Tomo Kriznar was involved in the peace process between Sudan's government and rebels in Darfur.Related reports
He was also jailed for publishing false information, the Sudanese official news agency, Suna, reports.
The envoy is a well known human rights activist in Slovenia and was arrested in July for not having a valid visa.
According to earlier reports by Suna, Sudanese investigators said Mr Kriznar was taking pictures and shooting video material of villages around Darfur.
Aug 16 2006 Sudan Tribune: Jailed Slovene envoy Tomo Kriznar to appeal against verdict
Aug 15 2006 Aegis Trust via ST: Visit Kriznar - and go to Darfur - Aegis urges public to inundate Sudanese embassies with requests for visas to visit Slovenian envoy and human rights activist jailed in Darfur yesterday. Aegis advises that those unable to afford the time or money to travel to Sudan send their visa applications without the usual fee (£55 in the UK) - since the mere act of sending the application represents a protest in itself.)
Aug 15 2006 Sudan Tribune: Slovenia urges Sudan to pardon jailed envoy - Slovene President Janez Drnovsek has asked the Sudanese president to pardon his special envoy to Darfur, Tomo Kriznar, who is sentenced by a Sudanese court to two years in jail. According to the office of Slovenian President, Drnovsek addressed a special letter to Sudanese President Omar al Bashir today in which he asks for his envoy to be released from prison.
Aug 14 2006 Reuters: Sudan convicts Slovenian envoy of spying in Darfur - An African Union (AU) source in Darfur said the Slovenian envoy had entered through neighbouring Chad and had been travelling with Darfur rebel groups, taking video footage and photographs.
Aug 14 2006 Sudan Tribune: Sudan jails Slovene envoy to two years for "spying" -
The Sudanese minister of Justice, Mohamed Ali al-Mardhi, said that Al-Fashir Criminal Court Monday convicted the Slovenian Tomo Kriznar under Article 53 of the Criminal Law for 1991 (espionage) and Article 66 of the same law (publishing false news) and Article 10 of the Passports, Migration and Nationality Act for 1994 (entering Sudan without an entry visa).Aug 3 2006 Sudan Tribune: Slovene envoy to stand trial in Sudan for espionage -
The court sentenced the defendant to two years imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 dinars and confiscation of exhibits found with the defendant of photography equipment and films.
The court ruled that the defendant shall be expelled after serving his prison term.
In Khartoum, the minister of justice, Mohamed Ali al-Maradi, has said that the 51-year-old Slovene presidential adviser, Tomo Kriznar, who is being prosecuted in Al-Fashir in Northern Darfur State, has recorded a statement confessing to the filming of over 5,000 photographs and sending false email messages abroad saying that genocide was taking place in Darfur.Jul 25 2006 Jerry Fowler blog entry at VOGP -
Al-Maradi said the suspect had previously entered Sudan and worked in rebel camps in Nuba Mountains in 1998. Al-Maradi said the accused was transferred to Sudan through Chad by a German agricultural organization in Bayr Fandah area.
I met Tomo a few years ago, and his quixotic gentleness touched me. [ ] Tomo himself is no stranger to Sudan. A few years ago, he made a beautiful, poignant film about the Nuba peoples who live in the eponymous Nuba Mountains of central Sudan, Nuba: Pure People. The film documented his attempt to bicycle from Khartoum into the Nuba Mountains, which he had visited some two decades before. He eventually was held up by the Sudanese military.Jun 5 2006 JEM leader still in Slovenia?
Jun 2 2006 Darfur's JEM rebel leader says "We're going to have our own country"
May 31 2006 Slovenia says JEM needs to stay in the Darfur peace process - JEM leadership will have to make a decision in Slovenia
No comments:
Post a Comment