February 1-29: There's still time to see the exhibit of Tibet photographs by Valina Dismukes at Pasadena Public Library, 285 E. Walnut.

Wednesday, February 23, 6:00 PM to Midnight. No on Prop 21 Vigil at Central Juvenile Hall,1605 Eastlake Avenue. Everybody out for this community event to oppose prop 21 and rally support for future collaborations on childrens' issues. Carpooling leaves from our meeting place at 1052 E. Del Mar at 6:00 PM.

Thursday, February 24, 7:30 PM. Monthly Meeting at 1052 E. Del Mar (between Catalina & Wilson) -- top floor.

Tuesday, February 29, 12:00. Louisa Craig speaks at the Caltech Winnett Club Room on "The Human and Environmental Crises in Burma".

Sunday, March 5, 7:30 PM. Human Rights Book Discussion Group at Borders Books on S. Lake Avenue. Join us for a discussion of Mario Vargas Llosa's Death in the Andes. Details about the book inside.

Celebrate International Women's Day:

Wednesday, March 8, 6 pm, Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade (between Arizona and Santa Monica Blvd.) Focusing on Violence Against Women: the WINGS (Women In Need Growing Strong) Clothesline Project, a display of T-shirts decorated by survivors of domestic violence. Entertainment, petitions to sign, signs to carry. Program of speakers begins at 6:45

Wednesday, March 8, 7:30 pm, Midnight Special Bookstore (also at Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade, between Arizona and Santa Monica Blvd.) Silence and Complicity: Violence Against Women in Peruvian Public Health Facilities Giulia Tamayo Leon, Peruvian human rights lawyer, recipient of Ginetta Sagan Award (AI) this year

Tuesday, March 14, 7:30 PM. Letter-writing Meeting in the Athenaeum basement. Corner of California & Hill. Caravan to the execution vigil (below) afterwards!

Tuesday, March 14, 8:00-10:00 PM (Program at 9:00) Execution Vigil. All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Avenue. See inside for details about the Darrell Rich case.
 
 

The book we discussed in our book discussion group this month, "No Matter How Loud I Shout" by Edward Humes, made a very powerful impression on me, and I've been thinking a lot about our juvenile justice system and the heartbreaking situations involving the system and so many of our youth. The book is about the juvenile justice system right here in LA, and raises a lot of issues resonating with Amnesty's concerns expressed in our USA campaign last year. The March 7 election is fast approaching, and California's Proposition 21 (the so-called "Gang Violence and Youth Crime Prevention Act") is threatening to seriously erode the situation in this state, in terms of universal human rights standards as considered in Amnesty's report (not to mention any standards of compassion!). There's a lot at stake, and I hope that we will all think very seriously about this proposition on the coming ballot.

Last night (as I write) I saw a powerful film, "Strange Spirit," an independent documentary about a remarkable woman, Tibetan nun Ani Pachen, who was imprisoned for 21 years after participating in Tibetan resistance against the Chinese. While she herself was not an Amnesty prisoner of conscience (because of her use and advocacy of violence), the film also covered the well-documented systematic abuses (including electroshock torture) suffered by many Tibetan monks and nuns imprisoned purely for peaceful expression of their beliefs. Our group's prisoner of conscience, Tibetan monk Ngawang Pekar, is still in prison in Lhasa -- please write an action on his behalf this month!

Cheers,

Larry Romans 626-683-4977

Group Coordinator ljr@ljr.net
 

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of those who work with the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez (PRODH), Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Centre, after they reportedly received two anonymous written threats on 31 January 2000.
 
 

Besides threatening PRODH members the messages make it clear that it is only the international support shown to the organization that has deterred those responsible for the threats from carrying them out.
 
 

PRODH has been repeatedly harassed and threatened since August 1999 when Digna Ochoa y Placido, a human rights lawyer working with them, was abducted and threatened, though later released. In September the organization were sent a number of written death threats (see UA 233/99, 6 September 1999 and follow-up) and staff reported receiving threatening phone calls at their homes.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

PRODH is a non governmental human rights organization founded by Jesuits. The organization has long worked in collaboration with Amnesty International and has played an important role in investigating, documenting and defending human rights in Mexico.
 
 

In 1996 Amnesty International documented six separate occasions in which members of PRODH were intimidated and threatened (see UA 200/96, 13 August 1996).
 
 

Although the authorities have taken steps to protect the PRODH offices, Amnesty International is not aware of anyone having been brought to justice for any of these crimes.

On 7 June 1999, the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) adopted a resolution on Human Rights Defenders in the Americas which urged: '...member states to persist in their efforts to provide Human Rights Defenders with the necessary guarantees and facilities to continue freely carrying out their work of promoting and protecting human rights, at the national and/or regional levels, in accordance with internationally recognized principles and agreements'.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send letters:

• expressing concern for the safety of those working with the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez (PRODH), Miguel Agustin Pro Juarez Human Rights Centre, after they reported having been sent anonymous written threats on 31 January 2000;
• asking the authorities to take all necessary steps, as agreed to by those at risk, to guarantee their safety;
• calling for a thorough, prompt and impartial investigation into the most recent threats made to PRODH, for the findings be made public, and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
• asking to be informed of any progress into investigations into previous threats and harassment of PRODH members;
• urging the government to adhere to its commitment to the resolution on Human Rights Defenders in the Americas, adopted by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) on 7 June 1999;

APPEALS TO:

Attorney General of the Republic

Lic. Jorge Madrazo

Procurador General de la Republica

Av Reforma, esq. Violeta

Col Guerrero

Mexico DF, CP 06300

MEXICO

Salutation: Senor Procurador General/ Dear Attorney General

Attorney General of Mexico City

Lic Samuel Villar

Procurador General de Mexico DF

Ninos Heroes 61, 3er piso, Col. Doctores

Mexico DF, CP 06720

MEXICO

Salutation: Senor Procurador / Dear Attorney General

Human Rights Commission of Mexico City

Dr Luis Barreda Solorzano

Presidente de la CEDHDF

Av. Chapultepec 49, Col. Centro

Mexico DF, CP 06040

MEXICO

Salutation: Estimado Dr. / Dear Dr.

COPIES TO:

Ambassador Jesus F. Reyes Heroles G.G.

Embassy of Mexico

1911 Pennsylvania Ave. NW

Washington DC 20006
 
 

Senator Leahy of Vermont has introduced a bill to the U.S. Senate which contains provisions to aid prisoners seeking DNA testing to prove their innocence, ensuring competent legal services in capital cases and compensating the unjustly condemned. In addition there are provisions placing restrictions on the federal government from seeking the death penalty for cases in states with no death penalty, and a sense of the Senate declaration stating that execution of juveniles and the mentally retarded "offends contemporary standards of decency." Take a first look at this bill which we are sure to be working on in the coming months.
 
 

Scores of detainees including:

Levi RUKONDO, School director

Nestor NIKOBAGOMBA

Canesius BARAKAMFITIYE, Adviser, Ministry of Foreign relations

Eliazard BANDYAMBONA

Andre BIGIRIMANA

Andre BAZIRINYAKAMWE, Employee, Ministry of Communal Development

Pascal NYABENDA, farmer

Etienne BAYAMPUNDE, farmer

Diomede Buyoya, domestic worker (dead)
 
 

Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of scores of people, including those named above, who are held at the Brigade speciale de Rercherche (BSR), Special Investigation Unit, in the capital Bujumbura.
 
 

Amnesty International has frequently raised concern for the safety of detainees at the BSR, a gendarmerie unit responsible to the Ministry of Defence. It is particularly concerned following the death at the BSR of Diomede Buyoya on 13 February 2000. He had been taken there by a soldier, whose wife employed Diomede Buyoya, the day before, after the soldier's wife accused Diomede Buyoya of insulting her. Witnesses who saw his body in a mortuary in the city said that his torso showed signs of torture and that his neck particularly was bruised and swollen.
 
 

All those named above, except for Diomede Buyoya and Etienne Bayampunde, are reportedly accused of having links with armed opposition groups active in the area. The basis of the accusations is not known. The reason for Etienne Bayampunde's detention is not known. People accused of links with armed opposition groups are particularly vulnerable to torture and at least two of those named above are reported to have been tortured.
 
 

Levi Rukondo, who was arrested on 30 November 1999 and is apparently accused of having given money to a deserter from an armed opposition group, is reported to have been severely beaten in military custody in a military barracks, Camp Buyenzi in Bujumbura. The basis for the allegation is not known and he has not been formally charged. After his arrest, he was reportedly detained in several places. As his whereabouts were unknown for some time, this gave rise to fears that he had 'disappeared'. Canesius Barakamfitiye is also reported to have scars which may be the result of torture.
 
 

Scores of other people are reportedly being detained in military barracks around Bujumbura, on the basis of similar accusations.
 
 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
 
 

Reports of torture and 'disappearances' increased at the end of 1999 when scores of people were arrested. Detainees are often moved from one place of detention to another, including from military to civilian detention, without documentation about where they may be held.
 
 

Torture and ill-treatment of detainees, particularly those in police and military custody, is routine and usually takes place in the initial days and weeks of detention. Statements extracted through torture or intimidation have been accepted as evidence in court. In some cases it may be the only evidence against the defendant.
 
 

RECOMMENDED ACTION:
 
 

Please send telegrams/faxes/express/airmail letters:
 
 

• expressing grave concern for the safety of scores of people in military detention in Bujumbura, particularly the BSR, after reports of systematic torture and ill-treatment;
• expressing concern at the death of Diomede Buyoya at the BSR on 13 February 2000 and the reported torture of Levi Rukondo and Canesius Barakamfitiye;
• demanding a full and independent investigation into the death of Diomede Buyoya and into reports of torture at the BSR and for those responsible to be brought to justice;
• calling for immediate steps to be taken to protect detainees held at the BSR, mentioning those named above, and asking that they be granted access to their families, medical care, and humanitarian and human rights organizations;
• calling for the accusations against detainees at the BSR to be promptly investigated and asking for their release if they are not to be charged on the basis of substantiated evidence;
• calling for proper registration of all detainees in military and civilian custody.

APPEALS TO:
 
 

State Public Prosecutor:

Monsieur Gerard NGENDABANKA

Procureur General de la Republique

Bujumbura, Burundi

Salutation: Monsieur le Procureur General de la Republique / Dear State Public Prosecutor
 
 

Minister of Defense:

Colonel Cyrille NDAYIRUKIYE

Ministre de la Defense Nationale

Ministere de la Defense Nationale

Bujumbura, Burundi

Salutation: Monsieur le Ministre / Dear Minister
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Amnesty International Group 22 Caltech / Pasadena presents:

Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa

Alternating points of view give meaningful structure to a disturbing new novel by Vargas Llosa, the great Peruvian writer. Guerrillas, army officers, environmentalists, a bizarre witch and her equally strange husband, and even a couple of French tourists all have their roles to play as the author fashions a plot centering on the mysterious killing of three men in a remote village. Finding the killer is the framework upon which the author develops a pageant of contemporary Peruvian society, a violent environment where even baby vicunas are not exempt from needless slaughter. For North American readers, Vargas Llosa's novel puts faces on, supplies reasons and motives behind, and imparts a history of the terrorism that has plagued Peru in recent years'a situation most of us see only as an inconvenience to traveling there. This pungent work of fiction imparts the real picture, a moving depiction of the strengths and weaknesses in the fabric of Andean culture. -- Booklist
 
 

Darrell Young Elk Rich was convicted of murdering three women and one eleven-year-old girl and sentenced to death in 1982. Young Elk has exhausted his appeal process and awaits his execution, scheduled for 12:01 a.m., March 15, 2000. The only recourse available to Young Elk is a grant of clemency by Governor Gray Davis.
 
 

Young Elk is part Native American, of Cherokee ancestry, and would be the first Native American to be put to death in California since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977. Eleven American Indians have been executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976, and 46 others are currently incarcerated on death row.
 
 

Young Elk has been on death row for 18 years. Throughout that time he has been an exemplary inmate with a great institutional record. Young Elk is not a present or future danger to his fellow inmates or the prison guards. He has shown remorse for his actions since the time of his arrest, which he led the police to make. He confessed his crimes and pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. Young Elk was diagnosed with a history of head trauma, neurological deficits and with "intermittent explosive disorder," a mental illness in which the person is overcome by sudden fits of rage followed by periods of deep remorse.
 
 

Young Elk's life is in the hands of Governor Gray Davis and the clemency board. Please write to them and demand that Young Elk's life be spared, and that all capital punishment be abolished in California. We also need you to join your fellow abolitionists at the various vigils and rallies being held across the state for Young Elk on March 14.
 
 

The Honorable Gray Davis

State Capitol, 1st Floor

Sacramento, CA 95814.
 
 

The State of the Death Penalty in California
 
 

Two initiatives to expand the death penalty will appear on the March 7 ballot, just days before Young Elk's scheduled execution. Proposition 18, Murder: Special Circumstances, would expand by three the number of special circumstances that would allow a prosecutor to seek the death sentence. Prop. 21, Juvenile Crime, will add gang-related murder to the list of "special circumstances" that make offenders eligible for the death penalty.

While the population of California is backing away from capital punishment (only 47% of Californians polled in a recent survey supported the death penalty) and political and religious leaders throughout the country are questioning the fairness of our judicial system and the morality of capital punishment, California politicians steadfastly hangs on to this outdated and barbaric travesty it calls "Justice."

Crime & Punishment

Darrell "Young Elk" Rich was convicted in 1981 of murdering three women and one eleven-year-old girl. The attacks and murders all took place in the summer of 1978, when Young Elk was 23. Rich confessed to the killings shortly after being taken into custody. Young Elk pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. His court-appointed defense stated that he suffered from "intermittent explosive disorder," a mental illness in which the person is overcome by sudden fits of rage followed by periods of deep remorse. Further examination of Young Elk by psychiatrists and psychologists found long-standing brain damage, neurological deficits, extreme mental disturbance, and a history of head trauma. During the penalty phase of sentencing, the jury initially returned to the courtroom hung, but was instructed by the judge to continue deliberations. The judge failed to instruct the jury that a sentence of Life in Prison Without Parole would be automatically imposed if they were unable to come to a unanimous decision. The next day they returned with a sentence of death.

The Victims

The tragedy that befell Annette Edwards, Patricia "Pam" Moore, Linda Slavik, and Annette Selix in the summer of 1978 was unconscionable. DPF has the deepest sympathies for all of the victims' families and believes that justice needs to be served for their terrible loss. Justice, however, is not served by execution. The murder of another human being will not bring the four women back to life. An execution can not offer solace or closure to the family of a murder victim. While the feelings of rage and lust for revenge are understandable, even natural, spending years, even decades, anticipating a person's murder and nurturing oneÕs anger towards him can only prolong the tragedy, not heal the wounds.
 
 

A sentence of life in prison without parole (LWOP) would have offered the same desired punishment separating Young Elk from the rest of society for the entirety of his life and would have offered closure to the family 19 years ago. For more information on victims' families services, please visit the Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation (MVFR) web site at http://www.mvfr.org/. One of the largest victims' rights organization in the country, MVFR is a national organization of families and friends of murder victims who are opposed to the death penalty.

American Indians and the Death Penalty

No Native American tribe has the death penalty. This is a punishment being subjected upon a population that has had little to no say in the structure of our government or our legal system. A population that is disproportionately impoverished and lacking in sufficient human services programs, including medical, educational, legal, psychological, and rehabilitation programs.

WASHINGTON REPORT: CLINTON AID PLAN COULD ESCALATE COLOMBIA'S "DIRTY WAR"

AIUSA opposes the Clinton Administration's $1.28 billion military aid program for Colombia because of the extensive links

between the Colombian Army and paramilitaries.

Carlos Salinas, AIUSA's Advocacy Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, stated on January 11: "As long as paramilitary groups allied with the Colombian Army continue to commit massacres and other serious human rights violations, U.S. military aid to Colombia is tantamount to underwriting the 'dirty war.' We must not return to the failed policies of the 1980s, which were characterized by death squad activity and massive human suffering."

To its credit, the Clinton Administration has supported the Leahy Law blocking aid for foreign military units directly involved in gross human rights violations. In the Colombian context, however, Amnesty says this important prohibition does not go far enough.

"Paramilitary groups often commit atrocities in heavily militarized areas and go through Colombian military roadblocks, with no interference from the army," noted Salinas. "There is extensive collusion between the Colombian Army and the paramilitaries."

The Colombian Government has dismissed some army officials for their involvement with paramilitaries, but the vast majority of Colombian officers accused of involvement in political killings have escaped prosecution. AI believes the final toll for political killings and "disappearances" in 1999 may have reached 2,000 or higher.
 
 

No on Prop 21 activities are being planned for Pasadena through the March 7 primary election. Please call Martha at 626-281-4039 to find out the latest. Meanwhile check out these sites:

For background see: http://www.noprop21.org

The Color of Justice

If you noticed the article in the Los Angeles Times about a study showing that youth of color are disproportionately impacted by transfers to adult court, you can read the full report "COLOR OF JUSTICE" at

http://www.cjcj.org/colorofjustice/index.html
Even if you don't think you have time to read the whole thing, it's worth a glance at the graphs. Plus the site has other relevant studies and resources on juvenile justice worth browsing. One of the co-authors of "COLOR" is Mike Males. Males spoke at a Group 22 event last fall.
 
 

Editor's Last Word:

Read us on line: http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~aigp22

Martha Ter Maat, 626-281-4039 / mtermaat@hsc.usc