WCPW Volume 10, Issue 21 – December 28, 2015

War Crimes Prosecution Watch is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line.

Opinions expressed in the articles herein represent the views of their authors and are not necessarily those of the War Crimes Prosecution Watch staff, the Case Western Reserve University School of Law or Public International Law & Policy Group.

Contents

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT

Central African Republic & Uganda

Darfur, Sudan

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Kenya

Libya

Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast)

AFRICA

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

Chad

Nigeria

EUROPE

Court of Bosnia & Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

Domestic Prosecutions In The Former Yugoslavia

MIDDLE EAST AND ASIA

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia

Iraq

Syria

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant

Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal

TOPICS

Piracy

Gender-Based Violence

REPORTS

UN Reports

NGO Reports

WORTH READING

WORTH READING

Shenzhen Landslide Caused by Breach of Industrial Safety Regulations

By Christine Khamis

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

 

BEIJING, China –

Local authorities in Shenzhen have released a statement stating that the deadly landslide last week was caused by breaches in construction safety rules and was not a natural disaster. Shenzhen authorities have vowed to punish those accountable for the landslide in accordance with the law.

The central government in Shenzhen organized an investigation team to look into the causes of the landslide. The team found that the cause of the landslide was the movement of construction waste in a landfill site rather than geological movement. Xinhua, China’s state run news source, has reported that the industrial site where the landslide occurred continued to take waste for 10 months after it was supposed to stop accepting all waste. Officials also ignored warnings that the site was dangerous.

According to local news sources, the landslide killed at least seven people, with several others in serious condition in local hospitals and over 70 people still missing. The disaster also buried 33 buildings in the industrial site where the construction waste was dumped.

Rescuers search for survivors among the landslide wreckage. (Photo courtesy of the International Business Times)

Currently, there is still a risk of additional landslides in three other places in the Shenzhen industrial park according to Xinhua. Yang Shengjun, head of the Shenzhen Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau, says that there are also dangerous chemicals that need to be dealt with.

Ma Xingrui, the Communist Party Chief of Shenzhen, has made a formal apology and has pledged to accept responsibility for the landslide. Officials are often dismissed after disasters in China, with others facing prosecution for their responsibility for such disasters. Now that it is apparent that the landslide was due to human error, it is even more likely that Shenzhen officials and others found to have contributed to the disaster will carry the blame.

Parts of Asia, including China, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka are particularly prone to landslides due to their dense populations and rapid growth of urban centers. The Shenzhen landslide has raised concerns about China’s industrial safety regulations and the lack of oversight that may have contributed to other similar disasters. An extensive amount of infrastructure has been built up in recent years to meet the growth of industrial hubs and cities in China. That infrastructure, if not built according to safety regulations, could pose a serious threat of future disasters.

 

For more information, please see:

CNN – China Says Landslide Caused by Safety Violations, Vows to Punish ‘Seriously’ – 26 December 2015

The International Business Times – China Shenzhen Landslide Caused by Safety Violations, Not Nature, Officials Say – 25 December 2015

The New York Times – Chinese Official Vows Punishment Over Shenzhen Landslide – 25 December 2015

The Guardian – Is the Shenzhen Landslide the First of Many More? – 23 December 2015

Haiti Postpones Elections Amid Accusations And Violence

By Samuel Miller
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, North America and Oceania

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haitian authorities postponed the country’s presidential and legislative runoffs because they said they needed to wait for recommendations from a special commission tasked with evaluating the widely criticized electoral process.

Haitians Protesting Announced Election Results. (Photo Courtesy of BBC News)

There were violent protests last month after the council announced the results of the first round of voting.

Jovenel Moise, a banana exporter, won the most votes but with 33% fell short of a majority. On Sunday, he was to face ex-state construction company head Jude Celestin, who came second with 25%.

The winner will succeed President Michel Martelly next February as the head of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country.

In parts of Northern and Southern Haiti, angry partisans insisted that the results released late Friday by the much-criticized electoral council did not reflect the will of voters. Presidential and legislative runoffs were scheduled for next weekend amid numerous accusations of fraud and manipulation of results.

On Saturday, street protests erupted when the results were announced; this led to several government buildings being set ablaze, and the death of one demonstrator. In the nearby town of Ferrier, another elections office burned and the mayor’s office was lit on fire. In northwestern Haiti, some houses and schools were set ablaze.

Police Inspector Guytho Noel said an 18-year-old protester was fatally shot when two factions clashed on the streets of the northeastern town of Terrier Rouge.

In recent days, President Michel Martelly announced that a five-member commission would assess Haiti’s electoral process ahead of the runoffs that opposition factions have threatened to derail because of suspicions of widespread fraud. However, the commission and the way in which it was formed has come under heavy criticism.

The opposition and the Senate have rejected the body and the government has also been forced to postpone the swearing-in of its members, who were supposed to have issued a report by Sunday.

While international observers have endorsed results from the first two rounds of this year’s elections, an array of rights groups, local election monitors and political factions allege they were so marred by fraud that their validity is in question.

In recent days, several legislative candidates have taken to the airwaves stating how they were asked to pay thousands of dollars in bribes to electoral court judges and council members in hopes of securing a spot in parliament.

For more information, please see:

BBC News — Haiti presidential election run-off delayed – 21 December 2015

Minneapolis Star Tribune — Haiti officials postpone elections set for this weekend until commission makes recommendations – 21 December 2015

Thompson-Reuters — Haiti postpones Sunday’s presidential election – council members – 21 December 2015

USA Today — Haiti postpones scheduled presidential runoff – 21 December 2015

Jamaica Observer — Violence in Haiti as final election results released – 20 December 2015

ABC News — Election Results Ignite Violent Protests in Haiti – 19 December 2015

Press Release: Sergei Magnitsky’s Mother Demands Answers from Russia’s General Prosecutor Chaika About False Statements Against Her Son

Yuri Chaika

22 December 2015 – Sergei Magnitsky’s mother has demanded answers from Russian General prosecutor Chaika over his hysterical letter containing false information about Sergei Magnitsky published last week in Russian newspaper Kommersant. Chaika’s letter was a response to Russian blogger Alexei Navalny’s explosive video about the corruption and abuse of office involving Chaika’s two sons and senior prosecutors in the country.

In Chaika’s 14 December 2015 letter to Kommersant, he claimed that Sergei Magnitsky had never investigated the $230 million theft from the Russian budget.

In Sergei Magnitsky’s mother’s application to the General Prosecutor’s office which was filed at the end of last week, she refuted Chaika’s false statements and placed the responsibility on Chaika himself for the cover up of the $230 million theft and its perpetrators implicated by Sergei Magnitsky in sworn testimony.

“The information you have disseminated inflicts pain on a mother who lost her son, it is not based on facts, it has not been corroborated by courts, and it is refuted by documents, including the criminal case files about Magnitsky’s death,” said Ms. Magnitskaya to Prosecutor Chaika.

“Thanks to Sergei Magnitsky’s investigation which he conducted on instruction from his client – the Hermitage Fund – the theft of 5.4 billion rubles [$230 million] was uncovered, and reported to you on 25 July 2008 in an application seeking to investigate the fraud and prosecute its perpetrators. In response your senior aid Bumazhkin replied that the investigation had been terminated …due to the lack of crime. Your aid also reported that the outcomes of this investigation were under control of the General Prosecutor’s Office,” said the application from Ms. Magnitskaya.

“It follows that under the control and with knowledge of the Russian General Prosecutor’s Office headed by you, perpetrators who committed a grandiose theft of 5.4 billion rubles from the budget, remained for a long time free, had opportunity to destroy evidence of their crime and continue it unhindered through laundering the proceeds stolen from the Russian people via bank wire transfers,” said Ms. Magnitskaya’s application.

Sergei Magnitsky’s mother’s application asks Chaika whether the information he had disseminated was his personal opinion, or his official conclusion as General prosecutor of Russia tasked by Russian president to personally oversee all cases connected to Sergei Magnitsky. The reply from Prosecutor Chaika to Magnitsky’s mother application is yet not known.

For more information please contact:

Justice for Sergei Magnitsky

+44 207 440 1777

e-mail: info@lawandorderinrussia.org

www.lawandorderinrussia.org

Twitter: @KatieFisher__

www.facebook.com/russianuntouchables

www.billbrowder.com

U.N. Adopts Resolution, No Mention of Assad

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch News Reporter, The Middle East

DAMASCUS, Syria – On Friday, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved a resolution that paves the way for an international peace process for the Syrian conflict. The peace process includes a ceasefire, talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups, as well as a plan to unify the government. Talks of Assad, however, were missing from the discussion.

The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution for the Syrian Conflict. (Photo Courtesy of The New York Times)

Western allies determined prior to the meeting, that bringing Assad to justice was a lower priority then ending the Syrian conflict. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond stated, “If there’s justice in the world, Bashar Assad will end up in the Hague. Whether that is going to happen is another question. The moral answer is to end the killing now.”

Human rights advocates, on the other hand, believe this way of thinking is dangerous. Stephen Rapp, President Obama’s former Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, stated, “The idea that you can go forward [with a peace settlement] without accountability is impossible.”

John Kerry, United State’s Secretary of State, when discussing Assad’s fate with reporters after the Council meeting on Friday, stated, “This is not being kicked down the road; it’s actually being timed out.”

Human Rights Watch released a report, two days before the United Nations Security Council meeting, which details the atrocities that occurred under Assad’s control. The report contains 28,000 photos of the deaths of hundreds of people who had been under the government’s custody. Most of the deaths are believed to be as a result of torture, and Human Rights Watch is calling for an investigation and prosecution of the crimes.

Since the beginning of the conflict, Assad’s forces have been responsible for many other atrocities including bombing civilian areas indiscriminately, using nerve agents and chlorine gas against non-combatants, and the use of barrel bombs.

Part of the passed resolution requires an election to take place within 18 months of the political talks. However, there was no mention of whether Assad will be allowed to run in the new elections, as the Russians and Iranians blocked any attempt to discuss the issue. The election process will be under the guidance of the United Nations, which would make it difficult for Assad to control the vote, and also requires all Syrians to vote, even “members of the diaspora.”

Sergey V. Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, stated, “We should try avoiding the mistakes we have made.” He continued, “Only the Syrian people are going to decide their own future. That also covers the future of the Syrian president.”

Assad was not in attendance at the United Nations Security Council meeting.

For more information, please see:

CNN – U.N. Security Council Approves Peace Plan for Syria – 19 December 2015

Reuters – U.N. Endorses Syria Peace Plan in Rate Show of Unity Among Big Powers – 19 December 2015

ABC News – ‘Agreement’ on UN Draft on Syria, but No Mention of Assad – 18 December 2015

The New York Times – After Years of War in Syria, U.N. Passes Resolution on Talks – 18 December 2015

Politico – Cozy Retirement for Assad Looks Likely as Syria Peace Talks Convene – 17 December 2015