amnesty FEBRUARY 1980 Volume X Number 2 international newsletter Rule of law violated Human rights by Singapore Government abuses continue Arbitrary arrest, detention without trial and torture of prisoners are in Rhodesia being used systematically to stifle dissent in Singapore where some of The British Governor of Rhodesia, the longest-term political prisoners in the world are now held. Lord SOAMES, has so far failed to The detention of opposition leaders, trade unionists, journalists, put an end to the detention with- students and lawyers is documented in an Al report published on out charge or trial of thousands of 31 January. The 60-page report calls for the release of three men held people and to resolve other out- without trial for 17 years, among others. standing human rights problems. It outlines a history of repression In a statement issued on 17 January dating back to British colonial rule, Al said it welcomed steps taken by and continued under legislation Kuan Yew's People's Action Party Lord Soames toward remedying in- inherited from that period after (PAP), taking most of its membership. justices, including the release of a Singapore gained independence in 1965. HO Piao and LEE Tse Tong have been number of detainees, suspension of AI urges repeal of the Internal Security held since 1963. Dr LIM Hock Siew, special courts martial, commutation Act and other laws under which human who had been imprisoned with them, of death sentences against 11 criminal rights violations have continued, was exiled to an island in 1978. Dr prisoners, and the revocation of The report notes that public "con- POH Soo Kai, also arrested in 1963, restriction orders. fessions" from people who have never was freed in 1973, but re-arrested in But Al expressed dismay at the been brought to trial have become a 1976. continued detentions, refusal to grant virtual precondition for their release. Waves of arrests continued in the access by international observers to The elementary rules of law are violat- 1970s. Lawyers who have tried to political prisoners, failure to take a ed by extracting such "confessions" help political prisoners have been firm stand against torture, or to end from prisoners who face indefinite arrested, harassed and banned from the secrecy surrounding executions. detention, solitary confinement, and contact with them. The statement followed a visit to physical and psychological ill-treatment. The report makes detailed recom- Rhodesia from 3 to 12 January by Detailed accounts of beatings, the mendations, calling on the Singapore the organization's Deputy Secretary use of electric shock and 72-hour Government to adhere to international General, Dick OOSTING. interrogation sessions are included in law on individual rights, to allow According to official estimates, the report. A number of prisoners have detainees fuller access to lawyers and some 5,000 detainees are still held described being continuously drenched doctors, to ban torture and to imple- under martial law regulations, but Al with cold water, in a room kept at low ment other human rights measures. believes the real number may be con- temperatures by air-conditioning An. AI mission visited Singapore at siderably higher. machines, during interrogation, the end of 1978, led by American In addition, up to 6,000 convicted AI calls attention to the cases of lawyer Thomas C. JONES. The political prisoners are still believed to men who were first arrested in a 1963 Singapore authorities refused to have be held, many of them convicted by crackdown on the opposition Barisan any contact with the delegates or to special martial law tribunals. Sosialis (Socialist Front), which had allow them to visit detention facilities Al appealed to the British admin- broken away from Prime Minister LEE or interview prisonersEl istration in Rhodesia to: release all remaining detainees immediately and unconditionally; grant immediate access by human- Executions in Saudi Arabia itarian bodies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross to martial follow summary trials law detainees and convicted political prisoners; Sixty-three men were executed in Saudi the public horror over these executions issue public assurances that existing Arabia on 9 January after being found will stimulate the United Nations to take repressive legislation will not be used guilty of taking part in an attack on the the necessary steps to outlaw the death under British authority; Great Mosque in Mecca in November. penalty in its discussions scheducled to take affirmative action on the Al condemned the executions and take place this year," Secretary General question of torture and ill-treatment; expressed grave concern over the secret Martin ENNALS said. Abolition of the make the names of all those executed and summary trial procedures used. It death penalty will be on the agendas since 1965 publicly available, with the called on the Saudi Government to of the Sixth United Nations Congress on dates and places of execution. abolish the death penalty and to ratify the Prevention of Crime and the Treat- AI also reiterated its call to the the International Covenant on Civil ment of Offenders in August in Caracas President of ZANU, Robert MUGABE, and Political Rights. and of the UN General Assembly later to release immedIately a number of "Amnesty International hopes that in the year0 prisoners held by ZANU in Mozambique 0 2 FEBRUARY 1980 Afghanistan Detentions in Appeal to release prisoners Seychelles Al urged the new Afghan Government In a second cable to President Karmal Of 76 people detained in Seychelles on to take immediate steps for the release on 7 January, Al urged the new govern- 1b November 1979 under security of all political prisoners detained by the ment to publish the names of all those legislation, about 35 were reported to previous government. On the day after released, and drew attention to Al's have been released by early January. the coup which brought him to power, estimate of September 1979 that there Although the detainees had not been Al sent President Babrak KARMAL a were at least 12,000 political prisoners charged and the government had given cable containing the appeal and asking in Kabul alone. no indication that they would be tried, for a public announcement that the new The previous government had President Albert RENE accused them government would ensure observance of announced that at least 12,000 political publicly of involvement in a plot by human rights set out in the Universal prisoners had died in detention after foreign businessmen to overthrow the Declaration of Human Rights and the April 1978, and Al asked in its 28 government with the aid of South International Covenant on Civil and December cable that the new govern- African mercenaries. Political Rights. ment publish the names of these Among those held were Jacques prisoners. In a letter of 23 November The cable stressed Al's deep concern CHEVALLEREAU, a French police 1979 to the then President Hafizullah about serious human rights violations in adviser who was alleged to have AMIN, AI had said that it was shocked Afghanistan, specifically during the organized the plot, Bernard by press reports that the Interior previous one and a half years. An Al VERLAQUE, editor and publisher of Ministry had published a list of 12,000 delegation which visited Kabul in the banned weekly Weekend Life and political prisoners, including professors, October 1978 had expressed grave freelance coriespondent for the teachers, students, civil servants, concern about allegations of torture British Broadcasting Corporation; mullahs, merchants, shopkeepers and of political prisoners, including General Chamery CHETTY, formerly Finance "counter-revolutionaries" said to have Abdul QADER and other former Minister in the government of James died in Kabul jails in the 18 months members of the government who have MANCHAM, which was overthrown in following a previous government take- now assumed office in President 1977; and Carlette TALL, a secretary, over in April 1978. Karmars new government. also detained in 1978. Other included Al had already published a list of businessmen, taxi drivers, teachers After the new government took people reported to have been killed and civil servants. power on 27 December, just over 2,000 in custody after April 1978 in its The detentions came soon after political prisoners were released, accord- 1979 report on human rights violations schoolchildren in the capital, Victoria, ing to officials quoted in in Afghanistan. Al had also expressed Le Monde demonstrated against compulsory January 1980). deep concern about reports that 800 (11 National Service proposals, and anti- President Karmal was quoted in the children had "disappeared". government pamphlets under the name international press immediately after At the time of going to press, Al of Resistance Movement (Mouvement he took power as saying he would was following announcements on Kabul pour la Resistance), attacked the release all political prisoners, but Radio that "executioners of the Amin government's socialist policies and made officials were later reported as saying regime would be put on trial by serious personal allegations against that they would not all be released. revolutionary and religious courts"0 government leaders. The pamphlets' authors have not been discovered. The detainees are held incommunic- Guatemala ado in Union Vale prison. They have not been physically ill-treated, but are Journalists abducted not permitted correspondence or family visits. The prison diet is reported to be Violence against the political opposi- December an employee of Didlogo was poor, but hospital treatment has been tion continues to mount in Guatemala, briefly detained in the Central Post provided for those who have been with daily abductions, torture and Office in Guatemala City and told that seriously ill. murder (January 1980 Newsletter). postal services were no longer available The government has told José Leon CASTANEDA, a reporter to the magazine. Notices were posted Al that the detainees were helping police for the newspaper El Impacto and advising postal employees to refuse with inquiries into the alleged plot and Secretary General of the media workers service to Didlogo. were well treated. Al urged the govern- union SIMCOS (Sindicato de Julia Esquivel has been named on a ment to try the detainees or release Trabafadores de los Medios de death list published by ESA (Ejercito them, and it appealed for the release of Comunicaciones de Masas),was abduct- Secreto Anticomunista), the Secret women and sick detainees on human- ed on 16 November 1979. He was Anti-communist Army, a semi- itarian grounds. Al is investigating to found badly tortured the next day, clandestine "death squad" that acts in determine whether the detainees are and died of internal bleeding the same coordination with official security prisoners of conscience El day. Five days later, radio reporter forces. ESA claimed responsibility for Julio César HERNANDEZ was the murder of over 1,000 people in abducted and tortured. He is still in 1979. hospital in a serious condition. Interior Minister Donaldo Alvarez Prisoner Releases and Cases Official action against the monthly RUIZ has denounced Al and others who The International Secretariat learned magazine Didlogo has intensified fears criticize the violence as elements in a in December of the release of 49 for the safety of its editor, human "worldwide conspiracy of calumnies prisoners under adoption or investi- rights activist Julia ESQUIVEL. On 6 against the Guatemalan regime"D gation and took up 79 new cases. FEBRUARY 1980 3 Campaign for Prisoners of the Month Each of the people whose story is told below is a prisoner of conscience. Each has been arrested because of his or her religious or political beliefs, colour, sex, ethnic origin or language. None has used or advocated violence. Their continuing detention is a violation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. International appeals can help to secure the release of these prisoners or to improve their detention conditions. In the interest of the prisoners, letters to the authorities should be worded carefully and courteously. You should stress that your concern for human rights is not in any way politically partisan. In no circumstances should communications be sent to the prisoner.

KISONGA N'Sunda,Zaire Kisonga N'Sunda to: Son Excellence Yuri BADZYO, A 26-year-old woman, formerly a non- Mobutu Sese Seko, Président-Fondateur A 43-year-old Ukrainian philologist commissioned officer in the Zairean du MPR et Président de la Republique, has been imprisoned in connection army, is serving a life sentence after La Présidence, 10220 Kinshasa 2, Zaire. with a study he was working on which being convicted, with more than 60 was critical of Soviet nationalities other people, of complicity in an policy and its effects on the . alleged plot against Zairean President Sylvio CLAUDE, Haiti After a closed trial in Kiev on 21 Mobutu Sese Seko. The founder of the Christian Social December 1979, Yuri BADZYO was Adjudant-Chef Citoyenne Democratic Party of Haiti has been given the maximum sentence of seven KISONGA N'Sunda was one of 79 arrested after being wounded during a years' imprisonment in a corrective people, most of them military officers, raid on his party's headquarters. He is re- labour colony and five years' internal tried by a military court in March 1978, ported to have been ill-treated in prison exile for "anti-Soviet agitation and after President Mobutu announced dis- again, after liaving been tortured during propaganda". covery of the plot the previous month. his first detention earlier in the year. He was arrested on 23 April 1979 Most of the accused were found Sylvio CLAUDE was first arrested after the study was confiscated during guilty of complicity on the evidence when he stood as a candidate in legisla- a police search of his home. of one officer's confession. The officer, tive elections against Madame Max Mr Badzyo has been an active Major Kalume Hamba, confessed to Adolphe, Controleur-Général of Police, sympathizer of the human and national having regularly met others to discuss in February 1979. He said later that rights movement in the Ukraine since the conspiracy at a Kinshasa bar run he was beaten and given electric shocks the 1960s. In 1965 he was dismissed by Kisonga N'Sunda's sister. This was to the soles of his feet after his arrest, from his post at the Institute of denied by the other defendants who before being deported to Colombia. He Literature of the Ukrainian Academy pleaded not guilty. returned to Haiti in spring 1979 and of Sciences for protesting against the Al believes that Major Kalume's founded the Parti Démocrate Social imprisonment of dissenting Ukrainian confession may have been made Chretien d'Haiti (the Christian Social intellectuals. He addressed several under duress and may have been a Democratic Party). other written protests to the authori- pretext for a purge of officers from On 29 August 1979 the party head- ties in the early 1970s, complaining of southern and eastern regions of Zaire, quarters was raided and a policeman human rights violations and as happened after a similar conspiracy shot M. Claude in the hand. He Russification of schools in the Ukraine. trial in 1975. escaped through a window and reached Because of his protests he was refused On the day after the sentences were the RGR radio station, whose director, work in his profession and worked as passed, 13 of those sentenced to death Gerard Résil, allowed him to broadcast a bread loader for eight years until were executed by firing squad. President a statement about suppression of his his arrest. Mobutu commuted Kisonga N'Sunda's party and his previous arrest in From 1972 to 1979 Mr Badzyo sentence to life imprisonment. February 1979. M. Claude and M. Résil worked on a study which his wife Kisonga N'Sunda is held at Ndolo were arrested later the same day. describes as "scholarly research of a Military Prison in Kinshasa, where M. Résil was later released and forced historical and philosophical character conditions are reported to be harsh. to publish an apology for allowing on the contemporary situation of the The Zairean authorities have assured Sylvio Claude to "disrupt public order Ukrainian nation within the USSR". Al that she is allowed visits from her through seditious talk". Entitled "The Right to Live", it was family, but she was in prison for more Sylvio Claude is believed to be held a detailed critical study, from a than 18 months before her three at present in Fort Dimanche, Port-au- Marxist viewpoint, of the course and children, aged four, five and seven, Prince, where several hundred political consequences of Soviet nationalities were authorized to visit her. She is prisoners are known to have died policy in the Ukraine. reported not to have been allowed before 1977. Mr Badzyo has a 17-year-old son visits from other family members. Al believes that the reason for and a 10-year-old daughter. Al believes that Kisonga N'Sunda Sylvio Claude's arrest and the banning Please write courteously worded is a prisoner of conscience, convicted of his party was a surge of popular letters appealing for the immediate for political reasons at a trial which support for it. release of Yuri Badzyo to the did not conform to internationally Please write courteously worded Procurator of the Ukrainian SSR, recognized standards. letters appealing for the immediate Mr F.K. Glukh. Write to: SSSR, Please send courteously worded release of Sylvio Cfriude to: Son Ukrainskaya SSR, g. Kiev, Kreshchatik letters, preferably in French, appealing Excellence Jean-Claude Duvalier, 2, Respublikan,skaya Prokuratura, for the immediate release of Citoyenne Président a Vie, Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Prokuroru, F.K. Glukhu. 4 FEBRUARY 1980 The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted on 17 December 1979 the following Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials (January Newsletter). Each of the eight articles is explained by a detailed commentary; the full text is available from the United Nations and Amnesty International. The commentary indicates that the Code applies to all those who exercise police powers, including military authorities and state security forces. The rights which the Code obliges law enforcement officials to respect are those included in the International Bill of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments. The commentary also stipulates that no official should be penalized for reporting that a violation of this Code has occurred or is about to occur and that officials may be justified as a last resort in bringing violations of the Code to the attention of public opinion through the mass media. The Code will now be sent by the United Nations to all governments "with the recommendation that favourable consideration should be given to its use within the framework of national legislation or practice as a body of principles for observance by law enforcement officials".

United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officiak

Article / Law enforcement officials shall at all times fulfil the duty imposed upon them by law, by serving the community and by protecting all persons against illegal acts, consistent with the high degree of responsibility required by their profession.

Article 2 In the performance of their duty, law enforcement officials shall respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons.

Article 3 Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.

Article 4 Matters of a confidential nature in the possession of law enforcement officials shall be kept con- fidential, unless the performance of duty, or the needs of justice, strictly require otherwise.

Article 5 No law enforcement official may inflict, instigate or tolerate any act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, nor may any law enforcement official invoke superior orders or exceptional circumstances such as a state of war or a threat of war, a threat to national security, internal political instability or any other public emergency as a justification of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Article 6 Law enforcement officials shall ensure the full protection of the health of persons in their custody and, in particular, take immediate action to secure medical attention whenever required.

Article 7 Law enforcement officials shall not commit any act of corruption. They shall also rigorously oppose and combat all such acts.

Article 8 Law enforcement officials shall respect the law and the present code. They shall also, to the best of their capability, prevent and rigorously oppose any violations of them. Law enforcement officials who have reason to believe that a violation of this Code has occurred or is about to occur shall report the matter to their superior authorities and, where necessary, to other appropriate authorities or organs vested with reviewing or remedial power. FEBRUARY 1980 5 Appeal to the United Nations for the abolition of the death penalty

We, the undersigned,

ALARMED BY executions of political opponents and criminal offenders in many countries,

•

AFFIRMING THAT the death penalty is incompatible with the right to life and the prohibition of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;

CONVINCED THAT 1 the abolition of the death penalty in all countries would represent a great advance in the respect of governments for the human person;

APPEAL TO the United Nations and its member states to take all necessary steps for the immediate and total abolition of the death penalty throughout the world.

Name Profession or Title Address 1

As part of Amnesty International's growing program for the abolition of the death penalty this appeal is being signed by people throughout the world. It will be presented to the United Nations in connection with the debate in the General Assembly on the question of the death penalty scheduled to take place between September and December this year. Please copy or cut out this petition and return it with signatures to the office of the national section of Amnesty Inter- national in your country or to the International Secretariat, 10 Southampton Street, London WC2 7HF, England. 6 FEBRUARY 1980 News in Brief USSR Taiwan An order for the arrest of 101 people has been issued in Taiwan and accord- Political arrests intensifying ing to reports reaching AI more than A major crackdown on dissenters TERLECKAS and Julius 60 have been held for their alleged appears to be taking place in the Soviet SASNAUSKAS, were arrested. participation in a demonstration to Union. Baptists Ivan KIRILIUK, Vyacheslav celebrate the anniversary of the More than 40 people were known ZAYATS, Viktor LYTOVCHENKO and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. to have been arrested in the previous Viktor DRAGA were sentenced on 3 The demonstration, held in Kaohsiung three months, AI said on 15 January. December to 12, 10, seven and three on 10 December, ended in violent In the same period, several human years respectively. clashes with the police. It was organized rights activists were given long sentences Forcibly confined to special by the opposition magazine Formosa. of imprisonment and at least two psychiatric hospitals were Anatoly Those arrested include editorial and were confined to special psychiatric POZNYAKOV, member of an inde- office staff of the magazine as well as hospitals, the harshest form of psychia- pendent trade union group, and its publisher HUANG hsin-chieh, tric detention in the USSR. Anatoly RUNOV, a dissenting Baptist. provincial assemblymen CHANG Chun- Among those arrested or tried were • The December 1979 Newsletter hung and LIN Yi-hsiung, and lawyer nine members of unofficial groups reported that Ukrainian journalist YAO Chia-wen. Also among those which monitor Soviet compliance with and writer Mykhalo OSADCHY was arrested were former political prisoners. the human rights provisions agreed at in his seventh year in a `.`special the 1975 Helsinki Conference on regime" corrective labour colony. Security and Cooperation in Europe. In fact, Mr Osadchy completed a Socialist Republic of Vietnam Arrested in Moscow were human seven-year term of imprisonment for "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda" A four-member AI delegation visited rights campaigner Tatyana early in 1979 and began the final part the Socialist Republic of Vietnam from VELIKANOVA, Helsinki monitor of his sentence: three years in internal 10 to 21 December 1979. The deleg- Viktor NEKIPELOV and religious exile. He was sent to a location near ation was led by Thomas HAMMAR- rights campaigners Father Gleb Troitsko-Pechorsk in a remote part of BERG, former Chairperson of Ars YAKUNIN and Lev REGELSON. the Komi region in northwest International Executive Committee Those arrested in the Ukraine . Al has recently learned that the (IEC) and Secretary General designate. included Helsinki monitors Vasyl authorities informed him on 3 He was accompanied by Suriya STRILTSIV, Petro ROZUMNY, December 1979 that they were charg- WICKREMASINGHE, Vice Chair- Yaroslav LESIV, Vitaly ing him with "negligent destruction or person of the IEC, Arlette LADUGUIE KALYNYCHENKO, and an associate damaging of state or social property". of the International Secretariat, and of the group, Mykola HORBAL. The charge carries a maximum three- Michael WILLIAMS, lecturer at the In Lithuania, two human rights year sentence0 University of East Anglia. The and national rights activists, Antanas delegation was received by Prime Minister PHAM VAN DONG and had discussions with members of the Indonesia Vietnamese Lawyers Association and other officials. The delegation will Further releases announced report to the IEC on its visit. After releasing 105 prisoners on 20 poet Rivai APIN and former parlia- December 1979, the Indonesian mentarian Karel SUPIT (January 1980 Egypt Government said it had released all Newsletter). They are, however, to be The trial of 176 people arrested in untried political prisoners whom it subjected to "strict surveillance", Egypt after food riots in January 1977 did not intend to try, in accordance according to Admiral SUDOMO, is still continuing (March and Septem- with its announced program. Commander of KOPKAMTIB, the ber 1977 Newsletters). security agency. Al continues to be In a telegram to President concerned at restrictions affecting the Charges against the 176, most of Al SUHARTO on 21 December, freedom of movement and expression whom have been adopted as prisoners welcomed reports of the release of all include member- and the employment of released of conscience by AI, B-category prisoners—those who were ship of the Egyptian Communist prisoners. said to have been involved in the In its 21 December telegram, Al Party and the Egyptian Workers attempted coup of 1965 but against Communist Party and instigation of urged President Suharto to grant whom there was not enough evidence amnesties to A-category prisoners, all the events of January 1977. All had to bring them to trial. Al is still await- been released on bail, although some but 23 of whom had been tried and ing independent confirmation of the sentenced at that date. According to had been re-arrested on similar charges. completion of the program. In November 1979 two Al delegates, government figures, 1,037 prisoners Thomas JONES, an American lawyer, Under the phased program which have been tried or are scheduled for and June RAY, a member of Al's began in 1977, some 30,000 political trial. Of these, 262 have served their International Secretariat, went to prisoners, many of whom were detain- sentences. It was reported in December observe part of the trial before the ed for up to 14 years without trial, that under a new regulation, tried Supreme State Security Court in Cairo. were released. political prisoners were eligible for They also met Procurator General Those released on 20 December remission on the same terms as Salah AL-RASHIDI and State Security were detainees whom the authorities criminal convicts and that 331 prisoners Prosecutor Raga' AL-ARABI to discuss had said were "uncooperative", includ- were granted remission, of whom 118 matters of concern to Al in Egypt0 ing novelist Pramudya Ananta TUR, were released0

FEBRUARY 1980 amnesty international campaign for the abolition of torture

appeals Yugoslav held Amnesty International opposes the torture of prisoners in all cases, wherever and whenever it is practised. Any act of torture or other in psychiatric cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment is a violation of the international human rights standards unanimously adopted by the hospital General Assembly of the United Nations. International appeals can help to alleviate the plight of prisoners being subjected to cruel treat- A 27-year-old graduate in journalism ment. Your letters should follow carefully the instructions given has been confined to a psychiatric below. hospital in Belgrade since February 1979 for the non-violent exercise of his human rights. In mid-1978 Vladimir MARKOVIC Fear for lives of torture victims sent a circular letter to a number of people and institutions in Yugoslavia in Uruguayan prison and abroad in which he quoted from interviews he had made with a number A plan to provide a pretext for the liquidation.of political prisoners of well-known Yugoslav dissenters. is reported to be under way at Uruguay's main prison for political In the letter he cited the prominent detainees,Penal de Libertad in Sail José, where intensified torture historian and veteran partisan fighter, and ill-treatment have been reported. Dr Tudjman, who while condemning war crimes committed in Croatia during ... liabials II . : 3 World War II had also claimed that , 3 i . ... 111121 • • alaitts , their numbers had been exaggerated by , r a I N 111111111 11•11111 • .. 116611•I • I Istaaaban•ASIS10 . official Yugoslav statistics. III II It at *** oil.. le Following the publication of the ..J letter in a Croatian emigré journal in ; August 1978, investigation proceedings were brought against Vladimir 4. ; Penal de Liberiad - Markovic. On the instructions of the iti .2 '-. investigating judge he was sent for Letters to Al from prisoners' agents instructed to kill or wound psychiatric examination to Belgrade relatives in exile had already told of certain political prisoners. prison hospital where he was diagnosed systematic beatings, mock executions, The second stage is reported to be as suffering from paranoid psychosis "emergency exercises" designed to the use of common-law prisoners to and was recommended to undergo com- undermine the prisoners' nerves, anti- provoke an uprising. Finally, guards pulsory psychiatric treatment. Semitic abuse and death threats by and troops are to use maximum At his trial Vladimir Markovic was guards, particularly against those held violence against political prisoners. The sentenced to compulsory confinement under maximum security on the intention would be to kill enough to in a psychiatric hospital under Article second floor and serving the longest reduce their numbers radically. 63 of the Yugoslav Penal Code on the sentences. Al drew attention to these These preparations are reported to grounds that he was liable to repeat reports in Urgent Action appeals in be accompanied by an intensification his offence in the future. Under November 1979. of torture, including the plantón, in Article 63 compulsory psychiatric which prisoners are forced to stand in treatment with confinement can be More recent reports, however, point a fixed position until they collapse. applied only to people who are a to active preparations for a scheme The worsening torture is said to be danger to the environment. Although called Plan A tica,named for the out- designed to increase the political Vladimir Markovic has received break of bloodshed at Attica Prison prisoners' exasperation, already fuelled psychiatric treatment as an out- in New York State in 1971. A training by the violence of the common-law patient in the past, a study of the course for prison staff at Penal de criminals, and so help to provoke legal documents of the case do not Libertad is reported to provide for a an uprising. suggest that he is a danger to himself three-stage operation. The first stage Please write courteously worded or to others. is to place common-law criminals in letters expressing concern at the Please write courteously worded cells with political prisoners and bribe reported Plan Atica and at reports letters appealing for the immediate them to provoke violent clashes with that political prisoners have been release of Vladimir Markovic. Express the latter. Sun transfers have already subjected to ill-treatment by other concern that he is apparently being begun and the first incidents have prisoners encouraged by the confined for political rather than for occurred, according to the reports authorities. Write to: Sr. Presidente medical reasons. Write to: reaching Al. These transfers are also Mr Luka de la RepUblica Dr Aparicio Méndez, Banovic, Federal Secretary of Justice, said to be intended to conceal the Casa de Gobierno, Montevideo, Savezni Sekretarijat za Pravosudje, introduction of army and police Uruguay. Bulevar Lenjina 2, Belgrade, Yugoslavia. 8 FEBRUARY 1980 South Korea AI urges US President Fresh torture allegations to act on death penalty Al has called on President CARTER to ional standards, crime deterrence, the Torture was inflicted on some 20 establish a presidential commission on social causes of the death penalty, and Koreans arrested for taking part in a the use of the death penalty in the alternatives to it. Mr Ennals said Al peaceful political meeting in Seoul, United States. hoped there would be a moratorium according to detailed reports received AI Secretary General Martin on executions while the commission by Al. They were among 123 people ENNALS, making the proposal in did its work. arrested after a meeting held on 24 Washington during a mission to the More than 590 men and women are November to call for a new constitu- US, said the penalty was a serious currently under sentence of death in tion to ensure democratic elections violation of the most basic inter- the US. (January Newsletter). nationally recognized human right— Mr Ennals said proposea federal The torture reports concern men the right to life and the right not to legislation on the death penalty, under taken to an Army Security Corps be subjected to cruel, inhuman and discussion in the Senate, was in direct investigation centre after their arrest. degrading punishment. He also urged violation of United Nations resolutions They were stripped and given military the President to oppose and, if and conventions recently signed and uniforms. The men were first beaten necessary, veto proposed legislation strongly endorsed by President Carter. with baseball bats all over their on the death penalty. Mr Ennals also called for an end to bodies. Then, in a systematic pattern, Creation of a presidential the segregation of prisoners under another torturer kicked the victim's commission, AI said, would reaffirm sentence of death in "death rows". chest, and another hit him repeatedly US Government commitment to "To place men and women in in the throat. After this, they are said human rights at home and abroad. The special death sections where they can to have been kicked repeatedly on commission could examine such issues do nothing but wait to be killed is both sides of the face, until their faces as the conflict of the death penalty inherently cruel, inhuman and were swollen beyond recognition. They with international and US constitut- degrading," he said0 were also subjected to torture in which the victim was forced to squat with a thick stick behind his knees while a torturer trampled on his thighs. Czechoslovakia The prisoners are reported to have been put in separate rooms, where Appeals fail each was attacked by a team of up to A Czechoslovak court has rejected the eight men. appeals of six VONS members, con- victed of "subversion" on 23 October, It is reported that one prisoner's including playwright Vaclav HAVEL, face needed three to five stitches, against prison sentences ranging up to another's head needed seven to 10 five years (December 1979 Newsletter). stitches, and many lost consciousness An Al observer, Austrian lawyer Henry several times. GOLDMANN, was one of three lawyers After the torture, the prisoners detained when they attempted to were moved to National Police attend the appeal hearing on 20 Headquarters and interrogated for December. He was held for four and a several days, during which they were half hours and then expelled from the beaten again and forced to sign state- country. ments saying they would not reveal Al protested against the harassment A powerful incendiary device caused their treatment, according to the of Mr Goldmann in a letter sent to considerable damage to the entrance reports. Czechoslovak judicial authorities on to the Madrid office of Al's Spanish Eighteen of those arrested after the 8 January. The letter pointed out that Section on 11 December. One person meeting are due to stand trial for violat- he had been granted an entry visa after was slightly injured in the resulting ing a martial law decree by holding an explaining the purpose of his visit, and fire. It was the third and most serious unauthorized meeting. Fifty-nine that this was the second time an Al attack on the office within a year. were given summary court sentences representative had been harassed while AI called for a full investigation, of 15 or 20 days, 19 have been trying to observe a trial in and asked Spanish Prime Minister released, and the circumstances of the Czechoslovakia. Adolfo SUAREZ to ensure protection rest are unknown. It is feared that Another VONS member, Sctor for the Spanish Section. Police pro- those still in custody may also be Albert CERNY, was sentenced in a tection was provided for the office subjected to torture. separate trial last year to three and a after a request from AI to the Please send courteously worded half years' imprisonment. Four others Interior Minister0 appeals asking that steps be taken were released pending further investi- AMNFSTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLICA- immediately to protect these prisoners gation on 22 December. They are TIONS, 10 Southampton Street, London from ill-treatment to: His Excellency Jarmila BELIKOVA, psychologist; WC2E 7H1, England. Printed in Great Ladislav LIS, lawyer; Vaclav MALY, Britain by Hill and Garwood L td., Fourth President Choi Kyu-hah, The Blue Way, Wembley, Middlesex. Available on House, Chogno-gu, Seoul, Republic of Roman Catholic priest; and Jiri subscription at A, (US $15) per calendar Korea. NEMEC, psychologist El year.