AUTHOR DEFENDS REPORT ON ALLEGED ATROCITIES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000604920007-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 4, 2012
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: March 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000604920007-7
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9 March 1985
Autha. ~fend~
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Ou Alle ed Atrociti
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Soviet Acts in Afghanistan ire Focus
By John Parry
s~ ro nk w~a?,~ca, Port
GENEVA, March 8-The author
of a United Nations report crit aI
of allesed Soviet atrocities in Af-
ghamstan said today he had been
accused of "havin? my repo ~*++-
ten..by the CiA" in debate in the
U.N. Human Rtahts Commission.
Felix Ermacora, an Austrian law
professor, said that in the more
than 20 years he has been associ-
ated with the panel "I have never
come across such vilification ..: .
"When I prepared reports on hu-
n+an rights violations in Chile and
. South Africa, I was applauded," he
told a press conference. "Now, sud-
denly, I am told that my reoort on
Afghanistan has been written by the
C- IA?
Ermacora's report was prepared
for the commission over Soviet ob-
jections and without the consent of
-the Afghan government, which re-
fused to allow him into that country.
It accuses the Soviet Union of mas-
sacring civilians, executing guer-
rillas and, in some cases, using poi-
son gases against them.
Ermacora stood by his report to-
day. "Every word in it is true," he
said. "There are no opinions ex-
pressed here, just straight reporting
of facts. And to anyone who says I
am falsifying- the record I reply: if 4
million people' leave their country
[Afghanistan}, then there must be a
good reason."
Ermacora said the decision to
identify. the Soviet troops as "for-
eign" in his report had been his
alone. Nobody pressured him Eo
take out the word "Soviet," he said,
The human rights commission is
currently debating Afghanistan
among other issues, but the report
stands ' 6y itself and cannot be
changed during the debate. The
United States, which has character-
ized the report as "full and fair," is
currently working on the drafting of
a resolution in the commission that
would condemn Soviet tactics in Af-
ghanistan on the basis of the Er-
macora report.
But U.S. sources said the reso-
lution was being soft-pedaled so as
not to disturb the resumption,of the
Soviet-American arms talks here
Tuesday. -The human rights meet-
ing lasts through March 20.
At his- press conference Er-
macora repeated the allegations
made in his report that the Soviets
have used poison gases against Af-
ghan guerillas. But under repeated
questioning from western reporters
he declined to say specifically that
the Soviets have been engaging in
chemical warfare.
"Chemical warfare means differ-
ent- things to different people, and
perhaps it is not applicable to use
that phrase here," he said.
The accusations of the repo
inII a CLA A~IP wpso m~.7e .7..-]_
~~ in the human rights panel he
Sara, arts m conversations. "I can as-
sure you t never consulted any-
one in compiling my report except
U.N, officials and the refugees them-
selves," he said.
Declassified in Part -Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/04 :CIA-RDP90-009658000604920007-7