Death squads flower in hard times

From Death squad leader 'was top CIA agent' (Serbia)

The late President Milosevic's secret police chief and organiser of Serb death squads during the genocidal ethnic cleansing of disintegrating Yugoslavia was the United States' top CIA agent in Belgrade, according to the independent Belgrade Radio B92.

The claim that from 1992 until the end of the decade, Jovica Stanisic, head of Serbia's murderous DB Secret Police, was regularly informing his CIA handlers of the thinking in Milosevic's inner circle has shocked the region.

Stanisic is said to have loyally served his two masters for eight years. He is facing war crimes charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague.
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In the terrifying years of Yugoslavia's internecine wars, he acted as the willing "muscle" behind Milosevic's genocidal campaigns in Croatia, Kosovo and Bosnia, including Sebrenica.

According to the charges he faces, Stanisic was "part of a joint criminal enterprise that included former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic and other Serbian politicians".


From Historical Archives Lead to Arrest of Police Officers in Guatemalan Disappearance

Following a stunning breakthrough in a 25-year-old case of political terror in Guatemala, the National Security Archive today [March 17,2008] is posting declassified U.S. documents about the disappearance of Edgar Fernando García, a student leader and trade union activist captured by Guatemalan security forces in 1984. The documents show that García's capture was an organized political abduction orchestrated at the highest levels of the Guatemalan government.

Guatemalan authorities made the first arrest ever in the long-dormant kidnapping case when they detained Héctor Roderico Ramírez Ríos, a senior police officer in Quezaltenango, on March 5th and retired policeman Abraham Lancerio Gómez on March 6th as a result of an investigation into García's abduction by Guatemala's Human Rights Prosecutor (Procurador de Derechos Humanos—PDH). Arrest warrants have been issued for two more suspects, Hugo Rolando Gómez Osorio and Alfonso Guillermo de León Marroquín. The two are former officers with the notorious Special Operations Brigade (BROE) of the National Police, a unit linked to death squad activities during the 1980s by human rights groups.


From Panel looks into Davao killings

The Commission on Human Rights will look into the series of unexplained killings attributed to the “Davao Death Squad” and unmask those behind the vigilante group.

CHR Chairman Leila de Lima told a news forum in Quezon City that she and other agency officials will fly to Davao City on March 30 in an effort to gather witnesses against the group said to be responsible for a series of killings in the city.

“We will investigate for two days from March 30 and on the third day we will also investigate the abduction, rape and murder of Rebelyn Pitao,” De Lima told the weekly Usapang Daungan Forum at Danarra Hotel.

She said it was alarming to note that some people in Davao have found the killings acceptable. “We cannot accept reasons that there were no witnesses and we will ask the local police and military to explain if they have acted on these killings.”


From 'Death squad' cops charged

Nine members of Sao Paulo's Motorised Police were charged today with being in a death squad dubbed "The Highlanders" that last year killed at least 12 people, five by decapitation, authorities said.

The nine allegedly rogue cops were arrested after a passerby witnessed the murder of a mentally handicapped 31-year-old, whose head and hands were severed, and took down the licence plate number of the killers' car.

Civil Police began investigating the group known as The Highlanders in October after a series of grisly murders of presumed criminals and delinquents in the Sao Paulo area. At one point police said they believed they were dealing with a serial killer.


From Chechens fear "Russian death squad team" in Turkey

A new debate has been surfaced after 3 Chechen murders in Istanbul.

3 Chechens were killed in Istanbul in five months. While all doubts are on the Russian intelligence, Muslum C, an aide of Ali Osaev, killed last week, says, " a team of 30 Russian intelligence agents walks freely in Turkey now. After every murder, we ask ourselves "who is next". Turkey should take precautions."

In Istanbul, Edilsultanov Gazi who fought against Russian army in Chechnya as 'Colonel' on September 6, Islam Canibekov on December 9 and Islam Ali last week were assasinated.

Way and used weapons of these attacks raise doubts over the role of Russian FSB intelligence.


From Suspected death squad claims another victim in Kidapawan

KIDAPAWAN, Philippines — Members of a suspected death squad killed another victim here in this southern city, police said on Tuesday.

Police identified the latest victim as Percy Bacus, 38, a farmer from Barangay Linao, in Matalam, North Cotabato.

He sustained multiple gunshot wounds in different parts of his body.

[ ... ]

Tuesday's shooting incident was the 14th since October 2008 and Bacus became the 16th victim. Of the 16 victims, 13 died.

Bacus' killing came five days after a shooting incident along a commercial district here that killed two and injured one.

The suspect was identified as Police Officer 1 Marvin Contayoso, a member of the intelligence unit of the Kidapawan City police.


From Colombian paramilitary tells how he financed his own Murder Inc.: bananas

 ITAGU, Colombia --  For a guy who brags about killing hundreds of his countrymen, Raúl Hasbún lives high on the government's dime. He sits in a plush cell outside Medellín where he enjoys cable TV, raids his own fridge, can order out for fast food and has his cat to keep him company.

Hasbún, a former banana grower and paramilitary involved in Colombia's right-wing counterinsurgency, was able to score such a cushy arrangement because his words are in demand. Everyone wants to hear how he allegedly devised a method for putting the squeeze on international companies to raise the money to arm the death squads that carried out the gruesome massacres that kept Colombia in a constant state of turmoil.

In other words, he monetized the murder of Colombians, including many civilians.

''I am the one who established the system,'' Hasbún, also known by his nom de guerre Pedro the Pretty One, told The Miami Herald in an exclusive interview in his cell.

It was pretty simple, according to Hasbún. Companies paid three cents for every crate of bananas exported. The proceeds kept the private armies flush with cash and stocked with weapons.


From 4 Soldiers Suspended for Killing Civilian in Kashmir

Srinagar, March 19: After the killing of a 38-year old carpenter by Indian paramilitary soldiers in South Kashmir yesterday evening, four Indian para-military soldiers including an officer were suspended till inquiry is completed.

38-year old carpenter, Gulam Mohiuddin Malik was killed by paramilitary CRPF personnel at Kheegam village in south Kashmir on Wednesday evening. The villagers have said that the carpenter was killed in an unprovoked firing by the paramilitary personnel.

A paramilitary CRPF spokesman in Srinagar, Prabhakar Tripathi said, "A CRPF patrol party had gone to the village for searches on specific information about the presence of militants. The patrol party was fired upon by militants and the soldiers returned the fire. Later, during searches of the area, body of a carpenter was recovered from the haystack."

He said that they have ordered an inquiry into the incident. "It has been established during the preliminary investigations that there were some flaws in the operation. Four of the soldiers including an Assistant Commandant have been suspended till the inquiry is completed," he said.


From Paramilitary forces to hire 1.35 lakh personnel by 2010

NEW DELHI: Even as economic slowdown forces private companies to put fresh recruitments on hold, central paramilitary forces — CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP and SSB — have emerged as one of the largest recruiters with plans to hire over 1.35 lakh personnel by next year.

All these forces will together raise 123 new battalions, raising the total strength of the central forces to nearly 10 lakh personnel by 2010.

Sources in the home ministry said CRPF - the country's largest paramilitary force — and CISF, which has recently been given the mandate to provide security cover to private companies as well in the wake of Mumbai attacks, will see maximum recruitments with BSF, ITBP and SSB also augmenting their strength.


From Trinco Varsha killing; Tamil paramilitary groups blame each other

Two paramilitary groups, Tamil Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan and other by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, who resigned from the TMVP and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), are blaming each other for the abduction and killing of six-year-old girl student, Varsha Jude Reggie, according to Colombo media reports.

She was abducted on March 11 morning by another person who came in a three-wheeler when she was waiting for her routine trishaw to return home. Later her body was put in an empty fertilizer bag and dumped in a drain in the heart of Trincomalee on 13th Friday afternoon.

TMVP led by Pillaiyan alleges that cadres of Karuna group might be involved in the crime. TMVP spokesman Azad Moulana said Karuna group has been using the TMVP offices with TMVP name board though he joined the SLFP and became a minister in the President Mahinda Rajapakse's government.

But Karuna group spokesman Iniya Barathi denied the allegation and directly blamed the TMVP group led by Pillaiyan responsible for the crime. Iniya Barathi said Pillaiayan's TMVP group cadres are directly responsible for many more killings and abductions including Varsha's, according to media reports published from Colombo.

Trincomalee police arrested six suspects in connection with Varsha's murder. Two of them died in police custody. One was shot dead by the police when he attempted to escape from police custody and the other took cyanide and committed suicide when he was being taken to a place for further inquiry.