RP Press Release - Rome, 5 April 1995

THE XXXVII RADICAL PARTY CONGRESS, WHICH WILL BEGIN AT 9.00AM ON FRIDAY 7 APRIL AT THE HOTEL ERGIFE IN ROME, IS BEING PRESENTED AT A PRESS CONFERENCE TODAY

The press conference was introduced by Luca Frassineti, acting Secretary of the Radical Party, who took over from Emma Bonino when she was appointed European Commissioner. Frassineti recalled the important achievements of the Radical Party since the February '93 Congress and the General Council held in Sofia in July of that same year. Noteworthy achievements, such as the establishment of the International Tribunal for war crimes committed in the Former Yugoslavia; the setting in motion of procedures to institute the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity; the resolution for a universal moratorium on executions which, although defeated by a narrow margin, saw, for the first time, the UN General Assembly divided on a vote of such importance. All RP campaigns have a common denominator, i.e., the creation of international law with increasingly supranational authority. Frasinetti then emphasized how crucial the upcoming Congress would be, following the above-mentioned achievements of the transnational, transparty Radical Party, and the recognition accorded to the Party by UN Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali; and also because the Party's successes are offset by an extremely difficult financial situation but, above all, by a serious lack of human resources, with regard to leadership and activists, all of whom are invaluable and work miracles despite their limited numbers. This being the case, the Party must consider ending the current phase of its existence, in order to analyse the present structure and to decide how it should organize itself and its campaigns to resolve urgent international political issues.

Lenora Fulani, one of the leaders of the African-American movement and twice presidential candidate, confirmed her participation in the RP Congress. She said that the time was right for new alliances to be forged between the individual and the new humanist forces. She emphasized that the clichés which make the Italian and American political systems models of both instability and stability must be overcome, and that this topic should be debated at the RP Congress. The Black leader added, "the independent political movement is playing a fundamental role in helping the U.S. to overcome the corrupt, repressive bipartisan system and move towards an advanced multiparty democracy".

Then Lawrence Hayes, the last man condemned to death in New York State, took the floor, followed by Jean Claude Bouda, an MP from Burkina Faso.

Sergio D'Elia and Danilo Quinto, Secretaries of Hands off Cain and No Peace Without Justice respectively, and members of the RP Secretariat, presented the Palm Sunday March, which will start at 9.00am from the Capitol in Rome, and is promoted by the RP and the two above-mentioned organizations.

More than 170 foreigners will take part in the Congress, including members of government from various countries and dozens of parliamentarians, elected in as many parliaments on as many lists, from different - and widely differing - national parties. (ACP5539)

RP Press release - Rome, 6 April 1995

NONVIOLENCE: A LIFE OF RIGHTS FOR THE RIGHT TO LIFE
XXXVII CONGRESS OF THE TRANSNATIONAL, TRANSPARTY RADICAL PARTY

Today, Thursday 6 April, the General Council of the Radical Party will meet at 8.00pm at the Hotel Ergife, Via Aurelia 619, Rome.

The Council must approve the budget and propose the agenda, Presidency and rules of the Congress of the transnational, transparty Radical Party, which will begin its work tomorrow, Friday 7 April, at 9.00am, at the Hotel Ergife.

This XXXVII Congress will continue until midnight on Friday, and from 9.00am to 9.00pm on Saturday. Reports and speeches will be made by over 200 deputies and political exponents, belonging to a wide spectrum of national parties from all over the world.

Within the sphere of the Congress, the Palm Sunday March will be held on 9 April, starting at 9.00am from the Capitol and, after a brief stop at the Quirinal Palace where a Radical delegation will be received by the Italian President, ending at St. Peter's Square, to deliver to Pope John Paul II an appeal asking His Holiness to take up the Radical campaigns for the abolition of the death penalty and for the establishment of the Permanent International Criminal Court by the United Nations.

In 1998 the Radical Party will not participate, as such, in any elections in any part of the world.

APPEAL FOR BOSNIA'S ACCESSION TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

- More than a thousand days have passed since the outbreak of the war still being waged against the internationally-recognized Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina;

- while the conflict has already claimed over 200,000 victims, and produced hundreds of thousands of wounded, tens of thousands of disabled persons and 3 million refugees;

- while the capital Sarajevo and the cities of Goradze, Srebrenica, Zepa, Bihac and Velika Kladusa, are still besieged by the militias of Karadzic and Mladic, and the inhabitants of these cities are living in terror and suffering hardships daily;

- while six peace plans, based on the ethnic division of this country, have been elaborated and proposed by representatives of the International Community, and subsequently rejected;

- while a series of new elements, including further violations of the truce, would appear to indicate a further explosion of the conflict;

- while the credibility of the presence in Bosnia of the International Community in general, and the European Union in particular, with respect to peacemaking, seems to be wearing thin;

- while the European Union, on occasion of the 1996 Intergovernmental Conference, is preparing to reform its joint foreign policy, also in the light of the tragedy being enacted in the Former Yugoslavia;

We, the undersigned, men and women, personalities from the world of politics, culture and science, and European citizens,

- welcome with great interest and hope the many signals being received from the authorities of the world of politics and culture, and from the Muslim, Croatian and Serb authorities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, in favour of the presentation of a request for Bosnia's accession to the European Union;

- consider that the European Union's acceptance of Bosnia's request for admission, would finally make it possible to arrive at a lasting solution founded on the peaceful coexistence of all the different components of Bosnia's population;

- believe that the aforesaid admission process would have strictly a political significance, and therefore no argument of an economic or technical nature should be raised on the pretext of excluding or delaying its implementation;

- lastly, call on each and every one of you, to mobilize and organize yourselves, throughout Europe, so that the Republic of Bosnia may overcome its feelings of wariness and uncertainty - which are perfectly justified - and deposit as soon as possible its formal request for membership of the European Union; and that the European authorities may accept said request without delay.

Radio Radicale - Rome, 27 April - 3.00pm
Interview with Mamuka Tsagareli

This is Paolo Pietrosanti at Radio Radicale. We are connected with Mamuka Tsagareli in Moscow, who is one of the driving forces behind Radical initiatives in the Former Soviet Union, and I am going to ask him to tell us what occurred on the night of 24 April when Nikolaj Khramov, another Radical leader in the Former Soviet Union, was attacked and seriously injured.

First tell us what really happened, Mamuka.

- As you said, Khramov was attacked on the night of 24 April, at 1.30am. While he was returning home from the RP office, Nikolaj was stopped near the Kolometska underground station by a woman who shouted "please help me, help me, take me away from here...". He was with another Radical activist, Serghej Vorontsov, who is his neighbour. Nikolaj was completely taken by surprise, and didn't understand what was going on. After a few moments, the woman's husband appeared: "Come on, let's go home, don't worry, let's go home..." he slurred. And Nikolaj realized that they were both drunk.

But the woman wouldn’t let Nikolaj go. She clung on to him, insisting "take me away from here, take me with you...". After no more than 5 minutes a third person appeared on the scene, He was not with the other two, and gave the impression that he didn’t know them. As he drew closer to ask what was going on and why, the woman’s husband again said "let’s go home" to the woman, trying to make her leave. Suddenly, the third person turned on Nikolaj, demanding to know why he hadn’t come to the woman’s defence. Then he started attacking him, hurling threats at Nikolaj.

Nikolaj told me afterwards that he was so taken aback he didn’t even try to defend himself. "What are you doing? Are you crazy? Why are you attacking me?" he protested in astonishment.

At this point, Serghej Vorontsov decided to call the police, who were in the underground station, about 20 or 30 yards away, but waited until the "third man" had quietened down. He ran to the underground and called three armed officers. They arrived in about 3 or 4 minutes, and found Nikolaj lying on the ground, in a pool of blood. He was muttering "What’s happened? Why am I on the ground? What’s all this blood?" - he remembered nothing about being assaulted.

The strange thing was that those three people did not even try to escape: they just stood there, watching what was happening.

Then the police arrested them, and called an ambulance. Nikolaj was taken to a civilian hospital, no. 7, nearby.

The police checked the papers of the three individuals, all of whom were Russian citizens resident in Moscow; they took their addresses and phone numbers, asking Serghej Vorontsov if he was going to file charges at the police station right away or if he intended to do it later. Fearing for Nikolaj’s life, Serghej decided to get over to the hospital - as fast as he could - before doing anything else, to see just how serious Nikolaj’s condition was. The policemen told him that when someone is injured the hospital automatically informs the police and an investigation is carried out. So, Serghej went to the hospital, where he found Nikolaj and was told that he was suffering from concussion caused by a blow to the back of the head, and brain contusion. The doctors said that Nikolaj’s life was not in danger but he had to remain in the hospital for a few days. Serghej stayed all night with Nikolaj, who was lucid but did not remember - and still doesn’t, what happened when they hit him from behind.

I was given the news when I arrived in Moscow, from Tbilisi, the next morning. The first thing I did was to draft a press release, which I distributed through Agorà to all the media, Russian and otherwise, in Moscow.

- Like the other Radical offices did...

- Yes, yes, I know, and I must thank everyone for this, also on behalf of Nikolaj.

Then we informed our friends in Rome and Brussels, and the Party, about the strange affair.

We felt that the assault, as far as the time and the way in which it happened are concerned, was similar to the one that claimed the life of our friend and comrade Andrea Tamburi. We also feel that it was a politically-motivated attack.

- Did the people who attacked Nikolaj admit to belonging to some force or other, Mamuka?

- Yes, they did. When the police were checking their passports, the third person, the one who assaulted Nikolaj said "I work for the Corps". In the jargon used in the Former Soviet Union, "working for the Corps" meant working for either the Ministries of Defence or the Interior, or for the KGB or a similar organization. This is also why we think, although we’re not one hundred percent sure, that there is some political connection, a political motive for this crime.

- The man who attacked and beat Nikolaj has not been arrested, then...

- No. He has neither been arrested, nor put in prison.

The day after the attack was dedicated to informing the outside world what had happened and to taking care of Nikolaj. Yesterday morning, Olga Antonova called the police station asking for information about the investigation. They told her: "Yes, we know about the case, your husband was drunk and caused a bit of trouble at 2.00pm yesterday. He was injured, and is now in the hospital. We shall investigate the matter, but there are about twenty witnesses who swear that your husband was responsible for the whole thing... we shall go to the hospital and do what is necessary". Naturally, Olga was confused: she called Olivier Dupuis in Brussels, then we went to see Nikolaj straight away to find out what was going on, and informed the presidential adviser on human rights, Serghej Kovaliov, about the whole affair.

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, Nikolaj told us that the police officer with whom Olga had spoken had been there only ten or fifteen minutes previously to apologize for the misunderstanding he had caused: at two in the afternoon, in exactly the same spot, a drunk person had been injured and taken to the same hospital. The policeman said that he had got the two incidents mixed up, and had come to the hospital to start investigating Nikolaj’s case. Nikolaj had already written a formal statement about what had happened. The officer said that he was sure the police had the particulars of the three people, and that the inquiry would begin, those responsible would be arrested, sent for trial, etc., etc.

In the light of this, Nikolaj admitted that he couldn't be one hundred percent sure whether it was an ordinary or political crime.

None of us can agree on this at the moment. I myself am not sure if it was politically motivated, but certain things are very strange.

First of all, the whole business is very fishy. No one at the scene of the crime was arrested. Then there was that misunderstanding with the policeman, yesterday. But the thing that seems most odd is that none of the three people tried to escape: they just stood there and showed their papers to the police...

In the next two or three days, we'll see how the investigation proceeds, check the situation out, and determine exactly what inquiries are being undertaken.

Then we’ll decide what to do. This is the situation right now.

Nikolaj is more or less O.K., his health is not in danger, and he hopes to go home in three or four days - at the beginning of next week. But he’s going to have to stay in bed for another two weeks, at least.

Why do I think it may have been a political crime? Firstly, because Nikolaj is the co-ordinator of, and therefore directly involved in, the antimilitarist campaign organized here by the RP. Antimilitarism is a red-hot issue in Russian political circles due to the war in Chechnya, problems connected with the defence budget, the question of an alternative to military service, and so on.

I would also like to add that in the State Duma, at this very moment, a meeting is being held by the antimilitarist group, in which deputies, representatives of the Committee of Mothers of Russian Soldiers, and other organizations are participating: this meeting - and also the campaign - was promoted by the Radical Party in Moscow, and Nikolaj in particular. Today I called these people and organizations to tell them that, unfortunately, Nikolaj would not be able to take part, asking that the participants be told why. I hope to have news of this meeting later. I chose to stay here in the office to inform Radio Radicale listeners of what has taken place, and also because there are other things we must do now. I hope to receive news from the Duma later, which I’ll send it out through Agorà.

This is where we are at the moment.

- I believe that there is a thought going through our listeners’ heads: Andrea Tamburi was murdered at night, on the street, just over a year ago, in Moscow. A few days ago Nikolaj Khramov was attacked and seriously injured. Radicals in every country where we operate have a very strong feeling that that these two blood crimes are connected...

- I, too, have this feeling, Paolo. And it’s very scary. I have already pointed out the similarities between the two cases and I think that, on the basis of the inquiries made by the police and their subsequent actions, we shall know what's behind it all in a couple of days. Then we shall be able to inform not only our listeners but all the people throughout the world who sympathize with the Radical Party; however, I definitely believe that there is enough evidence to link this attack to Andrea’s murder.

- What I can't understand, Mamuka, is that the police found a person lying in a pool of blood and simply took down the particulars of the suspected criminals, without arresting them. How come?

- This what we must try to find out. This is the question we would like the police to answer by tomorrow. We shall go down to the police station with Olga Antonova, and a couple of lawyers. Our first concern was Nikolaj’s well-being. Now that we are sure he is out of danger, we shall do our utmost to understand what really happened and to obtain truthful answers to the still open questions. We hope to have some of these answers by tomorrow.

- All the best Mamuka, to you and everyone...

I would like to thank all those who were - and still are - involved in this affair. I would like to thank Radio Radicale listeners, all our friends in Europe, Italy and various other States, and the parliamentarians who took action immediately. My thanks also to Lorenzo Strik Lievers, Paolo Vigevano, the members of European parliaments, and all the others, Olivier, Antonio, Michele, and everyone else who didn’t hesitate to act. This is the only thing that give us hope, and allows us to believe that we are shall at least be defended by European public opinion, by our friends in the various countries. This makes it possible for us to continue with the extremely hard but necessary work facing us here - and in every other part of the world where the RP operates. My thanks to you all.

(ACP5634)

EBOLA : THE RADICAL PARTY REQUESTS THAT AN EMERGENCY STRUCTURE, COORDINATED BY THE WHO AND DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE TO THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, BE SET UP IMMEDIATELY.

Brussels, 12 May 1995.

The Ebola virus is still claiming more victims.

While, since the General Council in Sofia (July 1993), the Radical Party has insisted that pandemic and emergent viruses be regarded as a top priority "political" issue, maintaining that HIV/AIDS should be considered an example of such rather than a major disaster that could have been provoked by other lethal viruses such as the Ebola species, or the Marburg, Junin, Lassa, Machupo, Guanarito, Dengue, O’nyong-nyong...

In recent years, the transnational Radical Party has conducted campaigns against AIDS and pandemic diseases in general, in the hope that governments and public opinion would become more vigilant with regard to emergent viruses, but this has not been the case. They have adopted a fatalist attitude towards the spread of pandemic diseases and, evidently, are waiting for the Ebola virus to become a global phenomenon - just like they did with AIDS - before implementing tardy and ineffective countermeasures.

Since 1993, the transnational, transparty Radical Party has been developing and promoting a proposal to set up a coherent, transnational juridical structure through the creation of a multilateral instrument such as a UN convention.

As in the past, we are obliged to note that:

- there is no official classification or definition of epidemics;

- such emergencies are dealt with on an ad-hoc basis;

- there is no official procedure for determining which international organization(s) should assume the administrative, technical and financial responsibilities for such epidemics, not to mention the political responsibility;

- the absence of an efficient communications network prevents the various international institutions from providing an effective solution.

The WHO (World Health Organization) alone is not capable of dealing with such emergencies: with an annual budget of $250 million it could not even run a hospital in the average city, let alone meet the needs of over 160 Member States and billions of people! Despite these drawbacks, the WHO is the only supranational body recognized by the international community, in the health sector.

Therefore, the Radical Party proposes that the UN Joint AIDS Program (of which all the relevant international Agencies are part: UNICEF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, WHO and the World Bank) be extended to include every type of emergent virus; and that an emergency structure, co-ordinated by the WHO and directly responsible to the UN Secretary-General Boutros Ghali, be incorporated.

Remembering Izet Muhamedagic

"Izet Muhamedagic joined the Radical Party by sending in the coupon from a newspaper mailed to Bosnian parliamentarians. His reason for joining was that he "believed in the United States of Europe".

Izet lived in Bosanski Novi (north of Bihac), where he practised as a lawyer and was politically active, both as a municipal councillor and member of the Muslim party for democratic action. When the town was taken by the Serbs, in 1993, his property was confiscated, his family expelled and he, himself, arrested.

Thanks to the pressure exerted on the local police by the Radical Party and several MEPs who belonged to the RP, he was finally allowed to leave the country. His family sought refuge in Germany, but Izet decided to stay, initially in Zagreb, to wage the battle for the freedom of Bosnia.

He lived there for several months in the difficult condition of a refugee and, although he suffered a heart attack, refused to give up, obtaining a post at the Bosnian Consulate. Izet was subsequently appointed Deputy Justice Minister and went to Sarajevo, where he carried out important assignments concerning the prison situation in the entire Bosnian area.

Thanks to him, and to his active presence as a general councillor of the RP, a series of contacts were established with the Bosnian authorities for the promotion of the Tribunal for war crimes in the Former Yugoslavia - to this end Izet Muhamedagic also participated in a meeting with Boutros Ghali - and the abolition of the death penalty in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Izet was recently engaged in promoting, with the Radical Party, an international appeal launched by parliamentarians (250 to date) for Bosnia-Herzegovina’s accession to the European Union.

At fifty-nine, he decided to risk his life yet again by visiting the various fronts and exposing himself to danger. A gentle, good man, he was one of the many people murdered during this horrific war. He will be greatly missed by the Radicals who knew and worked with him over the years.

Tomorrow, at noon, the Radical Party will demonstrate outside the "embassies" of the self-styled "Federal Yugoslav Republic" in Brussels, Rome, Kiev, Moscow, Sofia, Budapest, Madrid and other capitals, to denounce the people responsible for this crime and many others. Brussels - 29 May 1995". (ANR6078)

UN : THE RADICAL PARTY, AS A NONGOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION, IS GRANTED CONSULTATIVE STATUS AT THE UNITED NATIONS.
THE UN HAS ACCORDED THE RP THIS RECOGNITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL: CATEGORY I

New York, 20 June 1995 - After three hours of difficult discussions the United Nations waived certain procedures to confer Category I Consultative Status on the Transnational Radical Party.

The United Nations recognized the Radical Party's thirty-year pledge

of support to the United Nations and the Party was acknowledged, in the light of the multiple campaigns undertaken over the years, as having played a major role in the reform and democratization of the most important international governmental body.

Following an intense grilling (25 questions put by 15 countries), which lasted over 3 hours, and two votes of a procedural nature,

the Radical Party's request was finally granted.

Various questions were put to the Transnational Radical Party, first concerning its objectives and budgets and then its current campaigns. All the delegations declared themselves quite satisfied with the answers given.

Ethiopia requested the names of Radical Party members in the country, which gave rise to a heated discussion concerning protocol. The position of the 20 member states of the Commission can be summed up as follows:

FOR: Ireland, Costa Rica, Russia, Bulgaria, United Kingdom, Philippines, Paraguay, and particularly India.

AGAINST: China, Chile, Cuba, Sudan, Indonesia, Madagascar, Swaziland, Greece, Tunisia, U.S., Ethiopia.

The fact that the decision was taken by consensus, rendering a vote unnecessary, was of particular significance.

The Transnational Radical Party is honoured and proud to be a fully-fledged member of the United Nations' family.

In the hope that its new important status will contribute to the success of the supranational initiatives on the agenda in the following months. (ACP6242)

My suffering, which cannot but increase, is as great as my surprise was minimal; therefore, my feeling of inadequacy as a comrade who survives him, cannot but be profound and bitter.

Alex Langer was as gentle with others as he was hard on himself. He thirsted for, and was fired by, honesty, love, friendship and nonviolence, and was always searching for - sometimes achingly, sometimes tremulously - a space in the city and in politics, for himself and for us, where democracy, tolerance and peace could exist in a sort of communion of saints, of the "mystical body" of the defenceless but not passive.

The easy road of pacifism was not for him: he was a witness of his time but had enough humility not to consider himself an example to others.

Together, we conceived and created two or three campaigns, and words like "trans-ethnicity", capable of standing the test of reality. We hoped that would be able to organize them, make them powerful... I hope that others, now, will provide the necessary strength...

I saw Alex again in Cannes the other day, "fighting" for Sarajevo, looking for Chirac and finding Daladier.

Alex Langer did not give up; he did not bow down. When he could no longer find an answer to the world and to life - to this world and this life -, and hope gave way to desperation, also in the city and in politics, he decided to transmit it to us, so that it would remain neither "private", nor a mysterious evil for all of us. Alex leaves us with a warning and the heroic greatness of a witness of "our" time.

Marco Pannella

Brussels, 5 July 1995
(ACP6106)

IN MEMORY OF ALEX LANGER
Statement by Olivier Dupuis, Secretary of the Radical Party

Rome, 5 July 1995

I first heard about Alex Langer at the beginning of the eighties. The Radical Party was still enjoying the incredible success it gained with the NEUE LINKE - NUOVA SINISTRA list that Marco Pannella virtually forced Alex to head. It was a trans-ethnic list. An issue that was always dear to Alex's heart. I remember the fine speech he made at the XXXII Congress of the Radical Party, in 1987, which was entitled "The Parable of the State of Israel". Of Jewish origin, although he was not, as he said, a practising Jew, he was tormented by the suffering that the birth of this State might create through the erection of "ethnic barriers against non-Jewish Israeli citizens".

Following the outbreak of the war in the Former Yugoslavia in 1991, there were even more occasions for torment, which only made him to redouble his efforts. Alex set up the Verona Forum at the European Parliament to exploit successful examples of interethnic coexistence. More recently, he brought various Macedonian personalities and the Mayor of Tuzla, to Strasbourg and, when the parliamentary session was over, took them to his native city, Bolzano, to show them how an interethnic metropolis lived.

I often disagreed with him. Rarely on objectives. More often on method and strategy. Alex sometimes felt it was more important to obtain official approval, rather than a goal. A case in point was Bosnia's accession to the European Union; in fact, we differed on this. Alex wanted to put the matter to the vote, at all costs. Even if it meant that we were a very small minority. In May he agreed to postpone the vote. Then, stubborn as he was, he introduced an amendment at the June session. And we were defeated by a very large majority.

Last week, we were both in Cannes for the demonstration in favour of Bosnia's joining the European Union. We took the train back to Brussels. Alex rushed to the Parliament as soon as we arrived at the station. I don't know what happened, what made him commit suicide. But the following words of his keep coming back to me: "I strongly believe that it is our duty to express our bitterness and dissent when we fear that what we hope, love and therefore, to some degree, recognize as our own, is distorted".

Ciao, Alex. We shall remember you, unrelenting and stubborn, for the Radical you were. (ACP6099)