Human Rights court calls Katyn massacre a warcrime

[pjotr]

Human Rights court calls 1940 Katyn massacre a 'war crime'

The European Court of Human Rights said that it cannot rule on Russia's investigation into the 1940 Katyn massacre of over 22,000 Polish officers but calls the murders 'a war crime".


photo - PAP/Radek Pietruszka

“In the case Janowiec and Others v. Russia, the Court found that it could not examine the applicants’ complaint about the ineffective investigation into the Katyñ massacre,” the Court in Strasbourg ruled, Monday morning.

But, on a separate charge, the Court ruled that: “Russia had failed to cooperate with the Court, and that its response to most victims’ relatives’ attempts to find out the truth about what happened in 1940 had amounted to inhuman treatment.”

Both Poland and Russia can appeal the ruling, however.

Russian advisor to the Council of Europe Vladislav Yermakov said that Moscow was “satisfied” with the ruling.

“At first glance, the ruling seems satisfactory and balanced, although we need to examine it carefully,” he said directly after the Court announced its verdict.

'War crime'

The court affirmed however that "the mass murder of the Polish prisoners by the Soviet secret police had been a war crime, as the obligation to treat prisoners of war humanely and the prohibition to kill them had clearly been part of international customary law, which the Soviet authorities had had a duty to respect."

Poland's justice minister, Jaroslaw Gowin has said that it was “too early” to take any decisions on the Court's ruling, as regards an appeal.


Poland's justice minister, Jaroslaw Gowin

Gowin said that after the collapse of the Soviet union, Russia still has a problem with “domestic standards of the rule of law”.

But Minister Gowin said that it was still essential that Poland receives justice in the case.

The court clarified in a statement following the verdict that a fundamental “obstacle” in assessing Moscow's investigation was that the European Convention on Human Rights only came into force in Russia in 1998, some eight years after the Moscow's Katyn investigation began.

“First of all, it [the European Court of Human Rights] could only examine acts or omissions to act which had taken place after that date,” the statement underlined.


The Katyn memorial in the village of Katyn, near Smolensk in western Russia

“The Russian authorities had taken most of the investigative steps in the case before the date on which Russia ratified the Convention,” and “there was no indication that any important procedural steps had taken place following the ratification."

“That in itself was an obstacle to the Court’s assessing the efficiency of the investigation in its entirety and to it forming a view about Russia’s compliance with its obligation to investigate under Article 2."

The Court's ruling, though incomplete in its findings, does not support claims made last week by Russian media that Poland would “lose the case” in Strasbourg, however.

Investigation

Family members of the victims of the massacre had complained to the court that Russia had failed to sufficiently investigate the murders of the Polish officers and declined to let them have access to documents on the case.

It was only in 1990 that Russia finally accepted that the murders were not done by Nazi Germany, as the Soviets had originally claimed when the massacre first came to light, and expressed "profound regret" at the crime.

The Russian investigation was called off in 2005, with no individuals held responsible and no charges were brought against any living individuals. (pg/nh)

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Source: www.thenews.pl

[pjotr]

Relief mixed with disappointment after Strasbourg Katyn ruling
17.04.2012 14:31

The head of Poland's Federation of Katyn Families says she has “mixed feelings” about yesterday's verdict at the European Court of Human Rights.


Court of Human Rights: photo - PAP/EPA/Christophe Karaba

“Feelings are mixed, but there is relief that an influential institution like the Strasbourg court recognises the injustice done to the Katyn families,” Izabella Saryusz-Skapska told TOK FM radio.
The court was unable to rule on whether Moscow's broken off 1990-2004 investigation into the crime was effective LINK!, but there was recognition of the “inhumane treatment” of relatives of the Polish victims.


Izabella Saryusz-Skapska, Philologue, essayist, Historian of modern literature, social activist, and chairwoman of the Federation of Katyn families.

About 22,500 Polish citizens, largely reserve officers were shot by the Soviet Secret Police, NKVD, in 1940, at various sites across the Soviet Union, including the Katyn Forest near Smolensk.

Moscow admitted guilt in 1990, having previously blamed the nazi Germans for the massacre.
In the ruling, the court noted that the families “had suffered a double trauma: losing their relatives in the war and not being allowed to learn the truth about their death for more than 50 years because of the distortion of historical facts by the Soviet and Polish communist authorities.”
However, Saryusz-Skapska said that while the Strasbourg court criticised Moscow for refusing to hand over documents explaining why the 1990-2004 investigation had been broken off, there are other equally important documents that need to be handed over.
She highlighted that the final resting place of about 3500 victims is yet to be clarified.
“In practice, people who were arrested and detained in prisons in Belarus have yet to be found,” she said.
Saryusz-Skapska added that the perfect verdict would have amounted to all the relevant documents being handed over to Poland.

A step forward

Meanwhile, Polish Justice Minister Jaroslaw Gowin said that the human rights court ruling could have gone further in demanding action from the Kremlin.
“The ruling does not open new paths for the legal rehabilitation of victims or potential damages, it does not oblige Russia to disclose further material,” he said.
“What is most important from the Polish point of view, is that the world heard a very emphatic confirmation of the criminal character of the actions of the communist government of Russia,” he said, alluding to the court's description of Katyn as “a war crime”.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of conservative opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) said that the Strasbourg verdict was “definitely a step in the right direction.”


Leader of conservative opposition party Law and Justice, PiS, Jaroslaw Kaczynski

Kaczynski welcomed the ruling that Moscow breached its obligations by not cooperating with the court, and claimed that the verdict “opens the doors for the Smolensk families,” reaffirming his criticisms of the Russian investigation into 2010 Smolensk air disaster.


The 2010 Smolensk air disaster, near the city of Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board.

The Moscow-based Kommersant daily was representative of much of the Russian press in its assessment that the verdict, stating that the judgement was “favourable to Russia.” (nh/pg)



Source: www.thenews.pl