CoE Human Rights Commissioner Hammarberg to EuroFora : Concern for Investigations on Missing People

European Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, replying to an "EuroFora" question expressed his "Concern" for the lack or "unexcusable Delays" of effective "Investigations" on "MISSING" People in Cyprus (the oldest CoE case) and elsewhere in Europe, to find out what really happened to them and who was responsible, in application of ECHR's case-law.

Hammarberg spoke while "New Findings" revealed that even Housewives, Mothers and small Children had been secretly murdered, away from Military clashes... And while a New Film of a famous French Director recently revealed in Berlin's 2009 Festival, based on an American Novel, reminds that "Enforced Disappearances" and horrible crimes may occur even without Wars, Today, in developed countries in Peace : As, f.ex. near USA - Mexico borders, where Real Crimes with social causes are denounced by the Media.

Since such dramatic problems might affect many people almost everywhere in the World, the importance of dealing correctly with the oldest cases of "Missing" persons, which have already been examined by the European mecanism for the protection of Human Rights, and given way to ECHR judgements ready for implementation since many years, naturally becomes greater.

But, by his critical reply, indirectly but inevitably, Hammarberg put into doubt a controversial obstacle curiously added at the last minute in a recent CoE Ambassadorial Committee's decision, at the demand of Turkey, which might risk to destroy evidence of crimes for ever, according to critics, unless adequate measures are taken on time :

 - "I share your Concern", stressed the PanEuropean Commissioner in reply to "EuroFora"'s question on "Missing" People" and "New Findings", recently fex. in Cyprus, of "Bones even of HouseWifes, and small Children of 5 or 8 years old, which obviously had nothing to do with War or clashes"...

 -  "It's not only a question of finding bodies, identifying who they are, and bring their remains to their heirs so that  they ...could have a ..funeral", stressed Hammarberg. But "t's also a question of using the Material (discovered when unearthing mass graves) to try to clarify what actually happened, when the Murder took place, and that... is Important", he underlined.

    The Crucial point is that, if Turkey persists to ommit the "efficient investigations" asked by ECHR's case-law, then, CMP's unearthings and reburrials, done without any Forensic Examination, risk to ...Destroy Evidence of Grave Crimes for ever, as an experienced CoE's Official had warned "EuroFora" since the end of February 2007.

    One week after our publication, CoE's Committee of Ministers endorsed this point by asking Turkey to saveguard all pertinent "Data" found during unearthings of "Missing" persons' remains, and to inform Strasbourg's PanEuropean organization on the practical measures taken on the spot for this purpose.

    This had become then an Urgent issue, because a Project, initially supported mainly by the UK, to unearth mass graves of "Missing" people in Cyprus by the CMP, (an organism without any result for 30 Years), had started unburrials since 2006-2007, while Turkey persisted into refusing any "efficient investigation"  on what happened to them and who was responsible, despite ECHR's case-law.

    But 2 Years later, until March 2009, Turkey reportedly had not given to the CoE any convincing answer to the questions it had raised on the way that all Material Evidence found during CMP's unearthings is saveguarded.

    Thus, the European system for the protection of Human Rights arrived at a crucial turning point on March 2009 :

    As long as Turkey's 35 years-long refusal to make the "efficient investigations" asked by ECHR's case-law continued, while CMP had recently started to unearth and give for reburrials remains of several "Missing" persons, without even doing any Forensic examination, (excluded by its limited mandate, as ECHR has already noted), contrary to what is normally done in any scene of Crime,
    then, either something should be urgently done by CoE's Committee of Ministers to get out of this deadlock, or an inevitable, systematic Destruction of Evidence of Grave Crimes for ever risked to start and aggravate..

    Pushing the ball too far, Turkey even asked CoE to ..."postpone" its demands for "effective investigations" on Missing People, until CMP finishes its work of mere unearthings and reburrials, some 2 or 3 Years later : This was obviously tantamount into asking CoE to .. forget about ECHR's case-law, until all Material Evidence of Grave Crimes is destroyed for ever !..

    Even if CoE didn't accept such a provocative demand, nevertheless, its Committee of Deputies added, for the 1st time, a controversial sentence in its March 2009 decision, asking for the required efficient investigations required by ECHR's case-law, ..."not to jeopardize" CMP's work of mere unearthings and reburrials...

    Some could obviously read that unprecedented, controversial sentence, as if it opened a Dangerous Loophole, asking from the European mecanism for the protection of Human Rights ..."not to bother" (sic!) another, different process, decided out of Europe, which risked to make practically impossible any elementary Truth and Justice according to European standards, because, of Turkey's persisting refusal of any efficient investigation on what happened and who was responsible.

    - "This was a grave Blow against "Missing" persons' human rights ! What will People think  if even a European body doesn't defend Human Rights, going contrary to ECHR's judgements ?", criticized the new  Head of Cyprus' Delegation to CoE's Assembly, experienced President of Parliament's Committee on Missing persons, Refugees and Enclaved, MEP Chrysanthos Georgiou, speaking to "EuroFora" on the controversial addition to CoE's Committee of Deputies' decision. 

-  As  we observed in "EuroFora"s Question to the European Commissioner, Thomas Hammarberg, "even if some Governments might not protest strongly enough, as a simple Journalist following Human Rights issues for more than 15 years in Europe, I find it very Dangerous for the Future if the European mecanism for the protection of Human Rights lets anyone who might be Responsible for enforced disappearances of People  get away with it by simply giving a Bone to the Victims' Families, 30 years later, without ever revealing them the Truth on what happened to their beloved ones, and claiming that, now, "that's all", and everything "is finished" !"    

ECHR's recent Judgements offer many concrete examples of such risks to Destroy Evidence of Grave Crimes, if full and efficient Investigations, (including elementary Forensic examinations), are still not done, while mere unearthings and reburrials are going on :

F.ex., the Truth on whether a Killing was an odious Murder of a youngrster kidnapped from his Family Home in Turkey, (as the victims' Mother and Father denounced), or, on the contrary, the result of a Military clash between Turkish Soldiers and armed "guerillas" or "terrorists" (as Turkish Authorities claimed), could be found with a Chemical examination of the victims' Clothes : Traces of gun powder indicated a Murder from close range, while a Military clash, with gunshots fired from a distance, wouldn't leave any gun powder on the victim's clothes..     

On the contrary, at another case,  of the killing of an unarmed Civilian old man by Turkish Soldiers at the "Dividing Line" in Cyprus on 1997, ("Petros  Kakoulis" case), ECHR and CoE's Ministers asked Ankara to make a full Investigation on the real circumstances of the killing, in order to find out if the victim had arrived close to the soldiers in a threatening way, as they claimed, or if the old man had been simply advancing from a distance and without posing any serious, immediate threat : The reply depended from a Forensic examination with a Ballistic Report on the direction from which the bullets were fired, and the exact location of the Victims' body at the scene of the events. But, Turkey later claimed that any such Evidence had become ... "Impossible" because the victims' body had been given to his Family to be "re-burried" !... (CQFD).

    "EuroFora"'s question  to Hammarberg on "Missing" People also warned about recent and forthcoming "Monitoring Visits" by CoE Officials to Turkey and other areas concerned by ECHR's judgements' implementation on such cases, where it was uncertain yet if the "grave Human Rights violations" which are "Missing persons"' tragic case, would at least "be raised" vis-a-vis the respondent national authorities : F.ex. such a "post-Monitoring visit to Turkey" is currently prepared by the President of CoE's Monitoring Committee, Ukranian MEP Serge Holovaty, "before June"., (etc).

     - " We (CoE) do raise, as matters of Concern, cases of Disappearances", replied the PanEuropean Commissioner, citting, f.ex. Nagorno Karabach, the Balkans, and "in Cyprus".  "We (CoE) do work on the "Missing" Persons in several areas, including Cyprus. I have myself been very much, and still am, involved on this problem", Hammarberg said.

    But, it was only in Russia and Georia that he was able to announce a successful CoE intervention, which produced concrete results just ...a few Months after the 2008 Conflict in South Ossetia, where "we (CoE) managed, through our interventions, to secure the delivery of more than 100 Detainees, from one side to the other side, and about 50 Dead bodies, which allowed for DNA Testing, Identification and information to the Families". Leaving there only "some cases which have not been yet clarified on Missing Persons, on which we (CoE) are trying to find some solutions, almost acting as a Mediator between the two sides in order to ensure exchanges".

    - "This is rather Unique", he observed. Because, on the contrary, on the 35 Years long Turkey's delay to allow any efficient investigations on more than 1.800 Greek Cypriot "Missing" persons since 1974, despite ECHR's Judgements repeatecly condemning Ankara for that (f.ex. in 2001, 2008, etc), Hammarberg was hindered to have anything similar, since, despite many Prisoners taken by Turkish troops, hundreds of whom were even transported into mainland Turkey, Ankara claiming afterwards that they brought them back all, (as ECHR has found), Turkish Authorities continue to refuse Victims' Families' demand to open the Prisons and Military "Archives" for investigation..

    - "I think it's very painful that this goes on, and goes on.... and ...that there is no reallt excuse for the Delays", Hammarberg added.

    He spoke as a matter of General Principle, as "EuroFora"'s question was, citting from the start, not only the Oldest case of "Missing" persons, the only one which has been already thoroughly examined and repeatedly judged by ECHR's well established case-law many years ago : That of Cyprus, since 1974, which serves as a Precedent to all other "Missing" persons cases, not only in Europe, but also abroad, (f.ex. to UNO's Geneva-based Committee on Enforced Disappearances, as its President, Latin American Professor Corcueva said earlier to "EuroFora"). But also evoking all other various cases which followed afterwards, or may follow in the Future.

    Thus, Hammarberg also "mentioned that in the case of Tchecnya", he "estimates that there are at least 3.000 or 4.000 bodies burried in various parts of Tchecnya which are sort of awaiting for being unburried and identified,...to clarify what happened during those Horrible Years in Czesnya". As he said evoking well known Dramatic events, which occured more than 20 Years later than Turkey's Military Invasion of a Foreign Country : Cyprus, with the seizing of power in the Russian region by Islamist radicals, including notorious Murderers who used to decapitate their victims, before the Russian Army intervenes with its Tchechnyan allies, resulting in heavy Military clashes and many dead, followed by Terrorist attacks against the Moscow-allied Tchecnyan Authorities, counter-measures, etc, during some years before the current relative calm, until certain cases, mainly concerning Young Adult "Missing" People reportedly "kidnapped by masked men", started to arrive recently in Strasbourg.   

 However, a Russian Prosecutor General, who had earlier visited Strsbourg, said "EuroFora" that he had presented to the CoE at least a first Catalogue with concrete Numbers of measures taken to Investigate, find and punish those eventually responsible for Violations of Human Rights in Tchecnya, (and this was confirmed, later-on, also by CoE's Official Documents).

    Even if, possibly insufficient yet, this Positive fact is completely opposed to Turkey's absolutely differend stance, since Ankara (contrary to Russia) has notoriously refused for almost a Decade to give to CoE's Committee of Ministers such a Catalogue, (and when it did once, it became immediately obvious that "Impunity" was "widespread" among Turkish forces condemned by ECHR for Torture, Killings, Destructions, etc. for 15 Years..     

Meanwhile, another murdered Greek Cypriot Family's remains were recently found, including a Mother, a small Girl only 2 years old, her Brother aged 6, etc....

    However, both the incoming Slovenian CoE Presidency (May - November 2009) and the forthcoming Swedish EU Presidency (July - December 2009), are due to focus on "Childrens' Rights", (as well as in the fight against "Crimes against Humanity").

    Replying to a parallel "EuroFora" Question, Hammarberg added that, "when it comes to ...execution of judgements, implementation of the rulings of the Court, there is a process now, where the Committee of Ministers, in reality the Ambassadors, are involved, in a weekly basis in fact, to monitor whether they are implemented, or not. (But) there is very little possibilities for them to hasten the process, other than the threat that the case might go back to the Court, if the rulings are not implemented, or taken action upon, by the (respondent) Government."

- "And I think that is probably the Scenario that we'll see in the Future : That more and more cases that are not acted upon by Governments, will go back to the Court, (and) that will be seen as a Human Rights Violation in itself, not to respond to the rulings".

- "Some Countries partly implement the decisions : For instance, ...(by) paying the Compensation ... But the Court also wants some General Measures to be taken, in order to ensure that such similar violations can never happen again in the Future...", he concluded.

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"Missing" persons, even in Peace, Today ?  2009 Berlin Festival, Bertrand Tavernier's film, based on the American novel : "In the Electric Mist", is confirmed by recent real facts near USA/Mexico borders..

Revealed at 2009 Berlin Festival, the new film by famous French Director Betrand Tavernier, based on an American novel by Burke, "in the Electric Mist", pictures a Couple at now-a-days USA,  searching to find and punish those responsible for an "Enforced Disappearance" of a Woman in Luisiana :

They are soon led to investigate also an older Crime, committed ...half a Century ago, in order to Urgently try to discover a "key" which could save their own small Girl from a new, on-going "enforced disappearance", committed Now by the same unpunished criminal, involved in all 3 cases, old and new ..

Combining Historic appearances emerging from a remote Past, with recent Facts, and "Live", on-going dramatic events of the Present, "in the Electric Mist", (by a "coincidence" shown on Strasbourg's screens this same weeks), shows that total Impunity for past crimes, provokes risks even at present and for the Future.

It also shows that risks for tragic cases of "MISSING" persons may exist not only during Wars or clashes of the Past, and/or in some far away countries, but also Today, even in developed Countries in period of Peace, as a kind of Social phenomenon among common criminals and/or corrupted officials, who become more and more dangerous, as long as total Impunity persists. (While a few others, who sincerely understood that they had erred once, exceptionally pushed into disproportionate reactions only against what they believed as morally wrong in the Past, had, meanwhile, stopped any wrongdoing).

However, regular News, even this Month, f.ex. from areas close to the American-Mexican borders, where several remains of "Missing" People atrociously killed are often found, proves that it's not only a question of "Fiction", but a Real Problem.

Even more than what was recently highlighted also in a CoE Report prepared by Swiss MEP Mrs Vermot-Mangold on Women and Girls' frequent "Disappearances" in Mexico.

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