured by a presidential amnesty, as was the caserecently when 157 people were freed in April 1975 onPresident Julius Nyerere's orders to mark Union Day andthe Ilth year of unity between Tanganyika and Zanzibar.Please send courteously worded cards for his release to..Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere, President of the UnitedRepublic of Tanzania, State House, P 0 Box 9120, Dar esSalaam, Tanzania.

News from Past CampaignsVALENTYN MOROZ of the Soviet Union, who was on thePrisoner of the Month Campaign in July 1971, has beenthreatened with transfer from Vladimir Prison to a psy-chiatric hospital, according to reports reaching Al'sInternational Secretariat in June. Mr Moroz, a 39-year-oldUkrainian historian, was sentenced in 1970 to 6 years in aprison, 3 years in a corrective labour colony, and 5 years inexile.

After physical attacks on him by criminal cell-mates in1972 he was held in solitary confinement in VladimirPrison for over 2 years. Since late 1974, after a hungerstrike lasting over five months, he has been lodged with acell-mate with whom he finds it possible to live.

This spring Mr Moroz's father wrote to medical officialsat Vladimir Prison asking that Mr Moroz be given food(such as honey) which would alleviate his stomach con-dition. In reply, the prisoner's father was told that MrMoroz was in need of treatment in a psychiatric hospital.The prisoner's wife, Raisa Moroz, took up the matter withprison medical officials and told them that in her opinionMr Moroz is not in need of psychiatric treatment and thathe appears now to be somewhat improved in health anddisposition. In return she was asked: "Could a normal mainstay on hunger strike for five months?"

Report Confirms Brutality in GrenedaAI Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS wrote on 11 Juneto Prime Minister ERIC GAIRY of the Caribbean island ofGrenada, expressing the hope that all charges against membersof the opposition New Jewel Movement would be dropped, inthe light of the report of the Duffus Commission of Inquiryinto the breakdown of law and order and police brutality inGrenada.

"It is made quiteclear by the report that these men were

subjected to deliberate harrassment and persecution by the

4police and that any police evidence against them must beregarded with suspicion," Mr EnnaIs wrote "On pages 136and 137 of the report the commission completelydemolishes the police case against the members of the NewJewel Movement. and I urge you to use all your influence tohave any proceedings against these men dismissed."

AI Concerned at Trial in Switzerland.41 cabled Chancellor KARL HUBER of the Swiss Con-federation on 18 to express concern at the trial of JOSEFLANG. a soldier charged with violating article 98 of theMilitary Penal Code of Switzerland. The cable said MrLang's conviction would violate freedom of expression asguaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights.

Article 98 is aimed at preventing subversion of the armedforces. However, Mr Lang merely contributed to a demandin a leftwing journal for the introduction of democraticrights in the army and for the repeal of the so-called Hirsolyorder which drastically restricts freedom of expression.

In June 1973 A/ Legal Adviser NIGEL S. RODLEYobserved a similar trial in Yverdon, Switzerland. The accusedwere acquitted (July 1973 Newsletter). Six months later, amilitary tribunal, after a hearing in camera, reversed ninp of -the 10 acquittals. but suspended all sentences for two years(January 1974 Newsletter).

Mali Releases 15 Political PrisonersFifteen political prisoners were released in Mali on 2 June,presumably as part of the amnesty announced, although notactually implemented, by the country's president, ColonelMOUSSA TRAORE, in January (February Newsletter).Those freed were reported to include associates of formerPresident MODIBO KEITA whose government was over-thrown in a military coup d'etat in September 1968.

Observer Testifies in US on South Korea English lawyer, BRIAN WROBEL, a member of Al's missionto the Republic of Korea (May Newsletter), testified beforethe United States Congress Foreign Relations Sub-Committeeon International Organizations and Movements at its hear-ings on human rights in South Korea on 23 May. The sub-committee, chaired by Congressman DON FRASER, heardevidence of intimidation, torture and the abuse of thejudicial system for political ends. It also heard the accountof Father JAMES SINNOTT, an American Catholic priestexpelled from Korea for his work on behalf of politicalprisoners.

The mission's report has also been submitted to theSenate Committee on Foreign Affairs for its hearings onSouth Korea.

PRISONER RELEASES AND CASESThe Intern stional Secretariat learned in May of therelease of 81 Al-adopted prisoners and took up 66 newcases.

AI Member Named to HR CommissionNIC KLECKER, Chairman of Ars Luxembourg Section, hasbeen named his country's representative to the EuropeanCommission on Human Rights. Dr Klecker, a 47-year-oldteacher and Doctor of Philosophy and Letters, has been chair-man of the section since 1970. In a letter of congratulationswritten on 29 May, AI Legal Adviser NIGEL S. RODLEY,speaking on behalf of the International Secretariat, told DrKlecker:

"Amnesty International considers the commission to be themost important organ with regard to securing the protection

of human rights in Europe. I am sure your appointment willfurther enhance the valuable work of the commission and Imight add, in addition to my previous congratulations, ourcongratulations to the government that was enlightenedenough to nominate you."

Lawyers Confirm Torture in ArgentinaFour French lawyers who visited Buenos Aires in May 1975 onbehalf of the International Human Rights Federation and PaxRomana, the Roman Catholic organization, said in their reportwhich reached the International Secretariat in June that detain-ees were subjected to various forms of torture duringinterrogation, such as the use of electric shocks and simulatedexecutions. The commission charged that "right-wing extremistorganizations enjoy a quasi-impunity which gives rise to sus-picions that they are blessed with at least the tacit complicityof police". The French lawyers heard allegations that the policehave made some detainees were stereophonic headphonesthrough which high frequency signals were passed in order tobreak down their resistance without leaving any visible marks.

Lately, threats and attacks have often been extended toentire families. On 30 May 1975 the press reported the kidnap-ping by unidentified persons who claimed to be policemen ofthe wife and two children of printing worker LUIS NAVALESE.He belonged to the leftwing printers union which was dissolvedseveral months ago. Its leader, RAIMUNDO ONGARO, is nowin prison. One of Mr Ongaro's sons was shot dead last monthand another son was the victim of an attempted extra-legaldetention but managed to escape.

During recent months, Al has drawn attention to the climateof terror that exists in Argentina, in which leftwing extremistsassassinate officials and rightwing squads operate against leftists.In February Al issued a statement (March Newsletter) accusingArgentina (along with Uruguay and Paraguay) of gross viola-tions of human rights since the imposition last November of astate of siege that allows for arrest and detention withoutwarrant.

Al News in BriefAl Concern at Public Execution Reports in VietnamFollowing press reports that Saigon had witnessed its fourth publice‘ecution after a trial by people's court, AI Secretary General MARTINENNALS wrote on 10 June to the Foreign Minister of the ProvisionalRevolutionary Government (PRG), Mrs NGUYEN TIII BINH, restatingArs opposition in principle to all forms of capital punishment andrequesting official comment on the reported executions.

The letter recalled that, at an earlier meeting between Mr. Ennals andMrs Phan Thi Minh of the PRG's Paris delegation, Mrs Minh had stressedthe PRG's policy of re-education and rehabilitation precluded any policybased on revenge, including the use of capital punishment. It reaffirmedthat .4/ welcomed Mrs Minh's assurance as a sign of a true spirit ofnational reconciliation and inquired about the PRG's intentions regard-ing the death penalty and the new judicial system in South Vietnam.AI Prepares for Mission to ChileAl Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS and the researcher on Chile,DAVID BRAHAM, attended a briefing session in Paris in June with theUnited Nations Human Rights Commission before their imminentmission to Chile to investigate allegations of violations of human rights.Yen For a Walk in ParadiseGroup 8 of the Japanese Section raised more than 250,000 yen (L.380)on 4 May in a campaign based on the women in prison list published byAl. One feature of the campaign was a 'Iwalkathon" around Pedestrian'sParadise in Ginza, Tokyo. Members of the group walked around andaround Pedestrian's Paradise—one girl walking a total of 50 kilometers—while other members collected donations from people in the street. Atthe end of the walk, members released helium-filled balloons, each withthe name of one of the women prisoners on it.Change of AddressThe new address of Al's Japanese Section is Room 54, 3-18 Nishi7Waseda2-chome, Shinjuku, Tokyo 160, Japan.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL NEWSLETTER is published monthly by:AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS, 53 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8SP, England,

Printed by War on Want Press, 467 Caledonian Road, London N7 9BE, England.

amesty kitemational

campaign for the abolition of tortureMONTHLY BULLETIN

Vol. II No.7 Jul 1975

POLITICAL VIOLENCEIN GUATEMALAFARMER TELLS HOW HE WAS ABDUCTED, TORTURED AND SHOTUnexplained violent deaths in the rural areas of Guatemala have been common during the past decade. Thestory of EFRAIN DAVID PINEDA is but one of many similar stories that are rarely revealed. Setior Pineda,a farmer from El. Salvador, has lived in the village of Palo Alto in Guatemala for 13 years. on 23 May 1975,after leaving the fields for lunch, two plainclothesmen called at his house. They produced military policecredentials and took him away. After leaving him in a cell in the jail of another village for several hours, theytook him to an isolated area by car.

He was tied to a tree, beaten repeatedly, shot in the leg and chest, untied and left for dead. He managed tocrawl to the village of Pecojate and was taken tohospital. Mr Pineda CAI-cam, who is now recovering

• in hospital from his injuries, says that he does notknow the reason for the attack.

Hundreds of unexplained deaths in the rural areasof Guatemala have been reported in the last severalyears, many of them apparently with an end inintimidating peasants from beginning political mobil-ization. Of 683 political assassinations reportedduring 1973 in the Guatemalan press, 70% tookplace in the rural areas. Most of them were peasantsdragged out of their houses and shot, many afterhaving endured torture. In January 1975 at least 41people died by violent means and for politicalreasons.

In those cases in which assailants are even partiallyidentified, they are often described as "wellorganized groups of heavily armed men who arrive inautomobiles that have no registration plates". Someof these anonymous death squads are composed ofmen "dressed in olive-green uniforms".

Al has just submitted a document to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of theOrganization of American States, compiled frompress reports from July 1974 to January 1975, thatillustrates the incidence of political violence inGuatemala. According to this partial survey, 27% ofthe corpses of victims showed clear signs of tortureor mutilation, including multiple fractures and severeburns.

AI Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS wrote toPresident KJELL LAUGERUD on 21 May 1975,submitting a list of victims of violent death inGuatemala, in response to President Laugerud'sannouncement of an official inquiry into police par-ticipation in death squad activity.

On 29 June Al issued a news release announcingthe submission of the dossier to the OAS Inter-American Corirhission on Human Rights.

Kenya Inquiry Cites Torture ChamberIn its report of early June to the Kenyan Parliamenton the assassination of the popular politicianJOSIAH MWANGI KARIUKI, a parliamentary selectcommittee has alleged that police used torture to

Former Greek Torturers to be FreedAccording to press reports from Athens, the first trialof police officers accused of torture during the seven-year military dictatorship was scheduled to start on20 June in Salonica. Two gendarmes are charged by awoman lecturer with having tortured her for fivedays in September 1968. They were at the time servingat the General Directorate of National Security inSalonica.

Trials of about 100 army and police officers chargedwith torturing political prisoners are expected tofollow shortly. Leaders of the ousted military juntawill also go on trial, probably in Athens, during July.

intimidate witnesses who testified before thecommittee.

The murder of Mr Kariuki on 3 March nearNairobi has caused one of the most severe crises inthe history of independent Kenya. The selectcommittee was appointed by Parliament to uncoverboth the facts about the murderers and the allegedfailure by the police to investigate the assassination.

Mr Kariuki was a flamboyant reformist leaderwho, after losing his post in the government, severalyears ago, became a leader of opposition within theone-party state. He built his support on calls forwider distribution of wealth, for improved schoolsand housing and for guarantees of full legal rights tothe poor. He had spent 7 years (1953-60) in prisonunder British colonial rule, and emerged with manyscars and a permanently crippled leg as a result oftorture.

The select committee charges that the police haveattempted to cover up the murder by intimidatingwitnesses who saw Mr Kariuki hours before his deathin the company of commanding officers of thepolice and security forces. The report says that onewitness was intimidated "by being shown the torturechamber where some unfortunate was being beatenup". A member of the select committee, MARKMWITHAGA, told Parliament during a debate on thereport that a taxi driver had been deafened by policetorture and that other witnesses were told by thepolice that they would be shot if they told the truth.

2 Campaign for the Abolition of Torture July 1975

AI POLICE SEMINAR CALLS FOR ANTI-TORTURE CODE OF ETHICSPolice officials from eight European countries, meeting at anA/-sponsored seminar at the Peace Palace in The Hague 19-20June, called for a sweeping international police code of ethics,including the duty of policemen to disobey any order to inflicttorture.

The seminar was attended by members of police forces,police authorities and of national and international policeorganizations from Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland,Luxembourg, the the Netherlands, Norway and the UnitedKingdom.

"Aware of the grave problems regarding the enforcement ofthe international rules forbidding torture or any inhuman ordegrading treatment, the participants supported the creationof an international code of police ethics," the participantss.,id in a communique at the end of the seminar.Noting the responsibility of the police "only to the properly

instituted government under law" and the obligation of thepolice to prevent violations of the law, apprehend and pros-ecute law-breakers and maintain order and public securityunder law, the conimunique said the code should contain atleast the following requirements and basic provisions:

—The duty of police to maintain and promote human rights,in the principle of which police officers should receive propereducation and training.

—The code should apply to all individuals and organizations,including secret services, military police, armed forces andmilitia.

—Summary executions, torture and other cruel, inhuman ordegrading treatment or punishment, and generally every violentact against the physical or mental integrity of the individual

APPEALSReligious Prisoners in RomaniaIn April of this year Al submitted an extensive memorandumto the Romanian government concerning prisoners of con-science in Romanian prisons. Included in Al's submission wasmention of 13 members of the Christian sect the Seventh-DayAdventists, who were imprisoned because they refused to joinwith other Christian groups in Romania in support of the Frontof Socialist Unity.

It is alleged that they suffer particularly harsh treatment inprison because they refuse to do prison labour on Saturday andSunday. Their ill-treatment allegedly includes over-crowdedcells, shackles, cold showers in the w:nter and severe whippings(up to 30 strokes).

Two men, Mr ZECIANU and Mr SIMESCU, are reported tohave died under these conditions. Others have been beaten, andone man, Mr BUZDUBAN, has allegedly been sentenced to 13years' hard labour.

Although this information is now absolutely confirmed, Al's

fears are increased by the fact that its submission to the

Romanian government in April has received no reply. Pleasesend courteously worded letters, requesting an official inquiryinto the health and legal status of religious prisoners of con-science in Romania, with special reference to members of theSeventh-Day Adventist sect, to: His Excellency NicolaeCeausescu, President of the Socialist Republic of Romania,Bucharest.

Antonio GENTA, UruguayANTONIO GENTA, a trade union leader detained ana allegedlytortured by the Montevideo police, is reported to be in adelicate state of health after having suffered two heart attacks.Mr Genta is married with six children, and his wife is pregnant.

should be prohibited in all circumstances, including civil strifeor war.

There should be a clear-cut chain of responsibility.where-by civilian or military superiors are personally liable for actsof torture committed under them.

—Police officers and all others covered by the code havethe right to disobey or disregard any order, instruction orcommand, even if lawfully made within the context of nationallegislation, which violates those basic rights set out in theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights, and also the duty toprotest against any such orders.

Police and other officials who detain persons should followthe instructions of doctor§or other competent medical workersregarding such persons.

—Those covered by the code should inform the propernational and international bodies of any activities that con-travene the code and the Universal Declaration of HumanRights.

—No party to the code should be penalized for resistingor protesting against orders that contravene the provisions ofthe code.

—Parties to the code have a personal and corporate duty tosupport those who need such support as a result of adherenceto the code.

—Any national or international body which adopts the codeshould maintain some appeals mechanism for those who claimthe code has been violated.

Any party to the code who complies with it is entitled tothe active moral and physical support of the community inwhich the party performs his or her duty.

In spite of ill-treatment he confessed only to being a tradeunionist. He is awaiting trial by a military tribunal.

Please writ,- courteously worded letters risking that MrGenta receive the necessary medical attention, to:Setior Secreiario General del Consejo De Seguridad Nacional,Casa de Gobierno, Plaza Independencia, Montevideo,Uruguay; and to: Sefior Ministro del Interior, General LinaresBrum, Ministerio del Interior, Calles Mercedes y Julio Herreray Obes, Montevideo, Uruguay.

ILO Mission Confirms Torture in ChileOn 29 May, 20 months after the military coup, a commission from tneInternational Labour Organization (ILO) that had visited Chile at theend of 1974, published a report that corroborates allegations thattorture and political assassination continue to be as severe now as theywere during the first months after the coup.

The ILO fact-finding commission was led by JOSE LUISBUSTAMENTE Y RIVERO, former head of the International Court ofJustice. The other members were HAROLD S. KIRKALDY, a Britishlawyer and professor at Cambridge University, and JACQUES DUCOUS,French lawyer and member of the French Council of State.

After a three-week official visit to Chile, the commission concludedthat Chile's military government had tortured labour leaders to death orexecuted them because they had participated in trade union activities.They said there was evidence that one of the junta's aims was to "elim-inate or prevent any large-scale opposition to its policy" by trade unions.The commission expressed great concern about the "disappearance, insome cases without trace, of persons arrested by the authorities".

Meanwhile, in an apparent effort to demonstrate that abuses ofauthority are punished in Chile, President AUGUSTO PINOCHETpromised interviews with imprisoned torturers. However, other govern-ment spokesmen later contradicted the President. Officials of theMinistry of Justice said that the military personnel named in the list of12 provided by order of the President had been convicted of commonlaw offences against the public, not of torture.

"There are no torturers in Chile", said ORLANDO JEREZ, NationalDirector of Social Communication, "either in the jails or out."

A further statement came from presidential press secretaryFREDERICO WILLOUGHBY who, supporting President Pinochet'sclaim that torturers are punished, said: "I know that there are some injail, really. It must be that the officials in charge of providing the namesare protecting the services."