United Nations Day 2011- Secretary-General Ban Calls for Nuclear Disarmament
Special Features
International Criminal Justice news roundup: October 2011
Originally Sent on 31 October 2011
By International Association of Prosecutors’
31 October
Seselj gets 18 months for contempt of UN tribunal (Source: Radio Netherlands) The three-judge panel convicted Seselj, a Serb ultra-nationalist, to 18 months in prison for “disclosing confidential information” about “protected witnesses” in “a book he authored” and posted on his web-page. Those witnesses were, at the time, due to testify in the main trial in which Seselj stands accused of crimes against non-Serbs in Croatia, Vojvodina and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1991-93…
30 October
Bangladesh war crimes trial delayed (Source: Jurist) The International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh (ICTB) on Sunday delayed the start of its first war crimes trial. The ICTB, a special court established to try individuals suspected of war crimes in relation to the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War against Pakistan, was slated to hear arguments in the case of Delwar Hossain Sayedee, leader of Jamaat e Islami (JI) on Sunday. Sayedee’s lawyer has asked the tribunal to review the charges against his client. The tribunal accepted 20 of 31 charges including allegations of aiding Pakistani soldiers, murder, torching villages, rape, looting and forcibly converting Hindus to Islam…
29 October
Libya: Gaddafi son Saif al-Islam says he is innocent (Source: BBC News) Saif al-Islam – the son of slain ex-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi – says he is innocent of crimes against humanity, an international prosecutor has said. The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said talks with Saif al-Islam had been held through intermediaries…
28 October
Uruguay, Brazil catching up to neighbors in probing dictatorships’ crimes against humanity (Source: Washington Post) A generation after dictatorships gave way to democracy in South America, Brazil and Uruguay are catching up to their neighbors in digging into long-buried crimes against humanity. A “truth and reconciliation” commission to investigate four decades of human rights abuses passed Brazil’s Congress unanimously this week. On Thursday, Uruguay’s Congress revoked a military amnesty and classified dictatorship-era kidnappings, torture and killings as crimes against humanity…
European Court Paves Way for Genocide Suspect’s Extradition (Source: All Africa) The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Thursday pronounced its judgment in the extradition case of a Genocide suspect, Sylvere Ahorugeze, to Rwanda for trial. The court unanimously ruled that Ahorugeze, 55, can receive a fair trial in Rwandan courts, contrary to what he and his lawyers claimed when they initially tried in vain to block the extradition. Ahorugeze was arrested in Sweden in 2008 on an Interpol Red Notice following his indictment by the Rwandan prosecution, accusing him of playing part in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi…
27 October
International court presidents stress rule of law in annual reports to UN (Source: Jurist) The presidents of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday presented their respective annual reports to the UN General Assembly, stressing the increasing importance of the courts and need for the rule of international law as nations experience ever-growing globalization and the legal questions it raises…
26 October
Antonio Cassese, judge who led tribunal after Balkan wars in 1990s, dies at 74 (Source: Washington Post) Antonio Cassese, 74, an Italian jurist whose forceful leadership of two international tribunals helped propel forward the trials of accused war criminals in the former Yugoslavia and alleged assassins in Lebanon, died Oct. 22 at his home in Florence…Mr. Cassese was a prolific academic writer and professor for several decades at the University of Florence, where he established a reputation as a top scholar of international law…
25 October
Short list of 4 candidates to succeed International Criminal Court prosecutor next year (Source: Washington Post) Moreno-Ocampo’s current deputy, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, is considered by many observers to be the front-runner…The short list also features Andrew Cayley, a co-prosecutor at the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Cambodia who comes from Britain; Tanzania’s Chief Justice Mohamed Chande Othman; and Robert Petit, a counsel at the crimes against humanity and war crimes section of Canada’s Justice Department…
22 October
UN calls for probe into Gaddafi’s death (Source: Al Jazeera) The UN has called for an international investigation into the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed Libyan leader, saying it could have been a war crime. Christof Heyns, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, told Al Jazeera on Friday that a proper investigation into the exact events surrounding Gaddafi’s death was a key test for Libya’s future as a democratic and accountable state…
Australia to petition UK to re-open cases of its soldiers convicted of war crimes (Source: Jurist) …Australian Attorney General Robert McClelland announced that he will be petitioning the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense to re-examine the war crime convictions of Australian Lieutenants Harry “Breaker” Morant and Peter Handcock during the Boer War…McClelland believes there are issues of judicial fairness that need to be confronted…
21 October
Croatia vows to ignore Serb rulings (Source: Independent Online) Croatia’s parliament on Friday vowed to ignore all Serbian rulings on Croatian nationals linked to war crimes committed during the 1990s conflict, despite EU concern. Deputies passed a law proclaiming “null and void all legal acts” related to the 1991-1995 war in which Croatian nationals are “suspected, indicted or sentenced” for war crimes…
Concern Mounts Over Credibility of the Court (Source: VOA News) The UN-backed Khmer Rouge tribunal is steadily working toward it biggest, more complicated trial to date, but that trial has been overshadowed in recent months by the court’s handling of two additional cases, which has seen the resignation of one UN judge and an emergency meeting with the UN’s top legal counsel and Cambodian officials…
20 October
Gaddafi-era crimes still on Hague agenda (Source: Radio Netherlands) …As Ocampo is still investigating the situation in Libya, it is expected that he could add war crimes to his list of alleged crimes committed. He could also issue more arrest warrants, which would mean more members of the Gaddafi regime would face international rather than local justice…
17 October
Australia police get Sri Lanka war crimes dossier (Source: AFP) Australian police were Monday examining a war crimes dossier alleging Sri Lankan authorities bombed and shelled civilians during the country’s civil war, which ended in 2009. Prepared by the International Commission of Jurists’ Australian chapter, the brief contains testimony from Sri Lankans now living in Australia that they were attacked by government forces during the conflict…Australia can prosecute war crimes committed in other countries including “acts of torture committed outside Australia by a public official, or a person acting in an official capacity or at the instigation of such a person,” she added…
16 October
Sudan’s Bashir leaves Malawi summit without arrest (Source: AFP) …Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir on Saturday returned home from a regional summit in Malawi despite a warrant for his arrest for genocide. Malawian President Bingu wa Mutharika ignored the outcry at his hosting of Bashir who is wanted by the International Criminal Court….
14 October
UN legal chief to discuss concerns about genocide court during Cambodia visit (Source: UN News Centre) …The visit by Patricia O’Brien, the Under Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, follows the resignation earlier this week of Judge Siegfried Blunk, the international co-investigating judge at the ECCC…In addition to concerns regarding the issue of Government interference, there have also been concerns raised with respect to other aspects of the court’s work, which will also be addressed during the visit…
13 October
Kofi Annan: The Best Candidate for the Toughest Job (Source: Huffington Post) …To their credit, the States Parties to the Rome Statute are trying something new. A Search Committee with five members has been constituted to search for possible successors to the current Prosecutor. The Search Committee has drawn up a list of candidates all of whom will be interviewed, and then it will provide the States with a final short list of three names. The final decision rests with States. Member States may still nominate separate candidates, but so far none of them have done so, thereby respecting the Search Committee process…
Cape Verde ratifies treaty setting up International Criminal Court (Source: UN News Centre) …The Statute will enter into force for Cape Verde on 1 January 2012, bringing the total number of States parties to 119. The ICC President, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, welcomed Cape Verde into the tribunal system, saying: “As the first Lusophone country in Africa to ratify the Rome Statute, Cape Verde has not only demonstrated its commitment to international criminal justice but also taken us one step further towards a truly universal system of the Rome Statute, representative of all peoples, cultures and legal systems of the world.”…
Sudan’s Bashir lands in Malawi, defying war crimes warrant (Source: AFP) Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir arrived in Malawi on Thursday for a regional trade summit, in defiance of the international war crimes warrant against him. Bashir and his 26-member delegation were welcomed with traditional dances and an honour guard of Malawi soldiers, even though the southern African nation has a treaty obligation to arrest him over war crimes committed in Sudan’s troubled Darfur region…
War crimes court bars separate Srebrenica trial for Mladic (Source: AFP) Judges trying Bosnian Serb ex-army chief Ratko Mladic on war crimes charges turned down Thursday a prosecution bid to hold two separate trials, the first focusing on the Srebrenica massacre. “The Trial Chamber today denied the prosecution’s request to sever the indictment against Ratko Mladic,” a statement said, upholding a challenge filed by Mladic’s lawyer Branko Lukic against the prosecution bid…
11 October
Ocampo at ICC – 9 years, 0 convictions (Source: Radio Netherlands) A cursory glance at the internet reveals all manner of labels attached to the ICC and its most visible official, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo. At one end it is an “arm of Western imperialism”, at the other nothing more than a “paper tiger”. Criticism has been particularly virulent against the perceived bias of the ICC: why have, so far at least, all the defendants come from Africa?…
Syria rejects calls to join ICC (Source: Jurist) Syria has rejected calls from several nations for it to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to a report adopted Tuesday by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC)…
10 October
Judge Quits Tribunal in Khmer Rouge Inquiry (Source: New York Times) A German judge responsible for the indictment of Khmer Rouge suspects in a joint Cambodian-U.N. tribunal has resigned, citing political interference by the Cambodian government, the tribunal announced Monday…
Congo-Kinshasa: Prosecute Atrocities Exposed By UN – First Anniversary of ‘Mapping Report’ Shows Need for Stronger International Action (Source: AllAfrica) …One year after the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights published the report, there has been insufficient follow-up by governments in Africa’s Great Lakes region and by the UN itself, Human Rights Watch said. However, the Congolese government has taken steps to create a specialized mixed court in the country’s justice system, with international and Congolese staff, to try those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide…
6 October
Tzipi Livni spared war crime arrest threat (Source: The Guardian) The Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni has avoided the possibility of prosecution in a British court for war crimes after the Foreign Office declared that she enjoys temporary diplomatic immunity…Legislation passed earlier this year requires the DPP to give his consent to any private prosecution for war crimes launched in courts in England and Wales to prevent politically motivated cases and to ensure that there was “solid evidence”. Under what is known as universal jurisdiction, war crimes committed anywhere in the world can be tried in UK courts…
5 October
First Woman Faces War Crimes Trial In Bosnia – Analysis (Source: Eurasia Review) If Albina Terzic is found guilty, she will only be the fifth woman in the world to be convicted of such an offence. Almost 16 years after the war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina, no woman has been tried for war crimes in the country, until now. The trial of a woman who served in the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, accused of inhuman treatment of prisoners in northern Bosnia, began on Tuesday before Bosnia’s State Court…
3 October
HRW calls for resignation of judges in Cambodia genocide (Source: Jurist) Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Monday demanded the resignation of the two judges responsible for indictments at the Cambodian tribunal on Khmer Rouge war crimes…The rights group said that the two judges, You Bunleng of Cambodia and Siegfried Blunk of Germany, “failed to conduct genuine, impartial, and effective investigations into ECCC cases 003 and 004,” and that as a result both of those case will likely be dropped…
ICC authorizes probe into post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire (Source: UN News Centre) The International Criminal Court today authorized its prosecutor to probe alleged abuses committed during the recent post-election violence in Côte d’Ivoire – the seventh investigation in Africa and the first in a State that is not party to the treaty that set up the Court…
Bangladesh: Opposition Leader Charged With Crimes in 1971 Independence War (Source: New York Times) A court charged a prominent opposition politician, Moulana Delwar Hossain Sayedi, on Monday with war crimes in the country’s 1971 war of independence from Pakistan. Prosecutors said the charges against Mr. Sayedi, a leader of the Islamic party Jamaat-e-Islami, included rape, murder, arson, looting and forcing Hindu citizens to convert to Islam…