RESOLUTION B3-0087/93

Resolution on violation of human rights in Sierra Leone

The European Parliament,

A.whereas the National Provisional Ruling Council of Sierra Leone (NPRC) issued a statement on 30 December 1992, announcing the execution of 26 persons for alleged participation in a coup plot, 19 of whom were imprisoned at Pademba Road in Freetown at the time, and the death in cross-fire of three who resisted arrest,

B.whereas the EC Heads of Mission and the EC Delegation in Sierra Leone have judged that the summary executions took place in the absence of due process of law and constitute a flagrant violation of basic human rights,

C.whereas Amnesty International has issued two bulletins (31 December 1992 and 11 January 1993) confirming these events, concluding that the executed persons were denied legal counsel and defence and the internationally recognized right of appeal, and expressing fear of further executions,

D.whereas at least 42 political detainees have been held in Pademba Road prison since last April without have been charged with any crime,

E.deeply concerned by numerous accounts of the brutal manner in which the 'executions' were carried out, including torture, mutilations, burning alive, and burial in mass graves after being covered with acid, and further concerned that the number of victims may far exceed the 29 admitted in the NPRC statement and that there may have been other executions since,

F.whereas there have been increasing restrictions on freedom of the press and harassment of journalists, including the execution of a journalist among the 26, the detention of an editor of The New Breed newspaper, Mr Koruma, in late December, and the beating and imprisonment of the Editor of The Pool, Mr Sessay, in January,

G.whereas Sierra Leone was rated by the United Nations Development Programme in 1990 as the country with the lowest human development in the world (based on life expectancy, literacy, and economic factors), and whereas it receives more than $100 million in foreign development aid, the majority coming from the EC and its Member States,

H.having regard to the statement of the French Government on the executions and the decision by the British Government to withdraw its offer of £4 million of balance of payments support and suspend all new aid to Sierra Leone in protest against the illegal executions and lack of progress toward civilian rule,

I.having regard to the demarche of the European Community delivered to Captain Strasser and the NPRC on 15 January 1993,

1.Deplores and condemns as a flagrant violation of the most basic human rights the murder by the NPRC of the 29 persons (28 men and one woman) at the end of December 1992;

2.Is deeply concerned that the increasing militarization and repression in Sierra Leone are leading away from transition to civilian rule;

3.Supports, under the circumstances, the actions taken by the British Government and the European Community;

4.Urges the NPRC and its chairman, Captain Valentine E. M. Strasser, to comply speedily with the requests of the European Community, and in particular

-to produce a transcript or record of the proceedings against the 26 men executed on 29 December;

-to release immediately the imprisoned Editor of The Pool newspaper, Mr Sessay, and to stop all harassment and arrests of journalists;

-to provide the names and circumstances of any further executions which may have taken place since the NPRC statement of 30 December;

-to either release the 42 political detainees who have been imprisoned at Pademba Road since April 1992, or bring formal charges against them;

-to release the names of all other political prisoners detained more recently;

-to produce a timetable and programme for rapid transition to civilian rule;

5.Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, Commission, EPC, the governments of the Member States, and Captain Valentine E. M. Strasser, Chairman of the National Provisional Ruling Council of Sierra Leone (Statehouse, Freetown).