amnesty AUGUST 1980 Volume X Number 8

international newsletterEl Salvador: 2,000 victims in 1980Bid to halt US military aidAl has called on the United States government to reconsider

proposed security aid to El Salvador which would be likely to step

up the widespread murder and torture of peasants and suspected

opponents of that country's government.On 16 July 1980 a letter

was sent to the US Secretary ofState, Edmund MUSKIE, express-ing A I' s dismay at the proposedaid and urging him to reviewhuman rights in El Salvador.

At least 2,000 Salvadorians havebeen killed or have "disappeared"while in the hands of the conventional

and auxiliary forces since early January,

when most of the government resigned,partly over human rights violations.Many of the victims were tortured and

savagely mutilated—some had arms cut

off, others were flayed or beheaded.Salvadorian church sources have

documented 2,065 cases of peoplesummarily killed for their associationor presumed association with political

opposition groups, peasant leagues or

industrial trade unions.Al's letter noted that in the cities

membership of a union, a neighbour-

Archbishop Oscar Romero of SanSalvador, assassinated on 24 March1980. Earlier that month he hadcriticized proposed US military aidto his country "because the aid isgoing directly to the security forcesand it is well known that they arerepressing the people."

proposed for the fiscal year 1981.Earlier this year (see May 1980

Newsletter) Al reported that a camp-

aign of murder and abduction had

been launched against peasants in El

Continued on back page

hood association, church group orpolitical party could be regarded as

"subversive" and members riskeddetention and murder.

Doctors have recently been arrested

and killed in the course of surgicaloperations and hospital patients, help-

less in bed or on the operating table,

have been abducted or detained and

killed.The arbitrary detention and out-

right murder of health workers and the

sick set off a national doctors' strike on21 May 1980.

Given all this it is reasonable to

expect that assistance intended to

improve the operational capabilitiesof the Salvadorian security system,including training and material assist-ance, will help to increase human

rights violations in that country.Some $5.5 million worth of US

security aid to El Salvador has been

USSR action against Helsinki 'watchdogs'More than 150 people peacefullyexercising their human rightsin the USSR have been arrestedor tried and sentenced to termsof imprisonment or internal exile,or forcibly confined to psychia-tric hospitals, in a nine-monthperiod from the beginning ofOctober 1979.

A I has also received informa-tion that many other dissentershave been harassed, intimidated,detained for short periods andphysically ill-treated.

Recently arrested dissenters inMoscow include the human rights

campaigner Alexander LAVUT,Tatyana OSIPOVA, a member of

Moscow's Helsinki monitoring group,

and Vyacheslav BAKHM IN andLeonard TERNOVSKY, both mem-

bers of the unofficial WorkingCommission to Investigate the Use ofPsychiatry for Political Purposes.

On 13 June 1980 another Helsinki

monitor, Viktor NEKIPELOV, poet andpharmacologist, was sentenced toseven years' imprisonment and five

years' internal exile for "anti-Sovietagitation and propaganda".

Religious believers have also been

arrested, including Baptists, SeventhDay Adventists, Pentecostalists,Jehovah's Witnesses and members of

the Russian Orthodox Church.

National and human rights activists

have been arrested in the BalticRepublics (Lithuania, Latvia and

Estonia) and in the Ukraine, where the

lelsinki monitoring group has been

the main target. A 75-year-old memberof this group, Oksana MESHKO, isamong those who, for political reasons,

have been confined recently tomental hospitals.

Al has also been disturbed by anumber of cases in which furthercharges were brought against prisonersof conscience before their currentterms of imprisonment or internalexile expired; this has resulted in theirdetention being extended. Those most

recently affected include the brothersAlexander and Kirill PODRABINEK, .well-known opponents of politicalabuse of psychiatry in the USSR, the

Ukrainian philosopher Vasyl LISOVY

and a former journalist, VyacheslavCHORNOVILD

2 AUGUST 1980

Taiwan News in BriefChurch leader gets seven years'The Secretary General of thePresbyterian Church in Taiwan, theReverend Dr KAO Chun-ming, andnine others— including a Lutheranpastor—were found guilty on 16May 1980 of having "harboured, helpedand failed to report" to the police afugitive wanted for "attempting tooverthrow the government byillegal means".

Dr Kao was sentenced to sevenyears' imprisonment; the other ninedefendants received sentences rangingfrom seven years' down to two years'suspended.

Al launched a special appeal on25 June for the release of the 10, allof whom have been adopted asprisoners of conscience.

Dr Kao was arrested on 24 April,suspected of harbouring SHIH Ming-teh,sought by the police following aHuman Rights Day demonstration inKaohsiung on 10 December 1979; thefugitive had taken a leading part inthe organization of the demonstration,which had ended in violent clasheswith the riot police and was followedby the large-scale arrest of oppositionfigures.

Nine people had already beenarrested, in early January 1980, onthe same charge as Dr Kao; one wasreleased on bail; the others were heldincommunicado until their officialindictment on 29 April.

On 16 May Dr Kao and his nineco-defendants were tried by a militarycourt, in spite of defence counsel

Four women teachers detained in a SãoPaulo prison in the Angolan capital,Luanda, are reported to have beenreleased in June, after three of themhad gone on hunger-strike in mid-May.

All are accused of belonging to anillegal left-wing group, the Organizacdodos Comunistas de Angola (0C A),Organization of Angolan Communists.

The three who went on hunger-strike were protesting against theirdetention and the terms of administra-tive internment to which they had beensentenced earlier this year they hadbeen arrested in late 1977 and early 1978.

At the end of May Al appealed fotthem to be set free, as well as for the

objections that their clients were allcivilians.

Dr Kao told the court that as aChristian he could not refuse thosewho asked him for help. The otherdefendants accepted the chargesagainst them but argued that they

The Reverend Dr KAO Chun-ming

had not known the fugitive was accusedof sedition when they helped him.

Al considers that all 10 defendantsare prisoners of conscience who actedout of humanitarian concern for aperson in danger of ill-treatment andwho faced a possible death sentence:Shih Ming-teh had previously beendetained for 15 years for politicalreasons and during that period he hadbeen tortured LII

fourth teacher, Dulce FONSECA, whowas known to be ill and to have lost35 kg during her two years in detention.

In May the authorities released fourother detainees accused of belongingto OCA, after holding them for morethan two years. They were expelledto Portugal; all have Portuguesenationality.

In mid-June Al appealed on behalfof four other detainees, all reported tobe seriously ill as a result either ofhunger-strikes or of the inadequatemedical facilities at Silo Paulo prison.Two of the four were medicalstudents and two were nurses atLuanda's main hospitalEl

German Democratic Republic(GDR)

15-year-old boy, Volker MEHLIS,imprisoned for attempted "illegalcrossing of the border", hanged himselfin Halle prison on 24 May, according toinformation coming from the churchcommunity of his home town, Thale.

The boy is reported to have beendepressed because he was in a prisonfor adults. He had been transferredthere from a prison for young offendersin Dessau four days earlier.

In February 1980 Volker Mehlisand a friend decided to run away fromhome and leave the country. Both werearrested near the border. Volker Mehliswas sentenced to 12 months' imprison-ment, his friend to 16 months'.

The GDR is a signatory of the UNInternational Covenant on Civil andPolitical Rights, which includes theright of people to leave their owncountry—but GDR citizens risk up toeight years' imprisonment if they tryto exercise this right El

Guyana

Dr Walter RODNEY, a leader ofGuyana's opposition Working People'sAlliance (WPA), was killed when abomb exploded in his brother's car on13 June.

Earlier in the month an Al observerattended the trial of Dr Rodney andtwo other WPA leaders on charges ofarson, following the destruction inJuly 1979 of the headquarters of theruling People's National Congress. Thetrial was adjourned on 6 June.

Al has urged the Prime Minister,Forbes BURNHAM, to set up anindependent inquiry into Dr Rodney'sdeath El

BulgariaDimiter KOLEV, of Bulgaria, aprisoner of the month in January 1980,is reported to have been released fromprison in May 1980. He is still said tobe very ill.

Prisoner Releases and CasesThe International Secretariat learnedin June of the release of 159 prisonersunder adoption or investigation; ittook up 135 new casesill

AngolaWomen freed after hunger-strike

AUGUST 1980 3

Campaign for Prisoners of the MonthEach of the people whose story is told below is a prisoner of conscience. Eachhas been arrested because of his or her religious or political beliefs, colour, sex,

ethnic origin or language. None has used or advocated violence. Their continuingdetention is a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of HumanRights. International appeals can help to secure the release of these prisoners orto improve their detention conditions. In the interest of the prisoners, letters tothe authorities should be worded carefully and courteously. You should stressthat your concern for human rights is not in any way politically partisan. In nocircumstances should communications be sent to the prisoner.

KASSA Wolde Mariam, EthiopiaFormer Minister of Agri-culture in the overthrownimperial government; aged48, married with five children.Detained in July 1974; "dis-appeared" from prison inJuly 1979.

KASSA Wolde Mariam is one of ninehigh officials of the ousted imperialgovernment who —disappeared"fromprison in July 1979. Relatives whobrought them food each day were toldto stop doing so and to forget aboutthem. In other cases in Ethiopia suchan instruction has served as an implicitnotification that a prisoner has beensummarily and secretly executed.

There has been no official govern-ment response to numerous private andpublic requests for the "disappearances"to be accounted for. Some officialshave claimed that the nine were trans-ferred to another prison, but theyrefused to say where and no informa-tion has emerged to confirm thcirstatements.

Kassa Wolde Mariam was presidentof Haile Selassie I University from1963 to 1966, and then Governor ofhis home province of Wollega. lie hadbeen Minister of Agriculture for twoyears when he was detained in 1974.That year a commission inquired intothe responsibility of governmentofficials for the effects of the 1973-74 famine, in which over 100,000people died; no findings were publishedbut the commission is believed to haveexonerated the former Minister frompersonal blame; he was never chargedor brought to trial.

After his arrest he was held underharsh conditions in the cellars of theformer Menelik palace in Addis Ababa,now the military government's head-quarters.

Kassa Wolde Mariam is married toPrincess SEBLE Desta, the lateEmperor HAILE SELASSIE's grand-daughter, detained without trial inAkaki prison, Addis Ababa, since 1975.Their five children are all refugeesoutside Ethiopia.

Please send courteously wordedletters expressing concern at KassaWolde Mariam's disappearance andappealing for infOrmation about him,to: Lieutenant-Colonel Mengistu HaileMariam, Head of the ProvisionalMilitary Government of SocialistEthiopia, PO Box 5717, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.

SOH Joon-shik, SOH Sung,Republic of Korea

Brothers, born in Japan ofKorean parents; students atSeoul National Universitywhen arrested in 1971;charged with spying for NorthKorea.

The SOH brothers, Joon-shik, 32.and Sung, 35, were arrested afterstudent demonstrations connected withthe presidential elections in 1971. Bothwere charged with espionage under theAnti-communist Law and the NationalSecurity Law. Soli Sung was sentencedto death, commuted to life imprison-ment, Joon-shik to 15 years' imprison-ment, reduced to seven.

Al, which has adopted the brothersas prisoners of conscience, believesthey were imprisoned to discouragecriticism of the government bystudents, and that confessions by themwere extracted under torture.

Soh Joon-shik said he had beenforced to drink large amounts of waterand was then beaten and left, boundand naked, in extreme cold. Hisbrother's face and body were badlyburned, apparently while he was tryingto commit suicide during interrogation.

Soh Joon-shik's seven-year sentenceexpired in May 1978 but he remainsin prison under the Public SecurityLaw. This allows the government toimpose arbitrary restrictions, includingdetention for terms of two years, afterthe expiry of a former politicalprisoner's sentence.

In May 1980 Soh Joon-shik'spreventive custody order was renewedfor another two years. He was reportedto have gone on hunger-strike on 27 May.

Please send courteously wordedletters appealing for the Soh brothers'unconditional release to: His ExcellencyPresident Choi Kyu-hah, The Blue House,Chcngno-gu, Seoul, Korea.

Hector Enrique FIGUEROAYafiez, Utile

Former accountancy student,aged 28: militant member ofthe Socialist Party, imprisonedjust after the 1973 coupin Chile.

Hector Enrique FIGUEROA Yafiez wasconvicted (with Rafael MERINOMercado now in exile) of firing theshots that caused the death of a policesergeant opposite the SocialistParty headquarters in the city ofConcepción in August 1972. Prelimin-ary investigations are reported to haveshown that the shots did not comefrom the party building, but inSeptember 1973 just after the coupHector Figueroa was arrested andaccused of the killing. (Rafael Merinowas tried in absentia.)

In October 1978, more than fiveyears after his arrest, he was sentencedto 20 years' imprisonment for involve-ment in the policeman's death. (Thissentence is under appeal).

In October 1979 he escaped fromprison in Concepción. He was recap-tured 10 days later and on his return toprison was kept isolated from otherinmates for more than four months.

A/ believes Hector Figueroa wasnot responsible for the police sergeant'sdeath and that he is in prison becauseof his past activities in the SocialistParty, banned immediately after the1973 coup.

Please send courteously wordedletters appealing for his release or forhis prison sentence to be commuted toone of exile (provided for underDecree Law 504) to: Setior SergioFernández Fernández, Ministro delInterior, Ministerio del Interior,Edificio Diego Portales, Santiago,Chile.

4 AUGUST 1980

Dozens of Chileans, many of them students, were banished this year for three-month periods to remotetowns and villages as desolate as the one pictured below (from the Roman Catholic journal Solidaridad,of Santiago). Some of these places are in the arid north, others in the cold of the extreme south. Abanished Santiago drama student, Alejandro GOIC, was dropped off by officials in a square in Freirina,a small town he had never heard of before and where he knew nobody. His father later wrote to theMinister of the Interior: "Until now it had been for me a name in an obscure corner of my homeland.From now on . . . it will be a place built into my experiences and memories . . . Thanks to you I willknow Freirina."

Banishment in ChileA decree promulgated in Chile on 6 February 1980—Decree Law 3168—gives the Minister of the Interiorpowers to order people to be detained for up to five days and then to have them sent to live in remoteareas for terms of internal exile (relegacion) of up to three months for disturbing or attempting to disturbpublic order; there is no right of appeal against any such order.

The decree gives the govern-ment powers under the presentstate of emergency which itwould have normally only undera state of siege.

Arrests under Decree Law 3168do not fall under the control of theContralorta General de la Republica,the public body that oversees stateadministrative procedures.

Justifying the decree, the Ministerof the Interior said it would avoidhaving to use the more drastic mea-sure of expelling "offenders" fromChile.

The new decree was applied topeople who demonstrated peacefullyon 8 March 1980, InternationalWomen's Day, when hundreds took tothe streets for a rally organized by thewomen's section of the CoordinadoraIVacional Sindical (CNS), the NationalTrade Union Coordinating Body.

Government permission for themarch had been refused because of thealleged "political intention" of therally.

+up

Police arrests

Peaceful demonstrations took placein Santiago, where police arrested morethan 100 people, Valparaiso, where26 people were arrested, and Concepción

Those arrested are reported to havebeen interrogated and held incommun-icado for five days by the CentralNacional de Informaciones (CNI),National Centre of Information, thesecurity service which replaced theDINA.

On 13 March the Minister of theInterior announced that by order ofPresident PINOCHET 12 of those de-tained were to be banished for threemonths to remote villages, most ofthem in the far north or south of Chile.They were referred to as "repeatedoffenders".

The others were released "underobservation". l'hey face banishment ifdetained again after taking part in anykind of protest.

Towards the end of March theMinister announced that five of those"under observation' were to be ban-ished as a result of "new evidence".

Hundreds of people were arrested al'over the country around 1 May; 37 ofthem were banished. (This year, unlikelast, there were no public demonstrat-ions to commemorate InternationalLabour Day. Cardinal Raul SILVAHenriques cancelled a Mass which wasto have been held in Santiago'scathedral, following warnings frompeople close to the government ofviolent clashes which might result indeaths. The government denied havingasked for the Mass to be suspended.)

On 12 June 98 students, mostlyfrom Santiago's State TechnicalUniversity, were arrested in a restaur-ant in the centre of the city wherethey were taking part in a musicalevening in solidarity with students who

nad becn expelled from the universityearlier in the year.

The arrests were made by uniformedpolice led by CNI members, whoaccused the students of holding apolitical meeting in contravention ofthe Law of State Security.

A week later the Minister of theInterior announced that 22 of thestudents would be banished for threemonths to villages in the far south. Theothers were released after a warning.

Appeal to government

Al considers that people restrictedunder Decree Law 3168 are prisoners ofconscience and has appealed to thegovernment to set them free.

Please send courteously wordedletters asking for the immediate andunconditional release of all peoplerestricted under Decree Law 3168, to:Seirior Sergio Ferndridez Fernández,Ministro del Interior, Ministerio delInterior, Edificio Diego Portales,Santiago, ChileEl

AU G UST 1980 5

Most offences are 'verbal', says Federal Prosecutor

Rise in Yugoslav political trialsRecent statements by high ranking government officials have confirmed reports reaching AI that there has

been an increase in the number of political trials in Yugoslavia over the past year.

On 25 June 1980 the FederalMinister of the Interior, FranjoHERLJEVIC, stated that 120people had been prosecuted foranti-state activities since thebeginning of 1979. And in anewspaper article a few dayslater the Federal PublicProsecutor, Dr Vuko GOZZE-GUCETIC, spoke of a rise in thenumber of political offences sincethe end of 1979.

The Federal Prosecutor attributed

this rise to international political

tensions and the activities of Yugoslav

emigre organizations.He noted, however, that nine out

of 10 political offences were "verbal"

and that only one out of six wasserious enough to be classified as

"hostile propaganda".

which Yugoslavia is a signatory.

The organization has recentlyadopted as prisoners of conscience eight

ethnic Albanians sentenced on 9 June

1980 to prison terms ranging from.

three to eight years on charges of

"hostile propaganda" and "association

for the purpose of hostile propaganda";

the sentences were imposed by thedistrict court of Pristina in the auto-

nomous province of Kosovo.According to reports reaching AI

the eight were among several hundred

people detained in Kosovo in late

1979, folloWing nationalist unrest inthe province, which borders on the

Socialist People's Republic of Albania

and has an ethnic Albanian majority.

Anti-government slogans arereported to have appeared on walls in

some Kosovo towns in the autumn of

Attitudes softening

Dr Gozze-Gucetic stressed that the

criteria for prosecuting politicaloffences were not changing—but at

the same time he indicated a softening

in official attitudes towards certain

"verbal offences", particularly state-

ments made under the influence ofalcohol. He also stated that offences

relating to "abusive language" and the

dissemination of false information

should, strictly speaking, not be pro-

secuted as political offences, as theyare now, but as offences against"reputation" and against peace and

order.Al sent a letter to Dr Gozze-

Gucetic in July 1980 expressing con-

cern at the rising number of political

trials and at the heavy sentences

imposed on people convicted of"hostile propaganda".

At the same time A/ welcomed

indications in his statements that at

least some cases of the non-violent

expression of opinion would be treated

more leniently in future.,41 also reiterated its concern at the

continuing application of Article 133

of the Yugoslav Penal Code—dealing

with "nostile propaganda" --and noted

that this Article was incompatiblewith human rights instruments to

1979 and pamphlets critical of theYugoslav government and its policies

in Kosovo are said to have been

distributed.Al first learned of the arrests in

January 1980 and appealed on behalf

of a number of detainees, urging the

authorities to grant them full legal

safeguards and to release them if theyhad been arrested for exercising their

right to freedom of expression and

association without either using oradvocating violence.

Trial reports

In March 1980 the Yugoslav news

media reported that 50 KosovoAlbanians were due to be tried; it is

not known whether most of those

arrested in late 1979 have been released

or whether the trial on 9 June wasmerely the first of a series.

Other Yugoslav prisoners of con-

science adopted by Al since the beginn-

ing of 1980—all convicted of "hostilepropaganda"- include:

Ivan ZELEMBER, 46, sentenced in

March 1980 by the district court of

Osijek to 5 years' imprisonment for

bringing emigre journals intoYugoslavia;

Zarko ALEKS1C and MiloradJOKSIMOV1C, sentenced in April

Hysen GERVALLA, 39, one of eightethnic Albanians sentenced in June1980 after facing charges involving"hostile propaganda"; he got threeyears' imprisonment.

1980 by the district court of Doboj to

seven and two and a half years'

imprisonment respectively after being

accused of praising the Chetniks(Serbian royalists who opposed the

communist-led partisans in World

War II);

Momcilo SELIC, sentenced in April

1980 by the district court of Belgrade

to seven years' imprisonment after hehad written and distributed to friends

a text strongly critical of President

Tito and certain aspects of theYugoslav Communist Party's history

and policies.Early in June 36 Yugoslav intellect-

uals signed an appeal to the State

Presidency for an amnesty for all

political prisoners convicted of verbal

offences.At about the same time, on 11 June

1980, the State Presidency was

reported to have decided to grant an

amnesty, although no indication ofthe category of prisoner affected was

given and Al has not learned of any

prisoner of conscience who has

benefited so far0

6

PolandNOWA manager tried in WarsawMiroslaw CHOJECKI, manager of theunofficial publishing house NOWA, anda NOWA printer, Bogdan GRZESIAK,were tried on 12 June 1980, chargedwith appropriating state property andinciting others to crime (see JuneNewsletter). Both were sentenced to18 months' imprisonment, suspendedfor three years.

Al had sent the Swedish lawyerTomas ROTHPFEFFER to attend thetrial. When he arrived at the RegionalCourt in Warsaw on the evening of 12June he was told the court had beenadjourned for the day. He later learnedthat proceedings had in fact continueduntil 8.00 pm and that judgment hadbeen pronounced two hours later.

Al is concerned by an increase in the official practice of charging dissent-

Jack Howard POTTS, due to have beenexecuted on 1 July 1980 in the stateof Georgia, changed his mind againabout appealing against his sentence(see July Newsletter) and, on 25 June,asked for a stay of execution.

Judge William O'KELLY refusedthe appeal, but on 28 June a UnitedStates appeals court blocked theexecution until it could rule whetherthe judge had been entitled to reject thecondemned man's second appeal.

Jack Potts, sentenced to death in1976 for murder, had originally beenscheduled to be executed on 5 June; he

Seventeen army officers are reportedto have been executed in Syria in Junethis year after being accused oftreason, disaffection and conspiracy.They are reported to have writtenletters critical of Colonel Rifa'atASSAD, President Hafez ASSAD'sbrother and commander of Syria'sSpecial Defence Units.

Al cabled the President on 24 Juneexpressing concern at the executions.

ers with ordinary criminal offences notostensibly connected with theiractivity as dissenters. Six such caseshave been reported to Al since January1980.

The latest involves MarekKOZLOWSKI; in July 1979 he gaveevidence to the unofficial Social SelfDefence Committee (KSS KOR)on the case of Tomasz KOSCIFLIK,worker from Slupsk, who had beenpermanently injured as a result ofpolice assaults; the policemen con-cerned were later tried and convicted.

Marek Koslowski himself laterbecame the victim of numerous beatings,threats and interrogations by thesecurity forces. On 1 July 1980 hewas found guilty of "threateningbehaviour" mid sentenced to 19months's imprisonment 0

had refused to appeal against thesentence, changing his mind only at thelast minute.

lie was granted an indefinite stayof execution. but the next day hewithdrew his appeal and a new execut-ion date was set.

Al had appealed to Georgia'sGovernor, George BUSBEE, to suspendthe execution; it had also askedPresident CARTER to intercede per-sonally in the case (the executionwould have taken place under legislationsigned by the President when he wasGovernor of (;eorgia)0

They follow a wave of violence,strikes and demonstrations which haspersisted since March 1980 and whichthe authorities have tried to deal withusing a mixture of negotiation andoutright physical force.

Reports reaching Al suggest that thearmy has been relatively restrained, butthat the Special Defence Units havebeen accused repeatedly of killings andsummary executions, of mutilatingbodies and tort ming detainees0

AUGUST 1980

ZaireTorture forgendarme heldin KinshasaA 23-year-old gendarme, NTAMBU-wa-Ntambu, was still in prison in Kinshasain early July after being torturedrepeatedly during a four-month periodof detention.

He was being held by Zaire'ssecurity police at a special interroga-tion centre in the Cite de l'OUA(Organization for African Unity City),a district originally built to houseAfrican leaders attending a summitconference in the capital.

Brother suspected

Ntambu-wa-Ntambu was arrested it,February or March 1980 with threerelatives, two of whom were laterreleased. 41 does not know why hewas arrested and tortured, but it maybe connected with the fact that hehas a brother living outside Zairesuspected of opposing PresidentMobutu's government.

Hund reds tortured

Al has no details of how Ntambu-wa-Ntambu was tortured but in recentmonths hundreds of political prisonersin Kinshasa are reported to have beenseverely beaten, deprived of food forseveral days at a time. given electricshocks, whipped with electric wireor burned by cigarettes or red-hotmetal.

Please send courteously wordedletters, preferably in French, e.vpressingconcern at reports that Ntainhu-wa-Ntambu and other political prisonersin Kinshasa have heen ill-treated, to:Citoyen Atenda, AdministrateurGeneral, Centre national de rechercheset d'investigations, La Residence,Kinshasa 2, Republic of Zaire.

GABON RELEASE

Al has learned that DominiqueDIATA, of Gabon, prisoner of themonth in July 1980, had in factbeen released on 14 June 1980.According to Ars information hisrelease was conditional. Theinformation only reached Londonafter the July Newsletter had goneto press.

USADeath-cell man appeals again

Syria17 army officers 'executed'

AUG UST 1980 7

amnesty international

- campaign for the abolition of torture

Argentine army squad reported in Lima

Political exiles 'kidnapped in Peru'An Argentine army squad is reported to have abducted four Argentinians living in the Peruvian capital, Lima,on 12 and 13 June this year. According to some reports one of the kidnap victims and another Argentinianmay have been tortured to death afterwards.

One of the five people involvedwas Noemi Esther GIANETTI deMolfino, one of the Mothers ofthe Plaza de Mayo, a group set upto search for relatives who have"disappeared" in Argentina; herdaughter and son-in-law areamong those to have "disappeared"after being kidnapped.

The others involved in the Limacase were Julia Inés SANTOS de Acabal,Julio César RAMIREZ Olmos, AldoAlberto MORAN and Federico FRIASAlbergo.

Early in June, according toPeruvian newspaper reports, GeneralLeopoldo GALTIERI, CommandingGeneral of the Argentine army, askedGeneral Pedro RICHTER Prado, PrimeMinister of Peru, to allow Argentineintelligence agents to enter Peru toarrest, interrogate and take back toBuenos Aires some 15 Argentiniansliving there.

Prisoner's role

On about 6 June eight Argentinearmy officers arrived in Lima underthe command of Colonel RonaldROCHA. They brought with theman Argentinian prisoner, Fc;dericoElias, who was to identify those to bearrested.

Two Peruvian army intelligenceofficers are alleged to have collaboratedin the exercise- -Colonel MARTINEZGaray and Commander OswaldoHERNANDEZ Mendoza.

At noon on 11 June Federico Eriasbroke away from his guard, who ranafter him shouting that he was arobber. The fleeing man was stopped bya shopkeeper. Pablo CLAVIJO. Whenthe guard reached them he struckFederico Frias on the head, injuringhim.

Federico Elias was taken to an out-patient clinic, where he is said to have

It is alleged that Julia Santos was•beaten and stripped naked and thenield underwater in the sea for longperiods; she is also said to have beentied up and then dragged behind a movingvehicle; electric shock torture wasapplied, allegedly using apparatusbrought specially from Argentina.

Information reaching Al suggeststhat Julia Santos and Federico Friasdied in Peru after being tortured; thishas not yet been confirmed.

On 20 June Peru's Ministry of the

Interior published a communique in thenewspaper, El Comercio, that threeArgentinians had been expelled toBolivia because their documents werenot in order.

Julia Ines Santos de Acabal, reportedkidnapped in Lima; according to somereports she may have been torturedmd killed.

told the doctor treating him that hewanted political asylum. Instead, hewas taken to Miraflores police station,where the shopkeeper was making a

statement.Armed Argentinians later went to

Pablo Clavijo's shop and allegedlythreatened him. He is now said to beunder the protection of the RomanCatholic Church in Lima.

At 4.00 pm on 12 June fourarmed men seized Julia Santos outsidethe Matriz church in Miraflores. At9.30.that night she was taken to anapartment building, where JulioRamirez was abducted.

Noemi Gianetti was abducted at12.30 am on 13 June, after armed menhad surrounded the building in whichshe lived. Aldo Moran is reported tohave been abducted later in the day.

According to reports received by/ all five were taken to a recreational

centre for the families of Peruvian armyofficers, in Playa Hondable, north ofLima. They are said to have beenbrutally tortured.

Bolivian denial

Two Peruvian members of parlia-ment, who travelled to Bolivia toinquire about the Argentinians, weretold the Bolivian government knewnothing of their whereabouts.

Al is deeply concerned that thePeruvian government has denied allknowledge of just where the fiveArgentinians are at present.

President Fernando BELA UNDETerry, who took office formally on28 July 1980, announced in earlyJuly that a parliamentary inquirywould be held into the allegedabductions.

On July 15 it was announced inBuenos Aires that President JorgeVIDELA, of Argentina, had cancelledhis planned trip to Lima for theinauguration of the Peruvian headof state. No reason was given.

Please send courteously wordedletters asking for infOrmation aboutthe live Argentinians and fin- a fullinquiry into their alleged abduction,with the findings made public, to:Señor Fernando Belaünde Terry,Presidente de la Repüblica, PalacioPresidencial, Lima, PeruCI

8 AUGUST 1980

Concern over police violence in IndiaAI has called on the Prime Minister of India, Indira GANDHI, to establish an independent and effectivenational body to investigate complaints of ill-treatment and torture of people in police custody and to repeal

preventive detention legislation introduced by her government in February 1980.In a letter and an aide - tnemoire

sent to Mrs Gandhi on 30 April1980 AI recalled that she hadrecently recommended urgentaction after voicing concern atthe incidence of police violenceand torture in India.

Mrs Gandhi is understood to haveordered an investigation into policetraining after affirming the need "fora new orientation to their training sothat they should not treat everybodyas guilty". Her statement followed anincident in New Delhi in March whenblind men were injured by the policeduring demonstrations.

Allegations of prisoners dying inpolice custody have been made formany years; following an A 1mission inJanuary 1978, led by Professor JamesFAWCETT, President of the EuropeanCommission of Human Rights, Almade a number of recommendationsto the then government, including theestablishment of an independent bodyto investigate complaints of ill-treatment and torture.

AI is now writing about suchallegations to the State ChiefMinisters of Karnatakata, MadyaPradesh, Uttar Pradesh and WestBengal.

BID TO HALT USMILITARY AID

Continued from ftage one

Salvador. Troops and paramilitaryforces, sent into rural areas ostensiblyto carry out agrarian reforms, werereported to have killed hundreds ofmen, women and children, and tohave razed villages.

On 29 February 1980 Al expressedits concern to the US governmentthat reports of stepped up aid to ElSalvador's internal security forces coin-cided with the repression and that theaid could be expected to lead to morehuman rights violations.

In a letter to the Deputy Secretaryof State, Warren CHRISTOPER, A/had asked for official information onpress reports that increased USassistance, including army trainingteams and security equipment, wasto be sent to El Salvador in response topolitical unrest there. No officialanswer had been received by July 19800

Few official investigations appearto have been ordered into deaths inpolice custody: according to reports inthe Statesman, Calcutta, out of ninecases of death in police custodyreported in West Bengal in 1979"some action" was taken in only two.The newspaper also reported that"third degree methods are used in atleast 16,000 cases out of approxima-tely 18,000 that come up each year."

In its letter to Mrs Gandhi Alrepeated its 1979 recommendationsand urged the present government to:

introduce legal and other measuresto protect suspects from ill-treatment;

establish a code of conduct forpolice officials and clear lines ofresponsibility for the treatment ofdetainees;

ensure that full investigations areheld into the record and conductof police officials against whomevidence emerges of responsibilityfor or involvement in torture anddeaths in police custody.

SUPREME COURT RULING

AI also said it hoped the governmentwould implement directives on theprotection of prisoners and on policetraining made by the Supreme Court inits ruling of December 1979 --includinga directive to district and sessionsjudges to visit prisons regularly, a callfor a prison handbook in Hindi to beprepared and circulated among prisoners,and a directive for the state to adhere tothe United Nations Standard MinimumRules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

The organization expressed concernabout certain provisions in the Preven-tion of Black Marketeering andMaintenance of Supplies of EssentialCommodities Act, introduced in Feb-ruary 1980. The Act provides for thedetention without trial of peoplearrested for economic offences;additional courts are reported to havebeen set up to deal exclusively withsuch offences.

The new measurz succeeded a 1979Ordinance of the same name introducedby the previous government. In October1979 Al had called on the governmentto withdraw the preventive detentionprovisions in line with Ars 1979conclusions and recommendations,which sail: -Preventive detention laws,initially enacted for a stated limitedpurpose, have often been given wider

application and have been used . .to detain peaceful opponents of thegovernment in power."

Al repeated its call in February1980, this time to Mrs Gandhi. It hasnow recommended the repeal ofpreventive detention in state legisla-tion and has renewed its appeal forsuch provisions to be removed fromthe Indian Constitution.

Earlier this year Mrs GandhiinformedAl that a prisoner beinginvestigated by a Canadian group,Kadavathu Peedikayil AMIR, aliasJyothi, had been acquitted; he hadbeen held for three years withouttrial in Kerala state. In its letterAl asked Mrs Gandhi to arrange forinformation to be supplied aboutpolitical prisoners whose cases arebeing investigated by Al groups andwho have been awaiting trial for overfour years0

SECURITY RAID ONEL SALVADORLEGAL AID OFFICE

Members of El Salvador's securityforces raidedSocorro Juridico, theLegal Aid Office of the Arch-bishopric of San Salvador, on 5July 1980. A number of importantdocuments were seized.

Socorro Juridico, situated in theJesuit-run San José day school, hasgiven legal assistance to relatives ofthose who have "disappeared", topolitical prisoners and to manyothers with no other legal resourcesbecause of the political nature oftheir case. The office is also oneof the most reliable monitors ofhuman rights violations in ElSalvador.

On 7 July Al sent a cable to the Junta expressing concern at the raid; it also called for a full investi-

gation into the raid and asked for the seized documents to be returned.

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