30 April
International court issues Canada ‘reminder’ on Afghan detainees
(Source: Montreal Gazette)
Prosecutor to probe possible war crimes violations if federal government refuses to investigate: The International Criminal Court has issued Canada a strong “reminder” about the legal responsibility to investigate accusations of human-rights abuses, Amnesty International officials said. The human rights watchdog was commenting on a statement the ICC chief prosecutor made in a documentary about how Canadian soldiers handled detainees in Afghanistan…
29 April
Officials look into Libya rape allegations
(Source: UPI.com)
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi is allegedly handing out sexual enhancement drugs to stimulate soldiers to rape women, a U.S. diplomat claimed…
ICTR removes US defense lawyer from tribunal work
(Source: Jurist)
The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has removed US lawyer Peter Erlinder rom his position as an ICTR defense lawyer. Appeals chamber judges said that last week’s decision was based on Erlinder’s failure to appear at the tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania…
28 April
International justice – a ‘handy political tool’?
(Source: Radio Netherlands)
The international community suits itself when it comes to international justice. That’s the message in Blufpoker (Bluff Poker), the latest book by international lawyer, Geert-Jan Knoops. He told RNW that his message may not be optimistic, but should serve as a lesson to both the public and politicians.
27 April
Sri Lanka says U.N. war crimes report threatens peace efforts
(Source: Reuters)
Sri Lanka on Wednesday said the publication of U.N.-appointed panel’s report blaming it for thousands of civilian deaths at the end of its civil war threatens peace-building efforts and is motivated by the political agenda of “interested parties.”… With Chinese and Russian support on the U.N. Security Council, Sri Lanka is unlikely to face any international probe, since it is not a member of the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
22 April
Rwanda: Gacaca Courts, Justice and Reconciliation
(Source: AllAfrica.com)
Following ICTR-like rules meant that the backlog of 130000 imprisoned suspects … The ICTR and the national justice system, just getting back on its feet…
ICC prosecutor to investigate Nigeria post-election violence
(Source: Jurist)
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), on Thursday announced an investigation into recent violence following national elections in Nigeria earlier this month. The preliminary investigation, a precursor to a formal investigation, comes in the wake of riots that killed over 100 and displaced more than 40,000…
21 April
Kazakh prosecutors train to apply int’l criminal law standards
(Source: Central Asia Newswire)
Kazakh prosecutors began three days of training Wednesday on criminal law related to international agreements. Some 20 prosecutors from regions across the vast Central Asian republic are attending the seminar aiming to better align their knowledge of criminal matters with international criminal law norms…
20 April
UN urges Nepal to punish war crimes, increase women’s rights
(Source: Jurist)
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang spoke Tuesday to the Constituent Assembly of Nepal (CA) about several human rights issues in the country, including a reluctance to prosecute war crimes and insufficient progress increasing women’s rights. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have both previously appealed to the government of Nepal to investigate human rights violations allegedly committed during its civil war…
Ex-Rwanda prosecutor arrested in Belgium on genocide charges
(Source: Jurist)
Belgian prosecutors announced Wednesday that police in Belgium arrested Rwandan Mathias Bushishi Monday for his involvement in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Police arrested Bushishi on an international arrest warrant [Interpol warrant] that includes charges of war crimes and genocide. Bushishi is accused of using his role as prosecutor to assist in the extermination of Tutsis in the city of Butare during the genocide. Belgian law allows the government to prosecute Belgian residents for war crimes and genocide committed in other countries, meaning Bushishi may be tried in Belgium…
18 April
International justice system a flop – Kagame
(Source: East African)
President Paul Kagame has yet again criticised the international justice system for failing the victims and survivors of the 1994 genocide…“Forget this nonsense of international justice. Even when there is more than enough evidence (referring to Bagosora trial) it has taken 17 years …because they are worried that he (Bagosora) would bring evidence implicating them; they do not even care about us…” he said…
16 April
Bosnian war crimes suspect held without bail in Oregon
(Source: Reuters)
A single mother accused of committing war crimes in the Balkans was ordered held without bond on Friday to await a hearing on a request for extradition to her native Bosnia and Herzegovina…
15 April
Croatians convicted of war crimes
(Source: BBC News)
Judges sentenced Ante Gotovina to 24 years and Mladen Markac to 18 years in jail for crimes including murder, persecution and plunder. The men helped to plan an operation to retake Croatia’s Krajina region and force out all Serbians in 1995…
Argentina’s last dictator gets life in prison
(Source: AFP)
Argentina’s last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, was sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity stemming from human rights abuses under the country’s 1976-83 military regime…
DR Congo: Strengthen Plan for War Crimes Trials
(Source: Human Rights Watch)
Congo’s government should revise and strengthen proposed legislation for a specialized mixed national/international court to hold perpetrators of serious human rights abuses to account, Human Rights Watch and the Congolese Coalition for Transitional Justice (CCJT) said today… Human Rights Watch and CCJT sponsored the conference in Goma to discuss possible improvements to the draft law prepared by the Congolese government to establish a specialized mixed court in Congo – a national court with a degree of international involvement – to try war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious human rights abuses committed on Congolese soil since 1990…
14 April
Africom And the ICC – Enforcing International Justice in Africa?
(Source: AllAfrica)
Nearly eight years since its establishment in July 2002, and with its first major review conference just around the corner, the International Criminal Court (ICC) faces a number of challenges…
International War Crimes – Whose Truth? Whose Justice?
(Source: AllAfrica)
The international criminal justice project is gaining momentum but ‘do we even agree on what kind of justice we are asking for?’ asks Jeanne M. Woods. ‘If Africa is ever to determine its own destiny, Africa must build its own institutions, tailored to its own history and realities, as slow and as painful a process as this might be.’
Bosnian Serbs call referendum on war crimes court
(Source: Monsters and Critics)
The parliament in the Serb part of Bosnia decided late Wednesday to call a referendum on the country’s war crimes court. The date for the referendum will be set after the parliamentary decision comes into effect with its publication in the official gazette…
2 Bosnian immigrants in U.S. accused of war crimes
(Source: LA Times)
The pair are arrested in Washington and Oregon on an extradition request from Bosnia-Herzegovina. They are accused of helping lead an April 1993 attack on a village, where 16 people were killed…
13 April
Uruguayan Senate Annuls Amnesty for Dictatorship Crimes
(Source: VOA News)
Lawmakers in Uruguay have voted narrowly to annul an amnesty for crimes against humanity committed during the country’s 1973 to 1985 dictatorship…
12 April
Rights group claims executions by Gaddafi forces constitute war crimes
(Source: Jurist)
Amnesty International (AI) on Monday pointed to the executions of opposition fighters as the most recent evidence that forces supporting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continue to commit war crimes…
8 April
Kenyan officials suspected of poll violence appear at International Criminal Court
(Source: UN News Centre)
Three senior Kenyan officials, including the deputy prime minister, today appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC), which set 21 September as the date for the start of a hearing on the confirmation of charges preferred against them in connection with the 2008 post-election violence…
7 April
When rape is a tool of war
(Source: CNN Op-Ed by Kelly Askin)
…Since Obeidy burst into a hotel filled with journalists last week and told them of being raped by loyalist militia, Gadhafi supporters have deployed a range of vile tactics in a bid to undermine her that are painfully familiar. They called her a drunk, a prostitute, a pornographer, a liar, mentally unstable — impugning her honor and that of her family…
6 April
Anniversary of Rwandan Genocide Brings Declarations, Warnings
(Source: VOA News)
Rwanda is approaching the anniversary of one of the worst genocides in modern history that killed almost one million people. Officials stress that what happened 17 years ago must never happen again in Rwanda, the rest of Africa, and the world…
5 April
ICC prosecutor wants Ivory Coast atrocities referred
(Source: Reuters)
The International Criminal Court prosecutor said on Tuesday he is in talks with West African states about referring alleged atrocities in the Ivory Coast to the court to accelerate an investigation into the violence. More than 1,500 people are reported to have died in the Ivory Coast since Laurent Gbagbo’s refusal to concede he lost November’s presidential election to Alassane Ouattara plunged the world’s top cocoa producer into civil war…
4 April
Spain targets war crimes suspect held in Calgary (Canada)
(Source: CBC News)
…Sosa, 53, is also wanted by Guatemalan authorities for allegedly participating in attacks on a village in 1982 in which 251 men, women and children were massacred…Now a Spanish judge has issued an international arrest warrant for Sosa, who has both Canadian and U.S. citizenship, for crimes against humanity…
Questions remain after Gaza war crimes investigations
(Source: Sydney Morning Herald)
Richard Goldstone’s report on the war in Gaza accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes. He recommended that both sides openly investigate their own conduct. In the absence of such investigation, Judge Goldstone’s report recommended that such war crimes allegations be brought before the International Criminal Court…
3 April
UN demands action over Ivory Coast massacre
(Source: ABC Online)
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon has demanded that Ivory Coast’s internationally recognised president take action against followers who took part in a massacre of about 800 people… The UN has already warned Mr Gbagbo and his camp of a crimes against humanity investigation by the International Criminal Court into attacks on civilians since the country’s election in November…
Genocide Suspect Arrested in France
(Source: AllAfrica)
A man indicted by Rwanda on six counts, including Genocide and conspiracy to commit Genocide, was recently arrested in France…
1 April
Appeals chamber confirms sentence against former Rwandan Military officer
(Source: Hirondelle)
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Friday confirmed the 15 years imprisonment sentence imposed on former Rwandan military officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Tharcisse Muvunyi, for direct and public incitement to commit genocide…
State files case to challenge trial at ICC
(Source: The Standard)
The Government has filed a case at the International Criminal Court challenging the admissibility of the cases against the six suspects on the post-election violence. Even as the case was filed at The Hague in Netherlands, in Nairobi, ODM dismissed it as a PNU decision that was made without consulting its coalition partner. In filing its case, the Government says it has committed itself to the ICC, promising initiate the prosecutions of the cases before September this year if the matter is referred back to local courts…
Sources compiled by the International Association of Prosecutors.
