Murder of Indigenous Guatemalan Lawyer Fausto Otzín Needs Investigation

Last month Fausto Otzín, a Guatemalan indigenous human rights lawyer, was found badly injured in a ditch. He suffered multiple machete and stab wounds and passed away shortly after being found. He was only 32 years old and leaves behind a wife and children.

Otzín was a well-known and respected figure in the Guatemalan human rights community. He formerly served as the Executive Director of the Association of Mayan Attorneys and was heavily involved in promoting the rights of indigenous communities and victims of Guatemala's 36-year armed conflict.

The violent attack against Otzín displays troubling signs of an extra-judicial killing. Otzín's body was found with severe signs of suffering close to a military base in the area. Disturbingly, Otzín's death follows the murder of several other Mayan community leaders and was preceded by death threats sent to his telephone.

Take action now to urge Guatemalan authorities to identify and prosecute the individuals responsible for the killing of Fausto Otzín.

Holder Hearing: Stats, Shenaningans and Security Concerns

By Katie Fourmy, Human Rights First Program Assistant/Office Manager, Government Advocacy

Just days after announcing that he would move the cases of five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attack to a regular federal court, Attorney General Eric Holder appeared yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a four-hour hearing filled with stats, shenanigans and security concerns.

Stat Wars: Senators Hatch and Kyl wanted to know just what AG Holder means by, “195 successfully prosecuted,” when he refers to accused terrorists tried in federal courts. We’ll clear it up. In our recent study of 119 terrorism cases with 289 defendants and filed since 2001 in the normal federal court system, Human Rights First found that of the 214 defendants whose cases were resolved as of June 2, 2009, 195 were convicted either by verdict or by a guilty plea. By contrast, the military commissions are a failed system that has secured only 3 convictions. So there’s the stat for you.

Shenanigans: Let’s start with decorum and avoiding shenanigans. In clearing up misinformation that had been circulating since the announcement, Mr. Holder rebutted critics who claim that a federal court trial will give KSM more of a platform to share his ideologies than would a military commission. He reminded us that bringing KSM to face trial in a federal court will require all in the courtroom, not just the defendant, to maintain proper behavior. Let’s hope this will save us the misery of listening to KSM spew all kinds of incendiary remarks… again. We don’t want to relive his first appearance in a military court.

Another shenanigan: Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Senator Durbin brought up that in 2006, Rudy Giuliani hailed the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in Eastern Virginia courts, just miles away from the Pentagon, as a “symbol of American justice.” Unfortunately, when AG Holder authorizes a federal trial of a 9/11 suspect, Mr. Giuliani steps out as one of the key opponents to the trial. For a more tongue-in-cheek version of his flip-flopping, check out the Daily Show from Monday night:

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Security Concerns: Thankfully, the fearmongering was nearly absent from yesterday’s hearing. It’s about time. I think it’s clear to most now that bringing these suspected terrorists to justice in United States federal courts will not put our citizens in great danger. In fact, it makes us safer. Thirty-two military leaders back AG Holder’s decision, and they remind us that keeping Gitmo open and continuing the system as is only puts us and our armed forces in great danger as we engender more hate and fear.

I’ll end with what I found to be the AG’s most resounding point of the day. When Senator Kyl asked Holder why he thinks that a federal court is the best location for this trial when KSM has already stated that he wants to plead guilty in a military commission and be sentenced to death, Holder’s response was simple. AG Holder’s decisions have nothing to do with KSM and his whims of trial location. “He [KSM] will not select his prosecution venue. I will select it,” asserted the Attorney General.

Next goal: Closing Guantánamo and transferring detainees suspected of crimes for trial before tried and true civilian courts in the United States.

If You Believe Guantanamo Makes Us Safer You Should Have Been Here Today

By David Danzig, Deputy Program Director of Human Rights First

Cross-posted from Huffington Post

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, 11/18/09 - Legal proceedings, such as they are, rumbled to life again today at Guantanamo Bay. Pre-trial issues in the case of Mohammed Kamin, an Afghan man who was captured by the U.S. in Afghanistan in 2003, were heard in a military commission courtroom on a small hill a few miles away from where the more than 200 detainees left at Guantanamo are housed.

The proceedings were a non-event before they even took place, unattended by even a single journalist and unremarked upon by political elites, many of whom spent the week arguing about whether military commissions or federal courts were the appropriate venue for trying alleged terrorists.

Soon after the proceedings were gaveled to order, President Obama, speaking to FOX News in Beijing, said that the detention facility at Guantanamo would not close in January.
"I knew this was going to be hard," the President said referring to an executive order he signed on January 22 ordering the detention facility to be shut within a year but "technical issues" as well as "politics" got in the way of closing the facility. He stated that he anticipates the facility will be closed at some point next year.

Many of the President's political opponents have taken to the airwaves this week to laud the use of military commissions as the only sure-fire way to provide justice for those who are accused of terrorism.

Meanwhile back at the commission proceedings, it was business as usual - meaning that the judge spent more than two hours covering legal issues that have virtually no precedent in military commissions. But despite the hard work, it was hard to say that justice in Kamin's case was any closer at hand.

Commission proceedings, since their inception, have been hampered by confusion about the rules, a lack of transparency, and other procedural hurdles. Today was no exception.

Trying a Man No One Has Heard Of

Mohammed Kamin is, in the words of his defense attorney, "someone who almost no one in the western world has ever heard of."

When Attorney General Eric Holder announced on Friday that the five men charged with conspiring to plan the 9/11 attacks would be moved to federal court, there was no mention of what would be done with Kamin.

It was unclear how - if at all - a Department of Justice-led review of detainees held at Guantanamo might impact the case against Kamin. No one had bothered to tell his lawyer.
"The fact that we are standing here in this courtroom today suggests that we are going to proceed to military commissions," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Richard Federico, the military attorney charged with defending the Afghan detainee, said uncertainly at the beginning of the proceedings today. "That would be my assumption too," chipped in Judge Thomas Cumbie.

There is a making-it-up-as-we-go feel to these proceedings which is inevitable for a system of trials for which the Congress, courts and executive keep changing the rules. For example, there was discussion today of a new pre-trial hearing date in December in the Kamin case.

But officials said that the new rules for the military commission proceedings - which the Department of Defense needs to alter to conform with reforms passed by Congress on October 29 - have yet to be released by the Department of Defense. Officials with the Office of Military Commissions at Guantanamo acknowledged today that they have not even seen a draft set of the new rules.

Any rulings issued in connection with today's hearing or in the court's next hearing on this case (scheduled "on or around" December 16) may have to be re-litigated when the new rules are released, further delaying a date when the Kamin case might reach a verdict. Kamin has been held for more than six years without any meaningful judicial review.Other problems unfolded as the hearing moved into its second hour.

Basic discovery information has yet to be passed on to the defense. For example, the defense told the court today that they still have yet to receive many of the accused's statements.
The prosecution, more than 1.5 years into formal legal proceedings against Kamin, recently provided an interrogation log which shows that he has been interrogated 17 times, yet summaries and/or transcripts of what was said at those meetings have only been provided to the defense for four sessions. "This is elemental stuff," Federico told the court.

Two Guys Not on Google

Captain Clay West, who acts as co-defense counsel, raised yet another thorny issue: two Afghan men who initially interrogated Kamin can not be found by the U.S. government for questioning. West suggested that these men, who were on the U.S. payroll, may have "softened up" Kamin and they ought to be questioned by investigators to determine what role any abuse may have played in subsequent statements.

Government prosecutors shot back that they were doing everything they could to find the two men. "Its not like we can put their names in Google," said Air Force Captain Jeremy McKissack, a prosecutor. Judge Cumbie suggested that so much time had passed since Kamin was captured, "they might be dead."

"The government has worked five years to charge this case," West said. "The government should suffer for not trying this case sooner, not Mr. Kamin."

There were other questions too. After all, as Federico explained, it was his "ethical responsibility" to pursue every avenue he can to defend his client.

Is material support for terrorism, the charge under which Kamin is to be tried, a charge that will stand up under appeal? Federico told the judge that, in his opinion, it probably would not - even the Attorney General's office expressed similar doubts before the latest Military Commissions Act became law - and argued that he ought to be able to make his case to the "convening authority" who has the power to choose who to prosecute.

Providing "support" for terrorism, as opposed to actually committing terrorism, has not traditionally been considered a violation of the laws of war, Federico argued, and it would be a waste of resources to try a case that is likely to be overturned. The judge promised to consider the motion.

It didn't stop there.

What should be done about a system that was designed - according to rule - to try "enemy combatants" when a new administration now calls detainees like Kamin "unprivileged belligerents?" Federico says this is not accounted for in the rules. Are changes necessary? Federico says that this alone is enough to dismiss the case.

And on and on. All of these issues have to be litigated. Memos have to be written. Motions filed. Hearings convened.

Almost every issue breaks new ground. Kamin elected not to attend this hearing. He has skipped every pretrial motion. The judge warned that there may come a time when it is necessary to "forcibly extract" him from his cell and make him attend hearings. But it is not clear when that time will come. Or who will decide. More memos. More unchartered territory.

This is the state of play with a military commission system that was put in place in 2006 and overhauled just a few weeks ago. New rules are being put in place while detainees are being tried. Changes are inevitable and as the clock continues to run, it becomes harder and harder to convene a trial that is seen to be timely and fair.

This is what it takes to build a legal record and develop a complex legal system. It's fascinating for lawyers to watch. But it is not the way a sophisticated country should be managing justice.
There is another option.

Thankfully the federal judicial courts are already prepared to handle the most complex terrorism cases. Since 9/11 the federal system has reached a verdict on 195 cases, finding more than 90 percent of alleged terrorists guilty.

For those of us who have seen the Guantanamo system of military commissions operate, it is hard to believe that any politician would argue that what we have here is what we need. Especially when a system of justice, with a proven track record, stands by, ready to do the job.

Congress Trying to Put Up a Roadblock on the Path to GITMO's Closure

Not a week after the Attorney General announced that suspected 9/11 perpetrators will face justice in New York federal courts, House Republicans are aiming to block these trials, and are trying to make their case as Mr. Holder appears in a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

We need to push through these obstacles and stay on course! Yesterday, we had a big victory in the Senate when Senators blocked an effort, to restrict criminal prosecutions of suspected terrorists. Momentum is on our side - but we have to keep up the pressure!

Call your representative today to let him or her know you support using our federal courts for terrorism trials. Click here to find the number of your representative's office and to read more.

Panel Discussion on Guantanamo, with three retired military leaders and Human Rights First

On Thursday, November 18, Human Rights First will be leading a discussion on how best to restore America’s global reputation and keep the United States safe in a post-Guantánamo Bay world. The panel is free and open to the public – we’d love to have you there!


Co-Hosted by Human Rights First and the Human Security Law Program at William & Mary Law School in Williamsburg, Virginia, the panel will feature three of the country’s most distinguished retired military leaders. The panelists are among the retired military officers who stood behind President Obama on his second day in office as he signed the Executive Orders banning torture and ordering the closure of the Guantanamo detention facility by January 2010.
Read the media advisory for details.

Unjustly detained Colombian human rights activist to face trial, US Aid to Colombia key to ending arbitrary detention of activists

Cross-posted from The Hill's Congress blog, and from Huffington Post:

All signs pointed to the release of Carmelo Agamez Berrio, a well known Colombian human rights activist, who has been unjustly detained for almost a year in Sucre. He had been appointed a new prosecutor and senior Colombian justice officials had raised concerns about due process rights violations in his case. However, in a surprising twist last week, the 28th antiterrorism prosecutor in Bogota issued a resolution formally bringing to trial the specious investigation against Agamez.

Carmelo Agamez is Technical Secretary of the Movement of Victims of State Crimes (MOVICE) in Sucre department. He was detained in November 2008 charged with consorting with right-wing paramilitary leaders. Agamez has devoted his career to documenting human rights violations and exposing alleged links between local public officials and paramilitaries. Given his strident opposition to paramilitary groups, it is implausible that he has also been consorting with them. The case against Agamez has been marked by a series of inconsistencies and violations, which both a court and the Prosecutor General of Colombia have publicly recognized.

In May 2009, the Superior Tribunal of Sucre found that the prosecutor breached Agamez's due process and defense rights by failing to inform him of the charges against him. According to Agamez’s defense, the arrest warrant against him was not authorized and his house was raided without a warrant. The charges against Agamez are based on the uncorroborated testimony from two discredited witnesses alleging that Agamez participated in a paramilitary meeting on an unspecified date. Neither of the witnesses are impartial: was recently detained after Agamez and MOVICE publicly exposed his alleged links to paramilitaries, while Agamez was involved in the arrest of the second witness’ brother and cousin. Many other witnesses have testified that Agamez did not participate in the meeting in question, while still another witness recanted her testimony explaining that the prosecutor had induced her to falsely impugn Agamez.

In July 2009, the Colombian Prosecutor General issued a formal resolution, in which he repeatedly cited concerns about the lack of impartiality in the investigation against Agamez by international human rights organizations such as Human Rights First. In the resolution he ordered a criminal investigation of Sucre prosecutor Rodolfo Martinez Mendoza for alleged corruption in connection with his baseless prosecution of Agamez.

It is inconceivable, after such serious concerns were raised by senior Colombian justice officials, that Agamez’s case could make it to trial. The new prosecutor has done so without offering any additional evidence of Agamez's guilt nor addressing the evidentiary and due process concerns raised by senior justice officials.

It is crucial for the United States government to take a stand regarding this issue and demand that justice be served. Members of Congress and the US embassy in Colombia should raise their concerns about this case with the Colombian government and urge the Colombian Prosecutor General to take a strong stand regarding this injustice by immediately dropping the charges against Agamez.

Unfortunately, Agamez's unjust detention is just one emblematic example of a much bigger problem: the extensive use of malicious criminal investigations and trumped-up charges to silence human rights activists in Colombia. This widespread nature of this problem was documented in a recent report by Human Rights First, In the Dock and Under the Gun: Baseless Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Colombia.

Given that the United States provides Colombia with approximately $40 million in justice and rule of law aid, the US can and must be a part of the solution. The Congressional Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission has recognized this by holding two hearings this year related to the arbitrary detention of Colombian activists. Members of Congress, the State Department and the Department of Justice should all urge the Colombian Prosecutor General to issue a resolution to delegate a unit of his office to coordinate the review of all investigations against Colombian human rights defenders, which would immediately close all specious cases.

Moscow Murder Underscores Dangers for Russian Activists, Journalists

The brutal murder of 26-year-old anti-fascist activist Ivan Khutorskoi in Moscow yesterday is yet another reminder of the dangers faced by activists and journalists in Russia. Read our press release. These execution-style murders have become all too common in Russia, and rarely are those responsible found or held accountable.

Human Rights First has frequently voiced concerns about the attacks on racial and ethnic minorities in the Russian Federation, where there has been a dramatic upsurge in violent hate crimes in recent years. People like Khutorskoi, antifascist activists opposed to racist violence, have also been frequent targets in violent attacks. Just a few months ago, on June 28, 2009, assailants used knives and air pistols in a murderous attack on another antifascist activist, Ilya Dzhaparidze. Read more about our work in Russia, and more broadly on hate crime across Europe and North America.

Khutorskoi's murder happened on the same day that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) released its annual report “Hate Crimes in the OSCE Region – Incidents and Responses,” concluding that hate crime is still a significant problem throughout a region that includes 56 countries in North America, Europe, and the former Soviet Union. To compliment the intergovernmental report, U.S. international rights groups Human Rights First (HRF) and Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a reaction paper that highlights the failure of many of the OSCE states to fulfill commitments to combat the problem.