NewzIntel.com

Category: Law

  • MIL-OSI USA: Former FAA Contractor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Acting as an Agent of the Iranian Government

    Source: US State of North Dakota

    Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, 42, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.

    According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.

    In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university. Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.

    Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.

    In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor, working for U.S. COMPANY 1, by downloading at least 172 GB of U.S. COMPANY 1 files, which included sensitive access-controlled FAA documents related to the National Aerospace System (NAS), NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.

    Also in April 2022, in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf.

    Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26. Rahmati faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

    The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Tortorice and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: State Privacy Regulators Assemble: Attorney General Bonta Announces Bipartisan Consortium of Privacy Regulators

    Source: US State of California

    Continues commitment to protecting Californians’ privacy rights 

    OAKLAND — California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced an agreement of formal collaboration between six states and the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) to promote collaboration and information sharing in the bipartisan effort to safeguard the privacy rights of consumers. Known as the Consortium of Privacy Regulators, the group regularly discusses developments in privacy law, shared priorities, and coordinates enforcement, as appropriate, based on the members’ common interest. In forming the Consortium of Privacy Regulators, Attorney General Bonta joins the CPPA and the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Indiana, and Oregon.

    “Data knows no borders — state and nationwide coordination is vital for protecting consumers’ rights, especially in our data-driven world,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Collaborating with partners across the country provides another tool in the toolbox for my office to tackle enforcement priorities and continue safeguarding the privacy rights of Californians.”

    Privacy matters because when information or data falls into the wrong hands, it can harm people, businesses, and organizations, often financially. The risk of harm continues to grow as more consumers conduct essential tasks online, like banking, shopping, or managing medical care. Businesses that collect this personal information also create the risk of data breaches when they fail to safeguard it. Lapses in upholding privacy laws can threaten to disclose information like our financial condition, health status, and sensitive aspects of our personal lives. Anyone can become vulnerable.  

    California’s Landmark Privacy Law: The CCPA

    The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) secures increased privacy rights for California consumers, such as the right to know how businesses collect, share, and disclose their personal information. Businesses that are subject to the CCPA have specific responsibilities, including responding to consumer requests to exercise these rights and giving consumers certain notices explaining their privacy practices. Under the CCPA’s right to opt-out, businesses that sell personal data or share personal information for targeted advertising must permit consumers the right to opt-out. Exercising this right should be easy and involve minimal steps.

    Our Recent Work to Protect Californians’ Privacy 

    Attorney General Bonta is committed to educating California consumers about their right to privacy and enforcing the nation’s toughest data privacy law.  

    Last month, Attorney General Bonta issued a consumer alert to customers of 23andMe, reminding Californians of their right to direct the deletion of their genetic data under the Genetic Information Privacy Act (GIPA) and the CCPA. Also last month, Attorney General Bonta announced an ongoing investigative sweep into the location data industry, which collect and share detailed data on consumers’ location. The risk posed by the widespread collection and sale of location data has become particularly relevant given federal threats to California’s immigrant communities, and to reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare. In January, Attorney General Bonta reminded Californians of their right to stop or “opt-out” of the sale and sharing of their personal information under the CCPA.

    Attorney General Bonta has filed three enforcement actions involving alleged violations of the CCPA: 

    • In 2022, he announced a settlement with Sephora resolving allegations that it failed to disclose to consumers that it was selling their personal information and failed to process opt-out requests via user-enabled global privacy controls in violation of the CCPA.
    • In 2023, he secured a settlement with DoorDash after it sold the personal information of its customers without providing notice or the opportunity to opt-out.
    • In 2024, he worked with local partners to secure a settlement with video game developer Tilting Point Media for violating state and federal privacy laws by illegally collecting and sharing children’s data.   

    For more information about the CCPA, visit www.oag.ca.gov/ccpa. To report a violation of the CCPA to the Attorney General, consumers can submit a complaint online at www.oag.ca.gov/report.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Former FAA Contractor Pleads Guilty to Illegally Acting as an Agent of the Iranian Government

    Source: United States Attorneys General 4

    Former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) contractor Abouzar Rahmati, 42, a naturalized U.S. citizen and resident of Great Falls, Virginia, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to act and acting as an agent of the Iranian government in the United States without prior notification to the Attorney General.

    According to court documents, from at least December 2017 through June 2024, Rahmati worked with Iranian government officials and intelligence operatives to act on their behalf in the United States, including by meeting with Iranian intelligence officers in Iran, communicating with Iranian intelligence officers and government officials using a cover story to hide his conduct, obtaining employment with an FAA contractor with access to sensitive non-public information about the U.S. aviation sector, and obtaining open-source and non-public materials about the U.S. solar energy industry and providing it to Iranian intelligence officers.

    In August 2017, Rahmati offered his services to the Iranian government through a senior Iranian government official who previously worked in Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and with whom Rahmati had previously attended university. Four months later, in December 2017, Rahmati traveled to Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence operatives and government officials and agreed to obtain information about the U.S. solar energy industry, to provide that information to Iranian officials, and to conduct future communications under a cover story based on purported discussions about research with fellow academics.

    Upon returning to the United States in early 2018, Rahmati obtained various private and open-source materials related to the U.S. solar energy industry and provided them to an official from the office of Iran’s Vice President for Science and Technology in response to tasking from Iranian government officials.

    In response to tasking from Iranian officials, and in furtherance of his role as an agent of the Government of Iran, Rahmati exploited his employment as an FAA contractor, working for U.S. COMPANY 1, by downloading at least 172 GB of U.S. COMPANY 1 files, which included sensitive access-controlled FAA documents related to the National Aerospace System (NAS), NAS Airport Surveillance Radar systems, and radio frequency data. Rahmati stored those files on removable media, which he took to Iran, where he provided sensitive documents to the Government of Iran in April 2022.

    Also in April 2022, in response to tasking from Iranian government officials, Rahmati sent additional information relating to solar energy, solar panels, the FAA, U.S. airports, and U.S. air traffic control towers to his brother, who lived in Iran, so that he would provide those files to Iranian intelligence on Rahmati’s behalf.

    Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26. Rahmati faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison for acting as an agent of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General, and up to five years in prison for conspiracy. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

    Sue Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. for the District of Columbia, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

    The FBI’s Washington Field Office is investigating the case, with significant assistance from the FAA’s Office of Counterintelligence and Technical Operations.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher Tortorice and Kimberly Paschall for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorneys Beau Barnes and Alexander Wharton of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section are prosecuting the case, with significant assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Polk County Man Sentenced To 18 Years In Prison For Producing Child Sexual Abuse Material

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    Tampa, Florida – U.S. District Judge Thomas Barber has sentenced Randall Alderman (61, Lakeland) to 18 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for production and receipt of child sexual abuse material. Alderman pled guilty on September 16, 2024. 

    According to court documents, beginning in 2021, Alderman engaged in sexually explicit communications with a 13-year-old victim through a social media application. Alderman requested and received child sexual abuse material from the victim. During an interview with the FBI, Alderman admitted to communicating with and receiving sexual abuse material from the victim. The FBI located 10 videos and 7 images of child sexual abuse involving the victim on Alderman’s phone. 

    This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Courtney Derry.

    This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.  Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute individuals who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.justice.gov/psc.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Man Sentenced to 87 Months in Prison on Methamphetamine Distribution Charge

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CAPE GIRARDEAU – U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh, Jr. on Wednesday sentenced a man who was caught in a stolen car with methamphetamine and marijuana to 87 months in prison.

    On August 17, 2024, Darryl Duane Jackson, now 23, of Cairo, Illinois, was stopped by a Charleston Police Department officer on Interstate 57 in Mississippi County, Missouri. The vehicle’s license plate matched that of a stolen vehicle. Jackson, the driver and sole occupant, had $1,670 in cash. He also had 78 grams of marijuana and 752 grams of meth, or more than 1.6 pounds, in a backpack.

    Jackson pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Cape Girardeau in January to one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. This is his third felony conviction involving drug sale offenses.

    The Charleston Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Hunter prosecuted the case.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Florida Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiring to Defraud Medicare of $3.3 Million

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    CONCORD – A Florida woman pleaded guilty today in federal court in Concord in connection with her role in a conspiracy to defraud Medicare of $3.3 million, Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack announces.

    Yolanda Dupont, 38, of New Port Richey, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.  U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro scheduled sentencing for July 22, 2025.

    According to court documents, Dupont and her co-conspirators owned and operated Allstar Medical Supply Corp., a purported durable medical equipment business in New Hampshire selling orthotic braces.  As part of the conspiracy, Dupont served as the nominee owner of the business to conceal the identities of the true owners. Dupont certified that neither she nor Allstar would not submit false claims to Medicare. However, during the conspiracy, Dupont and her co-conspirators submitted, or caused the submission of, approximately $3.3 million in false and fraudulent claims for orthotic braces to Medicare. Medicare paid at least $1.6 million to Dupont and her co-conspirators for these claims.  Ultimately, Medicare beneficiaries received orthotic braces that were medically unnecessary, ineligible for reimbursement, and often not wanted or needed.

    The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 10 years in prison, 3 years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000 or twice the pecuniary gain. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General led the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Ward is prosecuting the case.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Eight Defendants Indicted in International Conspiracy to Bill $10 Million for Fraudulent Market Survey Data

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (b)

    CONCORD – An indictment has been unsealed charging eight defendants in connection with an international scheme to bill $10 million in fraudulent market survey data, Acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack announces.

    Each of the following defendants has been indicted on one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud:

    1. Frank Hayden, 57, of Evanston, Illinois.
    2. Daniel Harriman, 38, of Huntsville, Alabama.
    3. Frank Nappo, 55, of Rye, New Hampshire.
    4. Ryan Stoudt, 38, of Dallas, Texas.
    5. Katarina Grubljesic, 46, of Belgrade, Serbia.
    6. Strahinja Grubljesic, 38, of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
    7. Archie Ignacio, 46, of Verona, New Jersey.
    8. Arvind Iyer, a/k/a S. Aravindan, of Delhi, India.

    According to the indictment, Op4G and Slice were market research companies based in the United States. Clients would hire the companies to conduct market research surveys. As part of their business model, Op4G and Slice maintained “panels” consisting of individuals potentially eligible to take surveys. In 2014, Hayden, Harriman, and Nappo, who were senior leaders at Op4G, decided to increase company revenues by generating fabricated survey data. To execute the scheme, some of the defendants recruited “ants”, who pretended to be legitimate survey takers but instead were paid a nominal fee for completing surveys that produced fraudulent market research data. Some of the defendants even served as “ants” and fraudulently took large quantities of surveys themselves and received significant payment for their “ant” work.

    In or around 2018, Nappo, Hayden and others, decided that Op4G should move the fraudulent survey operation to a new company, which became Slice. By 2019, Op4G and Slice began conspiring with Iyer, a senior leader at an international company, SNWare. By 2021, Katarina Grublijesic left Op4G, but she continued to conspire with the defendants using her international company, Bright Analytic Consulting.

    To evade detection, the defendants, including Stoudt and Ignacio, exchanged instructions with each other and the “ants.” These instructions included directions on how to answer survey screener questions, provided parameters on how long “ants” should remain on surveys, and encouraged the use of virtual private network (VPN) services to conceal real IP addresses.

    Hayden, Harriman, Nappo, Stoudt, and Ignacio will appear in federal court at a later date.

    The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than 20 years in prison, up to three (3) years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

    The FBI led the investigation.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander S. Chen is prosecuting the case.

    Companies that purchased survey data from Op4G or Slice between 2014-2024 are encouraged to contact the U.S. Attorney’s office at usanh.webmail@usdoj.gov with the subject line “Slice”.

    The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Two Illegal Aliens and a Laredoan Charged with Various Firearms Offenses

    Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime Alerts (c)

    LAREDO, Texas – Three men are in custody on charges related to the discovery of various weapons and ammunition at a Laredo residence linked to another crime, announced U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei.  

    Erick Lopez-Rivera Sr., 37, and Marcos Lora-Morales, 24, both illegal aliens unlawfully residing in Laredo, and Erick Lopez Jr., 18, Laredo, are expected to make their appearances before a U.S. magistrate judge in the near future.

    The investigation began March 21 when law enforcement discovered the location of a firearm allegedly used in a crime, according to the charges. During execution of search warrant at the residence, authorities allegedly discovered two machine gun conversion devices (MCDs) and a backpack that contained magazines and ammunition that Lopez had been storing.

    MCDs convert semi-automatic handguns into fully automatic weapons.

    According to the complaint, authorities also located .38 special and .22LR ammunition linked to Lopez-Rivera Sr.

    Upon further investigation, they allegedly found a grey backpack containing a 9mm S&W handgun Lora-Morales had purchased and a Mexican passport that belonged to him in a detached structure on the property. According to the complaint, Lora-Morales had overstayed his visa and was unlawfully present in the United States.

    Lopez-Rivera Jr. is charged with possession of a machine gun, while Lopez-Rivera Sr. and Lora-Morales are facing charges of alien in possession of ammunition and alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition, respectively. Lopez-Rivera Sr. is also charged with felony reentry of an alien.

    Possession of a machine gun carries a possible 10-year prison sentence, while alien in possession of ammunition and alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition have maximum penalties of 15 years. Illegal reentry after removal has a maximum 20-year-term of imprisonment. All three men could also be ordered to pay up to $250,000 in fines, upon each count of conviction.

    Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Homeland Security Investigations, FBI and Laredo Police Department conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew P. Hakala-Finch is prosecuting the case.

    An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence. A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI: Diamondback Energy, Inc. Provides Operational Update for the First Quarter of 2025

    Source: GlobeNewswire (MIL-OSI)

    MIDLAND, Texas, April 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Diamondback Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ: FANG) (“Diamondback” or the “Company”) provided an operational update for the first quarter of 2025.

    The Company is releasing this information to provide flexibility to opportunistically continue its stock repurchase program given the current market volatility.

    FIRST QUARTER 2025 HIGHLIGHTS

    • Average production of 475.9 MBO/d (850.7 MBOE/d)
    • Average unhedged realized prices of $70.95 per barrel of oil, $23.94 per barrel of natural gas liquids and $2.11 per Mcf of natural gas
    • Average hedged realized prices of $70.06 per barrel of oil, $23.94 per barrel of natural gas liquids and $3.34 per Mcf of natural gas
    • Realized hedge gain of $85 million, with unrealized hedge gain of $141 million, resulting in total gain on derivatives of $226 million
    • Cash capital expenditures of $942 million
    • Repurchased 3,656,044 shares of common stock in Q1 2025 for $575 million, excluding excise tax (at a weighted average price of $157.15 per share); repurchased 1,560,200 shares of common stock to date in Q2 2025 for $200 million, excluding excise tax (at a weighted average price of $128.19 per share)
    • Q1 2025 weighted average basic and diluted shares outstanding (in thousands) of 289,612
    • Giving effect to the closing of the Double Eagle acquisition and share repurchases to date in the second quarter, Diamondback currently has approximately 293 million shares outstanding

    2025 OPERATING PLAN UPDATE

    Given recent market volatility, Diamondback is closely monitoring the macro environment and is actively reviewing its operating plan for the remainder of 2025. Should low commodity prices persist or worsen, Diamondback has the flexibility to reduce activity to maximize free cash flow generation. Additionally, Diamondback believes it can further lower its breakeven oil price through capital and operating cost reductions.

    The following table sets forth selected operating data for the three months ended March 31, 2025:

      Three Months Ended March 31, 2025
       
    Production Data:  
    Oil (MBbls)   42,835
    Natural gas (MMcf)   100,578
    Natural gas liquids (MBbls)   16,961
    Combined volumes (MBOE)(1)   76,559
       
    Daily oil volumes (BO/d)   475,944
    Daily combined volumes (BOE/d)   850,656
       
    Average Prices:  
    Oil ($ per Bbl) $ 70.95
    Natural gas ($ per Mcf) $ 2.11
    Natural gas liquids ($ per Bbl) $ 23.94
    Combined ($ per BOE) $ 47.77
       
    Oil, hedged ($ per Bbl)(2) $ 70.06
    Natural gas, hedged ($ per Mcf)(2) $ 3.34
    Natural gas liquids, hedged ($ per Bbl)(2) $ 23.94
    Average price, hedged ($ per BOE)(2) $ 48.89
    (1) Bbl equivalents are calculated using a conversion rate of six Mcf per Bbl.
    (2) Hedged prices reflect the effect of our commodity derivative transactions on our average sales prices and include gains and losses on cash settlements for matured commodity derivatives, which we do not designate for hedge accounting. Hedged prices exclude gains or losses resulting from the early settlement of commodity derivative contracts.
       

    Derivative Activity

    For the first quarter of 2025, Diamondback anticipates a net gain on cash settlements for derivative instruments of $85 million and a net non-cash gain on derivative instruments of $141 million as detailed in the table below (in millions):

    Gain (loss) on derivative instruments, net:  
    Commodity contracts $ 214  
    Interest rate swaps   11  
    2026 WTI Contingent Liability   2  
    Treasury locks(1)   (1 )
    Total $ 226  
       
    Net cash received (paid) on settlements:  
    Commodity contracts $ 86  
    Treasury locks(1)   (1 )
    Total $ 85  
    (1) Loss on 10 year treasury locks executed prior to, and fully settled upon, pricing of the senior notes issued in March 2025.
       

    Weighted Average Basic and Diluted Shares Outstanding

    For the first quarter of 2025, basic and diluted weighted average shares outstanding are as follows (in thousands):

    Basic weighted average shares outstanding 289,612
    Diluted weighted average shares outstanding 289,612
       

    About Diamondback Energy, Inc.

    Diamondback is an independent oil and natural gas company headquartered in Midland, Texas focused on the acquisition, development, exploration and exploitation of unconventional, onshore oil and natural gas reserves in the Permian Basin in West Texas.

    Forward-Looking Statements

    This news release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Exchange Act, which involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, including statements regarding Diamondback’s: future performance; business strategy; future operations (including drilling plans and capital plans); estimates and projections of revenues, losses, costs, expenses, returns, cash flow, and financial position; reserve estimates and its ability to replace or increase reserves; anticipated benefits or other effects of strategic transactions (including the recently completed Endeavor merger, the recently completed Double Eagle acquisition and other acquisitions or divestitures); and plans and objectives of management (including plans for future cash flow from operations and for executing environmental strategies) are forward-looking statements. When used in this news release, the words “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “guidance,” “intend,” “may,” “model,” “outlook,” “plan,” “positioned,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions (including the negative of such terms) as they relate to Diamondback are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Although Diamondback believes that the expectations and assumptions reflected in its forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made, they involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and, in many cases, beyond Diamondback’s control. Accordingly, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and Diamondback’s actual outcomes could differ materially from what Diamondback has expressed in its forward-looking statements.

    Factors that could cause the outcomes to differ materially include (but are not limited to) the following: changes in supply and demand levels for oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids, and the resulting impact on the price for those commodities; the impact of public health crises, including epidemic or pandemic diseases and any related company or government policies or actions; actions taken by the members of OPEC and Russia affecting the production and pricing of oil, as well as other domestic and global political, economic, or diplomatic developments, including any impact of the ongoing war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war on the global energy markets and geopolitical stability; instability in the financial markets; inflationary pressures; higher interest rates and their impact on the cost of capital; regional supply and demand factors, including delays, curtailment delays or interruptions of production, or governmental orders, rules or regulations that impose production limits; federal and state legislative and regulatory initiatives relating to hydraulic fracturing, including the effect of existing and future laws and governmental regulations; physical and transition risks relating to climate change; those risks described in Item 1A of Diamondback’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on February 26, 2025, and those risks disclosed in its subsequent filings on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, which can be obtained free of charge on the SEC’s website at http://www.sec.gov and Diamondback’s website at www.diamondbackenergy.com/investors.

    In light of these factors, the events anticipated by Diamondback’s forward-looking statements may not occur at the time anticipated or at all. Moreover, Diamondback operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment and new risks emerge from time to time. Diamondback cannot predict all risks, nor can it assess the impact of all factors on its business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by any forward-looking statements it may make. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this letter or, if earlier, as of the date they were made. Diamondback does not intend to, and disclaims any obligation to, update or revise any forward-looking statements unless required by applicable law.

    Investor Contact:
    Adam Lawlis
    +1 432.221.7467
    alawlis@diamondbackenergy.com

    The MIL Network –

  • MIL-Evening Report: New Aussie film The Correspondent is an extraordinary retelling of Peter Greste’s story

    Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Jean Baker, Senior Lecturer in Journalism, Monash University

    Maslow Entertainment

    The Correspondent is a film every journalist should see.

    There are no spoiler alerts. It is based on the globally-publicised jailing in Cairo in 2013 of Australian journalist Peter Greste (played by Richard Roxburgh) and his Al Jazeera English colleagues, Canadian journalist Mohamed Fahmy (Julian Maroun) and local reporter Baher Mohamed (Rahel Romahn).

    The trio were jailed for over 400 days. They were accused of allegedly working without media accreditation, spreading fake news in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and associating with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

    Skilfully directed by Kriv Stenders, The Correspondent follows Greste’s 2017 memoir. Roxburgh’s performance as the embattled journalist is breathtaking and career defining. With a tight screenplay by Peter Duncan, the film is a masterclass in political subtlety.

    Authenticity in truth telling

    At its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival in October, Greste said The Correspondent “paid huge respect” to his memoir.

    The film begins with Greste’s surprise arrest in 2013 by Egyptian authorities at the Marriott hotel in Cairo. This is juxtaposed with historical snippets of the Arab Spring uprising in Tahrir Square in January 2011, which ended the 30-year dictatorship of President Hosni Mubarak.

    The next president after Mubarak was Mohamed Morsi, leader of the Freedom and Justice Party. This party was affiliated with the Brotherhood, the country’s oldest and largest Islamist organisation.

    In June 2013, a militarised coup d’état in Egypt was led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime. Morsi was jailed by the freshly minted President al-Sisi. By December, the Brotherhood was blacklisted and declared a terrorist organisation.

    The Correspondent argues the Al Jazeera English journalists were political pawns for the new Egyptian regime. The regime had a problematic relationship with its wealthy neighbour, Qatar, a country that partially funds Al Jazeera and publicly supported the Muslim Brotherhood.

    Working from a media bunker in the Marriott because their offices were subject to a series of raids and closed down by local police, the trio were accused of illegally mastering a grand conspiracy against al-Sisi’s authoritarian regime.

    Struggle for justice and risky business

    Set between the grimy underworld of the Egyptian jail and the endless circus of Egyptian court trials, The Correspondent is a look into the psychological torment of Greste and his colleagues.

    Between card playing, sarcastic humour and planned hunger strikes, the ritual reality of cell life sets in. Friendships are tested and forged between the journalists, student activist detainees and prison authorities.

    Greste spent decades writing headlines from conflict zones before becoming a headline himself.

    A repetitive motif in The Correspondent is Greste’s flashbacks to his BBC
    days during 2005 in Mogadishu, Somalia, where his producer Kate Peyton (Yael Stone) was killed outside the Sahafi Hotel. In these flashbacks, we are privy to Greste’s guilt-driven internal monologues.

    Roxburgh’s performance as the embattled journalist is breathtaking and career defining.
    Maslow Entertainment

    In three studies, I examined the reportage by the ABC, the BBC and the Al Jazeera network about Greste’s case. Across these publications, the safety of journalists received minimal coverage.

    Coverage focused on the innocence of the trio, impact of Greste’s sentencing on his ageing parents and press freedom. All these facets of the story are reflected in The Correspondent.

    Safety of journalists

    The Correspondent is a wake-up call about the safety of journalists.

    This month, the International Federation of Journalists said at least 156 journalists and media workers have been killed in the current war in Palestine. In December, the Committee to Protect Journalists put the number at more than 137, “making it the deadliest period for journalists since [the committee] began gathering data in 1992”.

    Imprisonment of a Western foreign correspondent often generates international headlines, but most journalists who are imprisoned are local journalists. Foreign correspondents rely on these local journalists, wrote Greste, “when they land in a new, dangerous environment”.

    In focusing tightly on Greste, the film omits the story of the local journalists imprisoned at the same time.
    Maslow Entertainment

    Local journalists hold power to account, as Greste describes it in “ways far more dangerous than any of us in more secure environments could possibly imagine”.

    In focusing tightly on Greste’s story, The Correspondent fails to shine a light on the dozens of local journalists imprisoned at the same time.

    As Greste said during the #FreeAJStaff campaign:

    Rarely have so many of us been imprisoned and beaten up, intimidated or murdered in the course of our duties.

    The Correspondent is an extraordinary film about human resilience and the importance of global diplomacy in the ongoing fight for press freedom.

    The Correspondent is in cinemas from today.

    Andrea Jean Baker does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

    – ref. New Aussie film The Correspondent is an extraordinary retelling of Peter Greste’s story – https://theconversation.com/new-aussie-film-the-correspondent-is-an-extraordinary-retelling-of-peter-grestes-story-237476

    MIL OSI Analysis – EveningReport.nz –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Private Investigator Sentenced to Prison for Interstate Stalking and Harassment of Chinese Nationals on Behalf of the People’s Republic of China

    Source: United States Department of Justice

    Today, in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, Michael McMahon, 57, of Mahwah, New Jersey, was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay an $11,000 fine for acting as an illegal agent of the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and interstate stalking and conspiracy to commit the same, for his participation in a scheme to coerce repatriation of a U.S. resident to the PRC as part of its international repatriation effort known as “Operation Fox Hunt.” McMahon and co-defendants Zhu Yong, 68, of East Elmhurst, New York, and Congying Zheng, 29, of Brooklyn, were convicted by a federal jury in June 2023 following a three-week trial. In January 2025, Zhu and Zheng were sentenced respectively to 24 months and 16 months in prison.

    As proven at trial, between approximately 2016 and 2019, the defendants and their co-conspirators participated in an international campaign to threaten, harass, surveil, and intimidate John Doe #1 and his family in order to force him and his wife, Jane Doe #1, to return to the PRC to face purported corruption charges. Beginning in 2012, John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 had been targeted for repatriation as part of the PRC’s transnational repression programs known as “Operation Fox Hunt” and “Operation Sky Net.” John Doe #1 and his family had accordingly sought to keep their address out of public records.

    Zhu hired McMahon, a retired NYPD sergeant working as a private investigator, to locate John Doe #1. McMahon obtained sensitive information about John Doe #1, which he then reported back to Zhu and others, including a PRC police officer. McMahon also conducted surveillance outside the New Jersey home of John Doe #1’s relative and provided Zhu and PRC officials with detailed reports of what he observed. The operation was supervised and directed by several PRC officials, including a PRC police officer and a PRC prosecutor.

    As McMahon knew, the operation was intended not only to locate John Doe #1, but to coerce him to return to the PRC by exerting pressure on his family members. In April 2017, PRC officials threatened to jail John Doe #1’s sister, who lived in the PRC, in order to coerce John Doe #1’s then-82-year-old father to travel from the PRC to their relative’s home in New Jersey. John Doe #1’s father, who had recently suffered a brain hemorrhage, was so frail that a doctor accompanied him for the trip. McMahon followed John Doe #1’s father from the relative’s New Jersey home, and, by doing so, was able to learn John Doe #1’s address. McMahon immediately provided this information to a PRC operative.

    On Sept. 4, 2018, Zheng and another co-conspirator drove to the New Jersey residence of John Doe #1 and Jane Doe #1 – at the address that McMahon had provided – where they pounded on the front door, attempted to enter the house, and then peered through the windows in the back of the home. They left a note on the front door informing John Doe #1 that his “wife and children will be okay” if John Doe #1 surrendered himself to face a ten-year prison term in the PRC.

    McMahon knew that the subjects of his investigation were wanted by the PRC government, a fact that he texted about with another investigator he contracted to help him. Following his arrest, McMahon acknowledged knowing that his employers wanted to get the victim back to China “so they could prosecute him.” After providing the victims’ address, McMahon told his surveillance partner that he was “waiting for a call” to find out what to do next. McMahon’s partner responded, “Yeah. From NJ State Police about an abduction,” to which McMahon responded “Lol.”  McMahon later suggested to a PRC co-conspirator that they “harass” John Doe #1 by “[p]ark[ing] outside his home and let[ting] him know we are there.” McMahon took other investigative steps designed to harass the victims, such as researching their daughter’s university residence and college major. McMahon was paid more than $19,000 in total for his role in the illegal repatriation scheme. In an apparent attempt to conceal the source, McMahon deposited payments from his PRC clients into his son’s bank account, the only time he had done so with client payments.

    Previously, three co-defendants pleaded guilty in connection with their roles in the PRC-directed harassment and intimidation campaign. They are awaiting sentencing.

    Sue J. Bai, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, U.S. Attorney John J. Durham for the Eastern District of New York, and Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division made the announcement.

    The FBI New York Field Office investigated the case, with valuable assistance provided by the Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service.

    Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith A. Arfa and Irisa Chen for the Eastern District of New York are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorneys Christine A. Bonomo and Scott A. Claffee of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section. Paralegal Specialist Rebecca Roth for the Eastern District of New York provided valuable assistance.

    The FBI has created a website for victims to report efforts by foreign governments to stalk, intimidate, or assault people in the United States. If you believe that you are or have been a victim of transnational repression, please visit the FBI’s website.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Lakelands — Update: Missing man located deceased

    Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police

    The 47-year-old New Minas man who was reported missing April 13 in Lakelands has been located deceased.

    Criminality is not believed to be a factor.

    East Hants District RCMP appreciated partnership with Ground Search & Rescue teams during this investigation.

    Our thoughts are with the man’s family at this difficult time.

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Congressman Lawler Reflects on the First 100 Days of the 119th Congress

    Source: US Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17)

    Pearl River, N.Y. – 4/15/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) released the following statement to reflect on his first 100 days in office during the 119th Congress, highlighting key legislative successes, community engagement, and ongoing work to deliver results for the people of the Hudson Valley.

    In his first 100 days, Congressman Lawler introduced 21 pieces of legislation and cosponsored 232 bills. Some of his most significant legislative achievements include the Laken Riley Act, which was signed into law, and the Enhanced Iran Sanctions Act and Remote Access Security Act, which passed through the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) with unanimous support. Additionally, he was appointed Vice Chair of Communications for the Financial Services Committee and Chairman of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee of HFAC, chairing his first full HFAC hearing on the return to ‘Maximum Pressure’ on Iran.

    Congressman Lawler’s efforts extend beyond legislative work. He played a pivotal role in working with the White House to fight to end congestion pricing in New York City and is actively leading efforts to lift the SALT Cap, directly involved in the House negotiations on the tax bill.

    In addition to his legislative work, Congressman Lawler has been active in the community, making dozens of visits to events throughout the district. He also hosted a record-breaking teletown hall where over 4,000 participants joined in live to ask hundreds of questions. He has also helped close over 800 constituent cases, bringing $2.5 million back to constituents in the district. He also announced four in-person, countywide town halls, which will bring him to a total of 12 through his first two and a half years in Congress.

    “I’m proud of the progress we’ve made in these first 100 days,” said Congressman Lawler. “From introducing key legislation to advancing bills through committee, I am delivering on my commitments to the people of NY-17.”

    “I won’t stop fighting for the Hudson Valley, and I look forward to more bipartisan wins for my constituents in the coming weeks and months,” concluded Lawler.

    Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

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    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Lawler Calls For Action to Protect LIHEAP Amid Staff Layoffs Threatening New York Families

    Source: US Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17)

    Washington, D.C. – 4/15/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17) sent a letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing concern about the reported layoffs of staff responsible for administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which is a service that plays a vital role in assisting Hudson Valley families with their energy costs, particularly during the winter and summer months. 

    The letter primarily sought to address concerns about any potential disruption of funding distribution to states, territories, and tribal organizations, with an emphasis on the impact any disruptions could have on New York’s most vulnerable populations.

    “Although the approximately 20 to 24 LIHEAP staff members represent only a small portion of the broader HHS layoffs, their departure raises serious concerns about the program’s capacity to operate effectively,” wrote Congressman Lawler (NY-17). 

    “In FY2023, LIHEAP staff within the Office of Community Services helped to administer $600 Million in vital funds to New Yorkers  — providing energy assistance to approximately 1.1 million households, including 492,572 households with seniors, 391,776 households with individuals with disabilities, and 182,696 households that included a young child,” continued Lawler.

    “I respectfully urge you to ensure that the necessary personnel and resources remain in place to support LIHEAP’s continued success,” the lawmaker concluded. 

    Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

    ###

    The full letter can be found HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Chairman Lawler Urges Trump Administration to Redline Iranian Nuclear Enrichment

    Source: US Congressman Mike Lawler (R, NY-17)

    Washington, D.C. – 4/16/2025… Today, Congressman Mike Lawler (NY-17), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, sent a letter to U.S. Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, urging him to reject any nuclear agreement with Iran that allows the regime to retain enrichment capabilities or reverts to the failed policies of the past.

    The letter was sent in response to Witkoff’s recent appearance on Fox News, where he appeared to entertain the idea of allowing Iran to enrich uranium up to 3.67% under a future agreement, with verification mechanisms in place. In his letter, Lawler condemned such a framework as dangerously reminiscent of the failed Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

    “‘Peace through strength’ and ‘maximum pressure’ require the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, as well as the full implementation of sanctions on Iran and Iran’s enablers. Anything less would be appeasement and a betrayal of U.S. national security interests and the security of our partners in the region, including Israel and Saudi Arabia,” wrote Chairman Lawler.

    “A return to the JCPOA or a similar arrangement will hurt our long-term goals in the Middle East and enable the Iranian regime to further develop and fund its malign activities. The stakes could not be higher,” Chairman Lawler concluded in his letter.

    Congressman Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and represents New York’s 17th Congressional District, which is just north of New York City and contains all or parts of Rockland, Putnam, Dutchess, and Westchester Counties. He was rated the most effective freshman lawmaker in the 118th Congress, 8th overall, surpassing dozens of committee chairs.

    ###

    The full letter can be found HERE

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Canada: Assault on inmate at Millhaven Institution 

    Source: Government of Canada News

    April 16, 2025 – Bath, Ontario – Correctional Service Canada

    On April 15, 2025, an inmate was the victim of an assault at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-level security federal institution.

    The injured inmate was evaluated by staff members and transported to an outside hospital to receive treatment.

    The Ontario Provincial Police and the institution are currently investigating.

    No staff members or other inmates were injured during this incident.

    The safety and security of institutions, their staff, and the public remains the highest priority in the operations of the federal correctional system.

    In order to improve practices aimed at preventing this type of incident, the Correctional Service of Canada will review the circumstances of the incident and take the appropriate measures.

    MIL OSI Canada News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Former Gambian solider convicted on torture charges in unprecedented US trial, following ICE investigation

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    DENVER — A former member of the Gambian military was convicted April 15 on torture charges, following his involvement in crimes committed while the West African country’s then-President, Yahya Jammeh, was still in power.

    Michael Sang Correa, 46, was indicted in 2020 and is the first non-United States citizen to be convicted under the U.S. criminal torture law. He was found guilty of inflicting torture on specific individuals as well as conspiring to commit torture against suspected opponents of Jammeh’s while serving in a military unit within the Gambia Armed Forces known as the “Junglers.”

    “Correa’s crimes caught up with him today,” said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations Denver Special Agent in Charge Steve Cagen, who also oversees Colorado, Montana and Wyoming. “Correa chose the wrong country to try to escape from justice. HSI actively investigates and apprehends human rights violators who run from their criminal pasts and come here. We have a zero-tolerance policy for human rights violators.”

    “Michael Sang Correa tried to evade responsibility for his crimes in The Gambia by coming to the United States and hiding his past,” said Matthew R. Galeotti, Head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “But we found him, we investigated him, and we prosecuted him. The lesson is: if you commit violent crimes — let alone torture or other human rights violations — do not come to the United States. If you do, the Department of Justice, together with its law enforcement partners, will leave no stone unturned to see that your crimes are exposed and justice is served. I thank the jurors for their service and the witnesses for the courage to relive the horror they experienced at Correa’s hands.”

    “The torture inflicted by Michael Sang Correa and his co-conspirators is abhorrent,” said acting U.S. Attorney J. Bishop Grewell for the District of Colorado. “Today’s verdict shows you can’t get away with coming to Colorado to hide from your past crimes. The jurors are to be commended for their service throughout this trial and the witnesses for traveling so far to serve the interests of justice.”

    Evidence presented at trial proved that in March 2006, shortly after a failed coup attempt, Correa and his co-conspirators transported the victims to Gambia’s main prison, known as Mile 2 Prison, where they subjected the victims to severe physical and mental abuses.

    For the rest of the month of March and well into April 2006, Correa and his co-conspirators beat, stabbed, burned and electrocuted the victims, among other horrific acts. One victim testified that he had his thigh burned by hot, molten plastic; the Junglers also placed the victim in a large bag, suspended him in the air, and dropped him to the ground. Another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators suffocated him with a plastic bag and put the barrel of a pistol in his mouth. In addition to suffocation from plastic bags, another victim testified that Correa and his co-conspirators electrocuted him on his body, including his genitals; hanged him upside down and beat him in that position; and stabbed him in the shoulder. A fourth victim endured electrocution and was hit in the head with a pistol. A fifth victim testified that he had cigarettes extinguished into his skin, experienced electrocution, and that he was struck in the face with a hammer.

    Correa came to the U.S. in December 2016, eventually settling in Denver. Having overstayed his visa, ICE arrested Correa in 2019 and subsequently placed him in removal proceedings.

    Correa faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each of the five torture counts and the count of conspiracy to commit torture. He will remain in U.S. custody pending his sentencing.

    ICE HSI Denver investigated this case, with support from HSI agents in Dakar, Senegal, as well as personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Banjul and the FBI Legal Attaché in Dakar. The Human Rights Violators and War Crimes Center also provided significant support. Established in 2009, the HRVWCC leverages the expertise of criminal investigators, attorneys, historians, intelligence analysts and federal partners to provide a whole of government approach to prevent the U.S. from becoming a haven for individuals who commit war crimes, genocide, torture and other human rights abuses around the globe.

    Currently, ICE has more than 180 active investigations into suspected human rights violators and is pursuing more than 1,945 leads and removals cases involving suspected human rights violators from 95 different countries. The center has issued more than 79,000 lookouts since 2003, for potential perpetrators of human rights abuses and stopped over 390 human rights violators and war crimes suspects from entering the U.S.

    Members of the public who have information about foreign nationals suspected of engaging in human rights abuses or war crimes are urged to call the ICE Tip Line at 1-866-DHS-2-ICE (1-866-347-2423) or internationally at 001-1802-872-6199. You can also email HRV.ICE@ice.dhs.gov or complete the online tip form.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: ICE San Juan arrests 5 illegal aliens at a Vega Baja construction site

    Source: US Immigration and Customs Enforcement

    VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with support from the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations, Office of Field Operations, U.S. Border Patrol, Vega Baja Municipal Police, and the Puerto Rico Police Bureau, arrested five illegal aliens April 10 during a targeted worksite enforcement operation in Vega Baja.

    The multiagency operation took place at a construction worksite where one Haitian national and four Dominican nationals were taken into custody. All five individuals are currently being held by ICE pending removal proceedings.

    “Through worksite enforcement investigations, ICE often uncovers more than just unauthorized employment — many cases reveal serious crimes like document fraud, human smuggling, and human trafficking,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations San Juan Special Agent in Charge Rebecca González-Ramos. “Following the president’s executive order, ICE San Juan will continue enforcing the immigration laws in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

    ICE officials emphasized the agency’s continued focus to identifying public safety and national security threats. Individuals unlawfully present in the United States who are encountered during enforcement operations may be taken into custody and processed for removal in accordance with federal law.

    Members of the public with information about suspected immigration violations or related criminal activity are encouraged to contact the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE (866-347-2423) or submit information online via the ICE tip form.

    For more information about ICE HSI San Juan and its efforts to enhance public safety in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, follow: Instagram: @HSISanJuan Facebook: @HSISanJuanPR X: @HSISanJuan

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI Security: Mississippi Firm to Pay $1,207,600 to Resolve Disaster Recovery Claims

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston announced today that Horne LLP, of Ridgeland, Mississippi, has agreed to pay the United States $1,207,600 to resolve civil allegations that it received improper payments from federal disaster recovery grant funds in connection with disaster recovery services it provided in 2017 and 2018 in West Virginia.

    On June 23, 2016, portions of the Southern District of West Virginia experienced extreme levels of rainfall, resulting in historic flooding over a vast swath of the region. Flood waters rushing across West Virginia’s mountainous landscape damaged or swept away thousands of homes, businesses, bridges and other infrastructure, leaving thousands of West Virginia residents homeless and at least 23 dead. Following a presidential disaster declaration issued in response to the flooding, Congress appropriated funds for disaster recovery in West Virginia to be administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the form of Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds. These funds were made available to fund an array of recovery needs in West Virginia including housing rehabilitation and replacement for low income homeowners.

    Soon after CDBG-DR funds were appropriated, Horne was selected by the West Virginia Development Office (WVDO) to develop the state’s Action Plan for use of the disaster recovery grant funds. Horne is an accounting and professional services firm specializing in administering state and federal disaster recovery programs across the United States. Horne’s contract with the State of West Virginia included task orders requiring Horne to assist the WVDO in developing a CDBG-DR Action Plan which were to be used to secure additional project funding and to provide program guidance, design and development services. The contract which provided for total compensation of $900,000 was approved by the West Virginia Department of Administration Purchasing Division (WVDAPD). 

    Although the contract provided for total compensation of $900,000, additional “task orders” were added to the contract that inflated the cost of the contract to more than $18,000,000. As a result of these additions, Horne was awarded responsibility for the housing rehabilitation program, which was later re-branded as “Rise West Virginia Housing Restoration Program” (WV-HRP or “RISE”).

    The RISE program came under scrutiny in late 2017 when Horne’s contract was reviewed by the West Virginia Department of Administration Purchasing Division. During the review, it was discovered that Horne’s original contract price had ballooned from $900,000 to more than $18,000,000 without competitive bidding, review, or approval by the WVDAPD or the West Virginia Attorney General’s Office.

    The administration of then-Gov. Jim Justice declared the additional work orders to be illegal, and that Horne could not be paid for any services competed under them. This prompted Horne to seek to sell the data it had generated through its operations in West Virginia to the government at a price intended to reflect the value of its prior services. Horne submitted an invoice totaling $6,739,575, and the invoice was paid on November 6, 2018, from the federal CDBG-DR funds.

    After Horne transmitted its project data to state officials, investigators discovered that many of the services sold to the sate were problematic. In particular, investigators discovered that many of the “personal consultations,” included on Horne’s invoice at $950 each, were for cold calls that resulted in a finding of “no unmet need.” Despite a quick call confirming the homeowner had no need of Horne’s services, Horne created an applicant file for each person, complete with fictitious birthdates, social security numbers, and fake signatures on legal documents. Investigators also found that in some cases these personal consultations were actually performed by staff for Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD), not Horne. Investigators found that approximately 48 of the physical property inspections, costing the government $1,850 each, were for vacant lots where an inspection was not required. Similarly, Horne billed $1,650 for each of 72 repair estimates where there was nothing to repair.

    The Settlement Agreement announced today requires Horne to pay $1,207,600 to resolve the government’s claims.

    “Thousands of West Virginians remained in need after historic flooding damaged or destroyed their homes, and the Horne firm took advantage of the situation,” said Acting United States Attorney Lisa G. Johnston. “This settlement agreement is a result of the excellent work by HUD-OIG and the West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations, our office’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement and Health Care Fraud Investigative Specialist Tyler E. Japhet, and Assistant United States Attorney Gregory P. Neil.”

    “The alleged actions of Horne, LLP undermine the mission of HUD’s disaster recovery efforts and takes critical resources away from those who need them the most,” said Special Agent-in-Charge Shawn Rice with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). “HUD OIG is committed to partnering with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to pursue accountability for those who seek to exploit federal programs.”

    “The Commission on Special Investigations began investigating the handling of flood related disaster assistance in December of 2018,” said West Virginia Commission on Special Investigations Director Rick Eplin. “Investigators conducted interviews and documented conditions throughout 12 counties in West Virginia touched by the flooding. Investigators documented tragic stories from the families whose homes were destroyed by flood waters. They were struck by the resiliency of the citizens and their commitment to their communities. In the course of the investigation, it was determined that data collected by Horne did not accurately reflect the conditions and circumstances observed by CSI investigators. In partnership with the HUD Office of Inspector General and the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia a positive resolution was achieved.”

    A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia.

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    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI Security: St. Paul Man Sentenced to 24 Years in Prison for Paying and Directing a Woman in the Philippines to Produce Child Sexual Abuse Material

    Source: Office of United States Attorneys

    ST. PAUL, Minn. – Jason Speed of St. Paul, Minnesota, has been sentenced to 292 months in prison followed by 15 years of supervised release for solicitation and production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM), announced Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick.

    According to court documents, between January 2020 through February 2024, Jason Miller Speed, 42, solicited the production of child pornography over the internet. During that time, Speed conducted an online relationship with an adult woman located in the Philippines. In exchange for money from Speed, and under his direction, the woman produced CSAM content featuring minor victims under the age of 12. Speed was aware the victims were minors. Through cooperation with the FBI’s International Operations division, local authorities were able to rescue the minor victims.

    “Child predators are conniving, creative, and profoundly dangerous. Speed lived in our community and lurked in the dark corners of the internet. From his perch in St. Paul, Speed victimized little children halfway around the world,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Lisa D. Kirkpatrick. “While I am appalled at Speed’s predation, I am extraordinarily proud of the above-and-beyond efforts of law enforcement in this case. Because of the heroic efforts of the FBI and AUSA Will Mattessich, the young victims in the Philippines were rescued from a life of sexual torture.”

    “Speed’s actions were calculated, exploitative, and deeply disturbing,” said Special Agent in Charge Alvin M. Winston Sr. of FBI Minneapolis. “He knowingly financed and directed the creation of content that victimized innocent children. The FBI, in close coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to pursue those who exploit minors. We remain unyielding in our commitment to identifying offenders, dismantling these networks of abuse, and ensuring perpetrators are brought to justice.”

    Speed pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting the production of child pornography. He was sentenced in U.S. District Court by Judge Jeffrey M. Bryan. In handing down the sentence Judge Bryan noted, “What happened to the two minor children is appalling and it is horrific.”

    This case is the result of an investigation conducted by the FBI, Maplewood Police Department, St. Paul Police Department, and the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. It was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by U.S. Attorneys’ Offices, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Justice.gov/PSC.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney William C. Mattessich prosecuted the case. 

    MIL Security OSI –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy, Blumenthal, Courtney, DeLauro, Hayes, 171 Colleagues Introduce Bicameral Legislation To Raise Minimum Wage To $17 By 2030, Benefitting Nearly 22 Million Americans

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and U.S. Representatives Joe Courtney (D-Conn.-02), Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.-03), and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.-05) joined 171 members of Congress and 85 organizations from across the country in introducing the Raise the Wage Act of 2025. This bicameral legislation would ensure American workers make a living wage, drive economic growth, and reduce income inequality by raising the minimum wage to $17 for all workers and gradually eliminating subminimum wages for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, and youth workers. The minimum wage in Connecticut is $16.35 per hour.

    “It’s shameful that there are millions of people in this country who work full-time jobs and yet they can’t afford rent or pay for their groceries. Raising the federal minimum wage to $17 would help 42,000 workers in Connecticut keep up with the cost of living, but it’s just a start. Our economy is failing working people, and I will keep fighting for a future where hard work gives everyone in this country a fair shot at the American Dream,” said Murphy.

    “Low wages have impoverished workers in our country for too long. Raising the minimum wage would drive much-needed economic growth, reduce wealth inequality, and raise 22 million Americans across the country out of poverty. I’m proud to support the Raise the Wage Act and I urge my colleagues to do the same because working class Americans deserve economic security,” said Blumenthal.

    “American workers have gone for more than a decade without a raise in the federal minimum wage,” said Courtney. “At a pitiful $7.25 an hour, the current federal minimum wage does not provide working people with a paycheck that meets the true cost of living. Increasing the minimum wage and indexing it to inflation will go a long way to helping 42,000 Connecticut workers meet their basic needs. ”

    “Working-class Americans are struggling with the high cost of living, and Democrats are moving policies to put more money in their pockets right now,” said DeLauro. “The Raise the Wage Act would ensure the minimum wage is $17 for all workers, strengthening economic security for workers across America – including the 42,000 minimum wage earners in Connecticut. I am proud to join my colleagues in championing this critical legislation.”

    “Connecticut has been ahead of the curve in providing workers with a livable wage,” said Hayes. “The benefits of raising the federal minimum wage would be far-reaching, as there has been no change since 2009 at the federal level. A person who works should be paid a living wage that meets their basic needs.”

    Last year, nearly one in four workers in the U.S. made less than $17 per hour. The Raise the Wage Act of 2025 would raise the federal minimum wage to $17 over five years, eliminate the tipped subminimum wage over seven years, eliminate the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities over five years, and eliminate the subminimum wage for youth workers over seven years. According to analysis by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), passing the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 would provide raises to over 22 million workers across the country by 2030.

    In 2024, voters in Missouri and Alaska overwhelmingly voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2022, voters in Nebraska voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. In 2020, Florida voted to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. As a result of inflation, $15 an hour a couple of years ago would be over $18 an hour today. Moreover, if the minimum wage had increased with worker productivity over the last 57 years, it would be over $23 an hour today, not $7.25 an hour.

    Over the last 50 years, nearly $80 trillion in wealth has been redistributed from the bottom 90 percent of America to the top one percent. Today, the value of the current federal minimum wage – $7.25 per hour – is the lowest it has been since 1956 and has declined by over 32 percent since it was last increased in 2009. While approximately four million tipped workers in the U.S. depend on tips for as much as half of their income or more, the tipped sub-minimum wage has remained stagnant at just $2.13 per hour since 1991. The current median wage for at least 37,000 workers with disabilities is just $3.50 per hour.

    Meanwhile, across every state in the country, a living wage for a worker in a family with two working adults and one child is greater than $17 per hour, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s (EPI) Family Budget Calculator. Many of these low-wage workers face persistent economic insecurity, struggling to put food on the table and afford basic necessities, including housing, health care, and childcare.

    Black and Hispanic workers disproportionately feel the burden of these low wages as compared to their white counterparts, and that disparity is even worse for women of color. Nearly 40 percent of Hispanic women and 35 percent of Black women make less than $17 per hour.

    U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) also cosponsored the legislation.

    More than 85 organizations endorsed the Raise the Wage Act of 2025, including Service Employees International Union (SEIU), AFL-CIO, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Autistic Self Advocacy Network (ASAN), Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, Communications Workers of America (CWA), Economic Policy Institute (EPI), Equal Pay Today, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), National Education Association (NEA), National Employment Law Project (NELP), The National Partnership for Women & Families, National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), One Fair Wage, Oxfam America, Patriotic Millionaires, UNITE HERE, United Autoworkers (UAW), United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), United for Respect, and United Steelworkers (USW).

    The full bill text is available HERE and a fact sheet is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy On TIME 100 Honoree Connecticut’s Josh Koskoff: The Lawyer Who Took On The Gun Industry— And Won

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    April 16, 2025

    For almost two decades, the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act prevented gun manufacturers from being held accountable for their role in the uniquely American epidemic of gun violence. Josh Koskoff, a feisty, public-­interest-minded lawyer in Connecticut, dared to challenge what was believed to be an impenetrable shield—and won.

    When Josh agreed to help the families of Sandy Hook victims take on Remington, the company that manufactured and marketed the AR-15-style rifle used to murder 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., he knew it would be an uphill battle. But in 2022, his novel approach won a $73?­million settlement for the families.

    Josh’s arguments—focused on corporate misconduct, not the Second Amendment—have become the model for holding the gun industry to account. In May, he filed lawsuits on behalf of Uvalde, Texas, families against gun manufacturer Daniel Defense, Meta, and Activision for their alleged roles in marketing AR-15-style rifles to a teenager who turned 18 just minutes before purchasing that rifle. No amount of money will bring back loved ones. But Josh gives the families he represents a real chance to seek justice.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Murphy, Blumenthal, 27 Colleagues Introduce Legislation To Expand Childcare Relief To Families

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator for Connecticut – Chris Murphy

    April 16, 2025

    WASHINGTON—U.S. Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) joined 27 of their Senate colleagues in introducing the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Enhancement Act, legislation to help more working families cover a greater share of the high cost of childcare.

    The senators’ bill would help ease the burden of high childcare costs for working families by permanently expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, raising the maximum credit to $4,000 per child and up to $8,000 per family to offset up to $16,000 in expenses. It would also make the credit refundable to ensure low-income working families can benefit. The credit would be indexed to inflation to retain its value over time.

    “The cost of child care in this country is astronomical, even for millions of Americans who are working full-time to provide for their family. Permanently expanding the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit would offer some relief to parents in Connecticut and across the country trying to keep up with the skyrocketing cost of care,” said Murphy.

    “As the Trump Administration slashes child care funding, we need to fight for even greater investment in this critical resource – sadly unaffordable for countless families. Expanding access to high quality child care is a tremendous boon not only for young children, but also for families, enabling parents to be breadwinners and assets to the workforce. It’s a sound investment and force multiplier for the economy at a time when businesses need more workers,” said Blumenthal.

    The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit Enhancement Act would:

    1. Increase the maximum credit amount to $4,000 per child, allowing families to receive up to $8,000 in tax credits to offset up to $16,000 in expenses;
    2. Automatically adjust it to keep pace with inflation;
    3. Save money by phasing out the credit for families making more than $400,000; and
    4. Ensure low-income families can benefit from the tax credit by making it refundable.

    U.S. Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Angus King (I-Maine), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) also cosponsored the legislation.

    The bill is also endorsed by the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, Child Care Aware of America, Save the Children, First Focus Campaign for Children, First Five Years Fund, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Moms Rising, National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), Zero to Three, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC).  

    Full text of the legislation is available HERE.

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI USA: Welch Speaks at Georgetown Law School on Executive Power and the Rule of Law 

    US Senate News:

    Source: United States Senator Peter Welch (D-Vermont)
    WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and a former public defender, last week joined the Georgetown Law Journal for a conversation on executive overreach and the judiciary’s role in the impending constitutional crisis. Senator Welch spoke on President Trump’s abuse of executive power and the breakdown of norms and independence of the judiciary. He also urged law students at Georgetown to push back on the Administration’s brazen lawlessness by working for law firms that stand up for the rule of law. 
    Senator Welch was joined at the event by Visiting Professor Mary McCord, Executive Director of the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection (ICAP), and Stephen I. Vladeck, the Agnes Williams Sesquicentennial Professor of Federal Courts. The conversation was moderated by Mark Joseph Stern, Legal Reporter for Slate Magazine.   
    “The Republicans’ fealty is to Trump. And it’s like everybody that has been appointed by the President has taken an Oath of Allegiance to him…And it’s really putting in stark relief that there’s limits on even what the Constitution can protect us from. Because of the norms breakdown—just those agreements that we have, without even being explicit, that there’s a free election, there’s a peaceful transfer of power—and the Constitution doesn’t protect us. That’s actually the biggest shock to me,” said Senator Welch during the event.  
    “So, this is extremely ominous, and it is the institutional breakdown. You know, I just can’t fathom being a member of an organization, like I’m a Member of Congress, and us giving up our authority without a huge fight. That has to be something that binds Republicans and Democrats together because the separation of powers really does matter in the end. The concentration of power in one place—I mean, this is the whole point that was made in Federalist Papers—is incredibly dangerous and what we’re seeing played out right now.” 
    View photos from the event below:
    Watch a recording of the event here. 

    MIL OSI USA News –

  • MIL-OSI United Nations: Experts of the Committee against Torture Commend Armenia on Proactively Addressing Issues in Prisons, Raise Questions on Ensuring Police Accountability for Excessive Use of Force and Tackling the Criminal Subculture in Prisons

    Source: United Nations – Geneva

    The Committee against Torture today concluded its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Armenia.  Committee Experts commended the State on proactively addressing issues in its main prisons, while raising questions on ensuring the accountability of police officers for excessive use of force and tackling the criminal subculture within prisons. 

    Anna Racu, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the Committee welcomed the swift and constructive response by the Armenian authorities regarding the “quarantine” and disciplinary blocks at Artik Prison, which were promptly closed for refurbishment, ensuring that these areas no longer remained in a state of severe disrepair.  This proactive approach to addressing immediate concerns was commendable.

    Peter Kessing, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said it had been reported that there were still cases where the police used excessive force in conflict with the Convention.  Were audio or video recordings of police interrogation mandatory?  Were taped interrogations routinely reviewed to identify potential instances and acts of torture?  What initiatives had Armenia taken to prevent excessive use of force, including lethal force, by the police in future demonstrations and protests? 

    Ms. Racu said in Armenia, the influence of the criminal subculture significantly undermined the reputation of the prison administration.  What measures had been taken by the Government to break down the informal hierarchies and criminal gangs and networks that had an informal power in many of Armenia’s penitentiary institutions?  What steps were being taken to ensure that all prisoners, regardless of their social status or affiliations, had equal protection under the law and were not subject to discrimination or abuse, including sexual abuse by other inmates or informal leaders?  What measures were being taken to address corruption among prison staff?

    The delegation said in 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was established as a civilian oversight body over the police.  It was responsible for areas of public safety, security and disaster risk management, and was driven by the objective of introducing human rights-based approaches in policing and public services.  The large-scale use of video surveillance in police operations ensured accountability of the police.  Patrol police wore body cameras all the time, acknowledged by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture as an important tool for the prevention of torture.

    The delegation said Armenia had produced a draft bill which criminalised receiving or leading groups promoting the criminal subculture.  Since 2024, significant structural reforms had been undertaken and a new operational department now functioned within the central penitentiary service, containing an intelligence unit which was equipped with tools used by criminal police.  From 2022 to 2024, 60 criminal cases were initiated and nine came from penitentiary institutions.  Addressing the criminal subculture was a top priority for Armenia’s Ministry of Justice, the police and penitentiary units.

    Introducing the report, Anna Karapetyan, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia and head of the delegation, said based on its Constitution and ratified international treaties, Armenia had taken strong steps to establish legal provisions and capacities to combat torture and hold violators accountable. In 2021, the new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes were adopted, followed by the adoption of the new Penitentiary Code in 2022.  The new Criminal Code prescribed three levels of penalty according to the aggravating circumstances of torture and brought substantive changes to the procedure of initiating criminal investigations.  While Armenia continued to uphold its human rights commitments domestically, the continued imprisonment, ill-treatment and torture of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees held by Azerbaijan remained a concern.

    In concluding remarks, Claude Heller, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation for the excellent and informative dialogue.  The multilateral system was in deep crisis, at the political level and financially.  However, despite all these restrictions, the Committee worked arduously, objectively and constructively to produce a positive impact on the lives of people in the States parties.

    In her closing remarks, Ms. Karapetyan expressed sincere appreciation to the Committee for the excellent dialogue. The Committee’s comments and recommendations reinforced the shared responsibility held together for the prohibition of torture everywhere, under all circumstances.

    The delegation of Armenia consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Justice; the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs; the Ministry of Internal Affairs; the Ministry of Health; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Prosecutor General; the Investigative Committee; and the Permanent Mission of Armenia to the United Nations Office at Geneva.

    The Committee will issue concluding observations on the report of Armenia at the end of its eighty-second session on 2 May.  Those and other documents relating to the Committee’s work, including reports submitted by States parties, will be available on the session’s webpage.  Summaries of the public meetings of the Committee can be found here, and webcasts of the public meetings can be found here.

    The Committee will next meet in public on Thursday, 17 April at 3 p.m. to conclude its consideration of the eighth periodic report of France (CAT/C/FRA/8).

    Report

    The Committee has before it the fifth periodic report of Armenia (CAT/C/ARM/5).

    Presentation of Report

    ANNA KARAPETYAN, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia and head of the delegation, said based on its Constitution and ratified international treaties, Armenia had taken strong steps to establish legal provisions and capacities to combat torture and hold violators accountable.  Armenia had made notable progress in preventing torture and ill-treatment through several strategic reforms.  The 2020–2022 Human Rights Action Plan envisaged 15 actions, including installing audio-video recording in interrogation rooms, developing the relevant guidelines on the investigation of cases of torture, and wide-scale training for professionals in law enforcement, healthcare, and justice, among others. 

    The ongoing 2023–2025 Human Rights Action Plan reinforced the absolute right to be free from torture, including through strengthening the reporting mechanism, enhancing the capabilities of the relevant Department in the Investigative Committee, and improving the conditions of the detention facilities in penitentiary institutions and courts.  The 2020–2022 Police Reform Strategy led to a significant achievement in strengthening civilian oversight of the police, through the establishment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 2023.  The 2019–2023 and 2023-2026 Penitentiary and Probation Strategies, along with a dedicated 2021–2022 plan on suicide prevention, contributed to better detention conditions and medical documentation practices. 

    In 2021, the new Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes were adopted, followed by the adoption of the new Penitentiary Code in 2022.  The new Criminal Code prescribed three levels of penalty according to the aggravating circumstances of torture and brought substantive changes to the procedure of initiating criminal investigations.  The new Criminal Procedure Code guaranteed the minimum rights of arrested persons, as outlined in article 110, which were aligned with international standards. 

    In 2021, the Government adopted a decree furthering the procedure of filling in and monitoring the medical examination protocol, which was extended to police detention facilities.  In 2022, amendments were adopted to the Internal Regulations of Police Detention Facilities, making it mandatory to conduct medical examination of arrestees by ambulance in each case of admitting a new arrestee, regardless of the presence of bodily injuries or health complaints. 

    The adoption of the law on police guard in 2024 envisaged the establishment of the new police guard instead of the current police troops, shifting from a militarised service to the modern policing approach with a specialisation on crowd management.  The law on advocacy ensured attorneys could communicate privately with clients, and detainees had the right to inform the third party of their detention.  The new Penitentiary Code established the right of lawyers to freely meet their clients in prisons or detention facilities without requiring special permission for access.  It was noteworthy that the Criminal Procedure Code required almost all types of investigative actions, including interrogations, to be audio and video recorded. 

    Following the dissolution of the Special Investigative Service in 2021, the mandate for investigating acts of torture was transferred to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, where a dedicated division consisting of eight investigators was responsible for handling such cases.  Allegations of torture or ill-treatment committed by investigators of the Investigative Committee were reviewed by the Anti-Corruption Committee. By 2024, 386 criminal proceedings were investigated, with 133 terminated and one case involving four individuals referred to court.  In recent years two torture verdicts had been rendered, although neither had entered into force yet. 

    Alleged police violence was investigated under other articles of the Criminal Code; three police officers had been convicted for obstructing lawful professional activities of journalists during 2018 protests and were dismissed from the police service as a result of disciplinary proceedings.  Similarly, three police officers were dismissed from service for obstructing lawful professional activities of journalists during mass protests of 2015.

    The new Criminal Code also introduced new types of preventive measures that acted as non-custodial alternatives to detention, such as house arrest and administrative supervision. In 2024, these alternative preventive measures were applied to 1,587 defendants.  Similarly, the new Criminal Code provided the limitation of liberty as an alternative to incarceration.  The Civil Code now included provisions for redress for torture victims.  Victims also had the right to rehabilitation, including compensation for medical care, and access to free psychological and legal services.  This year within the implementation of the Human Rights Strategy and deriving Action Plan, a study was developed regarding the possible directions of the establishment of the rehabilitation centre.  The new Codes were currently undergoing a monitoring phase; necessary steps would be taken to address any potential shortcomings which may arise. 

    Armenia had made significant progress in countering domestic violence, in particular through the new Criminal Code which defined “close relative,” which included spouses and former spouses, as well as individuals in or formerly in marital relations. 

    While Armenia continued to uphold its human rights commitments domestically, the continued imprisonment, ill-treatment and torture of Armenian prisoners of war and other detainees held by Azerbaijan remained a concern.  The Committee, in its most recent concluding observations on Azerbaijan, had expressed deep concern regarding Azerbaijan’s conduct and the ongoing detention of the 23 Armenian individuals, which remainedMs. Karapetyan concluded by stating that Armenia was fully committed to the full and effective implementation of the Convention.

    Questions by Committee Experts

    PETER KESSING, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said since Armenia’s last review by the Committee in 2017, progress had been made in prohibiting and preventing torture and ill-treatment.  In particular, the Committee noted and commended the State party for the enactment of a fundamentally new Criminal Code, a new Criminal Procedure Code, and a new Penitentiary Code, which were very positive signs.  Additionally, Armenia had joined the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and had undertaken significant reforms in the police, penitentiary, and justice sectors in recent years. 

    Could the delegation elaborate on specific cases and court decisions where Armenian courts had applied the principle in article 5 (3) of the Constitution and found that international law, including the Convention, took precedence over national law? Mr. Kessing commended Armenia and the Armenian Constitution for article 81, and the obligation to take the views of United Nations Committees into account when interpreting the Constitution, which illustrated a strong commitment to international law.  Could cases be provided where the practice of the Committee had been taken into account when interpreting the Armenian Constitution?

    It was reported that the definition of ‘State officials’ in Armenian law was narrow, and did not include staff working in psychiatric institutions or medical workers. Was this correct?  Did this mean that those people working in psychiatric institutions or medical workers could not be investigated or prosecuted for torture? If this was the case, was Armenia considering amending and broadening the definition of ‘State officials’ in line with the obligation in the Convention against Torture?  Pursuant to the new Criminal Code, no limitation periods were applicable to the offence of torture and the offence of abusing and exceeding public authority.  Did this apply retroactively to past cases of torture?  Was there still a statute of limitations in relation to civilian court cases concerning redress and compensation for torture? 

    Regarding the Virabyan case from 2012, could the delegation explain what decision the Armenian Court of Cassation had taken, after the court received the advisory opinion from the European Court of Human Rights in April 2022?   Had the Armenian Court of Cassation handed down a decision? Had the police officer responsible for torturing Mr. Virabyan been held accountable?  Could the delegation confirm that evidence and material extracted by use of torture or ill-treatment would always be excluded from court proceedings in Armenia?  Were there concrete cases where Armenian courts had excluded torture-material? 

      

    According to the Council of Europe, Armenia had the second highest proportion of pre-trial detainees in Europe, with 53 per cent of the people in Armenian prisons being held in pre-trial detention; this was a very high rate.  It was expected that the new Criminal Codes that entered into force during the second half of 2022 would help further reduce the number of remand prisoners.  Had the necessary implementing laws and by-laws been adopted to ensure the full implementation of the new Criminal Codes?  Had the new Criminal Codes reduced the number of remand prisoners? Could up to date information about the use of electric monitoring and other alternatives to detention be provided? 

    It had been reported that there were still cases where the police used excessive force in conflict with the Convention.  What was the status of police reform?  What concrete initiatives had been taken to date to reform the police?  Were all individuals who were arrested informed about the reason for their arrest?  Were audio or video recordings of police interrogation mandatory?  Were taped interrogations routinely reviewed to identify potential instances and acts of torture?

    What initiatives had Armenia taken to prevent excessive use of force, including lethal force, by the police in future demonstrations and protests? 

    Despite progress made by Armenia since the last review, it was reported that the quality of the investigations of police conduct remained a significant issue. 

    It was a positive sign that criminal cases concerning alleged police torture were initiated and investigated, but it was reported that torture cases often remained unsolved for many years and rarely led to criminal charges.  Could updated information about the number of investigations into torture and ill-treatment over the last three years be provided? 

    The Committee had been informed that after the adoption of the new Criminal Codes, it was more difficult for lawyers to assist alleged victims of torture in court proceedings, due to the 30 per cent tax applied; was this correct?  Could information about the legal and practical independence of the Investigative Committee of Armenia established in 2022 be provided?  Was the Committee fully independent from the Police?  Would Armenia take steps to ensure a more prompt and effective investigation of police complaints?  Were alleged perpetrators of torture immediately suspended from their duties for the duration of the investigation?

    During the last two examinations of Armenia by the Committee, the police’s excessive use of force in connection with a protest in March 2008 following the February elections, leading to the death of 10 people, was discussed.  The Committee expressed its concern over the slow and ineffective investigation of the situation.  What was the status of the investigation into the 2008 demonstration and later demonstrations?  How many police officers had been identified and held accountable in disciplinary, civilian or criminal proceedings?  What kind of sentences had they received?   Had the victims been provided redress and compensation as required under the Convention? 

    The Committee was aware of reports alleging that Armenian forces had violated international humanitarian law and human rights law during the conflict.  Had Armenia taken steps to ensure that alleged war crimes committed by Armenian forces during the conflict were promptly and impartially investigated by an independent body? 

    As part of a new expedited asylum procedure, there was a 15-day deadline for applying for asylum for asylum seekers arriving illegally to Armenia.  Was this correct?  If so, how many asylum requests had been rejected over the last three years due to the 15-day deadline?  Was it correct that asylum seekers were being prosecuted for illegal entry in Armenia in conflict with domestic law and article 31 in the Refugee Convention that was ratified by Armenia?  Would the State party take further measures to ensure that this practice was ended? What steps were taken to ensure that asylum seekers in detention had access to fair and efficient refugee status determination procedures, as well as appeals procedures with suspensive effect on the deportation order?

    The Human Rights Defender of Armenia was established by law in October 2003, and since 2006 had been accredited “A” status by the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institution.  In October 2024, the institution reiterated its recommendation that a clear, transparent and participatory selection and appointment process for membership of the Human Rights Defender’s decision-making body must be included in relevant legislation.  Had Armenia taken steps to implement this recommendation? 

    Was it true that the salaries of staff working in the Human Rights Defender’s office were lower than comparable positions in the public sector?  What was the State party doing to remedy the situation?  How many complaints of torture or ill-treatment had the Human Rights Defender received over the last three years?  Could the Human Rights Defender recommend redress to a victim of torture or ill-treatment and criminal proceedings against alleged perpetrators of torture and ill-treatment?  How did the State party follow-up on the recommendations of the national preventive mechanism? 

    The Committee hoped that Armenia would consider making a declaration under article 22 of the Convention and recognise the Committee’s competence to receive and consider individual complaints.  This would provide redress to victims and assist Armenia in implementing the Convention and developing a justice system in line with international human rights law.

    ANNA RACU, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said since Armenia’s last review by this Committee in 2016, there had been notable advancements in the country’s human rights framework.  Significant reforms had been made, including amendments to national legislation and the adoption of policies aimed at improving detention conditions and aligning with international standards.  These positive steps were a testimony of Armenia’s commitment to enhance its legal and institutional frameworks to combat torture and ill-treatment and different forms of violence. 

    The Committee welcomed the fact that periodic professional trainings on the Convention and European Committee for the Prevention of Torture were carried out for the police and prison staff.  The Committee commended the positive initiative that jurisprudence of the European Court for Human Rights was included in the common core curricula for judges, prosecutors, prison staff and civil servants.  The National Strategy for Human Rights Protection (2020–2022) and its action plan emphasised the importance of capacity building for law enforcement and prison staff, including training on human rights and torture prevention.  Had there been any other specific strategic documents that envisaged capacity building activities for law enforcement, judges and prosecutors and other groups with specific competencies under the Convention?   

    It was positive that the Armenian Government had managed to establish a good cooperation with international partners.  The Police Academy and Penitentiary Service Training Centre had incorporated elements of human rights education into their curricula, while the introduction of specialised training modules on the absolute prohibition of torture had been a step forward.  However, some sources indicated that there were some issues that continued to affect the overall effectiveness of the training programmes.  

    What oversight mechanisms were in place to ensure police officers were adequately trained and disciplined for misconduct related to the use of force or mistreatment during arrest or detention?  What measures were in place to ensure that training on the Istanbul Protocol and the prohibition of torture was effectively applied in practice?  Were the training programmes based on practical aspects, which emerged from specific cases or recorded human rights violations? With respect to the courses held for medical personnel, were there plans to provide mandatory training on the Istanbul Protocol, given its importance for proper documentation of torture?

    Had the State party implemented any training programmes focused on the prevention of torture and the appropriate use of force for military personnel, intelligence officers, and security guards, particularly in the context of ongoing tensions related to the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh?  How many officers had undergone this training and was it mandatory?

    Could information on recent developments or reforms aimed at improving the living conditions and the treatment of inmates be provided?  Had measures been taken to enhance oversight and accountability within the prison system?  It was encouraging to note the significant progress made, particularly the comprehensive refurbishment of Abovyan Prison, including the reconstruction of the wing for mothers with children and the installation of ventilation and heating systems in the main accommodation areas of Armavir Prison.  These initiatives were important steps forward in enhancing the material conditions for inmates and improving their overall living environment. Furthermore, the Committee welcomed the swift and constructive response by the Armenian authorities regarding the “quarantine” and disciplinary blocks at Artik Prison, which were promptly closed for refurbishment, ensuring that these areas no longer remained in a state of severe disrepair. 

    This proactive approach to addressing immediate concerns was commendable.  These efforts reflected a commitment to addressing longstanding issues in Armenia’s prison system, and the Committee looked forward to seeing the continued actions for the refurbishment of Artik and Armavir Prisons. 

    Despite these positive developments, there were some concerns.  The activities of the “Kosh” and “Hrazdan” penitentiary institutions were suspended on 1 January 2022.  Despite the ongoing discussions on the need to suspend the activities of the “Nubarashen” penitentiary institution, it continued to operate.  Could the delegation’s views regarding these institutions be provided?  Could detailed information regarding the number of inmates in Armenian prisons over the past four years be provided?  What steps had been taken to address overcrowding, including the use of non-custodial measures and alternatives to detention?

    Current legislation in Armenia allowed for the restriction of family communication for up to one month for any violation, which contradicted the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) and European Prison Rules.  What specific rehabilitation programmes were available for prisoners in Armenia? Could an update be provided on recidivism rates and the successful reintegration of former prisoners, as well as the approach of the Government on cooperation with civil society organizations for the benefits of inmates?

    By transferring the competence of medical services to the Ministry of Justice and subsequently to the Ministry of Health, Armenia had taken important steps towards the independence of medical staff in detention.  However, there were still some problematic areas.  After the reform of medical prison services, how independent were the prison doctors from the prison administration?  What systems ensured they could prioritise inmate health without external pressures?  How was access to specialised medical treatment managed for inmates requiring complex care? What oversight mechanisms monitored the quality of healthcare services in prisons?  What measures were implemented to prevent the spread of communicable diseases among inmates? 

    Could an update on harm reduction programmes for drug users, those with HIV and treatment for prisoners with disabilities be provided?  What was the current level of medical equipment and medicines available in prisons?  What specialised medical equipment and healthcare provisions were available for women in detention?  What protocols were in place for documenting injuries from torture or violence, and could inmates and lawyers access these reports?

    What rules and formal protocols existed for medical professionals to document injuries or signs of torture and ill-treatment?  What training did medical professionals receive on identifying and reporting signs of torture and ill-treatment? 

    How were reports of torture and ill-treatment by medical professionals submitted to the competent authorities? 

    In 2023, there were 29 suicide attempts by 22 individuals, primarily concentrated in the “Nubarashen” and “Armavir” institutions. Submissions received from human rights non-governmental organizations indicated that many deaths were attributed to pre-existing health conditions and inadequate medical care.  What were the delegation’s views on the effectiveness of the procedure for checking and assessing the risk of suicide and self-harm? What specific assessments were in place to identify individuals at risk?  Were there cells with safe conditions with no easy access to means of killing oneself? What specific training programmes were provided to penitentiary staff regarding prevention and managing suicidal tendencies, self-harm behaviours, and instances of violence among inmates?

    In Armenia, the influence of the criminal subculture significantly undermined the reputation of the prison administration.  Despite the implementation of legislative amendments by the State to reduce the influence of the criminal subculture in penitentiary institutions and measures aimed at their practical application, the influence of the criminal subculture in places of deprivation of liberty still continued to exist.  What measures had been taken by the Government to break down the informal hierarchies and criminal gangs and networks that had an informal power in many of Armenia’s penitentiary institutions?  What steps were being taken to ensure that all prisoners, regardless of their social status or affiliations, had equal protection under the law and were not subject to discrimination or abuse, including sexual abuse by other inmates or informal leaders?  What measures were being taken to address corruption among prison staff?

    What specific measures had the Armenian Government implemented over the past few years to increase the number of prison staff?  How had the Government addressed the issue of staff retention, including any changes to salaries, working conditions, or benefits aimed at reducing turnover among prison personnel?

    What efforts were being made to ensure that staffing levels in penitentiaries met international standards, particularly concerning the ratio of staff to prisoners?

    A Committee Expert said the Committee had received information that seven out of 10 children aged one to 14 years old were subject to psychological or corporal punishment. What was the State party doing to prevent violence against children?  The Committee had also received reports which revealed concerning cases of violence against children with disabilities, including at a psychological care home in 2023, where a resident was restrained with chains. What measures had Armenia adopted to eliminate unauthorised physical restraints and other inhumane practices in care institutions? 

    Another Committee Expert asked if there were any Azerbaijanis who remained in Armenia’s custody? What procedures had been implemented to ensure any abuse of prisoners of war was fully investigated?  Had there been any kind of arrangements aimed at ensuring the returning prisoner would be promptly investigated for torture cases by the receiving side?  What measures had been taken to prevent discrimination and hate speech against those of Azerbaijani origin? 

    An Expert asked what training members of special teams received, and what were rules on the use of force?  Was equipment deployed by special units certified?  Was it imported or manufactured locally? 

    Responses by the Delegation 

    The delegation said the monitoring of the Criminal Procedure Code had already led to 13 amendments.  International law prevailed in Armenia.  Evidence and materials obtained through torture were totally excluded from criminal cases.  Currently, more than 52 per cent of inmates in penitentiary institutions were in pretrial detention.  Audio and video recording in police stations were mandatory for every case. 

    Armenia had advanced legislation regarding asylum seekers and victims of trafficking. International law had almost been copied into the criminal legislation, particularly article 31 of the Geneva Convention on the status of refugees.  A small limitation had been imposed in consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which related to the 15 days of applying for asylum for three groups of cases: unlawful entry to the country, if the person was being criminally prosecuted, and for those who had been apprehended. Under this rule, 14 cases of asylum had been rejected, five approved and five suspended.

    The Human Rights Defender was ensured access to all penitentiary records.  Most of the recommendations from the Human Rights Defender’s Office were taken into account when completing renovations and works in the penitentiary institutions.  Currently, the Human Rights Defender could not initiate court cases but could provide briefs to the Constitutional Court.  New legislation on discrimination was being developed which stipulated that the Human Rights Defender could recommend cases to court when it came to discrimination.  Currently, Armenia was not discussing the possibility of implementing article 22. 

    The National Human Rights Action Plan provided for the relevant chapters for each individual who should receive training on torture prevention.  Currently the Ministry of Justice was in the process of developing a single human rights training programme for staff at the penitentiary institutions.  There were two key educational complexes which provided training to judges, the judiciary and police officers.  Last year the Human Rights Defender’s Office provided training to all police detention facilities. 

    In 2024, a mother and childcare penitentiary institution was constructed.  Currently, the sanitation facilities were adapted to meet the needs of pregnant women and children up to three years old.   Food preparation for penitentiary institutions had been outsourced to a private company, which ensured dietary diversity. More than 95 per cent of the inmates were satisfied with the food provided. 

    From 2019, persons deprived of their liberty under the age of 19 were included in the general education programme to ensure the continuity of education.  Surveys had been conducted among inmates to identify those without secondary education, and efforts had been made to provide them with secondary education or vocational training.  Last year, an innovative workshop was opened for inmates, allowing them to make furnishings for other institutions, providing them with the necessary equipment and materials.

    Responses by the Delegation 

    The delegation said under Armenian law, amnesty did not apply to individuals who had committed the crime of torture.  The term public official had been broadened to include any person who had the authority to act on behalf of the State.  As such, all individuals operating in this capacity could be held criminally liable. All institutions which could be engaged in cases of torture were covered within the criminal legislation for criminal liability.  Armenia had ratified the Rome Statute and remained fully committed to aligning its national legislation with the requirements of the International Criminal Court.  Trainings for public officials, judges and members of the Investigative Committee were planned with international officials in this regard. 

    There had been a notable increase in detention motions of around 20 per cent in 2024, compared to previous years.  The percentage of granted motions of detention had generally decreased. Legislative amendments and relevant trainings had been organised for the probation service, and they were being monitored.  A thematic report on the practical challenges of alternative measures was developed in 2022 to see where the law could be improved.  Work was being done to ensure that pro bono lawyers would be exempt from taxes.

    Armenia had produced a draft bill which criminalised receiving or leading groups promoting the criminal subculture.  Since 2024, significant structural reforms had been undertaken and a new operational department now functioned within the central penitentiary service, containing an intelligence unit which was equipped with tools used by criminal police. From 2022 to 2024, 60 criminal cases were initiated and nine came from penitentiary institutions.  Addressing the criminal subculture was a top priority for Armenia’s Ministry of Justice, the police and penitentiary units.

    The fight against corruption remained a top priority for the Armenian Government, and a strategy had been underway for the past three years.  Individuals could submit anonymous reports via an online platform, directly accessible to the Ministry of Justice, under the whistleblowers law. 

    The penitentiary service guaranteed equal treatment, and the Criminal Code ensured equality for all convicted individuals.  Any case of attempted suicide or self-harm was reported to investigative authorities. Mental health and suicide risk monitoring tools had been implemented in all penitentiary institutions since 2022. In every case of suicide, attempted suicide, or self-harm, a comprehensive analysis of the situation was undertaken. Since July 2024, a risk and needs assessment tool was introduced which supported the rehabilitation services.   

    In 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs was established as a civilian oversight body over the police.  It was responsible for areas of public safety, security and disaster risk management, and was driven by the objective of introducing human rights-based approaches in policing and public services.  The large-scale use of video surveillance in police operations ensured the accountability of the police.  Under the new Criminal Procedure Code, the police were no longer authorised to conduct interrogations of persons accused of committing a crime.  This responsibility had been transferred to the independent Investigative Committee.  Patrol police wore body cameras all the time, acknowledged by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture as an important tool for the prevention of torture.  Work was underway to provide the same equipment to community police.

    In 2024, operations of nine out of 33 police facilities were discontinued, with an additional two terminated in 2025.  Modernization and renovation works were planned for the remaining facilities to ensure compliance with international standards.  In 2024, joint trainings on documenting and reporting torture were organised for police officers and medical professionals, with the support of the Council of Europe.  Trainings based on the provisions of the Convention and the Istanbul Protocol were being developed and were expected to be scheduled this year. 

    Over the past 10 years, there had been several police officers dismissed due to exhibiting excessive use of force against journalists during demonstrations.  To ensure the independence of medical professionals from the police, since 2022, medical examinations in police facilities were conducted exclusively by the doctors of ambulance services. 

    In 2024, the law on the police guard was adopted, which provided for the establishment of a new specialised police service with clear criteria for proportional use of force. This law and the relevant bylaws aimed to create the correct modus operandi for Armenian police officers, particularly in the context of mass demonstrations. 

    In 2024, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, in cooperation with the migration and citizenship service, had conducted trainings for penitentiary officials on cases of asylum.  The Bar Association of Armenia provided the penitentiary service with leaflets and posters related to granting asylum, available in eight languages.  They contained information about the grounds for granting asylum and rights of asylum seekers. 

    The criminal case of March 2008 remained ongoing, and the Committee had already been provided with information pertaining to this case.  Taking into account the volume and complexity of the case, investigative teams had been set up to ensure the comprehensive investigation.  Around 7,000 victims had been questioned over the course of the investigation.  As part of the ongoing forensic examination being conducted, firearms were being submitted for study.  More information would be provided in writing. 

    Concerning the case of Mr. Virabyan, the advisory opinion of the European Court of Human Rights was applied in the decision of the court of cassation.  The Convention took precedence over domestic legislation, and this was applied in the case of Mr. Virabyan.  In 2024, two convictions were rendered under the Criminal Code for police officials found guilty of the crime of torture, with the individuals sentenced to four years in prison. 

    Targeted interventions had been adopted in care home settings to prevent cases of abuse.  A draft order addressing the submission of anonymous reports in care institutions was now in process.  This would allow standardised information to be provided to beneficiaries about the clearly defined mechanism for submitting complaints. 

    In April 2024, a procedure was adopted for referring child victims of violence, and where necessary placing the child within a family, institution or support centre. Corporal punishment was prohibited in all settings, including the family setting.  Children who had experienced violence were entitled to State support, and entities responsible for childcare were required to promptly report any instances of violence.  In recent years, Armenia had made progress in expanding the welfare and rights of the child. 

    To strengthen the independence of medical personnel in penitentiary institutions, the penitentiary centre was founded independently in 2018.  Medical examinations were carried out by a doctor, totally excluding the employees of penitentiary institutions and out of earshot of penitentiary staff. A preliminary examination of mental health and suicide risks was ensured.  In cases of suspected torture and ill-treatment, all injuries were noted and documented. 

    The medical examinations of persons deprived of their liberty were organised in a timely manner, without undue delay.  Upon entering the penitentiary institution, persons deprived of their liberty underwent a mental health screening within 24 hours, and psychologists and mental health staff were stationed at the centres.  The law on reproductive health applied to everyone, including those in prisons. Tests were performed for all sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.  If a positive result was received, medical staff would begin medical treatment. 

    The Ministry of Justice had implemented a wide range of awareness raising activities in all penitentiary institutions, including posters on combatting torture.  Video material regarding the prohibition of torture was also disseminated publicly.  Armenia was actively working to combat hate speech and had classified hate speech through technology as a distinct type of cybercrime.  A comprehensive range of awareness raising activities to address the manifestations of hate speech had been implemented, including a month-long campaign in high traffic areas, such as the metro, highlighting the negative impacts of hate speech.  Armenia was currently drafting a new strategy on combatting discrimination and hate speech, to address the possible issues which may arise during the investigation processes.  This had stemmed from the human rights agenda of the Government. 

    Questions by Committee Experts

    PETER KESSING, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, commended Armenia for the efforts made to comply with the Convention.  What happened if a person was not able to comply with the 15 days of deadline in relation to asylum applications?  Had any of the cases against police officers led to criminal proceedings?  Regarding the March 2008 investigation, 17 years was a long time, and the Committee looked forward to receiving the written information from the delegation. Was it true that cases by the Investigative Committee were slow?  Would the State take measures to make investigations more prompt?  Was the committee fully independent from the police? Had Armenia undertaken any investigations into allegations of mistreatment of Azerbaijani soldiers and civilians on Armenian soil?  The national mechanism to follow up on concluding observations was a positive step.  Could more information on this mechanism be provided? 

    ANNA RACU, Committee Expert and Country Rapporteur, said the Committee was concerned about the lack of community services for psychiatric patients, and the lack of a mechanism for the deinstitutionalisation of children in social care homes.  Could more information about the reform of social care homes in Armenia be provided? Which institution had oversight on psychiatric facilities?  Did civil society organizations have access to monitoring visits?  Did any complaints mechanisms exist in these institutions? How many complaints had been received and what had been the results?  Could updated statistics be provided in cases where victims had been offered redress and compensation?  How did the Government plan to ensure that compensation was accessible to victims, even in cases where perpetrators remained unidentified? 

    There were ongoing efforts by the Government to monitor violent incidents and deaths within the armed forces, but there was a significant lack of public oversight over the military units.  The practice of non-statutory relationships among servicemen, which often resulted in bullying, violence and sexual abuse, persisted.  What specific measures were being taken by the Armenian military management to address and prevent violence in the army?  What steps was the Government taking to increase public oversight of the military?  How did the Government plan to ensure that the military was held accountable for offences such as injuries and murders?  What actions were being taken to provide psychological support for soldiers to prevent suicide and address mental health issues? 

    Armenia had made notable progress in addressing gender-based and domestic violence.  The adoption of the 2017 law on violence in the family was a significant step forward.  However, there were concerns about the high number of incidents of gender-based violence, particularly during the pandemic.  It was important to ensure access to free health care services to victims and survivors, and shelters must be accessible to victims with disabilities.  What measures were in place to address the gaps in the reporting system, particularly in rural and remote areas?  What shelters were available for victims and survivors?  How did Armenia intend to integrate the provisions of the Istanbul Convention into its domestic legislation?  When would it be ratified? 

    Responses by the Delegation 

    The delegation said the independence and impartiality of the Investigative Committee was ensured through a special unit, tasked with investigating torture and abuse by officials. Regarding allegations of torture of Azerbaijanis soldiers, comprehensive investigations had been undertaken relating to videos received.  However, the investigations remained ongoing.  There were currently no prisoners of Azerbaijani origins in Armenia’s custody; all individuals had been returned.  In stark contrast, Azerbaijan continued to hold Armenian nationals in its custody, in contrast to its national obligations.  The closure of the Red Cross office in Azerbaijan had created a protection gap.  International human rights organizations had reported grave human rights violations by Azerbaijani forces. 

    Armenia was establishing a mechanism for reporting and follow-up on human rights recommendations. The national mechanism would be a permanent structure which involved members of judicial and legislative branches of the Government. 

    If the applicant for asylum missed the 15-day deadline, the person was treated not as an asylum seeker, but as a foreigner.  The law had been developed with assistance from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organization colleagues. 

    There were 67 disciplinary proceedings launched against police officers last year, with 27 resulting in finding no violations.  As a result of one of the proceedings, three police officers were found guilty and dismissed from service. 

    The fight against gender-based violence was an ongoing process carried out with State and non-State parties and civil society actors.  State financed shelter services were available which provided victims with safe accommodation and psychosocial and legal support.  Over the past five years, the number of individuals receiving these services had increased, due to the increase in social workers.  The law on the protection of domestic violence had undergone many changes, with almost 11 provisions amended.  The provision concerning the reconciliation procedure had been annulled, and now stipulated for medical services to be provided to victims of violence based on the type of violence they had experienced. 

    Armenia had conducted awareness raising campaigns which focused on educating stakeholders on the importance of the Istanbul Convention as it pertained to gender-based violence.  Recent legal reforms strengthened protections for victims, improved measures for reporting violence, and improved training for police and those dealing with victims.  A new vulnerability assessment system was being launched, which would help families overcome extreme poverty. 

    Since 2014, the number of children in institutional care had been reduced five-fold from more than 2,000 to less than 400.  There were now three crisis centres providing round the clock care to children.  There had been a sharp increase in foster care placements over the last five years. 

    Regarding the armed groups, there were several main actors within the human rights action plan, including suicide and self-harm prevention groups, which operated within military units.  Legal and human rights education efforts had also been strengthened, with training courses provided on torture and ill-treatment, targeting military personnel. 

    Closing Remarks

    CLAUDE HELLER, Committee Chairperson, thanked the delegation for the excellent and informative dialogue.  The multilateral system was in deep crisis at the political level and financially. However, despite all these restrictions, the Committee worked arduously, objectively and constructively to produce a positive impact on the lives of people in the States parties. 

    ANNA KARAPETYAN, Deputy Minister of Justice of Armenia and head of the delegation, expressed sincere appreciation to the Committee for the excellent dialogue. The Committee’s comments and recommendations reinforced the shared responsibility held together for the prohibition of torture everywhere, under all circumstances.  Armenia was proud of the progress made but recognised that the journey for a torture-free society was ongoing.  Armenia remained committed to working towards this goal. 

    ___________

    Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media; 
    not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

     

    CAT25.005E

    MIL OSI United Nations News –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Human Rights Violations During Mozambique’s Post-2024 Election Crackdown

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Footnotes

    [1] Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI), “User Guide: OONI Probe Desktop App”, 25 October 2022, https://ooni.org/support/ooni-probe-desktop/

    [2] Amnesty International, Mozambique: turn the page! A human rights manifesto for political parties and candidates, October 2019 election (Index: AFR 41/1019/2019), 17 September 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/1019/2019/en/; Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Civil society calls for the unconditional and immediate release of the Gaza-18 election party delegates”(Index: AFR 41/1427/2019), 25 November 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/1427/2019/en/; Amnesty International, “Mozambique police must only use live ammunition to protect life during demonstrations”(Index: PRE 01/301/2010 ), 1 September 2010, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pre01/301/2010/en/; Amnesty International,“Mozambique: authorities must launch a full and impartial investigation into the killing of journalist” (Index: AFR 41/2361/2015), 31 August 2015, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/2361/2015/en/; Amnesty International, Mozambique: media freedom in ashes (Index: AFR 41/2947/2020), 31 August 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/2947/2020/en/; Amnesty International,“Mozambique: civil society groups call for the unconditional and immediate release of radio journalist” (Index: AFR 41/0205/2019 ), 11 April 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/0205/2019/en/; Amnesty International, “What I saw is death”: war crimes in Mozambique’s forgotten cape (Index: AFR 41/3545/2021), 2 March 2021, https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr41/3545/2021/en/; Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Torture by security forces in gruesome videos must be investigated”, 9 September 2020, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2020/09/mozambique-torture-by-security-forces-in-gruesome-videos-must-be-investigated/

    [3] Amnesty International, “What I saw is death” (previously cited); Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Authorities must promptly investigate arrest of journalist while covering demonstration”, 7 June 2024, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/06/mozambique-authorities-must-promptly-investigate-arrest-of-journalist-while-covering-demonstration/; Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Authorities must investigate killing of newspaper editor João Fernando Chamusse”, 15 December 2023, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/mozambique-authorities-must-investigate-killing-of-newspaper-editor-joao-fernando-chamusse/; Amnesty International, “Mozambique: Fears grow for election monitors secretly transferred to new prison”, 18 November 2019, https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/11/mozambique-fears-grow-for-election-monitors-secretly-transferred-to-new-prison-2/; Caitlin Sturridge and others, Copping with the risk of conflict, climate and internal displacement in northern Mozambique: ‘We can’t just sit here with our arms crossed’, November 2022, https://media.odi.org/documents/USAID_CCD_Mozambique_final.pdf; Republic of Mozambique, Estratégia Nacional de Desenvolvimento (2015-2035), [National Development Strategy (2015-2035)], July 2024, https://www.mef.gov.mz/index.php/publicacoes/estrategias/397-estrategia-nacional-de-desenvolvimento/file; Human Rights Watch (HRW), Mozambique: abuses against media, activists before elections, 11 September 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/11/mozambique-abuses-against-media-activists-elections 

    [4] Africa News, “Frelimo’s candidate wins in Maputo amid ongoing vote count”, 14 October 2024, https://www.africanews.com/2024/10/14/frelimos-candidate-wins-in-maputo-amid-ongoing-vote-count/

    [5] Times Live, “Africa: Frelimo extends 50-year rule in Mozambique as it retains power in disputed general elections”, 24 October 2024, https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/africa/2024-10-24-frelimo-extends-50-year-rule-in-mozambique-as-it-retains-power-in-disputed-general-election/

    [6] Associated Press (AP), “Long-ruling party leads in Mozambique’s election as opposition candidate calls for strikes”, 16 October 2024, https://apnews.com/article/mozambique-election-frelimo-vote-6987692541d92a9c6a287be4af89a524

    [7] The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), “Mozambique opposition lawyer shot dead”, 19 October 2024,  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy4d3j1mm2yo 

    [8] Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), “Elvino Dias was killed preparing a draft of the PODEMOS appeal to the Constitutional Council: Mozambique elections 316- 20 October 2024”, 20 October 2024, https://www5.open.ac.uk/technology/mozambique/sites/www.open.ac.uk.technology.mozambique/files/files/Election-Bulletin-316_20Out24_Murders_Will-CNE-change-results.pdf

    [9] Deutsche Welle (DW), “Mozambique: Police fire tear gas at opposition leader”, 21 October 2024, https://www.dw.com/en/mozambique-police-fire-tear-gas-at-opposition-leader/a-70561138; Venâncio Mondlane, “REVOLUÇÃO: Venâncio Mondlane anuncia nova manifestação [“REVOLUTION: Venâncio Mondlane announces new demonstration”], 22 October 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG5g-SbnNy8    

    [10] Interview by voice call with lawyer, 12 February 2025; HRW, “Mozambique: Abuses against media, activists before elections”, 11 September 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/09/11/mozambique-abuses-against-media-activists-elections

    [11] Integrity Magazine, “CNE confirma Daniel Chapo e Frelimo como vencedores das eleições de 9 de Outubro”, [“The National Electoral Commission confirms the victory of Daniel Chapo and Frelimo the winners of the 9 October elections”], 25 October 2024, https://integritymagazine.co.mz/arquivos/33773

    [12] DW, “Mondlane: “Está-se a cometer crimes contra a humanidade”, [“Mondlane: “Crimes against humanity are being committed”], 26 October 2024, https://www.dw.com/pt-002/ven%C3%A2ncio-mondlane-est%C3%A1-se-a-cometer-crimes-contra-a-humanidade/a-70608646

    [13] DW, Venâncio Mondlane anuncia “manifestação four by four”, [“Venâncio Mondlane announces “demonstrations four by four””], 2 December 2024, https://www.dw.com/pt-002/ven%C3%A2ncio-mondlane-anuncia-manifesta%C3%A7%C3%A3o-four-by-four/a-70938463; Al Jazeera, “Clanging pans: why Mozambique’s election protesters refuse to go away, 15 November 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/11/15/clanging-pans-why-mozambiques-election-protesters-refuse-to-go-away

    [14] Al Jazeera, “Clanging pans: why Mozambique’s election protesters refuse to go away, 15 November 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/11/15/clanging-pans-why-mozambiques-election-protesters-refuse-to-go-away

    [15] Al Jazeera, “Mozambique’s controversial election result upheld: What to know”, 23 December 2024, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/23/mozambiques-controversial-election-result-upheld

    [16] Al Jazeera, “Chapo sworn in following Mozambique’s disputed presidential elections”, 15 January 2025, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/1/15/chapo-sworn-in-following-mozambiques-disputed-presidential-election 

    [17] BBC, “Injuries as Mozambique police fire on opposition protest”, 6 March 2025, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjd3y2eyxy3o

    [18]  Televisão de Moçambique (TVM)’s video of President Chapo’s address, 24 February 2025, on file with Amnesty International; Radio France Internationale – International French Radio (RFI), “Daniel Chapo vows to fight “terrorism and demonstrations”, 25 February 2025, https://www.rfi.fr/pt/%C3%A1frica-lus%C3%B3fona/20250225-daniel-chapo-promete-combater-terrorismo-e-manifesta%C3%A7%C3%B5es

    [19] Amnesty International identified these units based on the uniforms apparent in visual evidence and description of uniforms provided in interviews with eyewitnesses and victims.

    [20] Amnesty International, Kinetic Impact Projectiles in Law Enforcement – an Amnesty International Position Paper, March 2023, pg. 18; https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2023/03/Amnesty-position-paper-kinetic-impact-projectiles.pdf?x55122

    [21] Interview by voice call with doctor, 17 February 2025; Interview by voice call with doctor, 22 February 2025.

    [22] Interview by voice call with doctor, 17 February 2025; Interview by voice call with doctor, 22 February 2025.

    [23] Interview by voice call with doctor, 17 February 2025; Interview by voice call with doctor, 22 February 2025.

    [24] TV Mirramar, “Ordem dos medicos preocupada com aumento de feridos por armas de fogo” [“Order of Doctors concerned about increase in firearm injuries”], 29 October 2024, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0YqkTsYGaI&t=52s; Interview by voice call with doctor, 17 February 2025.

    [25] Interview by voice call with doctor, 17 February 2025; Interview by voice call with doctor, 22 February 2025.

    [26] For instance, interview by voice call with victim’s relative, 21 and 27 February 2025; Interview by voice call with victim’s relative, 18 and 21 February 2025

    [27] Interview by voice call with victim, 17 February 2025.

    [28] Interview by voice call with victim’s relative, 17 February 2025.

    [29] Plataforma DECIDE, “Preliminary report on the post-electoral context in Mozambique: 21 October 2024- 21 January 2025”, Undated, https://pdecide.org/blog/preliminary-report-on-the-post-electoral-context-in-mozambique-3-months

    [30] TVM, “Police records” Bernardino Rafael reports 956 acts of violence and records 96 deaths”, 23 January 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTS1gRRNJmY  

    [31] BBC Africa, “President Chapo on Mondlane’s ‘parallel government”, 22 January 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqSIetyQHyQ

    [32] Attorney General of Mozambique, Speech at the opening of the judicial year, 4 February 2025, on file with Amnesty International; Club of Mozambique, “Mozambique: 651 cases opened during post-elections protests- Attorney General”, 4 February 2025, https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-651-cases-opened-during-post-election-protests-attorney-general-275268/

    [33] Venâncio Mondlane, Facebook post, “O que se falou no encontro? [What was said at the meeting?]”, 24 March 2025, https://www.facebook.com/venamondlane/videos/998522575570322/  

    [34] Amnesty International, Guidelines on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (Index: ACT 30/8426/2024), November 2024, ACT3084262024ENGLISH.pdf

    [35] HRC, General Comment 36: Article 6 (The Right to life), 30 October 2018, UN Doc. CCPR/C/GC/36, para. 7. The right to life is protected by article 6.1 of the ICCPR and article 4 of the ACHPR. Article 4.2 of the ICCPR also protects the right to life in exceptional circumstances, such as internal political instability or any other public emergency. See, also, Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), Resolution 1989/65: The Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, adopted on 24 May 1989.  

    [36] Amnesty International, Guidelines on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (Index: ACT 30/8426/2024), November 2024, ACT3084262024ENGLISH.pdf

    [37] UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (Basic Principles), 7 September 1990.

    [38] Amnesty International, Use of Force – Guidelines for Implementation of the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by law enforcement officials, August 2015, https://www.amnesty.org.uk/files/use_of_force.pdf; UN Basic Principles.

    [39] HRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/26/36, para 63.

    [40] Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), 10 December 1984. Mozambique ratified the CAT on 14 September 1999. United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body Database – Mozambique, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx

    [41] Report of the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment on extra-custodial use of force and the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, A/72/178, para. 46. 

    [42] HRC, General Comment No. 37, (previously cited), para. 78. 

    [43] UN Guidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement, 2020, https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/HRBodies/CCPR/LLW_Guidance.pdf, guideline 6.3; HRC, General Comment No. 37 (previously cited).

    [44] UN Guidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement (previously cited), HRC, General Comment No. 37 (previously cited), para. 88; https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2017/07/guidelines_use_of_force_eng.pdf?x90620

    [45] Amnesty International Guidelines on the use of force (previously cited), guideline 5b and p. 114

    [46] African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Commission), African Commission Guidelines for the Policing of Assemblies by Law Enforcement Officials in Africa, para. 21.3.1 https://achpr.au.int/en/soft-law/guidelines-policing-assemblies-law-enforcement-officials-africa

    [47] UN Guidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement (previously cited), guideline 6.3; Amnesty International, Guidelines on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (previously cited), guideline 14.1.

    [48] UN Guidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement (previously cited), guideline 7.5; Amnesty International, “Kinetic impact projectiles in law enforcement”, March 2023, https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2023/03/Amnesty-position-paper-kinetic-impact-projectiles.pdf?x36065

    [49] UN Guidance on less-lethal weapons in law enforcement (previously cited), guideline 7.5; HRC, General Comment No. 37 (previously cited), para. 87; Amnesty International, “Kinetic impact projectiles in law enforcement”, March 2023, https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2023/03/Amnesty-position-paper-kinetic-impact-projectiles.pdf?x36065

    [50] Amnesty International, “Chemical irritants in law enforcement”, June 2021, https://www.amnesty.nl/content/uploads/2021/07/Amnesty-position-paper-chemical-irritants.pdf

    [51]  Video published on the platform X on 27 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861915616598167924

    [52] Video sent to researchers via messaging app, on file with Amnesty International.

    [53] Amnesty International, Guidelines on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (Index: ACT 30/8426/2024), November 2024, ACT3084262024ENGLISH.pdf

    [54] In addition to the PP and TP, one eyewitness identified the presence of the Rapid Intervention Police that day. Interview by voice call, 14 February 2025.

    [55] In addition to the PP and TP, one eyewitness identified the presence of the Rapid Intervention Police that day. Interview by voice call, 14 February 2025.

    [56] RFI, “Moçambique: Polícia confirma morte de um manifestante pró-Mondlane no Niassa” [“Mozambique: Police confirm death of pro-Mondlane protester in Niassa”], 28 October 2024, https://www.rfi.fr/pt/%C3%A1frica-lus%C3%B3fona/20241028-mo%C3%A7ambique-pol%C3%ADcia-confirma-morte-de-um-manifestante-pr%C3%B3-mondlane-no-niassa

    [57] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 11 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 14 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 17 February 2025.

    [58] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 11 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 14 February 2025.

    [59] Video provided by eyewitness; on file with Amnesty International

    [60] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 11 February 2025.

    [61] Videos provided by eyewitness, on file with Amnesty International

    [62] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 14 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 17 February 2025.

    [63] Inerview by voice call with eyewitness, 27 February 2025.

    [64] Video provided by eyewitness; on file with Amnesty International

    [65] Video published on Facebook and YouTube, respectively, on 26 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1173170507612261, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_AfHK_JcI

    [66] Video provided by eyewitness, on file with Amnesty International.

    [67] Interview by voice call, 11 February 2025; Interview by voice call, 14 February 2025; Interview by voice call, 17 February 2025.

    [68] Video published on Facebook and YouTube, respectively, 26 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1173170507612261, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj_AfHK_JcI

    [69] RFI, “Moçambique: Polícia confirma morte de um manifestante pró-Mondlane no Niassa” [“Mozambique: Police confirm death of pro-Mondlane protester in Niassa”], 28 October 2024, https://www.rfi.fr/pt/%C3%A1frica-lus%C3%B3fona/20241028-mo%C3%A7ambique-pol%C3%ADcia-confirma-morte-de-um-manifestante-pr%C3%B3-mondlane-no-niassa

    [70] Facebook profiles managed by Albino José Síbia. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084198734038 https://www.facebook.com/ShottasOficial, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100069938172987

     

    [72] Videos published on the platform X on 12 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/mozinforma/status/1867313710223831438

    [73] 360 Mozambique, “General Protests: Ressano Garcia Border Returns to Normal”, 16 December 2024, https://360mozambique.com/business/general-protests-ressano-garcia-border-returns-to-normal/

    [74] A section of the video posted on the platform X on 12 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1867262509016920434

    [75] Video posted on the platform X on 12 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/justicefrontil/status/1867281218351640723

    [76] Video posted on Facebook on 12 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1526742851326323

    [77] Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), “Albino Sibia (Mano Shottas)”, https://cpj.org/data/people/albino-sibia-mano-shottas/

    [78] Mozambique ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on 21 July 1993 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on 22 February 1989. See United Nations Human Rights Treaty Body Database – Mozambique, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx and ACHPR, https://achpr.au.int/en/charter/african-charter-human-and-peoples-rights/

    [79] Interview by voice call with someone with intimate knowledge of the situation, 10 February 2025; Adriano Nuvunga, Facebook post: “CDD entra com uma acção contra o Estado mocambicano pelo assassinato Bárbaro do jovem blogueiro “Shottas”” [“CDD files a lawsuit against the Mozambican state for the barbaric murder of the young blogger “Shottas””], 30 December 2024, https://www.facebook.com/Prof.adrianonuvunga/videos/cdd-entra-com-uma-ac%C3%A7%C3%A3o-contra-o-estado-mocambicano-pelo-assassinato-b%C3%A1rbaro-do-/1029506992507642/

    [80] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 10 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 27 February 2025; Miramar, “UIR invade cemitério e dispara no momento de luto” [“UIR invades cemetery and shoots during mourning”], 14 December 2024, https://miramar.co.mz/noticias/mocambique/uir-invade-cemiterio-e-dispara-no-momento-de-luto-14-12-2024-49489 

    [81] Videos published on the platform X on 14 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International 
    https://x.com/mozinforma/status/1867929771835076734/video/1 https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1867936730910703888
    https://x.com/mozinforma/status/1867929771835076734/video/1

    [82] Inerview by voice call with eyewitness, 27 February 2025.

    [83] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 27 February 2025.

    [84] Video published on Facebook on 14 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=595714569533356

    [85] Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), “COMUNICADO- MISA condena baleamento de repórter pela UIR” [“-STATEMENT- MISA condemns the shooting of a reporter by the UIR”], 20 December 2024, https://www.misa.org.mz/index.php/destaques/noticias/327-comunicado-misa-condena-baleamento-de-reporter-pela-uir

    [86] Interview by voice call with person known to the victim, 19 February 2025.

    [87] DW, “Vários mortos no regresso de Mondlane a Moçambique” [“Several dead on Mondlane’s return to Mozambique”]; 9 January 2025, https://www.dw.com/pt-002/v%C3%A1rios-mortos-no-regresso-de-mondlane-a-mo%C3%A7ambique/a-71257510; Observador, “Chegada de Mondlane a Maputo. Número de mortos em Moçambique sobe para três – como aconteceu” [“Mondlane arrives in Maputo. Death toll in Mozambique rises to three – as it happened”], 9 January 2025, https://observador.pt/liveblogs/mondlane-chegou-a-maputo-estou-aqui-presente-de-carne-e-osso/

    [88] Video published on YouTube on 9 January 2025, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnA0Ur-Eb8I

    [89] Video published on YouTube on 9 January 2025, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCVLf30Ajfs

    [90] Video published on Facebook on 9 January 2025, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1194732825606271

    [91] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 13 February 2025.

    [92] Interview by voice call with “Pedro”, 1 March 2025.

    [93] Interview by voice call with “Pedro”, 1 March 2025.

    [94] Interview by voice call with “Pedro”, 1 March 2025.

    [95] Interview by voice call with “Pedro”, 1 March 2025.

    [96] Videos published on the platform X on 9 January 2025, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/AllexandreMZ/status/1877368651554124233
    https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1877308762274329016
    https://x.com/AllexandreMZ/status/1877304210435330388/video/1

    [97] Videos received via messaging app; on file with Amnesty International; Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International.
    https://www.facebook.com/tvsucessoofficial/videos/1049942656916240/

    [98] Interview by voice call with an eyewitness, 12 February 2025.

    [99] Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1049942656916240

    [100] Interview by voice call with an eyewitness, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 21 February 2025.

    [101] Interview by voice call with an eyewitness, 12 February 2025.

    [102] Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1049942656916240

    [103] Amnesty International reviewed videos and X-rays. The videos indicate the injury was caused by a tear gas canister. The X-rays clearly show a fracture in the tibia.

    [104] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 21 February 2025.

    [105] Videos sent via messaging app, on file with Amnesty International.

    [106] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 21 February 2025.

    [107] VOA, “Jornalistas moçambicanos feridos em manifestação em Maputo” [“Mozambican journalists injured in protest in Maputo”], 21 October 2025, https://www.voaportugues.com/a/jornalistas-mo%C3%A7ambicanos-feridos-em-manifesta%C3%A7%C3%A3o-em-maputo/7830621.html 

    [108] Publico, “Pelo menos 30 pessoas foram detidas nos confrontos em Maputo” [“At least 30 people were arrested in the clashes in Maputo”], 22 October 2024, https://www.publico.pt/2024/10/22/mundo/noticia/menos-30-pessoas-detidas-confrontos-maputo-2108971

    [109] Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/tvsucessoofficial/videos/8571222766325965/

    [110] Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/tvsucessoofficial/videos/8571222766325965/

    [111] Video published on Facebook on 21 October 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://www.facebook.com/tvsucessoofficial/videos/8571222766325965/

    [112] Videos sent via messaging app, on file with Amnesty International.

    [113] Principle 5(c) of the UN Basic Principles (previously cited).

    [114] RFI, “Moçambique: Três mortos e dezenas de feridos nas manifestações” [“Mozambique: Three dead and dozens injured in protests”], 8 November 2024, https://www.rfi.fr/pt/%C3%A1frica-lus%C3%B3fona/20241108-mo%C3%A7ambique-tr%C3%AAs-mortos-e-dezenas-de-feridos-nas-manifesta%C3%A7%C3%B5es; Radio Renascença (RR), “Protestos em Maputo deixam 57 pessoas feridas por arma de fogo“ [“Protests in Maputo leave 57 people injured by firearms”], 8 November 2024, https://rr.pt/noticia/mundo/2024/11/08/protestos-em-maputo-deixam-57-pessoas-feridas-por-arma-de-fogo/400690/

    [115] Videos published on the platform X on 7 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1854544977507856444 https://x.com/wilkerDias13/status/1854464732637327870 https://x.com/wilkerDias13/status/1854464732637327870

    [116] Videos published on the platform X on 7 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International.  https://x.com/wilkerDias13/status/1854461552214114747/video/1
    https://x.com/wilkerDias13/status/1854485342604104076

    [117] Video published on the platform X on 7 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/wilkerDias13/status/1854461552214114747/video/2

    [118] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 19 and 20 February 2025.

    [119] HRC, General Comment No. 37 (previously cited), para 80; ACHPR Guidelines on the Policing of Assemblies in Africa (previously cited), para. 3.2; Amnesty International, Guidelines on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (previously cited), guideline 7.5.

    [120] Videos published on the platform X on 27 and 28 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861684733605806131 https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1862014546333856026 https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861685433677013386

    [121] Video published on the platform X on 27 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861931525492617413

    [122] Video published on the platform X on 27 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861919381283827798

    [123] Videos published on the platform X on 27 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/Cidiachissungo/status/1861919381283827798

    [124] Pictures published on the platform X on 30 November 2024, on file with Amnesty International. https://x.com/AllexandreMZ/status/1862832887285854247

    [125] VOA, “Ministry of National Defence admits to having run over young man [sic] in protest in Maputo”, 27 November 2024, https://www.voaportugues.com/a/ministério-da-defesa-nacional-reconhece-ter-atropelado-jovem-em-protesto-em-maputo/7879042.html

    [126] VOA, “Ministry of National Defence admits to having run over young man [sic] in protest in Maputo”, 27 November 2024, https://www.voaportugues.com/a/ministério-da-defesa-nacional-reconhece-ter-atropelado-jovem-em-protesto-em-maputo/7879042.html

    [127] Interview by voice call with individual with intimate knowledge of the situation, 11 February 2025.

    [128] Interview by voice call with individual with intimate knowledge of the situation, 11 February 2025.

    [129] Plataforma DECIDE, “Preliminary report on the post-electoral context in Mozambique: 21 October 2024- 21 January 2025” (previously cited), pg. 2.

    [130] Plataforma DECIDE, “Preliminary report on the post-electoral context in Mozambique: 21 October 2024- 21 January 2025” (previously cited), pg. 2.

    [131] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [132] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [133] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [134] Plataforma DECIDE, “Preliminary report on the post-electoral context in Mozambique: 21 October 2024- 21 January 2025” (previously cited), pg. 2.

    [135] Plataforma DECIDE, “Preliminary report on the post-electoral context in Mozambique: 21 October 2024- 21 January 2025” (previously cited), pg. 2.

    [136] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [137] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [138] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [139] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025.

    [140] Interview by voice call with a victim of arbitrary detention, 12 February 2025.

    [141] Interview by voice call with a victim of arbitrary detention, 12 February 2025.

    [142] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025; Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025.

    [143] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 19 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a victim of arbitrary detention, 12 February 2025; Interview by voice call with a relative of a detainee, 18 and 21 February 2025.

    [144] Interview by voice call with son of victim of detainee, 18 and 21 February 2025.

    [145] Interview by voice call with son of victim of detainee, 18 and 21 February 2025.

    [146] Interview by voice call with a victim of arbitrary detention, 12 February 2025.

    [147] Interview by voice call with a victim of arbitrary detention, 12 February 2025.

    [148] Interview by voice call with a lawyer, 12 February 2025.

    [149] Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025.

    [150] Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025.

    [151] Photos of victim taken on 6 and 7 December 2024, on file with Amnesty International.

    [152] Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025.

    [153] Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025.

    [154] ICCPR, Article 9.1; ACHPR, Article 6.

    [155] ICCPR, Article 14; ACHPR, Article 7. See also the African Commission, Principles and Guidelines on the Rights to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa.

    [156] African Commission Principles and Guidelines on the Rights to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa; article 1(e) and (g).

    [157] For instance, ICCPR, Articles 7 and 10. Conditions of detention which violate article 10 of the ICCPR may also violate Article 7 of the ICCPR (prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment). See also, UN Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Interim report, 3 August 2009, UN Doc. A/64/215 paras 48, 55.

    [158] The 1955 UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Nelson Mandela Rules); Rules 15; 16; 19; 20; and 19. See also the ACHPR Guidelines on the Conditions of Arrest, Police Custody and Pre-Trial Detention in Africa (the Luanda Guidelines), March 2015; and The UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners, 1990.

    [159] Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Article 37(b).

    [160] African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (ACRWC), Article 17.2(b). See also, ICCPR, Article 10.2(b).

    [161] ICCPR, Article 9.1; ACHPR, Article 6; Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique, 16 November 2004, Article 59.1.

    [162] ICCPR, Article 17.

    [163] ICCPR, Article 2.3. See also, HRC, General Comment 31: The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant, 26 May 2004, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add. 13.

    [164] ICCPR, Article 9.5.

    [165] CAT, Article 14. See also, Committee Against Torture, General Comment 3: Implementation of article 14 by States parties (Article 14), 13 December 2012, UN Doc. CAT/C/GC/3; UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), Resolution 22/21: Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment: rehabilitation of torture victims, adopted on 12 April 2013.

    [166] Photo of police complaint, on file with Amnesty International.

    [167] Interview by voice call with victim, 18 and 19 February 2025 and correspondence on 1 April 2025.

    [168] Integrity Magazine, “Moçambique enfrenta 18 horas de corte de internet em meio `a tensão pós-eleitoral [“Mozambique faces internet shutdown amid post-electoral tension”], 26 October 2024, https://integritymagazine.co.mz/arquivos/33806; Sahara Reporters, “Social media platforms down in Mozambique ahead of protests against disputed election results”, 31 October 2024, https://saharareporters.com/2024/10/31/social-media-platforms-down-mozambique-ahead-protests-against-disputed-election-results

    [169] Internet Outage Detection & Analysis (IODA) and Cloudflare, “Mozambique’s post-election fallout: fatal protests and widespread internet shutdowns”, 26 February 2025, https://ioda-dev.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/reports/mozambiques-post-election-fallout-fatal-protests-and-widespread-internet-shutdowns/

    [170] Club of Mozambique, “Mozambique elections: Mondlane calls for week-long strike and a national march to Maputo”, 29 October 2024, https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-elections-mondlane-calls-for-week-long-strike-and-a-national-march-to-maputo-269757/

    [171] IODA and Cloudflare, “Mozambique’s post-election fallout: fatal protests and widespread internet shutdowns”, 26 February 2025, https://ioda-dev.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/reports/mozambiques-post-election-fallout-fatal-protests-and-widespread-internet-shutdowns/

    [172] Netblocks, X post, 25 October 2024, https://x.com/netblocks/status/1849839619291988399

    [173] IODA and Cloudflare, “Mozambique’s post-election fallout: fatal protests and widespread internet shutdowns”, 26 February 2025, https://ioda-dev.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/reports/mozambiques-post-election-fallout-fatal-protests-and-widespread-internet-shutdowns/

    [174] Netblocks, X post, 8 November 2024, https://x.com/netblocks/status/1854830014555914571

    [175] IODA and Cloudflare, “Mozambique’s post-election fallout: fatal protests and widespread internet shutdowns”, 26 February 2025, https://ioda-dev.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/reports/mozambiques-post-election-fallout-fatal-protests-and-widespread-internet-shutdowns/

    [176] IODA and Cloudflare, “Mozambique’s post-election fallout: fatal protests and widespread internet shutdowns”, 26 February 2025, https://ioda-dev.inetintel.cc.gatech.edu/reports/mozambiques-post-election-fallout-fatal-protests-and-widespread-internet-shutdowns/

    [177] Tmcel is a state mobile company that resulted from the merging of telecommunication company Telecomunicações de Moçambique (AS30619) and Mcel (mobile company).

    [178] Netblocks, X post, 31 October 2024, https://x.com/netblocks/status/1851892913292071349

    [179] OONI Probe testing of ‘www.facebook.com’, ‘www.instagram.com’ and WhatsApp services in Mozambique between 15 October and 18 November 2024.

    [180] Club of Mozambique, “Mozambique Elections: Second internet shutdown – AIM”, 1 November 2024, https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-elections-second-internet-shutdown-aim-269982/

    [181] Club of Mozambique, “Mozambique Elections: Second internet shutdown – AIM”, 1 November 2024, https://clubofmozambique.com/news/mozambique-elections-second-internet-shutdown-aim-269982/

    [182] RFI, “Moçambique: Ministro justificou restrições na internet para impedir ’destruição’ do país” [“Mozambique: Minister justified internet restrictions to prevent “destruction” of the country”], 11 November 2024, https://www.rfi.fr/pt/%C3%A1frica-lus%C3%B3fona/20241111-mo%C3%A7ambique-ministro-justificou-restri%C3%A7%C3%B5es-na-internet-para-impedir-destrui%C3%A7%C3%A3o-do-pa%C3%ADs

    [183] Text messages shared with researchers by Vodacom, Movitel and Tmcel clients, on file with Amnesty International. See also, HRW, “Mozambique: post-election internet restrictions hinder rights”, 6 November 2024, https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/06/mozambique-post-election-internet-restrictions-hinder-rights

    [184] Ngani, “Manifestações pós-eleitoral: mais um apagão dos serviços de internet em Moçambique” [“Post-election demonstrations: another blackout of internet services in Mozambique”], 1 November 2024, https://ngani.co.mz/tech/01/11/2024/manifestacoes-pos-eleitoral-mais-um-apagao-dos-servicos-de-internet-em-mocambique/

    [185] Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (Centro para Democracia e Direitos Humanos – CDD), “Depois da proibição do bloqueio pelo tribunal: submetida acção principal contra as operadoras de telefonia móvel por bloqueio de internet” [“After a blockage from court has been denied: a complaint against internet shutdown by mobile companies submitted down”], 18 December 2024, https://cddmoz.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Submetida-accao-principal-contra-as-operadoras-de-telefonia-movel-por-bloqueio-de-internet.pdf

    [186] Video sent by eyewitness, on file with Amnesty International.

    [187] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 11 February 2025; Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 14 February 2025.

    [188] Interview by voice call with eyewitness, 11 February 2025.

    [189] Interview by voice call with media professional, 12 February 2025.

    [190] ICCPR, Article 19.2.

    [191] ICCPR, Article 19.3(a)(b). See also the African Commission, Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression and Access to Information in Africa, November 2019; the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, 1 October 1995.

    [192] ACHPR, Article 9.

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI NGOs: Mozambique: Authorities must bring perpetrators to justice for reckless and deadly protest crackdown

    Source: Amnesty International –

    Mozambican security forces used reckless and unnecessary force in a widespread crackdown on protests following last October’s election, resulting in unlawful killings and devastating injuries, Amnesty International said in a new report. 

    The report, Protest under attack: Human rights violations during Mozambique’s post-2024 election crackdown, documents security forces firing lethal weapons, tear gas and kinetic impact projectiles (commonly known as “rubber bullets”) at protesters and bystanders, including children. Authorities also conducted mass arbitrary arrests and targeted journalists, including by intimidating them and confiscating their equipment, while internet access was restricted at key moments.  

    “The Mozambican security forces’ deadly crackdown was a shameful overreaction to post-election protests,” said Khanyo Farise, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa. “Instead of listening to people’s grievances and allowing them to voice their concerns, the FRELIMO-led government unleashed a wave of violence on demonstrations resulting in serious injuries, unlawful deaths and a slew of other human rights violations.” 

    “If President Daniel Chapo’s new government wants to turn the page, it must ensure thorough and transparent investigations into all allegations of human rights violations committed during the crackdown, and hold suspected perpetrators accountable,” Khanyo Farise said. 

    Mozambique held national elections on 9 October 2024. Soon after, the opposition PODEMOS party and the candidate it backed, Venâncio Mondlane, alleged vote-rigging in favor of the ruling FRELIMO party and its candidate, Daniel Chapo. On 21 October, protests broke out and spread across the country, continuing through Chapo’s 15 January inauguration. 

    Civil society has reported more than 300 deaths and more than 3,000 injured between 21 October and 16 January. Police put the death toll at protests at 96, including 17 officers. 

    Amnesty International’s new report is based on 105 verified videos and photos, plus review of other open-source information, as well as 28 interviews, mostly with witnesses and survivors, between October 2024 and January 2025. 

    Mozambican authorities did not respond to Amnesty’s request for comment. 

    MIL OSI NGO –

  • MIL-OSI Asia-Pac: Speech by SCST at World Tourism Cities Federation Hong Kong Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2025 Gala Dinner (English only)

    Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region

    Following is the speech by the Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism, Miss Rosanna Law, at the World Tourism Cities Federation (WTCF) Hong Kong Fragrant Hills Tourism Summit 2025 Gala Dinner today (April 16):

    Mr Michael Lee, Chairman of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mr Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Mr Guo Huaigang, Secretary General of WTCF, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen and friends from the global tourism community,

    Good evening, everyone!

    Over the past few days, we have witnessed together a rich and colourful array of Summit activities, from experiencing Hong Kong’s diversified and unique tourism resources through visiting tourists attractions, to engaging in in-depth fora and meetings about the latest developments, trends, and insights of the tourism industry, on top of deepened mutual understanding and strengthened friendship, I know that we also reached valuable consensus covering many aspects on tourism development. Through exploring innovative strategies and best practices that can elevate our respective destinations and enhance the experiences we offer to visitors from around the globe together, I am confident that we shall meet our common goal and achieve high-quality development of the tourism economy.

    As far as Hong Kong is concerned, we boast significant traditional strengths: world-class tourist attractions, vibrant culinary scene, efficient urban management and unparalleled transport systems, to name just a few. Some of you have experienced first hand the tourism assets of Hong Kong earlier this week and just now in the afternoon. But Hong Kong is a city that never stands still. We are working in full steam to strengthen these assets, as well as unearthing new tourism resources to consolidate our position as a world-class premier tourist destination. One of our key strategies is to press ahead with the four “+ Tourism” directions, which integrates culture, sports, ecology and mega events into our tourism offerings. And tonight we are enjoying the breathtaking ambiance of the iconic Happy Valley racecourse, which is a perfect example for illustrating this approach. 

    Horse racing has been a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s cultural identity for over a century. It is a game, a sport and so much more. The Hong Kong Jockey Club is Hong Kong’s largest charitable donor, and the various sectors under my purview – sports, culture and tourism, benefit tremendously from the generosity of the Jockey Club. And as you can see and feel for yourselves, horse-racing is also a vibrant social event that brings people together, and people are enjoying themselves no doubt. We are further enriching this activity with cultural experiences, culinary delights, and entertainment. Unique tourism products, integrating different offerings, are being developed to bring holistic experience to visitors. Similarly, we are also crafting a series of distinctive and attractive tourism products and projects under the four “+ Tourism” directions to showcase Hong Kong’s unique and diversified characteristics in new and exciting ways.

    Tourism is an important dynamo for economic development, and an important bridge that connects people and culture. In the face of future challenges and opportunities, we need to unite more closely and jointly explore new friends, areas and paths in tourism. I believe that with the friendship we developed in the last few days, and our concerted efforts, we can together foster brighter and sustainable development of the global tourism industry. 

    Once again, please accept my sincere gratitude for your active participation in this episode of the Fragment Hills Tourism Summit, and your unwavering dedication to advancing the tourism sector. 

    I would also like to take this opportunity to express my special and heartfelt gratitude to the Hong Kong Jockey Club, Chairman Michael and CEO Winfried, for the Club’s generous sponsorship of this wonderful evening.

    Thank you so very much, and enjoy the rest of your evening!

    MIL OSI Asia Pacific News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Violation of Directive 1999/70/EC on the grounds of discrimination against substitute teachers in Greece in cases of serious illness – E-001474/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001474/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Elena Kountoura (The Left)

    In Greece, there are situations where substitute teachers who have been diagnosed with serious and hard-to-treat illnesses are discriminated against in terms of labour and other rights in comparison with their permanent colleagues. The competent authorities of the Ministry of Education reject requests for online work or additional days of sick leave during treatment and recovery periods, on the grounds that they are not provided for by the current institutional framework[1]. The only solution is to return to work immediately following the end of the treatment or recovery period – during which they are not paid a salary[2].

    Having regard to Article 54(1) and (3) of Greek Law 3528/2007 (the Civil Servants’ Code), the infringement of EU law due to the incorrect transposition into Greek law of Council Directive 1999/70/EC, which prohibits discrimination against workers on fixed-term contracts, and the infringement procedure initiated by the Commission against Greece (INFR(2024)4013)[3], as well as the inhuman dilemma faced by substitute teachers in Greece, whereby they have to choose between earning a salary or getting treatment in the event of a serious illness, can the Commission say:

    • 1.Is it aware of these cases of discrimination in Greece between workers with different types of contracts as regards sick leave and other employment rights?
    • 2.What steps does it intend to take to ensure equal rights for severely ill workers in Greece, regardless of their contract type?

    Submitted: 9.4.2025

    • [1] In fact, Article 657 of the Civil Code expressly states that an employee’s claim to a salary may be retained even when the employee is not working, provided that the impediment to work is due to an important reason, such as the illness of the employee, as is apparent from the provisions of Articles 660 and 661 of the Civil Code, Article 5(3) of Law 2112/1920 (Government Gazette A, No 67), Article 8 of Royal Decree 16/18-7-1920 and Article 3 of Law 4558/1930 (Government Gazette A, No 124), and as also sustained by the case-law of the courts (Decision 826/2011 of the Court of First Instance in Athens, Decision 542/2010 of the Supreme Court, Decision 4214/2010 of the Court of Appeal of Athens, and others).
    • [2] See for example: https://www.alfavita.gr/ekpaideysi/473918_eipan-se-anaplirotria-na-dialexei-i-tin-therapeia-toy-karkinoy-tis-i-merokamato.
    • [3] Greek law contains less favourable employment conditions for fixed-term teachers working in public schools compared to permanent teachers, for instance as regards sick leave.
    Last updated: 16 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –

  • MIL-OSI Europe: Written question – Border management with regard to Lebanon and Syria – E-001464/2025

    Source: European Parliament

    Question for written answer  E-001464/2025
    to the Commission
    Rule 144
    Lukas Mandl (PPE)

    Due to the increased security challenges in the Middle East arising from the fall of the Assad regime, the region faces high risks of weapons proliferation, drug smuggling and illegal migration. The current figures show that the Central Mediterranean route remains the most active migratory pathway into the EU. Compared to 2023, there has been a 10 % increase in irregular border crossings on this route.

    • 1.Does the Commission intend to address the issue of human trafficking and illegal migration at its roots in the Middle East region?
    • 2.What means and measures will the Commission take to support people in Syria to stay in order to reconstruct their country, and prevent them from illegally crossing the borders to Lebanon, in order to continue to Cyprus and elsewhere in the EU?
    • 3.What means and measures will the Commission adopt to support effective border management mechanisms operationally implemented by trustworthy international organisations, such as the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in order to prevent illegal weapons smuggling and illegal border crossings, especially from Syria to Lebanon, and in order to support the Lebanese Armed Forces in fully implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1701?

    Submitted: 9.4.2025

    Last updated: 16 April 2025

    MIL OSI Europe News –