EUCommission v.President Reding+EU Rapporteurs to Eurofora: Care for Victims,+Cyprus "Missing", 9/11

*Strasbourg/EU Parliament/Angelo Marcopolo/- Europe wants to really care for Victims of Crimes and their Families, including, f.ex. the tragedy of Cyprus' "Missing" persons", etc., practically stressed in substance, at the Anniversary of September 11, EU Commission's vice-President responsible also for EU Citizenship, the experienced Viviane Reding from Luxembourg, as well as EU Parliament's Rappporteurs on the Help due to be given to Victims, on Cyprus' "Missing" and their Families, as well as on EU Enlargement Criteria, since an EU which aspires today to forge a Political Union with Democratic Legitimacy, necessary for an efficient Economic and Monetary solution to the Global Crisis, has just confirmed energetically that it wants to be really based on elementary Values of Human Dignity, Human Rights and Democratic Rule of Law, as it became clear during all this week in EU Parliament's plenary sesssion in Strasbourg, (See infra).
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In particular, "EuroFora" asked Reding and the 2 EU Parliament's Rapporteurs on the new, Victims' Rights EU Rules, during a Press Conference symbolically held in Strasbourg on September 11, (whose innocent Victims' Memory was massively Honoured by MEPs in a standing ovation at EU Parliament's Plenary, earlier Today), if the New EU Rules had started to respect "one among the most important demands by Crimes' Victims and/or their Families, (which) is to participate in Efficient Investigations, in order to find the Truth and for Justice to be done", according also to ECHR's judgements.

+ In addition, "don't you think that Time Limits, for serious Crimes' prosecution, must not be too Tight, because, otherwise, sometimes they risk to Cover up even Serious Crimes ?", also asked "EuroFora", pointing f.ex. at a recent CoE's AntiCorruption watchdog "GRECO" which denounced the existence of short Time Limits for Investigations on State Officials and Agents, (f.ex. in Greece, etc).
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- "The answer to your 1st question is that the proposed (EU) Directive puts Minimum Standards, which have to be introduced in the Court's Proceedings,  in (EU) Member States", replied Reding in this regard

 - F.ex. that  "we've got to Translate at least the main Documents so that Victims can Follow (1) those Courts' proceedings, to which they can Participate (2), if they want, and they are Helped (3) to Attend the Trials. Victims are also Protected (4) while Police Investigates a Crime and during the Court's proceedings".  (etc). And, of course, Vulnerable Victims, (such as, f.ex. the victims of sexual abuse, or Children, they must be treated very Specifically, so that they are not Victimized a Second Time), stressed to "EuroFora" EU Commission's vice-President Viviane Reding, by giving some concrete examples.

=> - "So, the whole Court's proceedings, should Respect the Person who has been the Victim of a Crime, and not "Corner"  that Person, or not take him/her seriously at all. Most important of all, and for that we also need Training in the (EU) Member States, Victims have to be Treated with Respect by Police, Prosecutors and Judges, who need to be trained to Properly deal with them", the experienced EU Commission's vice-President concluded in her Reply to "EuroFora"s 1st question.
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However, it's an obviously regrettable Fact, that, for various reasons, Nothing similar was ever offered, to 9/11 Victims' Families, (the only Suspect "Mastermind", Bin Laden, having been reportedly guned down without any attempt to investigate the real role of his organization, its eventual accomplices, etc., before a Court, and even some other, comparatively secondary, but allegedly more concretely involved suspects, still continue to be help "in communicado", without any Public Trial proceedings having started even more than .. a Decade after the 9/11 Deadly Mass Terrorism, and believed to be still postponed for even many more Months or Years to come,.... Thereby excluding also de facto any chance for Participation in the proceedings by Victims' Families, who have even been obliged to formally promise that they won't ever sue, not even any Company eventually involved in the incidents (f.ex. concerning Airplanes, Airports, NY Port Authority, WTC Security service, etc), by being threatened, otherwise, to be excluded from the main Financial Compensation, (while some questions around 9/11 still remain controversial or not yet fully answered)...

Mutatis-mutandis, similarly, Families of "Missing" Persons in Cyprus, more than 37 Years since the 1974 "Disappearances", haven't yet had any possibility to actively participate, in their Mother-Tongue, in a Court's Proceedings (f.ex. at Turkey, legally responsible for serious Violations of Human Rights in those Cyprus' Territories that it persists to Occupy by Ankara's Military), nor in a such a Prosecutors' Investigation, aimed at searching the Truth on what really happened to their beloved ones, and on finding and punishing  those responsible for their enforced disappearance, despite ECHR's crystal-clear case law which has repeatedly asked for that, as a matter of General Principle, in all such cases.
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 - "In this Directive, even if we (EU) put just "Minimum Standards", nevertheless, "we  (EU) also state how, and under which Conditions, Victims can have access to Financial Compensation", added EU Parliament's co-Rapporteur, Spanish MEP Teresa Jimenez-Becerril, a ChristianDemocrat/EPP MEP.

 - "We are also speaking about "Distinct and Detailed  Information on proceedings, based on the Specific Needs and the Personal Circumstances of the Victims, and the type and the nature of the Crime". Moreover, "Additional Information may be provided at another Time, according to the Needs of the Victim, ... in each stage of the proceedings", etc. I.e. "we are talking about "the Specific Needs of the Victim", she observed in addition.

   + At any case, "this is just a 1st step : We (EU) are only Starting" to move for the Rights of Victims of Crime, MEP Jimenez spontaneously added later to "EuroFora".

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+ "Add(ing) about "EuroFora"'s 2nd Question "on Time Limits", the other EU Parliament's co-Rapporteur, Bulgarian MEP Antonia Parvanova, obsereved that, even if "this Directive does not cover the Procedure itself, but only those Persons who are Protected, concerning Minimum Standards, particular to Victims.

However, "there are particular issues, related to Time-Limits which are covered by this (EU) Directive", even if "it's not directly related to Corruption", (as in that CoE case that "EuroFora" had simply taken as an example). Indeed, there are (other) cases (related f.ex. to sexual abuse and Violence, Trafficking, ..etc) : While the Victim is not Reporting (the Crime) at the 1st Time, when it started, and, later on, the Court is taking into account the Repeated Violence against that Victim, it's taking into account only the Last case, which has been reported", she noted.

"There is also an EJC case on this, f.ex. against gender-based violence, f.ex. in Bulgaria, and, based on this EJC case, (as well as ECHR's well -established case-law : comp. f.ex. the well-known "Loizidou" case, back on 1994, on Greek-Cypriot Refugees, still hindered by Ankara's Invasion-Occupation Troops to return to their Family Homes and Ancestral Land, even 37 Years later, contary to ECHR's judgements and UNO SC Resolutions), we (EU) actually consider that if there is a Repeated Crime", as she pointed out.

=> Then, "all the circumstances of the previous violences against the Victims, should be taken into consideration". In this regard, even the above-mentioned "Specific Needs of the Victim, should  include the assessment of the Circumstances of the Crime, and take them into account - "So, in this sense, circumstances of Repeated Violence should be also included and taken into account", EU Parliament's co-Rapporteur concluded.

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+ Meanwhile, EU Parliament's new Rapporteur on "Missing" Persons in Cyprus, Dr. Simon Busuttil, replying to "EuroFora"s questions on the need, according both to ECHR's case-law, and to several experienced CoE or International Human Rights NGOs (as "Amnesty", etc), for Timely and Full Forensic Examinations whenever the Remains of a Victim are found, in order to avoid the otherwise fatal risk to "destroy material Evidence" and, thus, irrevocably Cover-up serious Crimes, hindering Victims' Families from their basic Human Right to at least discover the Truth on what really happened to their beloved ones, and find and punish those Responsible for their Enforced Disappearance, as many ECHR Judgements ask, said that he "wholeheartedly agrees" with the main substance of that point.

 - "That's precisely what we (EU Parliament) are trying to do",* replied to "EuroFora"s question if the forthcoming Resolution would ask, at last, for "Full Investigations" according to the above-mentioned ECHR case-law and International NGO's experience, and not only to unearth and identify Victims, in order to prevent the otherwise unavoidable Destruction of possible Horrible Crimes' Evidence, the new, 2012 EU Parliamen's Rapporteur on that Tragic issue, which has become a PanEuropean and even Worldwide "precedent" case, whose final outcome will inevitably leave a permanent mark with repercussions to all other similar cases of "Missing" persons, anywhere else in Europe, and perhaps even in the World.

The EU Rapporteur mainly stressed that, according to a recent CoE Committee of Ministers' decision, published during Summer 2012, to which were added even some recent findings of many Human Sculls near a Prison at Duyarbakir (Turkey), where former Detainees from Cyprus had been reportedly jailed, some of them becoming "Missing" afterwards, (etc), MEPs intend to ask, in a forthcoming Resolution, not only to continue Funding Exhumations/Identifications, but also that Turkey Stops Hindering Access to Evidence, under so-called "Security" or even "Military" pretexts, in order to make the necessary Investigations, both in the Occupied Territories of Cyprus, controlled by Ankara's Foreign Invasion-Occupation Troops, and inside Turkey itself, whenever needed.

A delegation of MEPs is also due to visit Cyprus for that purpose before the end of 2012, Busutil anounced.

Unless, naturally, if .. Latin America tragic cases of Missing Persons, and the way according to which they are monitored by the InterAmerican Court,  becomes finally .. more important for the protection of elementary Human Rights than what Europe had once dreamed to provide to its Citizens...

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But, that's precisely what EU Leaders don't want at this crucial Juncture, when solving the Economic Problems provoked by the Global Crisis, needs a strong EU Political Union, which requires solid Popular support, as EU Commission's President José Barroso has just stressed at EU Parliament's Plenary, during a keynote address in the 2012 debate on "the State of the Union" :

 - "Let's send our People a Message of Hope.. We are Proud to be Europeans ! .. In spite of our current (mainly Economic) Problems (provoked after the Global Crisis, our Societies are among the most Human and Free in the World"; Barroso concluded in his landmark speech to MEPs.  "We (EU) do not have to apologise for our Democracy, ... and for our Values", including "Respect for Human Rights and Human Dignity", the Head of EU Commission stressed. "In our Countries, People are Free", and "Now, .. we need to guide ourselves by the Values that are at the Heart of the European Union : Europe .. has a Soul", as he underlined, (agreeing with German Chancellor Angie Merkel's famous conclusion at her landmark January 2007 speech in EU Parliament in Strasbourg,at the beginning of the January-June EU rotating Presidency by Modern Germany, before she visited ECHR)...
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    And, as far as it concerns, in real practice, Turkey and other foreign Countries wishing to negotiate closer relationship with the EU, the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee is due to adopt, later this same week in Strasbourg, an interesting Report on the "Criteria" of "EU Enlargement", which stresses from the outset that "in accordance with Article 49 of EU Treaty", it's only "European States", "which Respect and remain Committed to the Promotion of the Value of Human Dignity, Freedom Democracy, Equality, the Rule of Law, and Respect of Human Rights, including of People belonging to Minorities", that "may Apply" in order to bec ome Candidate for "EU Membership", because "these Values are at the Foundation of tghe EU itself, guide the Union's action on the International scene, and Must be Respected and upheld".

    This key point is topically stressed in the new EU Parliament's text, this week of the 11th Anniversary of September 11, which "almost" coincides also with the "20th Anniversary of the "European Council of 1993 in Copenhagen", famous because it .. has set the Accession Criteria" for Foreign Countries which might have some EU "Membership prospects". These "Copenhagen Criteria", lie, Today, oon 2012-2013, even more than ever "in the Centre of EU Enlargement policy", and "the New Focus on Justice and Home affairs, the Rule of Law and Respect for Fundamental Rigts, are expected to be Effective and Efficient", as a Compromise Amendment, due to be adopted by an overwhelming Majority on Thursday morning, clearly sets as a main Principle to judge any demand for any EU Accession Negotiations, (be it "Open-Ended", as EU Summits have repeatedly decided for Turkey, for which it might also lead to a kind of privileged partnership or other closer relationship with the EU, as it has been explained by EU Leaders many times, or otherwise, as, f.ex. in the obviously Differend cases of Iceland, eventually Ukraine, etc)..

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   - Without respect of Human Rights, Rule of Law and Justice, there cannot be a Sustainable Peace nor real Stability in any area, denounced later in substance EU Commissioner Androula Vassiliou, reacting at EU Parliament's Plenary to strong denunciations by many MEPs in a case of scandalous Impunity of a Murderer who brutaly killed an Armenian with an axe during a NATO gathering in Hungary, where he was initially arrested, but afterwards transferred to Azerbaitzan, welcomed as a .. hero, and even promoted in the Army !

 An incredible but real story of scandalous impunity, which inevitably reminds, mutatis-mutandis, also the famous case of Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink's Murder by a Turkish youngster, afterwards photographed lauphing together with Policemen in front of a Turkish Flag and treated as a "hero", before being sent fo a short term in jail, while ECHR vainly condemned Turkey on 2010 for grossly failing to really punish the perpetrator and doing practically nothing to find and punish the accomplices and/or instigators of that horrible brutal killing.