What We Found in Bucha: Daily Brief

Russian forces committed a litany of apparent war crimes during their occupation of Bucha, a town about 30 kilometers northwest of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, from March 4 to 31, according to a new Human Rights Watch report. HRW researchers who investigated in Bucha from April 4 to 10, days after Russian forces withdrew from the area, found extensive evidence of summary executions, other unlawful killings, enforced disappearances, and torture, all of which would constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity.

A court in Celle, Germany is getting ready to open the first trial for serious crimes committed in Gambia under then-president Yahya Jammeh in the mid-1990s. German prosecutors accuse Bai L., an alleged member of the paramilitary unit “Junglers,” of being involved in attempted murder and two murders. Jammeh’s 22-year rule was marked by systematic oppression and widespread human rights violations, including torture, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence against actual and perceived opponents. Human Rights Watch and other groups published a question-and-answer document on the trial, which opens on April 25, and will hold an online briefing today at 5 p.m. CET.

Egyptian authorities should urgently release the autopsy report and investigate the suspicious death of economist Ayman Hadhoud. Hadhoud was forcibly disappeared on February 5 or 6, and died in the custody of security authorities on March 5. Authorities did not inform his family of his death until April 9, more than a month later. Human Rights Watch has documented a pattern of systematic torture of detainees in secret National Security Agency offices and police stations.

One year ago, Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno was killed in clashes between rebels and government forces in Western Kanem province. It was the day after official results announced his sixth presidential mandate. The same day one of Deby’s sons, 38-year-old Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, unconstitutionally took over the country. Since then, Chad’s troubling human rights situation has only worsened. Violations - including unlawful killings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, and extortion, – have increased with almost no effort to punish those responsible.

Sri Lankan authorities should promptly and impartially investigate the apparent use of excessive force by police, who fired on protesters demonstrating against rising fuel prices in Rambukkana, a town near Kandy in central Sri Lanka on April 19. One person was killed and at least 14 wounded. Those responsible for abuses should be disciplined or prosecuted as appropriate. Sri Lanka has a long history of failing to provide justice and redress to victims of human rights violations.