Avoin kirje Intian hallinnolle Stan Swamyn kuoleman vuosipäivänä/Open letter on the first anniversary of the custodial death of Father Stan Swamy SJ

Kirjoitin avoimen kirjeen Intian hallinnolle Stan Swamyn, 84-vuotiaan ihmisoikeustaistelijan, kuoleman vuosipäivänä. Swamy kuoli vankeudessa ja hänen kuolemansa olisi voinut olla ehkäistävissä, jos hän olisi saanut ajoissa riittävää hoitoa. Olen äärimmäisen huolissani Intian ihmisoikeuspuolustajien huonosta kohtelusta, heidän työnsä tukahduttamisesta ja poliittisesti motivoituneista vangitsemisista. Olen iloinen, että 11 meppikollegaani lähtivät kirjeeseen mukaan.

Alta voit lukea kirjeen kokonaisuudessaan.

I wrote an open letter to the Indian officials on the first anniversary of the custodial death of Father Stan Swamy SJ, an 84-year-old human rights defender. The letter adresses the horrendous treatment of human rights defenders, the suppression of their work and their politically motivated imprisonments. I am delighted that 11 of my fellow MEPs co-signed the letter.

You can read the letter in full below.

To:

H.E. Mr. Narendra Damodardas Modi, Prime Minister of India

Mr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India

Mr. Kiren Rijiju, Minister of Law and Justice of India

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) respectfully write to you today, on the first anniversary of the custodial death of Father Stan Swamy SJ, an 84-year-old Jesuit priest and prominent human rights defender (HRD). We express our serious concern over the lack of justice and accountability for Stan Swamy’s death in judicial custody.

We received the information that Stan Swamy was arrested on October 8, 2020, by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in Ranchi, Jharkhand state, for alleged links to the incident of caste-based violence that broke out during the Elgar Parishad commemoration at Bhima Koregaon, Maharashtra state, on January 1, 2018. Stan Swamy was falsely accused and jailed in this case, also known as the Bhima Koregaon-16 case. At the time of his arrest, he was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, and other serious underlying health issues. His health deteriorated drastically following his arrest, due to poor detention conditions and the absence of adequate medical care amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

Yet, his two requests to be released on medical grounds were refused. Even though he was eventually transferred from the prison to a hospital on May 29, 2021, where he remained in critical condition, he continued to be denied bail. On July 4, 2021, Stan Swamy suffered a cardiac arrest and died the following day, on July 5, 2022.

We are anguished by the death in custody of Stan Swamy, which we believe would have been preventable had he been given access to timely medical care, and we remain gravely concerned that no accountability has been set one year after this incident.

We are further concerned about the increasingly systematic use of prolonged pre-trial detention of HRDs in India, often in overcrowded and unsanitary prisons. We are aware of the ongoing detention without trial of 13 HRDs in the Bhima Koregaon-16 case, some of them for over four years now. Students and HRDs from the Muslim minority community in Delhi have been imprisoned for over two years for their peaceful opposition to the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act. Kashmiri HRD Khurram Parvez, journalist Siddique Kappan and woman HRD Hidme Markam remain in pre-trial detention. All of them have been charged under the anti-terror legislation Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA). We are particularly concerned over the serious health condition of HRD Dr. GN Saibaba, detained in Nagpur Central Prison.

We again take this opportunity to express our concerns over the increasing criminalisation of HRDs in India. We are deeply worried about the recent arbitrary arrest and judicial harassment of woman HRD Teesta Setalvad, on June 25, 2022, as a reprisal for supporting the victims of the 2002 Gujarat Riots, in which at least 1,000 people were killed, and for seeking the prosecution of the then senior officials of Gujarat state.

We reiterate our steadfast commitment to human rights and human rights defenders and call the authorities of India to:

- Urgently carry out an immediate and thorough investigation into the circumstances under which Stan Swamy died in custody and to bring to justice those responsible;

- To consider the release of all HRDs subjected to prolonged pre-trial detention under the UAPA and uphold the judicial principle that bail should be the norm and not the exception;

- To repeal or significantly amend legislations that have been widely misused to silence human rights defenders, such as the UAPA, and immediately stop using such legislation to persecute and jail human rights defenders and quash peaceful dissent.

Sincerely,

Members of the European Parliament

1. Alviina Alametsä (Greens/EFA)

2. Fabio Massimo Castaldo (NI)

3. Ignazio Corrao (Greens/EFA)

4. José Gusmão (GUE/NGL)

5. Marisa Matias (GUE/NGL)

6. Hannah Neumann (Greens/EFA)

7. Manuel Pineda (GUE/NGL)

8. Sira Rego (GUE/NGL)

9. María Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (GUE/NGL)

10. Jordi Solé (Greens/EFA)

11. Miguel Urbán (GUE/NGL)

12. Idoia Villanueva (GUE/NGL)