Abstrack:
Does the problem of double identity disqualify the former fighters as an agent of struggles for justice? By ?problem of double identity,? I mean the problem of martyrdom, a tendency to underline the heroic nature of victims who had had ?fighter? backgrounds before, and the second problem, problem of innocence, sympathies attracted to families of victims and innocent civilians. The problem might put those who became victims as a consequence of their political activities in a disadvantaged position compared to victims who have no such backgrounds. With the case of activist kidnappings in 1997-1998, I maintain that such an assumption can be actually reversed. The role of ?fighter/victims? was crucial in public testimonies (1998) and development of victims? movements for transitional justice and human rights advocacy, precisely because of their double identity. Further examination of the process how they could successfully fashion the new identity as survivor/activists with the help of the universal frame of human rights may shed a new light on the studies of political victimhood.
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