UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION TRIAL STRATEGIES Focus on victims and witnesses A report on the Conference held in Brussels, 9-11 November 2009 Report published November 2010 Contents INTRODUCTION AND KEY THEMES..................................................................................................................... 4 A. OVERVIEW OF UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION TRIALS IN EUROPE ........................................................... 4 (1) Wolfgang Kaleck: General overview of trials and dismissals ..................................................................... 4 (2) Christopher Hall: Universal Jurisdiction and foreign relations.................................................................... 8 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 10 B. VICTIMS’ EXPERIENCES OF THE TRIAL PROCESS ................................................................................. 11 (1) Clément Abaifouta, Chad: Hissène Habré case in Senegal..................................................................... 11 (2) Marcel Touanga: The Republic of Congo, ‘the Disappeared of the Beach of Brazzaville’ case in France ..................................................................................................................................................................... 13 (3) Carla Artes Company, Argentina: Scilingo case, Spain............................................................................ 16 (4) Wolfgang Blam, Rwanda / Germany: Joseph Mpambara case, the Netherlands................................. 17 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 20 C. PROTECTION OF VICTIMS AND WITNESSES ............................................................................................ 20 (1) Géraldine Mattioli Zeltner: Protection Challenges in the territorial state ................................................ 20 (2) Jaqueline Mukandanga Blam, Rwanda/Germany: Joseph Mpambara case, the Netherlands .......... 22 (3) Hester van Bruggen: Challenges in relation to witness protection from the perspective of national prosecutors............................................................................................................................................................. 24 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 27 D. EVIDENTIARY COLLECTION PRIOR TO TRIAL .......................................................................................... 28 (1) Hester van Bruggen: Access to victim’s firsthand accounts..................................................................... 28 (2) Reed Brody: Role of NGOs ........................................................................................................................... 30 (3) Susanna Mehtonen: Inter-state cooperation and rogatory missions ..................................................... 33 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 36 E. TESTIMONY DURING TRIAL ............................................................................................................................ 38 (1) Manuel Ollé Sesé, Spain: Logistics and other challenges........................................................................ 38 (2) Mari Reid: Video-link witness evidence ....................................................................................................... 40 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 42 (3) Helena Vranov: Psychological support ........................................................................................................ 43 (4) Yaiza Alvarez Reyes: Witness familiarization............................................................................................. 46 (5) Jesus Tecu: Rios Montt case, Guatemala, Spain ...................................................................................... 47 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 48 F. JUDGMENT, SENTENCE, OUTREACH AND IMPACT ................................................................................ 49 (1) Åsa Rydberg van der Sluis: General overview ........................................................................................... 49 (2) Rodolfo Yanzon ............................................................................................................................................... 53 (3) Clémence Bectarte: Ely Ould Dah case judgment, Mauritania, France ................................................. 53 (4) Mamadou Diagana: Ely Ould Dah case, Mauritania, France ................................................................... 55 (5) Viviana Uribe: Outreach, Pinochet case, Chile........................................................................................... 56 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 59 2 REDRESS / FIDH G. REPARATIONS (CLAIMS, AWARDS, ABILITY TO ENFORCE ASSETS)................................................ 59 (1) Luc Walleyn: Belgium ..................................................................................................................................... 59 (2) Philip Grant: Switzerland................................................................................................................................61 (3) Héloïse Bajer-Pellet: France.......................................................................................................................... 64 (4) Juan Garces: Spain......................................................................................................................................... 65 H. COUNTRY UPDATES IN EUROPE.................................................................................................................. 67 (1) Siri Frigaard: Norway ...................................................................................................................................... 67 (2) Lars Hedvall: Sweden..................................................................................................................................... 70 (3) Philip Grant: Switzerland................................................................................................................................72 (4) Andreas Schüller: Germany and Austria ..................................................................................................... 74 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 75 (5) Manuel Ollé Sésé: Spain................................................................................................................................75 (6) Luc Walleyn: Belgium ..................................................................................................................................... 77 (7) Kate Maynard: United Kingdom .................................................................................................................... 79 (8) Chantal Joubert: Netherlands........................................................................................................................ 81 (9) Patrick Baudouin: France............................................................................................................................... 83 Discussion .............................................................................................................................................................. 85 CLOSING REMARKS............................................................................................................................................... 87 REDRESS / FIDH 3 INTRODUCTION AND KEY THEMES The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the Redress Trust (REDRESS) have been working together on extraterritorial jurisdiction for about six years, with the main goal being to facilitate exchanges and foster a common approach between the different Member States of the European Union (EU). We have sought to bring together different national and international actors involved in this work, including lawyers, human rights organizations, investigators, prosecutors and EU officials, to encourage discussion of the central challenges relating to the exercise by Member States of extraterritorial jurisdiction, mutual cooperation and the challenges associated with the investigation and prosecution of such crimes. This conference is part of this overall programme of work. The focus of this particular conference is on trial strategies and in many ways the topic attests to the progress that has been made over the past decade with extraterritorial jurisdiction cases. We could never have had a conference ten years ago on trial strategies because the number of cases that had proceeded to the trial