The briefing, Rampant impunity: Still no justice for protesters killed in the “25 January Revolution”, details shortcomings in investigations and prosecutions of those responsible for the deaths of some 840 individuals during the demonstrations that ended over 30 years of Hosni Mubarak’s repressive rule and led to the first elected civilian President in Egypt. At least 6,600 people also sustained injuries during the protests, which were brutally suppressed by the security forces.

At least 12 people have died during protest violence since President Mohamed Morsi took office.

According to information gathered by Amnesty International in Egypt, during the uprising security forces used tear gas, water cannon, shotguns, rubber bullets and live ammunition against protesters, in many cases when they were posing no threat to them.

No senior official or security officer has been convicted or justly punished for killing or injuring protestors.

“President Morsi has repeatedly paid tribute to those who died during the ’25 January Revolution’, yet little effective action has been taken to ensure those responsible face justice. In reality two years after the uprising the security forces appear to be getting away with murder” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“By not ensuring the perpetrators are punished, President Morsi is doing little to distance himself from decade of abuses”.

Courts in Egypt continue to acquit senior and other security officials. In some cases, acquittals were based on the lack of evidence or because the courts found the defendants were exercising their right to self-defence, despite well-documented evidence that police used excessive and lethal force when not strictly necessary.

Furthermore, the guilty verdict against President Hosni Mubarak and his Minister of Interior, Habib El Adly, for complicity in killing protestors was overturned by the Court of Cassation on 13 January; opening the door for their retrial.

According to relatives and lawyers interviewed by Amnesty International, many acquittals and the failure of some cases to even reach court is due to shortcomings in the evidence-gathering process — including video material; medical and forensic reports; and ballistic evidence which in many cases were not examined or even presented to the courts.

Other essential information like records of telephone communications between security officials, registries of deployed security forces and records of weapons and munitions provided to security forces was not obtained from the Ministry of Interior.

Complaints also included the fact that police officers were involved in the investigations, prompting fears that they might tamper with evidence or withhold information in order to absolve their colleagues and institutions from liability.

Shortly after assuming power in June 2012, President Morsi established a fact-finding committee to look into the killing and wounding of protesters which took place before he took office. He also appointed a new Public Prosecutor who promised to conduct fresh investigations and retrials for those acquitted of killing protestors if new evidence emerges.

Relatives of those killed told Amnesty International they had been asked to present new evidence and that several witnesses had faced intimidation.

“The creation of the Fact-Finding Committee was a good initial step forward but for it to be a truly positive development, the report needs to be made public and gaps and shortcoming in investigations must be addressed. Victims and society as a whole have the right to full truth,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui.

Ten people died in clashes between supporters and opponents of President Morsi on the night of 5-6 December 2012, while security forces failed to intervene and protect protesters from violence and assault.

“President Morsi needs to turn his promises into reality and demonstrate strong political will to deliver justice for human rights abuses committed against protestors, ensuring that all those responsible up and down the chain of command and regardless of rank or political affiliation are held accountable. Only then will he be able to break with the legacy of past abuses, and avoid further killings of protestors.”

Those responsible for the serious human rights violations committed after the September 1980 military coup and against the Kurdish civilian population in the 1990s, during the conflict between the state and the armed outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), have never been held to account.

Hundreds of deaths in custody and summary executions by the security forces risk being deemed time-barred for prosecution because of a 20-year limitation on murder investigations contained in Turkey’s previous penal code. Thousands more state-perpetrated killings of Kurds from the early 1990s could be similarly excluded from prosecution and trial in the coming three years.

“Old laws that curtail investigations into serious human rights abuses in Turkey have allowed the security forces and public officials to get away with murder and torture,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “It is vital that Turkish authorities act now to ensure there are no time bars on victims getting justice.”

The 67-page report “Time for Justice: Ending Impunity for Killings and Disappearances in 1990s Turkey” looks at the lessons on obstacles to accountability from the ongoing trial of retired Colonel Cemal Temizöz and six others for the murder and disappearance of 20 men and boys between 1993 and 1995. It is the first such trial of a senior member of the gendarmerie for serious human rights violations committed in the course of the conflict between the state and the PKK.

The report builds on interviews with 55 individuals in Şırnak province, whose relatives were murdered or disappeared by suspected state perpetrators in the early 1990s.

Relatives of victims repeatedly told Human Rights Watch that they wanted to see perpetrators brought to trial for the murders and disappearances of their loved ones. Harun Padır was 17 years old in 1994 when security forces detained him with his father İzzet Padır and uncle Abdullah Özdemir, who were never seen again. He expressed a sentiment shared by all the relatives of the victims Human Rights Watch interviewed for the report: “For us compensation means nothing. We just want justice.”

Human Rights Watch’s interviews and the Diyarbakır trial highlight the climate of fear among relatives of victims that prevailed in the southeast region until very recently, compounded by a complete absence of effective investigation of killings and disappearances in the region at the time and subsequently.

One witness in the Temizöz case, İsmet Uykur, saw the murder of his father Ramazan Uykur in Cizre town in broad daylight in February 1994. He told the Diyarbakır court: “Fear triumphed in Cizre. In those days we were unable to go and lodge complaints because there were many unresolved killings… there were people who had seen the incidents in the region but at that time they wouldn’t be witnesses because of their fear; in those days we were afraid of the gendarmerie and the village guards.”

Human Rights Watch spoke to dozens of relatives of victims who confirmed either that they had, for many years, been too afraid to pursue complaints or that, if they did, there was a complete absence of any effective investigation. Their words reinforce the European Court of Human Rights’ many judgments against Turkey recording violations of the right to life through a pattern of failure to carry out effective investigations.

Witnesses reported that security forces abducted and later killed Ömer Candoruk, Yahya Akman, and two cousins, Süleyman Gasyak and Abdulaziz Gasyak, after they passed by car through a gendarmerie checkpoint on the road to Silopi in March 1994. Sabri Gasyak, Abdulaziz’s brother, told Human Rights Watch: “We couldn’t have pursued complaints back then or sought justice. I’d have been arrested if I’d pursued the case. In the late 80s our village in Siirt’s Pervari district was burnt down by the state and emptied. We were taken in and tortured; hundreds of our animals were killed. In 1994 after Süleyman and Abdulaziz were killed, many of our family went to Zahko in northern Iraq.”

The Temizöz case has provided important lessons about the possible obstacles to justice likely to arise in thousands more cases of abuse by members of the security forces and state officials in provinces throughout the southeast of Turkey and also in major cities.

Drawing on these lessons, Time for Justice calls on the Turkish government, courts, and prosecutors to develop a model of victim-centered justice in Turkey. Prosecutors and courts need to offer vulnerable witnesses, relatives of victims, and their lawyers more effective protection from intimidation and attacks in and out of court when they are testifying in trials against defendants who are members of the security forces, village guards, or state officials. Action is also needed to shorten proceedings, which stretch out over months and years making intimidation more likely.

“The climate of fear among victims’ relatives and witnesses persists to this day,” said Sinclair-Webb. “To give them the confidence to come forward, prosecutors and courts need to adopt more effective witness protection and a victim-centered approach to justice.”

The report contains concrete recommendations to strengthen justice for crimes by state actors, including:

- Increasing the speed and efficiency of trials, including by holding hearings on consecutive days;

- Designating prosecutors to focus on the investigation of past abuses;

- Directing prosecutors to fully investigate chain of command responsibility for human rights abuses;

Strenuous efforts should be made by prosecutors and courts to identify members of the security forces to whom witnesses refer only by their code names so that prosecutors can call them to testify as possible suspects;

Witness protection measures should be improved and courts should ensure they take action to sanction intimidation of witnesses and victims’ relatives.

The report recommends that the Turkish parliament establish an independent truth commission to examine past abuses. It also builds on earlier recommendations by the UN, the Council of Europe, and other international bodies calling on the government to pursue a comprehensive plan to dismantle the village guard system operating in provinces of southeast Turkey. The report finds the village guard system, deeply embedded in the social and political fabric of local communities, to be a major obstacle to justice in the region.

“The Sudanese government needs to take decisive action when its forces shoot and kill students peacefully demonstrating against the government,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should denounce the illegal killings in Darfur and investigate those responsible.”

In Nyala, South Darfur, high school students started protesting on July 30 against transportation price increases. The following morning, police and national security forces dispersed the protests by shooting teargas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition at protesters, killing at least eight on the spot and injuring about 100 others.

As of August 2, at least 12 protesters had died, according to Sudanese nongovernmental groups monitoring the situation. A 16-year-old boy, a 17-year-old girl, and four other teenagers were among those killed.

The protests started at schools, then spread to the streets, with some protesters throwing rocks at police, blocking roads, and vandalizing a government building. Police and national security forces used teargas and rubber bullets and fired rifles to disperse them, witnesses told Human Rights Watch.

“Police used live ammunition against students who were just carrying signs that say, ‘People want the downfall of the regime,’” a witness told Human Rights Watch.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that security forces shall as far as possible apply nonviolent means before resorting to the use of force. Whenever the lawful use of force is necessary, the authorities should use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Lethal force may only be used when it is “strictly unavoidable in order to protect life.”

The Basic Principles also provide that “[i]n cases of death and serious injury or other grave consequences, a detailed report [on the incident] shall be sent promptly to the competent authorities responsible for administrative review and judicial control.”

On August 2, Sudan’s justice minister formed a committee to investigate the Nyala killings and present findings within two weeks. Sudan has repeatedly failed to investigate and hold those responsible for serious violations of human rights in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said.

Since June 16, Sudanese security forces have violently suppressed student-led protests throughout the country using rubber bullets, teargas, and batons. The protests started in Khartoum in response to price increases, and soon spread to other towns. Thousands have been arrested and state security forces have targeted human rights activists and other perceived opponents of the ruling party for arrest and detention.

“This is another test of Sudan’s will to end serious violations in Darfur,” Bekele said. “Authorities should immediately carry out a full and impartial investigation, and prosecute those responsible. The people of Darfur deserve nothing less.”