Forum for International Criminal Justice Newsletter: June 2014 Welcome to the IAP’s Forum for International Criminal Justice (FICJ) June 2014 Newsletter which focuses on the prosecution of war crimes, and genocide, including a roundup of video highlights, announcements, upcoming events and the major news developments from May. Please note that the items included in this publication do not automatically carry any endorsement from the IAP.

Some domestic legal news covered in this Newsletter include: Sweden adopting crimes against humanity in its penal code which allows Swedish courts to prosecute severe crimes committed abroad following similar moves in France and Canada; the Supreme Court in Québec denying Désiré Munyaneza’s appeal of his 2009 genocide conviction, which was Canada’s first such conviction; and a Hungarian court finding a former senior official in the Hungarian Communist Party guilty of war crimes during the suppression of the 1956 anti-Soviet uprising. It was the first trial launched against a former top Communist in Hungary.

*Please have a look at the FICJ forum page on the IAP website and feel free to contribute: the Forum provides individual prosecutors with a password protected space to post news, announcements, etc. and to pose questions to fellow prosecutors from around the world. Your contributions will also be posted in this monthly newsletter.

Danya Chaikel – FICJ Coordinator | email: [email protected] Video Highlights

Click here to watch a short video on the ECCHR's Click here to watch short Al Jazeera clip on the ICC Communication on alleged Join warthe FICJcrimes community: of UK WWW.IAPopening -ofASSOCIATION.ORG/FICJ Ratko Mladic's defence case/HOME at the officials involving systematic detainee abuse in Yugoslav war crimes court, with the Bosnian 1 Follow us on twitter: @iaprosecutors Iraq from 2003 - 2008. On 13 May 2014, ICC Serb ex-army chief accused of masterminding Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, re-opened the some of Europe's worst atrocities since World preliminary examination of the situation in Iraq. War II.

Announcements The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, re-opens the preliminary examination of the situation in Iraq On 13 May 2014, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), Mrs Fatou Bensouda, announced that she has decided to re-open the preliminary examination of the situation in Iraq, previously concluded in 2006, following submission of further information to the Office of the Prosecutor in January 2014 in accordance with article 15 of the Rome Statute. The new information received by the Office alleges the responsibility of officials of the United Kingdom for war crimes involving systematic detainee abuse in Iraq from 2003 until 2008. Iraq is a not a State Party to the Rome Statute, however, the ICC has jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed on the territory of Iraq by nationals of States Parties. The re-opened preliminary examination will analyse, in particular, alleged crimes attributed to the armed forces of the United Kingdom deployed in Iraq between 2003 and 2008.

Read more on the ICC website

New Publication: The ICC and Africa: Between Aspiration and Reality - Making International Justice Work Better for Africa This Discussion Paper reflects on the main arguments and perspectives that emerged from a High-level Roundtable co-hosted by The Brenthurst Foundation and the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 18-19 March 2014. The Paper identifies three key themes: the interaction of geopolitics and international justice, which speaks to issues of history, colonialism and power; the continuing primacy of politics at the national level, which explains that in tackling the core problem of justice, the rule of law is one component of African solutions to wider economic and political problems, not the other way around; and the importance of building intra-African justice mechanisms.

To read more download the full Discussion Paper from the Brenthurst Foundation website

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Upcoming events

Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict

The IAP will be participating in the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict taking place at ExCel London on 10-13 June 2014. The IAP has assisted with the review of the Draft International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict which will be launched at the Summit. Foreign Secretary William Hague will co-chair the Summit with Angelina Jolie, Special Envoy for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. All the governments that have endorsed the UN Declaration of Commitment to End Sexual Violence in Conflict will be invited, as will legal, military and judicial practitioners and representatives from multilateral organisations, NGOs and civil society. It will be the biggest global meeting on this issue ever convened.

Read more on the UK Government website International Criminal Court Summer School

From 16-20 June 2014, the Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway, hosts the premiere summer school on the International Criminal Court. The summer school consists of five days of intensive lectures given by leading specialists on the subject. The summer school is attended by legal professionals, academics, postgraduate students and NGOs.

Read more on the Irish Centre for Human Rights website Conference: Proof in International Criminal Trials

From 27-28 June 2014, Bangor Law School and the Bangor Centre for International Law will host a conference on proof in international criminal trials, kindly supported by the British Academy. There is now an impressive body of literature on the precise scope, context and application of evidentiary rules in international criminal trials. However, the issues surrounding proof and reasoning on evidence in international criminal law have remained relatively under-examined to date. By bringing together judges, practitioners and leading scholars on evidence, international criminal procedure and analytical methods, this conference will comprehensively address issues related to proof in international criminal proceedings.

Read more on the International Law Reporter website

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Kosovo war in a suspected mass grave, officials News May 2014 said Tuesday…

Click on the hyperlinked headlines to see the Highlights from the Conference on «Africans and full articles of international criminal justice news Hague Justice: Realities and Perceptions of the from April 2014 International Criminal Court in Africa» (IntLawGrrls) 30 May The Hague University of Applied Sciences and the Can Khmer Rouge Survivors Get Justice? School of Human Rights Research cooperated with (The Diplomat) the Netherlands Association of African Studies to …But over the last eight years, the ECCC has been host a fascinating, interdisciplinary conference widely criticized for the languid pace of its exploring the deterioration of Africa’s relationship proceedings. It has also faced many challenges, with the International Criminal Court… making it uncertain whether or not full transitional justice will be possible, not only for those who 26 May were killed, but also for those who lived, Trial of Gadhafi's son in Libya continues despite traumatized and bereft… international court objection (CNN) 29 May The trial of the son of former Libyan leader Europe rights court upholds conviction of Croatia Moammar Gadhafi and dozens of other former war criminal regime officials resumed in Tripoli on Sunday, in (Jurist) continued defiance of the International Criminal The European Court of Human Rights upheld the Court that last week rejected Libya's plea to try Saif conviction of former Croatian army commander al-Islam Gadhafi domestically… Fred Margus on Wednesday…The ECHR ruled that there were no ascertainable facts to justify doubts 23 May regarding the impartiality of Margus's trial, and ICC gives Congo warlord Germain Katanga 12-year that discontinuance of a trial by a prosecutor does jail term not amount to a conviction or acquittal, so he has (BBC) not been tried twice for the same crime… The International Criminal Court has sentenced ex- Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga to 12 28 May years in prison for aiding and abetting war crimes. Crimes against humanity added to Swedish law Katanga was found guilty in March, only the (The Local) second person to be convicted by the Netherlands- Sweden on Tuesday enshrined crimes against based court. He was behind the 2003 massacre of humanity in its penal code, allowing Swedish hundreds of villagers in the north-east of the courts to prosecute severe crimes committed Democratic Republic of Congo… abroad following similar moves in France and Canada. The law, punishable by an unlimited Karadzic Seeks Investigation Into Hague sentence, will apply retroactively against any Prosecutors person who sets foot on Swedish soil, wherever (IWPR) their victims may have been… Wartime Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic is asking for members of the Hague tribunal 27 May prosecutor’s office to be investigated for “failing to disclose all exculpatory evidence and falsely Remains of Kosovo Albanian war victims found in certifying that they had done so”. Karadzic, whose Serbia trial is complete save for closing arguments, argues (Global Post) that the prosecution certified in 2012 that all Forsenic experts in Serbia have uncovered the exculpatory – and possibly exonerating – material remains of ethnic Albanians killed during the had been disclosed…

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20 May Why DRC Lawmakers Again Rejected Special OSCE-supported conference in Sarajevo takes Chambers to Prosecute International Crimes stock of war crimes processing in South-Eastern (International Justice Monitor) Europe On May 8, 2014, the National Assembly of the (OSCE) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) rejected a Sixty-five judges, prosecutors and defence government bill seeking to establish special attorneys dealing with war crimes processing in chambers within the Congolese judiciary South-Eastern Europe and wider Europe gathered system. The special chambers would have the at a two-day regional conference The role of authority to prosecute perpetrators of genocide, national jurisdictions in implementation of crimes against humanity, and war crimes. This international humanitarian law – law and practice follows the rejection of a similar proposal by the which ended in Sarajevo today… DRC’s Senate in 2010… High-profile war crimes suspects escape Kosovo 22 May hospital China and Russia Block Referral of Syria to Court () (New York Times) Police in Kosovo launched a manhunt on Tuesday Beheadings, torture, aerial bombardments of for three high-profile war crimes suspects who schools and hospitals: The war in Syria, raging for appeared to have fled a hospital where they were more than three years with no sign of relief, each being treated under guard while standing represents the very excesses of war that the trial… International Criminal Court was designed to take on. Nevertheless, the court will not take on war 19 May crimes in Syria, not anytime soon anyway. China Universal Jurisdiction in Canada: Quebec Court of and Russia voted Thursday against a Security Appeal Judgement in Munyaneza Clarifies the Law Council resolution that would have empowered and Paves the Way for Future (Unlikely?) Cases the world tribunal to go after perpetrators of The confirmation of conviction and sentence of crimes against humanity in Syria… Désiré Munyaneza by the Quebec Court of Appeal on 7 May 2014 (the official French version is here), 21 May for genocide, crimes against humanity and war Libya must immediately surrender Saif al-Islam al- crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994, is significant Gaddafi to the ICC both from a Canadian perspective and more (Amnesty International Press Release) generally with respect to the principle of universal The Libyan authorities must immediately surrender jurisdiction for the gravest international crimes… Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face trial on charges of Ratko Mladic defence begins crimes against humanity, Amnesty International (BBC) said, following the Court’s decision to proceed with The defence in the trial of former Bosnian Serb his prosecution. A majority of the ICC Appeals army chief Ratko Mladic on charges of genocide Chamber today rejected all four grounds of appeal and crimes against humanity has opened in The brought by the Libyan government and upheld an Hague. The first witness, a former Serb army earlier decision of the Pre Trial Chamber that Saif officer, says he was never ordered to fire on al-Islam al-Gaddafi should be tried by the ICC. The in the besieged Bosnian capital of reasons for the refusal include the government’s Sarajevo. Mr Mladic, 72, is one of the most high- failure to demonstrate that he was facing profile suspects to appear before the tribunal in substantially the same case nationally as he would The Hague… face at the ICC… 15 May Guatemala denies genocide (The Spokesman)

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Guatemala’s Congress approved a non-binding Issue will cover the Trial Chamber’s findings in resolution that denies there was any attempt to relation to Katanga’s criminal responsibility… commit genocide during the bloody 36-year civil war, while calling for “national reconciliation” in Key regional meeting to debate court expansion the Central American country. “It is legally (The Standard) impossible … that genocide could have occurred in The stage is set for a crucial meeting between our country’s territory during the armed conflict,” justice ministers and attorney generals of the said the resolution, which passed late Tuesday African Union to consider an expansion of the with support from 87 of the 158 legislators… African Court. The officials from AU member countries are scheduled to meet in Addis Ababa, 14 May Ethiopia, tomorrow and Friday to consider a draft Lebanon assassination probe targets reporters protocol to expand the authority of the African (Aljazeera) Court to include criminal jurisdiction, similar to the A prominent Lebanese broadcast journalist has International Criminal Court (ICC)… pleaded not guilty in a court case that has created a rift between Lebanon and the tribunal in The Hungary court finds 92-year old communist guilty Hague investigating former prime minister Rafik of war crimes Hariri's killing in 2005. The Special Tribunal for (Reuters) Lebanon, based in The Hague, charged Karma al- A Budapest court on Tuesday found a former Khayat and another high-profile journalist, Ibrahim senior official in the Hungarian Communist Party al-Amin, with contempt and interfering with the guilty of war crimes during the suppression of the administration of justice in January… 1956 anti-Soviet uprising. It was the first trial launched against a former top Communist in African Court No Substitute for ICC Hungary after the government of Prime Minister (Reporting Kenya) Viktor Orban, a staunch anti-Communist, pushed The African Union wants to create a continent- through a law in 2011 which opened the way to wide court with real teeth, but at the same time dealing with crimes committed after the 1956 there is talk of granting heads of state immunity uprising… from prosecution as long as they are in power. That rather defeats the purpose of having a 11 May regional court, according to justice experts who say Saif al-Islam appears before Libya court that the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The (Aljazeera) Hague would still have to step in when state Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Muammar leaders were implicated in mass crimes… Gaddafi, the late Libyan leader, has appeared via videolink at a court in Tripoli, the capital. Saif al- 13 May Islam and dozens of former officials are facing ICC partially convicts Katanga in third Trial charges ranging from corruption to war crimes, Judgement, acquitting Katanga of and sexual resulting from their alleged role in suppressing the slavery 2011 uprising. The defence team on Sunday (Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice) demanded access to all the evidence against Saif This Special Issue is the first in a series reporting on al-Islam and his fellow defendants… the third Trial Judgement handed down by Trial Chamber II in the case against Germain Katanga Former Bangladesh parliament member charged (Katanga), issued on 7 March 2014. In this first with war crimes Special Issue, we discuss the Trial Chamber’s (Jurist) interpretation of the Rome Statute of the ICC’s The International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (Statute) provisions governing rape and sexual (ICTB) officially charged Abdul Jabbar, a former slavery, as well as its factual findings and legal Jatiya Party lawmaker, with war crimes on Sunday. conclusions on the evidence of sexual violence The charges, which include genocide, come at the presented during the trial. The second Special conclusion of a year-long probe into allegations

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against the former member of Bangladesh's prison camp commander at a school in Bosnia parliament… where Serbs were held…

Why the ASP is unlikely to assist ICC access Palestinians urged to turn to ICC records of President ’s billions (Aljazeera) (The Standard) Leading international human rights groups have As the International Criminal Court ( ICC) faces urged the Palestinian government to turn to the increasing challenges in pursuing prosecutions, International Criminal Court and end what they say there are few signs that global powers will step up is a lack of accountability for alleged crimes and give the institution the political backing it committed by both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian needs. Since beginning its work in 2002, the ICC conflict. Amnesty International and Human Rights has struggled to apprehend high-profile fugitives Watch were among the 17 international and local like Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who is groups to sign the appeal on Thursday… charged with genocide in Darfur… The determination of the Office of the Prosecutor 9 May on the communication received in relation to Karadzic Requests Separate Sentencing Egypt (IWPR) (ICC Press Release) Wartime Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadzic Following recent media reports and enquiries from has asked judges to issue a separate sentencing the public, the Office of the Prosecutor of the decision if he is convicted, rather than including International Criminal Court provides the following the prison term in the judgement itself. “The clarifying information on its determination reason for this request is based on the regarding a communication received in relation to extraordinarily broad scope of the indictment in Dr the situation in Egypt… Karadzic’s case,” his May 5 submission states. “The trial chamber will have to deliberate on 340 Prosecutor asks for 22-25 years as Katanga possible verdicts: 263 separate crimes contained in sentencing set for 23 May the schedules to the indictment and 77 separate (#GlobalJustice) decisions on the mode of liability.”… The ICC prosecutor has asked for a 22-25 year sentence for rebel leader Germain Katanga, Acquitted by the ICC, but still not free convicted earlier this year for crimes against (International Justice Tribune) humanity and war crimes in eastern Democratic Since he was acquitted by the International Republic of Congo (DRC). Judges will announce Criminal Court (ICC) in December 2012, the fate of their decision on 23 May… the Congolese ex-militia leader remains unsettled. Last week he appeared in 7 May a Dutch district court to appeal against a decision Court denies Munyaneza appeal to Rwandan to deny him asylum in The Netherlands, showing genocide conviction (Canada) how the ICC, like its ad hoc predecessors, has not (CBC) prepared for possible acquittals… Désiré Munyaneza was first person to be convicted under Canada's Crimes Against Humanity and War 8 May Crimes Act. The Quebec Court of Appeal today Dutch Police Arrest Bosnian Suspected War denied the appeal request of Désiré Munyaneza, a Criminals man convicted in 2009 of crimes related to (iLawyer) genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes Today, the Dutch Public Prosecutor announced for his role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide… that the Dutch police have arrested two men who allegedly committed war crimes during the 1992- U.N. May Refer Syria Conflict to War Crimes Court 1995 war in Bosnia. One of the unnamed men, a (New York Times) 43-year-old Bosnian, is accused of being a brutal

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France has drafted a Security Council resolution guaranteed security up until now. Lining the that seeks to refer Syria to the International airstrip were hundreds of cardboard shacks and Criminal Court in The Hague, tailoring it specifically tarpaulins; the homes of thousands of civilians who to address American sensitivities, according to had flocked to the foreign base in the hope of several people who have seen the text… escaping the brutal violence that has rocked the CAR in recent months… A year after genocide trial, has justice been done? (Guatemala? 5 May (CNN) DRC court clears most soldiers of rape The courtroom erupted in cheers after former (Aljazeera) Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt was found The biggest rape trial in the history of the guilty of genocide in May 2013 for allegedly Democratic Republic of Congo has delivered just allowing massacres of more than 1,700 indigenous two guilty verdicts against government soldiers. Ixil Mayans in the early 1980s. Hundreds dressed in The trial relates to the alleged mass rape of 130 traditional ethnic "huipiles," crossed their arms women by 39 soldiers. A military court in DR Congo over their chests in a sign of gratitude to the on Monday cleared almost all of 39 soldiers tribunal for being the first in the world to try a accused of rape and in the country's head of state for genocide in his own country's eastern South Kivu province… judicial system. But the verdict would only stick for 10 days… 2 May Early Warning Signs of Shia Genocide in Pakistan Exclusive: U.S. to Support ICC War Crimes (The Diplomat) Prosecution in Syria The international community can no longer ignore (Foreign Policy) the alarming rise in violence directed at Pakistan’s Barack Obama's administration has decided to Shia minority… back a push to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) open a formal, United Nations- 1 May sanctioned investigation into potential Syrian war Kenyan Victims Sue Authorities Over Electoral crimes, embracing a strategy that it once dismissed Crimes as wholly inadequate in confronting mass (IWPR) atrocities in Syria, according to U.N.-based official… Eight individuals – six women and two men – have accused the authorities of failing to protect 6 May civilians and of failing to prosecute the A Country Is On The Brink Of Genocide And Very perpetrators of sexual attacks during the unrest. Few Know About It The complaint is against Kenya’s attorney-general, (Huffington Post) the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Last Wednesday, 120 European Union police force and its oversight mechanism, and the peacekeepers arrived in Bangui, the capital of the public health authorities… Central African Republic. They took up positions at the city's airport, where French soldiers had

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