amnesty international newsletter

Vol. IV No. 8 Au ust 1974 Founded 1961

that the hearings had been conducted by milita- AI RECEIVES DAG HAMMARSKJOLD AWARD ry tribunals in camera; and that all foreign FOR WORK IN FIELD OF HUMAN RIGHTS newsmen and foreign observers were barred from The American Veterans Committee has pre- attending the trial. sentedAI with its Dag Hammarskjold Memo- Mr Butler concludes on the basis of his in- rial Award for outstanding service in the vestigations that some 1,500 persons have been international field of human rights. The arrested since September 1972, that 1,100 pri- award, in memory of the late Secretary Gen-soners charged with or convicted of political eral of the United Nations, was presented crimes are detained throughout the country, and to AI on 29 June in South Fallsburg, New that since the promulgation of the latest emer- York. It was accepted onAI'sbehalf by gency decree on 3 April this year, some 250 MARCOS ARRUDA, a formerAI adoptee in Bra- people have been arrested and detained and only zil who now lives in Washington. 67 of them have been tried so far. All 67 have The inscription with the award says it been found guilty and given sentences ranging was given to Amnesty International "for from death to 5 years' imprisonment. its dedicated service on behalf of the ci- Mr Butler recommended the immediate repeal of vil and political rights of men and women the emergency decrees which, among other things, throughout the world imprisoned for their provide the death penalty for anyone who "prai- conscientiously held beliefs". Previous re-ses, encourages or sympathizes" with one pro- cipients of the award were the late Ameri- scribed student organization or who even "de- can President JOHN F. KENNEDY and the for- fames" a measure under which the education min- mer presidential candidate and US represen-ister may expel or suspend students who violate tative to the UN, ADLAI STEVENSON. the regulations. Mr Butler also called for a ban on the use of torture and for an amnesty 'TOTAL DENIAL OF HUMAN =DOM' for those detained under the emergency decrees. CONFESSIONS UNDER TORTURE ACCEPTEDGREECE BY FREES ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS SOUTH KOREAN COURT, AI DELEGATE Greece'sSAYS new civilian government to whom the An American lawyer who visited South Korea on military junta handed over power on 24 July an- behalf of AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL reported on 30 nounced immediately that it was freeing all po- July that 55 opponents of the regime who had litical prisoners and closing the notorious been tried and found guilty of subwrsion had prison camp on Yaros Island. only confessed under torture. All of AI's adopted prisoners were among In his 50-page report to AI's International those subsequently released. Executive Commitee, New York attorney WILLIAM Citizenship was handed back to all opponents BUTLER called the South Korean Government's e- of the junta who had been deprived of their na- mergency measures to combat alleged subversion tionality, and an amnesty was declared for all "a total denial of human freedom". political offences. The trial of the 55, who had all been arrest- In a cable to the new Prime Minister, CON- ed under the emergency decrees, resulted in the STANTINE KARAMANLIS, AI Secretary General MAR- imposition of death sentences on 14 of them, TIN ENNALS welcomed the return to civilian gov- including South Korea's leading poet, KIM CHI HA ernment in Greece. He urged Mr Karamanlis to Fifteen were sentenced to life imprisonment at establish an official inquiry into the systema- hard labour; 20, among them two Japanese nation- tic torture of detainees carried out during the als, received 20-year sentences; and six were seven years of military rule (see below). Many jailed for 15 years. The death sentences on Kim of the freed prisoners told of being tortured Chi and four others were later commuted to life and some bore torture scars on their bodies. imprisonment. Shortly after the sentences were passed, the LIBEL SETTLEMENT VINDICATES 1968 AI government announced that it was prosecuting REPORT ON TORTURE IN GREECE four other prominent South Koreans, including The author and publisher of a book that ques- former President YOON PO-SUN and the Roman Cath- tioned the truth and objectivity of a 1968AI olic Bishop of Wonju, DANIEL TJI, who is Honora- report on torture in Greece admitted in London's ry Chairman of AI's South Korean Section. Bishop High Court of Justice on 25 July that the re- Tji has been arrested on a number of previous port had been "based on sound evidence and tho- occasions for his outspoken opposition to the rough and objective investigation" and its "con- government's civil rights and constitutional po- clusions have been subsequently confirmed". licies (December 1972 Newsletter et seq). Later KENNETH YOUNG, author of the book The Greek the government announced that it had decided to Passion, and the publisher, J.M. Dent & Sons Li- postpone these trials indefinitely. mited, apologized and agreed to pay damages to In his report on the trial of the 55, Mr But- the author of the report, former AI Treasurer ler criticizes the fact that none of the defend- and delegate to Greece ANTHONY MARRECO, who had ants had been allowed to repudiate the confessi- sued them for libel. ons extracted under torture or to call witnesses; In an agreed statement read out in open court,

2 Amnest International Newsletter Au ust 1974

the defendants admitted that the author had cross the border into the South African-occu- wrongly accused Mr Marreco in the book of using pied territory of Namibia to undergo training AI "to conduct a false campaign against the aimed at overthrowing Dr Kaunda's government. Greek Government inspired by sympathy for the communist cause". WORK STARTS ON DETENTIONS IN BAHREIN "The defendants now realize that Amnesty In- AI has started an investigation into the ca- ses of 25 workers who were arrested in Bahrein ternational is an organization of high integri- in June during an industrial dispute at an alu- ty which has investigated and reported with im- minium plant. The workers had been demanding partiality upon imprisonment and ill-treatment higher wages and the reinstatement of 40 weld- for political motives, in breach of the Univer- ers who had been dismissed from their jobs af- sal Declaration of Human Rights, not only in ter an earlier strike action. communist and right-wing countries, but also in All those arrested had long been agitating many democratic countries," the statement said. for the formation of trade unions which are not The author, who had previously refused to ac- yet legal in Bahrein but which would be permit- cept any Greek official complicity in the use ted under the draft constitution now before the of torture, now admitted in the statement that national assembly. So far "torture has continued to be employed as an in- AI has adopted one of the 25 detainees: ABDUL HADI KHALAF who, prior strument of torture" in the country. to his arrest, had been asked by the finance ministry to close his bookshop where "social- GRIGORENKO THANKS THOSE WHO WORKED FOR HIS ist" literature was sold. RELEASE FROM SOVIET MENTAL ASYLUM Major General PYOTR GRIGORENKO, who was BRITISH ASSURANCE TO AI OVER RHODESIA Britain has assured released from a Soviet mental asylum on 26 AI that it is doing all it can to try to obtain the release of politi- June after 5 years in detention, has publi- cal detainees in Rhodesia. The assurance came cly thanked all those who worked for his in a letter dated 5 July to Secretary General freedom. MARTIN ENNALS from JOAN LESTOR, member of par- General Grigorenko, aged 61 and an AI ad- liament and Parliamentary Under-Secretary in optee, is a Soviet war hero whose case be- the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. came widely known outside the USSR when he The letter followed a visit to Miss Lestor by was detained as a result of his outspoken Mr Ennals and JACOB MOYO, leader of the London- advocacy of the cause of the Crimean Tatars based Campaign for the Relief of Rhodesian Pol- and of civil rights generally. itical Prisoners. They were accompanied by two After his release he was quoted by jour- ex-detainees. The delegation had pressed Miss nalists as thanking "all those people who Lestor to ensure that the British Government helped secure my release and helped prolong took vigorous steps to assist the more than 350 my life". persons presently detained in Rhodesia, which is still officially a British colony. , AI ADOPTEES IN PARAGUAY REFUSEIn her TO letter, EAT Miss Lestor said Britain had AI Secretary General MARTIN ENNALS cabled been trying to obtain the release of detainees President ALFREDO STROESSNER of Paraguay on 22 and to get something done about the conditions July appealing for the release of four A/-adop- in which they are held. ted prisoners who have been on hunger strike "From time to time some of the detainees have since 1 July in order to reinforce demands for been released, partly due to our representations their freedom. The four, none of whom has ever been charged, and also to those of Amnesty whose assistance is appreciated," she wrote. She said Britain are CALIXTO RAMIREZ SANCHEZ and BERNARDO CARDO- would continue to do what it could about such ZO, both detained since 1964, ROGELIO MORA, who matters as detentions, executions for political has been held since 1969, and HERMINIO STUMAS, crimes and the alleged use of torture by Rhode- held since 1970. This is the fourth hunger strike that Calixto sian security forces. Ramirez has undertaken since 1971. In December ALL AI-ADOPTEES IN TURKEY RELEASED 1971 he began a hunger strike in protest at the appalling conditions of the prison in which he All prisoners for whom AI groups have been working in Turkey have now been freed as part was detained. In August 1971 he was confined to of the general amnesty declared in May. Politi- a police clinic after a second strike. Although cal prisoners were excluded at first from the allegedly promised his freedom, he was in fact amnesty (June returned after treatment to the 7th Police Sta- Newsletter).But in July, the Constitutional Court, after an application by tion in Asuncion where in November 1973 he be- Prime Minister BULENT ECEVIT's ruling Republi- gan a third hunger strike which lasted for 17 days. He now suffers from a total paralysis of can People's Party, quashed the exclusion on procedural grounds. The release of the prison- his right side and has reportedly been trans- ferred to the police clinic in critical condi- ers began soon after the court's ruling was pu- blished in the official gazette on 12 July. tion. The release of AI's adoptees was confirmed by AI ASKS ZAMBIA TO HALT EXECUTIONSAI researcher ANNE BURLEY who visited Turkey in AI cabled President KENNETH KAUNDA of Zambia July. During her visit, she and THOMAS HAMMAR- on 19 July urging him to commute death senten- BERG of AI's International Executive Committee ces passed by the High Court in Lusaka on three held talks with Minister of Justice SEVKET KA- Zambian nationals who were charged with treason. ZAN on a number of matters, including the le- The three had allegedly recruited Zambians to gislation under which most of the political Au ust 1974 Amnest International Newsletter 3 prisoners had been detained before the amnesty hospital where conditions are reported to be was declared. better than in the special hospital in which he was detained previously. YUGOSLAV APPEALS TO EUROPEAN COURTYuri SHIKHANOVICH (November 1973 Campaign) LAZAR STOJANOVIC, a Yugoslav film director has reportedly been released from confinement who is an AI adoptee, has appealed to the Euro- in a psychiatric hospital. pean Court of Human Rights to intervene on his Valentin MOROZ (July 1971 Campaign)began an behalf with the Yugoslav Government. The appeal indefinite hunger strike on 1 July to obtain a was contained in a letter smuggled out of Poza- transfer from Vladimir Prison where conditions revac Prison where Mr Stojanovic is serving a 3 are notoriously bad. -year sentence for "attacking the social order". (August 1967 and January The charge arose from his film "The Plastic 1974 Campaigns)was transferr6d from a labour Genius" which he made as a graduate student at camp to Vladimir Prison in June. His health is the Belgrade Film School and which was highly poor and it is feared that he will not survive praised by his teachers. the conditions there. The European Court of Human Rights is unlike- ly to take any action on Mr Stojanovic's letter, Tars MONTH'S CAMPAIGN however, because Yugoslavia is not a member of South Korea the Council of Europe. 9 UNDER DEATH SENTENCE, Nine of the 14 persons condemned to death in CAMPAIGN FOR 118 SOUTH VIETNAMESESouth Korea in July have been placed en blocon AI has launched an urgent action campaign to the Postcards for Prisoners Campaignas one of help the 118 South Vietnamese refugees who were the three appeals AI is making this month. The sent back to Saigon last month from Hong Kong other five have already had their sentences (July Newsletter).The 118 have been detained commuted to life imprisonment. But the remain- on Con Son Island pending trial despite the Re- ing nine are still under sentence of death as public of Vietnam's earlier assurance to Hong this News/ettergoes to press. Kong that they would be treated leniently. A The background to their present situation may newspaper report said that the head of South be found on page 1. All nine are regarded as Vietnam's national police has denied knowledge prisoners of conscience who have been given the of any such commitment by his government. death penalty for their opposition to the poli- As part of the action campaign, which began cies of the government. on 2 July, AI national sections and groups have Their names and ages are: been urged to make representations to the Sai- Reo Jeong Nam, 29; Lee Hyeon Bae, 30; Soh Do gon authorities, to the press and to embassies Weon, 51; Do Rye Jon, 50; Ha Je Wan, 42; Kim in their countries calling for the release of Yong Weon, 39; Lee Su Byeon, 36; U Hong Seon, the 118. 44; and Song San Jin, 46. AI TESTIFIES TO UN GROUP ON AFRICAPlease send courteously-worded cards appeal- AI's researcher on southern Africa, MALCOLM ing for the commutation of the death sentences President SMART, gave evidence on 18 July to the United of all nine and for their release to: Nations Ad Hoc Working Group of Experts of the Park Chung-hee, President of the Republic of Commission of Human Rights which met in London. Korea, The Blue House, Seoul, Republic of Korea. His submission included evidence on prison con- Gabriel SUPERFIN,USSR ditions and alleged brutalities in Rhodesia, Gabriel SUPERFIN, a young literary scholar floggings of political activists in Namibia and and archivist who once worked as a researcher the banishment of released political prisoners for Alexander Solzhenitsyn, was arrested on 3 to resettlement areas in South Africa. July 1973 in Moscow. For several months previ- The UN group is gathering evidence in Europe ously he had been interrogated regularly by the before proceeding on a tour of various African KGB about the Chronicle of Current Eventsand capitals to hear further witnesses. searches had been carried out at his own home and the homes of his friends and relatives. POSTCARDS FOR PRISONERSFollowing his arrest, Mr Superfin was held in FROM PART CAMPAIGNS strict isolation during investigation of his KHAN ABDUS SABUR KHAN RELEASEDcase. In August 1973 he was sent for psychia- Khan Abdus SABUR Khan, who was on thePost- tric examination in the Serbsky Institute and cards for Prisoners Campaignlast month, has fears were expressed that he might be faced been freed from detention in Bangladesh, accor- with internment in a mental hospital. However, ding to the Bangladesh Embassy in Bonn.AI has Mr Superfin was declared to be responsible for written to the Prime Minister, Sheikh MUJIBUR his actions. RAHMAN, thanking him for Mr Sabur's release. By March 1974 Mr Superfin had still not been * * * permitted to meet his relatives or counsel. In NEWS OF FIVE SOVIET PRISONERS: that month he was called as a witness in the Simas KUDIRKA (June 1974 Campaign),the Lith- trial of another , Viktor Khaustov, uanian nationalist jailed in the USSR after he with whose case his own had originally been tried to defect to the United States (where his linked. The prosecution wished to use the test- mother was born) has been granted American ci- imony given by Mr Superfin during his prelimi- tizenship by the State Department, according to nary investigation, but at the trial Mr Super- a newspaper report from Washington. fin courageously withdrew the depositions he Vladimir GERSHUNI (September 1971 Campaign) had made, stating that they had been given un- has been transferred to an ordinary psychiatric der pressure. His own trial eventually took

4 Amnest International Newsletter Au ust 1974

place in May 1974. He faced several charges un- der Article 70 of the RSFSR Penal Code ("anti- INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT VACANCIES Soviet agitation and propaganda"), among them Applications are invited for the follow- participating in the publication of theChroni- ing vacancies at the International Secreta- cZe of Current Events,sending to the West the riat in London: prison diary of Eduard Kuznetsov, and signing a PUBLICATIONS ASSISTANT letter in defence of the dissident writers Al- The Information Office needs an organized exander Ginsberg and . person to handle all aspects of production, Pleading not guilty, Mr Superfin said that he proofreading, sales and distribution AIof would not renounce anything he had done because publications and printed matter. Good typ- "this would mean denouncing part of my own ing is essential and experience on an IBM life". He was convicted and sentenced to a per- Composer would be useful. Annual salary: iod of 5 years' strict regime labour camp, to £1,892 plus luncheon vouchers, rising soon he followed by 2 years' exile. An appeal for to approximately £2,100. reduction of this heavy sentence was rejected SECRETARIES in July by the Moscow Supreme Court. The Research Department urgently needs Please send courteously-worded cards appeal- secretaries with good shorthand and typing ing for his release to:L.I. Brezhnev, General and preferably with languages. The work is Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party;and demanding but rewarding. Annual salary: to: N.V. Podgorny, Chairman of the Supreme So- £1,730 plus luncheon vouchers, rising soon viet. Their address is the Kremlin, Moscow, to approximately £2,000. RSFSR, USSR. All applicants should have a sound know- Ivan Axelrud DE SEIXAS,Brazil ledge of English which is the working lang- Ivan Axelrud DE SEIXAS was arrested in 1970 uage of the secretariat. Those interested at the age of 16. His case should have been in the above posts should write with a res- heard by a minor's court, but he was held in- ume of their experience to: Personnel, In- stead in the Presidio do Hipodromo, Sao Paulo, ternational Secretariat, Amnesty Interna- where political prisoners have reported hearing tional, 53 Theobald's Road, London WC1X 8SP, common law prisoners being tortured daily. • England, or telephone: 01-404-5831. He saw his father, Joaquim Alencar Seixas, die in prison as a result of torture; and his courage the medical and legal work already be- mother, Fanny Seixas, and his father's two sis- ing done in Lisbon to assess the effects of ters were also imprisoned and held for over a torture under the Caetano regime and to treat year before being released. The authorities the victims. continue to hold him because they say they feel In light of the experience of Chile, the IEC it is best for him to remain in custody until he also discussed A.T's approach to political emer- has "calmed down" after the events which they gencies. The Secretary General was asked to themselves apparently acknowledge to have con- prepare resolutions for September's Interna- stituted "injustices" against his family. tional Council meeting in Denmark on contingen- Ivan Axelrud de Seixas has been adopted byAI cy planning and on the establishment of crisis because he has committed no act of violence and machinery and funds within Al's larger national seems to have been arrested originally with o- sections. ther members of his family in order to intimi- date his father. TWO NEW RESEARCHERS APPOINTED Please send courteously-worded cards appeal- MALCOLM SMART, aged 27, has been appointedAI researcher for southern Africa in succession to ing for his release to:The Minister of Just- ice, Exmo. Sr. Falcao, Ministerio da Justicia, CLARA OLSEN who has left for a career in journ- Espl. dos Ministerios, bl. 10, Brasilia (DF), alism. Mr Smart holds a master's degree in Af- Brazil. rican studies and has carried out research in South Africa and Botswana. WEN-HSIEN HUANG, aged 36, has been appointed PRISONER RELEASES AND CASES The International Secretariat learned in researcher for southeast Asia in succession to June of the release of 117 A/-adopted pri- STEPHANIE GRANT, now Head of Research. He was a soners and took up 95 new cases. Fellow of the University of California's Depart- ment of Political Studies in Berkeley and re- search officer at Sussex University's Institute IEC DECIDES ON NEW INITIATIVESof Development Studies. AI's International Executive Committee, meet- LES HASWELL, aged 26, previously acting Fin- ing in London 5-7 July, heard detailed reports ance Officer, has been named acting Administra- of missions to Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Paraguay, tive Manager, succeeding JIM GAYLORD who has Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba and Namibia and agreed now left AI. Mr Haswell will occupy the post to a number of further initiatives. These in- until after the new Deputy Secretary General clude a high-level mission to Spain later this takes up his appointment in October. year and a report on Soviet prisons and labour * * * camps to be published early in 1975. FUNDRAISING IDEA: AI's Western Australian The IEC also decided to send an immediate Section has rented a shop and rooms cheaply mission to Portugal to press the new government and opened an "Opportunity Shop" to raise to undertake a public inquiry into the past ex- money. The shop sells second-hand clothing cesses of the now-disbanded secret police orga- and household goods that have been donated nization, the DGS. The mission was also to en- to the section.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLICATIONS 53 THEOBALD'S ROAD LONDON WC1X 8SP ENGLAND INDONESIANOFFICERS ALLEGEDLY TRAINED INTORTURE AT AUSTRALIANARMY CENTER The Australianpress disclosed in June amnestyinternational the existenceof an Army intelligencecenter in South Australia,where military personnel CAMPAIGN FOR THE are allegedlybeing trained in techniquesof interrogation,including torture. Particular- ly disturbingare reports about the training ABOLITION OF of IndonesianArmy officers in such courses. Trainees at the School of Military Intel- ligenceat Woodside,near Adelaide,are re- TORTURE ported to be instructedto apply methods of interrogationthat include beatings,electric bulletin No. 3 August 1974 shocks, mental torture and sexual humiliation. Next to the School itself a "prison camp" has been built that "simulates prison conditions in an Asian Communist country" -these condi- Accordingto authoritativesources, most tions include underground cells, rooms for politicalsuspects are torturedduring inter- soft and hard interrogation, filthy open rogationby the army. Methods used include toilets, a "people's court", and posters of electric shocks, beating, kicking, sexual Mao Tse-tung on the walls. The most frighten- violations, pulling out hair, and previously ing feature of this camp is said to be a unheard of methods such as twisting an edged large concrete well in which, after the pri- pencil between fingers that are firmly tied soner has been locked inside, water is poured together. Detainees are held incommunicado while the interrogators pound on the iron top during interrogation. Torturers are believed with sticks. to be specialists: there are strong indica- Al's Victorian and South Australian Sec- tions that Indonesian officers receive train- tions have publicly protested against the ing in interrogation techniques,abroad. courses at Woodside, and especially agains't Torture of political prisoneA-appears to the alleged training of Indonesian military be restricted to the army's interrogation. officers in methods that they could subsequen- There is no evidence that torture as such is tly use on political prisoners in Indonesia. used in prison camps, although harsh punitive From the International Secretariat in measures are applied there: isolation, "dry- London letters have been sent to Prime Minister ing in the sun" for hours, intimidation, E.GOUGH WHITLAM and Minister of Defence LANCE transfers without apparent reason. Sometimes BARNARD, asking for a full investigation and, prisoners are taken back for renewed inter- if the allegations prove to be accurate, ade- rogation and torture. quate measures to stop these practices. Criminal suspects are also reported to be Defence Minister Barnard, in a statement of subjected to torture and ill-treatment by the 24 June, denied that foreign officers attended regular police. They, too, are often held in- the courses at Woodside specifically concerned communicado for a period of time. It seems, with interrogation. He said that 50 Indone- however, that torture of criminal offenders sians had received other forms of intelligence could be ascribed to police brutality of a training, almost all through a course entitled more primitive nature that is applied as a "Intelligence Officers' Course for Foreign matter of course rather than to systematic, Officers".However, he admitted that six per professional practice. cent of the overall time of this course dealt Although torture seems to be used mainly with aspects of interrogation in the intel- for extracting information and confessions, ligence setting. it clearly also serves the purpose of intimi- dation, a purpose that has served the autho- MILITARYIN INDONESIARULE BY TORTURErities well. People know about torture, but Recent reports receivedby the Campaign are anxious not to talk about it, for fear of Department indicate that torture is still reprisals against themselves or against rela- practiced widely and systematically in Indone- tives who are still in prison -and there are sia, in particular by specialized army units, very few families untouched by past or present against suspected political opponents of the imprisonment. government. The army has since the abortive coup in REPORTOF DEATHBY TORTUREIN IRAQ October 1965 built up considerable political MULLA ALI AL SHAMDANI, a Kurdish religious power. The department responsible for politi- leader and scholar was tortured to death by cal matters is Kopkamtib(Command for the Iraqi soldiers, according to reliable informa- Restoration of Security and Order), which is tion received by the CAT Department. headed directly by President SUHARTO. Kopkam- After the capture in April by the Iraqi tib consists of Satgas,special units for army of the border town of Zakho, Mulla Ali political intelligence; most regional and protested against the killing of civilians. local army commands have Satgas Intel details, Because of this protest he was arrested as a which have taken over all police tasks with sympathizer of the Kurdish revolutionary force regard to political suspects and detainees. and tortured for information about their secret 2 Cam ai n for the Abolition of Torture Au ust 1974 Bulletin movements. He was blinded before he died. have been releases from mental hospitals, This is one of a number of reports that including VIKTOR FAINBERG, VLADIMIR BORISOV, AI has recently received. Other information YURI SHIKHANOVICH and PYOTR GRIGORENKO. concerns the ill-treatment of Kurdish and Send courteously worded appeals for his Arab prisoners between 1971 and 1973,includ-release and rehabilitationN.V.Podgorny, to: ing the names of 13 who died as a result of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet,and to:R.A. torture inflicted during interrogation. Rudenko, Attorney-General of the USSR. Addresses: SSSR, g. Moskva, Kreml, APPEALS Predsedatelyu Prezidiuma Verkhovnogo Sovieta AI has learned in messages from Brazil thatSSR, N.V.Podgornomu; SSSR, g. Moskva, the torture of MARIA DE CONCEICAO SARAMENTO Pushkinskaya u1.15a, Prokuratura SSSR, COELHO DA PAZ has stopped as a result of Generalnomu Prokuroru, R.A. Rudenko. international pressure on her behalf, inclu-ZANZIBAR TORTURE VICTIMS FACE DEATH ding the concern shown AIby (JulyCAT BULLE- On 18 May 1974, after a year-long trial in TIN). After having been tortured during thewhich the defendants were held virtually in- first weeks of her imprisonment, her treat- communicado and were denied defence lawyers, ment improved, and Maria can now see her law-34 persons, 14 of them in absentia, were sen- yer and relatives. tenced to public execution by firing squad for However, the authorities are apparently their alleged involvement in the assasination searching for some reason to indict Maria, of the President of Zanzibar, Sheikh ABEID and as there is reportedly no justification KARUME, in April 1972. Many of the defendants for her arrest, your letters on her behalf alleged that they were forced to sign confes- are still needed.Write to General Ernesto sions after being tortured. One of the accused Geisel, Presidente da Republica, Brasiliaclaimed that the interrogation center to which (DF),Brazil, and to the Brazilian embassyhe was taken was "like an abbatoir -splashed in your country. with human blood". These allegations were given - USSR added weight by the prosecution's own admission LEONID PLYUSHCH, a mathematician from Kievin court. Attorney-General WOLFGANG DOURADO and formerly a member of the Initiative Groupstated in his final submission on February 13 for the Defence of Human Rights in the USSR, 1974:"I am conceding that some form of arm- was arrested in January 1972 on charges of twisting was adopted in order to obtain these "anti-Soviet activity". At the Serbsky Insti-statements. It would be dishonest on my part if tute of Forensic Psychiatry he was diagnosed I were to submit otherwise". as suffering from "creeping schizophrenia The executions have not yet taken place with messianic and reformist ideas", and at because the accused have a right to appeal to his trial in January 1973, which was heldin three higher authorities: the High Court, the cameraand which he was not allowed to attendSupreme Council and President ABOUD JUMBE. himself, it was decided that he should be Send courteously worded appeals for lenience detained in a special psychiatric hospital. to: His Excellency President Aboud Jumbe, Mr Plyushch has now been detained for a Zanzibar Town, Zanzibar, Tanzania. It should be year in the Dnepropetrovsk special psychiatricstressed in particular that the use of torture hospital, which has a particularly bad reputa-to obtain confessions constitutes a gross tion even among institutions of this type. violation of generally accepted standards of Here, he has received "treatment" by powerfuljudicial procedure. drugs, as a result of which his health has been seriously undermined. In February 1974 a group of Moscow intellectuals, including AFFIDAVITS FROM NAMIBIA AVAILABLE , appealed to the international The Campaign Department has published a 12- community to save the life of Mr Plyushch, page booklet entitled"Flogging in Namibia", stating that "being confined in appalling con-presenting sworn affidavits from black Namibian ditions of humiliation, persecution and physic-victims of this practice (JuneCAT Bulletin). al suffering, the unregulated and senseless It describes the improper trials, the political administration of large doses of haloperidol reasons for floggings, their historical origin, has caused a sharp deterioration in his health,and their medical effect. extreme exhaustion and continuous shivering, National Sections have been requested to weakness, swellings, spasms, and loss of distribute the booklet as widely as possible, appetite". especially to churches, the press, and to In March 1974, when Mr Plyushch's wife wasbusinessmen who invest in Namibia, with the aim allowed a rare visit to her husband, she foundof using their influence with the South African him greatly altered: formerly a thin man, heGovernment. The Campaign Department has sent a was swollen with oedema, could move his legs copy to the World Health Organization, and mem- only with great difficulty and was completelybers of the CAT Medical Commission have written unable to read or write. More recent reportsletters to encourage the WHO to undertake a have indicated that Mr Plyushch remains in amission to Namibia in order to draw the atten- critical condition. tion of the world's medical professions to the It is hoped that renewed attention may helpfloggings.(In May the WHO admitted Namibia as Mr Plyushch's case; earlier this year there an associate member).