(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
On December 16 last year, three Adivasis (indigenous people) were shot and killed by police in the village of Maikanch in the Indian state of Orissa. In addition, seven people were seriously injured, and nearly 50 more were injured in what is known as the Maikanch massacre.
The crowd, arbitrarily chased down by police, had gathered in the village to protest against Norsk Hydro's planned bauxite project. The project has met with strong local resistance for many years, because it will lead to forced relocation of.
The future of our hands NorWatch project has been in the area recently. In an interview with Hydros Ola Lie, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the company behind the development (Utkal Alumina), Lie gives sensational information.
When asked if he knows who was behind the police's brutal conduct, the CEO answered in the affirmative, says Tarjei Leer-Salvesen in NorWatch, who returned from Orissa a few days ago.
- But despite that, he said that he refuses to testify in the upcoming legal hearing Orissa High Court has summoned until May 2.
- Can not say anything
- I can not say that, because I would like to continue my work here in India.
Director of Information Karsten Klepsvik in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the following comments on Lies' testimony:
- First, Norsk Hydro is a limited company. They are therefore responsible for what they do. Secondly, we expect Hydro to comply with the laws and regulations that apply in other countries in which it is active.
When asked if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will follow up on the matter, Klepsvik emphasizes that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has no authority to do anything in relation to the company's employees abroad in this matter.
UD surprised
What is not stated in the newsletter is that Norway's ambassador to India, Truls Hanevold, also knows who was behind the massacre in Maikanch.
- In an informal meeting I had with Hanevold, he admitted that he knows who ordered the violent conduct, and that it was local state politicians. But Hanevold also did not want to give any names, and said that he as a diplomat with diplomatic immunity will not testify in the planned hearing, says Leer-Salvesen.
The information about Hanevold's alleged knowledge of the case surprises the Foreign Ministry's information manager when Ny Tid asks for comment over the phone. Klepsvik did not want to say anything until he was able to investigate the case further with Hanevold, but due to a short time, Ny Tid did not succeed in getting an answer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before the newspaper went to press.
It has also been impossible to get hold of Ambassador Hanevold. Jens Stoltenberg started his official India visit on Thursday, and Hanevold was busy accompanying the Prime Minister on a tour of Delhi.
- Duty to testify
On that fateful day in December last year, a couple of thousand adivas had gathered in the village of Maikanch to plan a peaceful roadblock in protest of the Utkal project, owned by 45 percent of Norsk Hydro, an operator.
It was then heavily armed police arrived strong, allegedly to investigate the unrest the day before, and to arrest the leaders of the adivasi in the fight against the bauxite project.
The men escaped into the hills to hide. But when the police began to abuse a woman until she fell unconscious, the men came down from the hillside to chase the police away. Before they got that far, the police opened fire and the massacre was a fact.
Former Supreme Court Justice Justice Tewatia and prominent Indian human rights defender Swami Agnivesh immediately traveled to Orissa to investigate what had happened. Their report concludes that the shooting must have been planned, and accuses Utkal Alumina of influencing leading politicians in Orissa to order the massacre.
This rejects Executive Vice President Ola Lie with NorWatch. So Orissa Hight Court has now convened a hearing on the case to see if there are grounds for criminal prosecution of the case.
- The deadline for summoning witnesses and evidence expires on Friday 20 April. It should therefore be an obvious duty for Ambassador Hanevold and CEO Lie to appear as witnesses in the hearing, Leer-Salvesen of NorWatch believes.
