Prosecuting Those Who Torture

Prosecuting Those Who Torture

What is so Difficult about Catching Torturers?

'Serbia: Torture or Therapy? '
by Sinisa Boljanovic, Global Voices

Last week, on May 21, a short film about torture in the Spiritual Rehabilitation Center "Crna Reka", located in south-western Serbia, was shown on the web site of the Time (Vreme), a Serbian weekly magazine. The patients of this center are drug addicts and its head is Branislav Peranovic, a Serbian Orthodox priest.

Nearly all Serbian media have shown the horrible scenes from the short film, in which Peranovic is shown beating one of the patients brutally with a spade and with his fists.

Ombudsman of citizens, Sasa Jankovic, is one of the officials who reacted very quickly. According to the Vreme web site, Jankovic said that he had brought criminal charges against nine identified persons from the Spiritual Rehabilitation Center "Crna Reka" near Novi Pazar because of quackery and committing assault and battery. Jankovic also said that, according to the video, it was obvious that the patients of the center had been injured very seriously and that could not be a treatment or therapy.

Serbian bloggers reacted to the report very quickly, too, and so did representatives of the Spiritual Rehabilitation Center "Crna Reka" and the Serbian Orthodox Church.

What is the Serbian magic for cleaning up a den of torture? It's called community action. The magazine showed the torture film on its web site. The Serbian national media showed it nationally. The Ombudsman quickly brought to nine perpetrators to book. The Rehabilitation Center officials and the Serbian Orthodox Church hastened to help the abused patients. In one week they have ended the horrible story.

Why has it taken six years since the torture at Gitmo first became known? The Americans still haven't got it right. Here's a distinguished panel to discuss the delay.
[[TORTURE1]]

The panel in this first video interacted freely. Unlike American talk shows the panelists disagreed, but with polite respect. Oh, I forgot to mention the show is on the Aljazeera/English network.

In the second installment below we will see the results of the discussion.

[[TORTURE2]]

Well, I hope you weren't too disappointed. It seems that many government Agencies were involved in torture. Apparently, no whistle blowers emerged. The guilty parties have covered this sordid affair with a large national security blanket. Did you expect differently?
You see; our so-called national security conducts CYA activities to keep their nefarious acts from our view. They used torture for their amusement and our entertainment. This is only to delude us to distract us from the real business.
Sadly for them, they assumed I wouldn't find the Serbian story. With it, you know how to imprison your local corrupt officials through grassroots efforts.

To reward you for your kind attention, I present a wonderful interlude from Burma.

Burma VJ

Going beyond the occasional news clip from Burma, the acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard, brings us close to Burma’s video journalists who insist on keeping up the flow of news from their closed country despite risking torture and life in jail. Armed with small handycams they make their undercover reportages, smuggle the material out of the country, have it broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered as free usage for international media.
[[BURMAVJ]]
”Joshua”, age 27 and one of the undercover VJs, is suddenly thrown into the role as tactical leader of his group of reporters, when Buddhist monks in September 2007 lead a massive uprising. Foreign TV crews are banned from entering the country, so it is left to Joshua and his crew to document the events and establish a lifeline to the surrounding world. It is their footage that keeps the revolution alive on TV screens all over. As government intelligence agents understand the power of the camera, the VJs soon become their prime target. During the turbulent days of September, Joshua finds himself on an emotional rollercoaster between hope and despair, as he frantically tries to keep track of his reporters in the streets while the great uprising unfolds.

With Joshua as the psychological lens, high-risk journalism and dissidence in a police state is made tangible to a global audience.
[[BURMA]]