Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)

Official Website of the Extraordinary Chambers
Official Website of the Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force
Official Website of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT)

Jailed KRouge leader Nuon Chea appeals detention
AFP via Google News
October 17, 2007

The senior surviving Khmer Rouge leader on Wednesday appealed his detention by a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia that will prosecute him for his alleged role in the genocidal regime, officials said.

Nuon Chea, who has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity, had previously said the tribunal's detention center was comfortable, his lawyer Son Arun told AFP.

"But now he has changed his mind... we cannot say why he wants to be released on bail, but it is his will," the lawyer said.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath confirmed that Nuon Chea had filed a bail request with the court's co-investigating judges.

The 81-year-old man's family had earlier demanded that he be released into their care, saying they were concerned about his health.

Nuon Chea has suffered at least one stroke and has high blood pressure, raising fears he could die before going to trial.

Son Arun said Wednesday that his client's health had not changed. He also said Nuon Chea had hired lawyer Michiel Pestman, who has extensive experience in international war crime proceedings, as his foreign co-counsel.

Nuon Chea, who was Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's closest deputy and was the alleged architect of the regime's sweeping execution policies, was arrested at his home in the former rebel stronghold of Pailin, near the border with Thailand, in mid-September.

He is the second former Khmer Rouge leader to be arrested by the tribunal. Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch was detained in July.

Three other people, whose names have not been made public, are under investigation for crimes committed during the communist regime's 1975-1979 rule.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed under the Khmer Rouge, which abolished religion, schools and currency, and exiled millions to vast farms in its bid to create an agrarian utopia.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998.

A tribunal to try the regime's top leaders got under way last year after some ten years in the making. Trials are expected in 2008.

Dutch war crime lawyer joins team to defend detained Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea
Associate Press via The International Herald Tribune
October 18, 2007

A Dutch war crimes lawyer has joined the defense team of one of the top leaders of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime ahead of his trial by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal, the lawyer said in a statement.

Michiel Pestman said he would be defending Khmer Rouge ideologist Nuon Chea alongside his Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun.

"I will do everything that I can to ensure that our client receives a fair trial. It is essential that he has a proper defense," Pestman said in the statement, issued by the tribunal.

Nuon Chea, 81, also was known as "Brother No. 2," reflecting his position as right-hand man to Pol Pot, the late leader of the Khmer Rouge.

The group's radical policies when it held power from 1975 to 1979 caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, overwork, disease and execution.

Nuon Chea is the highest-ranking Khmer Rouge leader detained by the U.N.-supported Cambodian tribunal aimed at seeking justice for the Khmer Rouge crimes.

Nuon Chea has denied any guilt, but the tribunal has charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Pestman is a partner at the law firm of Boehler Franken Koppe Wijngaarden in Amsterdam, the tribunal said, adding that his domestic experience included defending those accused of terrorism and other serious criminal offenses in Europe and elsewhere.

Cambodian tribunal summons former Khmer Rouge prison photographer
The Associated Press
October 23, 2007

Cambodia's genocide tribunal has summoned a former photographer who captured thousands of haunting images of prisoners before they were tortured and executed by the Khmer Rouge, the photographer said Tuesday.

Nhem En, 47, said the tribunal's judges ordered him to appear before them on Nov. 1 "in regard to the criminal case of Duch," referring to his former boss, Kaing Guek Eav, who headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison and torture center.

Duch has been detained by the U.N.-backed tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity committed when the Khmer Rouge regime held power in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

The group's radical policies caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people from starvation, overwork, disease and execution.

Up to 16,000 suspected enemies of the regime were tortured at the prison before being executed in an area near the capital, Phnom Penh that later became known as the killing fields.

Only about a dozen of the prisoners are thought to have survived. The prison is now known as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and is frequented by tourists.

Nhem En photographed thousands of prisoners before they were locked up, tortured and executed and their images are the centerpiece of the museum.

He has denied any involvement in the atrocities and said his job was merely taking pictures of the prisoners after they were brought to the prison.

"I will not oppose the summons. I support the tribunal to try the former Khmer Rouge leaders," Nhem En said.

Besides Duch, Nuon Chea, the former Khmer Rouge ideologist, is the only other suspect detained by the tribunal, which has charged him with crimes against humanity and war crimes.

No trial dates have been set.

2 Khmer Rouge officials to testify at trials
AFP via Manila Times
October 24, 2007

Two former Khmer Rouge prison officials said Tuesday that they had been summoned to testify against the surviving leaders of the regime before Cambodia’s UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Nhem En, who was the chief photographer at the notorious Tuol Sleng prison, said that he received a summons last week ordering him to appear at the tribunal on November 1.

“It won’t be a problem. I will go, I am not worried at all,” Nhem En told AFP by telephone from the former Khmer Rouge stronghold of Anlong Veng near Thai border.

“I will tell the truth. I will tell the court in plain black and white everything that I know,” said the 47-year-old, who was one of six photographers who took pictures of each of the victims tortured at the prison before being sent to their deaths.

Nhem En said the senior most surviving Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea and the Tuol Sleng prison chief Duch, who are both in the tribunal’s custody, should be held responsible for the killing of prisoners.

“If Duch had not informed the leadership about the prisoners, the Khmer Rouge leaders would have not known anything” and some of the inmates could have survived, Nhem En said.

“It is a long story to be told,” he added.

Some 16,000 men, women and children were brutalized at Tuol Sleng, a high school that was converted into a torture center, before being taken to the outskirts of the capital and executed.

Him Huy, 52, former security chief at the prison, told the English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper that he too had been summoned by the tribunal.

“I will answer what I can remember, but I won’t bring any documents with me because I have no documents,” the paper quoted Him Huy as saying.

Reach Sambath, a tribunal spokesman, said he could not confirm the identity of any of the witnesses for “security reasons.”

The tribunal “has invited many witnesses to the court. The court will not reveal the names of the witnesses,” he added.

In addition to Nuon Chea and Duch, the tribunal is investigating three other unnamed suspects for crimes committed during the communist regime’s 1975-79 rule.

Former Khmer Rouge prison chief to appeal detention next month
Mathaba.net
October 25, 2007

The first hearing for the former chief of Cambodia’s Tuol Sleng notorious prison will take place on November 20, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) website said.

The pre-trail chamber schedules Tuesday, November 20, for the public hearing of appeal by Kang Keng Iev, alias Duch, against the order for provisional detention, the ECCC said on October 24.

Duch, charged with crimes against humanity, was arrested and detained in 1999 while he was working for a non-governmental organisation in Cambodia’s north-west under another name.

About 2 million people were killed under the 1975-1979 Khmer Rouge regime. Duch will be the first to stand trial for the deaths of about 14,000 prisoners at Tuol Sleng.

The ECCC, a joint United Nations and Cambodia tribunal, is expected to take place within the next three years at a cost of 56.3 million USD.

Cambodia requests more funds for genocide tribunal
Associated Press via The International Herald Tribune
October 25, 2007

Cambodia appealed Thursday for more money to fund a U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal, saying the trials of former Khmer Rouge leaders would likely drag on longer than originally expected.
The appeal follows international pressure for greater transparency at the tribunal, a hybrid court jointly run by Cambodian and United Nations staff, amid accusations of mismanagement and kickbacks.

The trials, which have been plagued by delays, are expected to start next year.

The tribunal was originally projected to complete its work by 2009.

"There is a budget shortage for the operation of the tribunal, which could extend into 2010," Cambodia's Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters Thursday.

The tribunal's head of public affairs, Helen Jarvis, said the US$56.3 million (€39.5 million) originally budgeted for the tribunal would not be enough, mainly because of delays in adopting rules at the tribunal.

"The original budget was just for three years until mid-2009 and we need to envisage going a bit longer than that," Jarvis said. "The extra funding and time we will need ... will be fully justified in our budget appeal."

She said fundraising meetings would take place in Cambodia and New York by the end of the year.
Of the US$56.3 million budgeted for the tribunal, there was still a US$7.5 million shortfall, she said. She declined to say how much more money would be needed, over and above the amount already budgeted.

She said the Cambodian tribunal funds will last until the first quarter of 2008 while the U.N.'s portion will last until later that year.

The radical policies of the Khmer Rouge, when in power from 1975 to 1979, led to the deaths of 1.7 million people from hunger, disease, overwork and execution.

The tribunal has so far detained only two senior former Khmer Rouge officials on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

U.S. Ambassador Joseph Mussomeli said Washington was mulling over whether to donate funds for the tribunal but that no decision would be made until the tribunal has properly addressed the "serious" allegations of mismanagement and corruption in its administration.

"No one is going to want to spend American taxpayer money on an administrative process which is not transparent," he said, adding the tribunal's "administrative problem is so huge and so obvious."
A U.N.-commissioned audit last month slammed the Cambodian side of the tribunal for mismanagement, including hiring unqualified staffers.

Earlier this year, the New York-based Open Society Justice Initiative alleged that Cambodian judges and other court personnel had paid off government officials for their positions at the tribunal — claims the Cambodians dismissed as groundless.

"The bottom line is that the Khmer Rouge tribunal needs more money," Mussomeli said. But "even those donors who have been most generous in the past will have a difficult time giving more funding to the Khmer Rouge tribunal unless the administrative issues are fixed."

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Central African Republic

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Cases: Central African Republic

International Criminal Court Opens Field Office in Central African Republic
UN News Service
October 18, 2007

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today opened a new field office in the capital of the Central African Republic (CAR), less than five months after its prosecutors agreed to open an investigation into whether war crimes have been committed there.

At a ceremony in Bangui attended by representatives of the CAR Government, judicial authorities, the diplomatic corps and others, ICC Registrar Bruno Cathala inaugurated the office.

Mr. Cathala said “the legitimacy of the International Criminal Court was especially dependant on its acceptance and the understanding of its role by the people of the Central African Republic and, in particular, by the victims of crimes under investigation by the Prosecutor.”

Mr. Cathala also met with CAR President Francois Bozizé and Prime Minister Elie Dote to brief them on the Court’s mandate and functioning.

Earlier this year the CAR Government referred the war crimes issue to the ICC, saying the national justice system was not capable of carrying out the complex investigations and proceedings necessary to prosecute the alleged crimes. In May ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced his office would investigate, as it believed that “grave crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court were committed,” particularly rape, during 2002-2003.

When the violence peaked in those two years during an armed conflict between the Government and rebel forces, civilians were killed and raped and homes and stores were looted, the ICC said, citing a preliminary analysis. The conflict was characterized by widespread use of rape, and the investigation marks the first time the Prosecutor is examining a situation where allegations of sexual crimes far outnumber alleged killings. He said he would also monitor the current situation to determine whether more recent events warrant further investigation.

Bangui is the fifth field office established by the ICC in the countries where its prosecutors are investigating possible war crimes, and joins offices already open in the Ugandan capital, Kampala; Kinshasa and Bunia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC); and Abéché in eastern Chad.

The office serves as the ICC’s public face in the field, providing administrative and logistical support for its activities. It is designed to help investigation teams, defence lawyers and experts in victim participation and reparation, outreach and witness protection work more effectively.

International Criminal Court signs protocol deal with Central African Republic
UN News Service
October 19, 2007

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has entered a protocol agreement with the Central African Republic (CAR) setting out the cooperation and protection that the Government will provide to court officials investigating whether war crimes have taken place in the impoverished country since 2002.

Bruno Cathala, the ICC registrar, signed the agreement with the CAR Justice Minister Thierry Maleyombo during a meeting yesterday in the capital, Bangui, according to a press statement released by the Court. Prime Minister Elie Doté was also present.

The agreement covers the conditions of operations for ICC teams - including investigators, security officials and witness protection officials - while they are working in the CAR and coincides with the opening of an ICC field office in Bangui.

Earlier this year the Government referred the issue of possible war crimes to the ICC, saying the national justice system was not capable of carrying out the complex investigations and proceedings necessary to launch prosecutions.

In May ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo announced his office would investigate, as it believed that "grave crimes falling within the jurisdiction of the Court were committed," particularly rape, during 2002 and 2003.

When the violence peaked in those two years during an armed conflict between the Government and rebel forces, civilians were killed and raped and homes and stores were looted, the ICC said, citing a preliminary analysis. The conflict was characterized by widespread use of rape, and the investigation marks the first time the Prosecutor is examining a situation where allegations of sexual crimes far outnumber alleged killings. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said he would also monitor the current situation in the CAR to determine whether more recent events warrant further investigation.

Ban Ki-moon urges donors to support Central African Republic’s development
UN News Service
October 25, 2007

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on countries to generously support the Central African Republic (CAR) in its efforts to restore peace and achieve progress, ahead of a donors meeting to be hosted by the European Commission in Brussels tomorrow.

Mr. Ban “welcomes the holding of the Donors’ Round Table on the Central African Republic, to mobilize financial resources for implementation of the country’s development programmes,” his spokesperson said in a statement issued today.

The Secretary-General commended the Government of CAR and its partners for the economic progress made so far and called on the international community “to provide generous support to help the country restore lasting peace through inclusive political dialogue, socio-economic development and strengthened national institutions.”

He also reaffirmed the readiness of the UN to continue to support efforts to stabilize the CAR, where nearly 300,000 people have been uprooted from their homes in the past year and a half due to conflict within the country’s borders.

In September, the Security Council established a UN-mandated, multidimensional presence, which will include European Union military forces, in north-eastern CAR and eastern Chad to help protect civilians and facilitate humanitarian aid to thousands of people uprooted due to insecurity in the two countries and neighbouring Sudan.

CAR president admits rights abuses by gov't forces
Reuters
By Ingrid Melander
October 26, 2007

BRUSSELS, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Central African Republic's president acknowledged on Friday that government soldiers had committed abuses while fighting northern rebels, but said measures had been taken to punish those responsible.

Human Rights Watch last month accused the country's security forces, especially the presidential guard, of killing hundreds of civilians and forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes in continuing anti-rebel operations across the north since 2005.

"In every case of rebellion, there are abuses, I cannot deny that, there are abuses," President Francois Bozize told reporters during a visit to Brussels, when asked about the report by the New York-based rights group.

Speaking earlier to participants at a donor's conference in the Belgian capital, Bozize blamed any excesses on a lack of training and awareness about human rights among the armed forces.
He said those responsible for committing abuses had been sanctioned, but he gave no details.
Saying that rights groups were misinformed by his opponents, he urged critics to investigate the rebels' actions as well.

"They are the ones who create the problems ... and what does one say about the rebels? That they are angels?" he asked."

Bozize made the comments at a time when the European Union was preparing to deploy a peacekeeping force to northeast Central African Republic and eastern Chad to help protect civilians there from violence spilling over from a 4-year-old conflict in neighbouring Sudan's Darfur region.
The president said the EU peacekeepers would be welcome.

The HRW report, citing research by the group in early 2007, accuses the CAR army of attacking and burning down hundreds of civilian villages across the north, destroying an estimated 10,000 homes and creating a far-ranging humanitarian disaster.

RECONCILIATION TALKS

Bozize, who seized power in 2003 and won elections two years later, has signed peace pacts with two rebel groups this year and is promoting an all-inclusive political dialogue aimed at reuniting the poor former French colony.

He said on Friday the national reconciliation talks would start as soon as one remaining insurgent group in the northwest agreed to join. "When we have their full agreement, the dialogue can start," he said.

The landlocked country in the heart of Africa, one of the world's poorest nations, is notoriously unstable and has seen 11 attempted coups or mutinies in the past decade alone.

Raids by several armed groups and counter-attacks by government soldiers have driven nearly 300,000 people from their homes in the northwest and northeast since 2006.

The EU force for Chad and CAR is intended to complement a much bigger United Nations/African Union peacekeeping operation planned for Sudan's Darfur region, where political and ethnic conflict has raged since 2003.

Bozize, who was in Brussels to appeal to the international community for aid funds, said his country needed at least 750 billion CFA francs ($1.64 billion) for development projects.

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Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

International court: Arrest LRA leader
United Press International
October 12, 2007

KAMPALA, Democratic Republic of Congo, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- The International Criminal Court has called for the arrest of the founder of the Lord's Resistance Army, which ravaged Uganda for years.

Luis Moreno Ocampo, the court's chief prosecutor, said in a brief released in October that the LRA is regrouping and is committing atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a Kampala newspaper, New Vision, reported. Ocampo called for the arrest of Joseph Kony, the LRA founder, and three of his top lieutenants.

"Those warrants must be executed. There is no excuse. There is no tension between peace and justice in Uganda: arrest the sought criminals today and you will have peace and justice tomorrow. Victims deserve both," Ocampo said.

Ocampo said Kony is trying to "blackmail" officials by threatening violence unless the arrest warrants are withdrawn.

Kony, who claimed to be fighting to establish a government based on the Ten Commandments, was indicted in 2005 on 33 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes. They included murder, rape, sexual enslavement and forced recruitment of child soldiers.

Congo army has green light to disarm Nkunda -- Kabila
Reuters
Joe Bavier
October 17, 2007

GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Congo's army has orders to forcibly disarm soldiers loyal to renegade General Laurent Nkunda, President Joseph Kabila said on Wednesday, but he declined to say when the offensive would begin.

"The armed forces ... have received the green light to begin or rather to prepare the forced disarmament of Mr. Nkunda and those who remain with him," Kabila told a news conference in Goma, capital of the eastern province of North Kivu.

"I won't give you the date for these operations to start but the army has already been given its mission to disarm these people," he said.

Kabila said the operation would not necessarily begin immediately but made clear he hoped to definitively pacify the violence-torn province on Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern border with Uganda and Rwanda by the end of the year.

Nkunda's forces have battled government troops in North Kivu since August, forcing thousands of civilians from their homes.

The United Nations made a last appeal on Monday for the renegade soldiers to rejoin the national army after Nkunda ignored a government deadline to disband his forces in the east.

Kabila has indicated for some time that he wants to use military force against Nkunda but last-minute international pressure during talks in Goma this week appeared to have persuaded him to give the renegade general more time.

One western diplomat said on Monday that Kabila appeared ready to give Nkunda another 10 days to comply with government demands that he send his Tutsi fighters to army integration centres or see them forcibly disarmed.

"Have we ruled out now the possibility of a negotiated solution? I don't know what a negotiated solution is," Kabila said. "We want these gentlemen to go through the integration process. Nothing less and nothing more. It's as simple as that."

RWANDAN REBELS

Nkunda says he is defending Congo's Tutsi ethnic community against attacks by Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebels, whom he says are supported by Kabila's government and army. Members of the FDLR are accused of involvement in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.

Kabila, who vowed to pacify all of his vast central African country after winning elections in the war-scarred former Belgian colony last year, denies supporting the FDLR and says his government wants them to disarm.

Defence Minister Chikez Diemu told Reuters a plan for dealing with the FDLR had been presented to Rwanda several weeks ago and that Congo was awaiting a response.

The plan foresaw either repatriating those who disarmed voluntarily to Rwanda if they wished, or potentially granting refugee status to those who wanted to remain in Congo. Those who refused to disarm would face military action.

"They will be disarmed. If they don't disarm, we are going to force them to disarm," Diemu said.

U.N. relief agencies and foreign governments fear an all-out offensive against Nkunda will sharply worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in North Kivu, where some 370,000 people have fled fighting in the province this year.

War Crimes Suspect Appears Before International Criminal Court
UN News Service (New York) via Allafrica.com
October 22, 2007

Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga today made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he faces charges of murder, sexual enslavement, forcing children to serve as soldiers and other war crimes.

The senior commander of the group Force de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), which has been active in fighting in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), is only the second suspect to appear before the ICC.

Mr. Katanga, who was surrendered to the court last week, is facing three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes.

During today's public hearing in The Hague, presiding judge Akua Kuenyehia informed Mr. Katanga of both the charges against him and his rights throughout the court process, including the right to apply for interim release pending trial.

Sylvia Steiner has been designated by the ICC's pre-trial chamber as the single judge in the case, and the hearing to determine whether the charges will be confirmed has been set provisionally for 28 February. Mr. Katanga was also advised to appoint a defence lawyer as soon as possible.

Prosecutors said last week that Mr. Katanga - also known as Simba - is personally responsible for a series of brutal crimes in the Ituri region of the DRC, including a massacre in the village of Bogoro in February 2003 in which hundreds of people were killed and many women forced into sexual slavery.

Prosecutors allege Mr. Katanga, 29, is responsible for murders, inhumane acts and sexual enslavement at Bogoro, constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes, and for cruel treatment at Bogoro constituting a war crime. They also allege he committed the war crime of using children to participate actively in hostilities, the war crime of launching an attack against civilians and the war crime of pillaging.

Top Rebel Surrenders in Neighbouring DR Congo, Says UN Mission
UN News Service (New York) via Allafrica.com
October 23, 2007

A senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army, the northern Ugandan rebel group, has surrendered in the northeast of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations peacekeeping mission to that country reported today.

Patrick Opiyo Mayasi and his wife gave themselves up, along with their weapons and ammunitions, to Congolese border police earlier this month and have been transferred to the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

No known criminal charges are pending against Mr. Makasi, who is believed to be operations and logistics commander of the LRA.

The mission, known as MONUC, said it expects Mr. Makasi will be handed over to UN peacekeepers for his reintegration into the disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion programme in the DRC - and possibly for eventual repatriation to Uganda as well.

The LRA, which has fought a civil war with the Ugandan Government since the mid-1980s, became notorious during the conflict for abducting as many as 25,000 children and using them as fighters and porters. The children were often subject to extreme violence shortly after abduction, with many girls allocated to officers in a form of institutional rape.

In October 2005 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first-ever arrest warrants against five senior members of the LRA: the leader Joseph Kony, and commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya.

Last year, the Government and the LRA agreed to a cessation of hostilities, but Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told the General Assembly's annual high-level debate earlier this month that the rebels were failing to meet any of their commitments under the cessation deal.

Many LRA fighters have been camped in Garamba National Park in the far northeast of the DRC, rather than assembling in Ri-Kwangba, southern Sudan, as previously agreed.

DR Congo militia chief surrenders
BBC News
October 27, 2007

A key militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surrendered to UN peacekeepers and government troops in the troubled province of North Kivu.

Mai Mai militia leader Kasereka Kabamba was surrounded with about 50 of his fighters on Friday.
He said he was now negotiating over the surrender of the rest of his men.

Kasereka Kabamba's militia is one of a number that have fought in North Kivu province this year, displacing thousands of civilians.

The former army officer, who deserted in 2006, told AFP news agency: "I've left the bush... I've already surrendered and I'm going to meet [Nord-Kivu army chief, Gen Vainqueur Mayala] to see how my troops can do the same."

The army said he was forced to surrender after being surrounded in Rutshuru district.

Gen Vainqueur told Reuters: "We encircled him last night. He was already finished... he asked me, 'my general, send me to Monuc' (UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo)."

Kasereka Kabamba has said he was fighting renegade Gen Laurent Nkunda on behalf of the government.

Gen Nkunda says he is fighting to protect the ethnic Tutsis in the region.

Monuc said the latest surrender was a "positive development".

The Mai Mai is accused by the government and rights groups of attacking troops, poaching and recruiting child soldiers.

Rights organisations have also accused security groups linked to the president of murder, rape and torture.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Darfur, Sudan

ICC prosecutor criticizes UN chief over Darfur war crimes suspects
Sudan Tribune
By Wasil Ali
October 16, 2007

(THE HAGUE) — The Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo criticized the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.

“Justice was not mentioned in the UNSG subsequent reports on Darfur where the UN secretariat developed a three prong approach with a humanitarian, political and security components only” Ocampo said in prepared remarks to the 11th diplomatic briefing at the ICC headquarters in the Hague.

The judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s Darfur region in early May.

The warrants were issued for Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.

The warrant for Haroun lists 42 counts including murder, torture and persecution, while the warrant for Kushayb lists 50 counts including murder and intentionally attacking civilians.

Last month Sudan appointed the second war crime suspect Ahmed Haroun as head of a committee investigating human rights complaints in Darfur. Sudan’s foreign minister Lam Akol has also announced earlier this month in New York that Kushayb was releases of from jail due to “lack of evidence” against him.

Ocampo said that he explained to Ban Ki-Moon and other UN officials that the ICC “needed first and foremost words expressing their political support”.

The Chief prosecutor warned that silence on the issue of enforcing the arrest warrants “could be interpreted as a weakening resolve of the international community” and “could encourage the provocative gesture of promoting Harun instead of removing him from Office”.

Ban Ki-Moon has made remarks to the press during his visit to Khartoum in September hinting that the ICC arrest warrants should be kept in the background for the time being while the cooperation of the Sudanese government is secured on the deployment of peacekeeping force in Darfur.

However the UN Chief later admitted that he brought up the issue of the ICC arrest warrants during his meeting with Sudan’s president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir despite denials by Khartoum.

The Chief prosecutor stressed that “the issue [Darfur arrest warrants] will not go away” and that he will inform the UN Security Council next December that Sudan is not complying with resolution 1593 referring the situation in Darfur to the ICC.

Ocampo also disclosed for the first time that he has been approached by a number of countries suggesting that he should try and indict “lower level perpetrators, easier to arrest than Ministers or powerful militia leaders”.

It is not clear what prompted the requests by these states or whether they pertain to a specific case handled by the ICC. The Darfur case is the only one so far to yield an arrest warrant against a government official.

Some diplomats have suggested that the ICC is a stumbling block for resolving the Darfur crisis given Khartoum’s refusal to hand over suspects.

However Ocampo emphasized that he will only prosecute individuals “based on the criminal evidence we collect and subject only to the judicial review of the Chambers [judges]”.

Sudan has not ratified the Rome Statue, but the UN Security Council triggered the provisions under the Statue that enables it to refer situations in non-State parties to the world court if it deems that it is a threat to international peace and security.

ICC Struggles to Reach Out to Darfuris
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Katy Glassborow and Lisa Clifford
October 17, 2007

An IWPR investigation shows victims of Darfur conflict remain largely ignorant of the court that’s pledged to deliver them justice.

By Katy Glassborow and Lisa Clifford in The Hague and Caroline Tosh and Daniel Barron in London (AR No. 139, 17-Oct-07)

As conflict rages in Darfur, few local people are aware of the work being done by the International Criminal Court, ICC, to prosecute those responsible for atrocities committed there, a wide-ranging investigation by IWPR can reveal.

According to our research, even educated Darfuris know little about the ICC and often misunderstand what it is trying to do. Among those who have heard of its work, many are frustrated by the lack of arrests, the slow pace of investigations and the court’s low profile on the ground - described as “invisible” by one victims’ group.

Other findings of the report – conducted by IWPR to gauge awareness of the court in Darfur, as well as to find out what justice means to those caught up in the devastating conflict – suggest justice is not uppermost in the minds of Darfuris. Most are far more preoccupied with the daily struggle to survive in a harsh environment where food, clean water and security are in short supply.

“Eighty per cent of the people do not know and are not interested in the ICC. They’re interested in survival,” one interviewee told IWPR.

[Article continues at http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=339911&apc_state=heniacr015b4ea2897345457f98b7cbbefb1d8]

New atrocities emerge in Darfur
United Press International
October 17, 2007

U.N. and African Union officials on Wednesday continued to investigate the deaths of more than 30 civilians in southern Darfur.

Witnesses to the incident said uniformed and non-uniformed troops stormed the town of Muhagiriya around noon Oct. 8, slitting the throats of several men and shooting a 5-year-old boy trying to escape the raids, The New York Times reported.

Aid groups in the area and displaced people said that the recent events are reminiscent of the 2003 atrocities when as many as 200,000 people died in the ethnic civil conflict in Darfur.

Sudanese officials repeatedly deny involvement in the attacks, including an attack near an African Union strong hold where 100 people died after a rebel attack in late September.

U.N. and African Union officials cite repeated witness testimony identifying government troops present at the most recent attacks but note they were unable to verify the claims independently, the Times said.

Observers note that the recent upsurge in atrocities may be a symptom of the pending peace conference later this month.

Sam Ibok, an African Union adviser, told the Times that armed groups "are all trying to reposition themselves ahead of the cease-fire talks and ahead of the discussions of who controls what."

Groups Petition African Commission on Darfur
Leadership (Abuja) via AllAfrica.com
By Atang Izang Abuja
October 18, 2007

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and the Independent Advocacy Project (IAP) have called on the African Commission on human and peoples' rights to urgently visit Darfur, Sudan to assess the dire human rights and humanitarian situation and to collect direct evidence on the extent to which the government of Sudan has complied with the commission's recommendations, following the commission's fact finding mission to Darfur, Sudan from 8 to 18 July 2004.

The call was contained in a petition sent to Madame Salamata Sawadogo, the chairperson of the commission in Banjul, The Gambia and made available to newsmen in Lagos.

The two Nigerian non-governmental human rights organizations are members of Globe for Darfur, an international group of non-governmental organisations committed to promoting respect for international human rights and humanitarian laws in Darfur.

"We believe that the failure and/or deliberate refusal by the government of Sudan to implement the recommendations of the African Commission is an affront to the authority of the African Commission, and if not addressed may undermine the credibility and effectiveness of the Commission," said SERAP's Adetokunbo Mumuni.

"SERAP and IAP are concerned that contrary to the African Commission's recommendation that those who are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity should be brought to justice, the government of Sudan is shielding criminal suspects away from justice,"added IAP spokes person, Gbenga Ogundare.

Specifically, SERAP and IAP are asking the African Commission to:

a. Publicly condemn the government of Sudan for non-compliance with the commission's recommendations, and for lack of good faith of the government to fully implement its obligations under the African Charter on human and peoples' rights.

b. Conduct a special hearing on Darfur at its 42nd ordinary session in Congo-Brazzaville in November 2007 in order to consider the extent of Sudan's compliance with the commission's recommendations, highlighted above.

c. Invite the government of Sudan to address the commission on the steps it has taken to implement the commission's recommendations.

d. Draw the attention of the assembly of the African Union to the fact that the government of Sudan is refusing, failing and or neglecting to faithfully and fully implement the commission's recommendations, and ask the assembly to take appropriate measures to put pressure on Sudan to comply with those recommendations.

Darfur factions to miss Libya talks
Al Jazeera
October 27, 2007

The two main rebel groups involved in the Darfur conflict will not attend peace talks mediated by the African Union and United Nations in Libya on Saturday.

"We decided not to go," said Ahmed Tugod Hassan, the chief negotiator of the Justice and Equality movement.

He said the decision was made on Friday with the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) Unity factions after consultations ahead of the talks, scheduled to begin in the Libyan city of Sirte.

This effectively dashes any hopes of a peace deal to end four-and-a-half years of conflict in the region.

International mediators had hoped as many rebels as possible would attend the talks to negotiate a ceasefire.

Since a peace deal signed by only one of three rebel factions last year, the fighters have split into more than a dozen groups.

The run-up to the talks has also been overshadowed by a rebel attack against an oilfield in a region disputed by Khartoum and Sudan's former southern rebels.

The Justice and Equality movement claimed to have kidnapped two foreign oil workers.

Criticism

Al Jazeera's Mohamed Vall, reporting from the town of Al Fasher, in north Darfur, says that the talks have been criticised, with some groups claiming that many Darfur tribes have been excluded.

Othman Kibir, the governor of north Darfur, said: "Darfur doesn't belong to a handful of groups only. The African Union, United Nations and the international community should talk to all parties, and listen to all parties."

"To the representatives of the United Nations and the African Union, I urge you to be part of the solution, not part of the problem."

Meanwhile, in the southern city of Juba, the Darfur rebel factions failed to unify their positions and most of them decided to boycott the talks.

Increasing tension 

Fighting has continued on the ground despite repeated assertions from all parties that a fragile ceasefire is still holding.
Vall also said that the political mood in the Sudanese capital Khartoum is not optimistic.

"The stand off over the implementation of a 2005 peace agreement is continuing between the ruling party and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement, its southern partner in the unity government," he said.

Sudan's stability remains uncertain amid what many see as the possibility of another nationwide conflict.

"The real crisis is a Sudan crisis - it's not just about Darfur. If an agreement is reached in Libya, it will be like a sedative to the issue of Darfur," Adam Bakhit, a Darfur rebel commander, said.

"After that, due to other tensions, another war could break out between the North and the South. There needs to be a comprehensive solution for Sudan."

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Uganda (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Uganda

Uganda: Northern Leaders Urge DRC to Act Peacefully on LRA
AllAfrica; Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Joe Wacha
October 20, 2007

Local leaders in war-scarred northern Uganda are urging the president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, Joseph Kabila, to try to remove the Lords Resistance Army, LRA, rebels from their base in the Garamba National Park without resorting to violence.

The call, however, conflicts with a September 8 agreement in Arusha between Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni and Kabila according to which the DRC would undertake to flush out rebel forces, including the LRA, from Garamba, while Uganda would deny support for Congolese militias.

Cultural, religious and civic leaders in northern Uganda want and urgent meeting with Kabila to persuade him to disregard the agreement and use his influence and contacts to persuade the rebels to abandon the national park for Rikwangba inside Sudan where they are supposed to assemble, as part of the Cessation of Hostility Agreement signed between Kampala officials and LRA representatives in Juba, southern Sudan, on August 26 last year.

Shortly after the details of the Arusha pact were announced, the fiery LRA second-in-command, Vincent Otti, warned of a resumption of hostilities in northern Uganda should any force attack their bases in eastern DRC.

Otti, together with his boss, Joseph Kony, and three other rebel commanders, are wanted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, for war crimes committed during the two-decades-long conflict between the LRA and the Ugandan government.

The Arusha accord also provoked protests and criticism from many who argued that the outcome would derail the Juba negotiations.

Local leaders in northern Uganda say their intervention stems from concern about Kabila using force to get the LRA out of Garamba. Walter Ochora, the Resident District Commissioner of Gulu, in northern Uganda, said, "We are considering a request to President Yoweri Museveni to arrange for us a visit to President Joseph Kabila of the DRC. You are aware some LRA are still in the Congo and right now there is that controversy that they should be flushed out. ..but we think President Kabila could persuade the LRA to come out peacefully."

In a separate development, civic, religious and cultural leaders in northern Uganda are set to hold talks with the Sudanese president Omar al- Bashir in Khartoum, with the aim of getting him to have a direct involvement in peace talks between the Kampala authorities and the LRA.

Led by David Acana II, the paramount chief of the Acholi tribe, which bore the brunt of the war in northern Uganda, the delegation is to comprise representatives of the Acholi region and three other areas affected by the fighting: Lango, Teso and West Nile.

The talks, which are supported by the Ugandan government, are scheduled to start on October 20 and last five days.

The visit comes amid concerns that the Sudanese authorities - longtime supporters of the LRA, providing them with weapons, training facilities and food provisions - may back a renewed insurgency, even if the peace talks succeed. These concerns have emerged because of Khartoum's conspicuous silence over the Juba negotiations.

Ochora, one of the local leaders expected to make the trip to Khartoum, says the uncertainty over Sudan's intentions is affecting the pace of the ongoing return and resettlement of people displaced by the conflict in northern Uganda - many of whom have spent years in squalid camps which they are reluctant to leave, because they are fearful of peace talks faltering.

"The big question the population is asking is, 'Why is Khartoum quiet about this peace talks?' So we shall ask Bashir to allay the fears of the people who think Khartoum may in future still support the LRA," said Ochora.

He says reassuring words from Bashir about Sudan's view of the Juba negotiations would provide much needed impetus for the return resettlement process.

"If it [Sudanese backing for the peace talks] comes from the horse's own mouth it's going to be very encouraging; you know the speed at which IDPs are going home is so slow because some have very little confidence in the talks succeeding," said Ochora.

Meanwhile, Kampala is worried that an internal political crisis brewing in Sudan may jeopardise the Juba negotiations.

Tensions have been raised by the decision of the Sudanese People's Liberation Army, SPLA, to suspend its participation in the national unity government over what it sees are delays in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement signed in January 2005 between the late SPLA leader, John Garang, and Bashir.

The agreement that spells out power- and wealth-sharing arrangements is significant mainly for bringing to an end the bloody two-decades-long war between the predominant Arab north and the Christian south.

To ensure there is peace in the country hosting the peace talks between Kampala and the LRA, a team of Ugandan ministers led by Isanga Musumba, the minister for regional affairs, is also heading to Sudan to mediate in the disagreement between the SPLA and the Khartoum authorities.
The ministers are also expected to investigate reports that Ugandan traders in southern Sudan are being harassed.

Joe Wacha is an IWPR journalist in Uganda.

South Sudan denies 11 Ugandan rebel surrendered
Reuters
October 21, 2007

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - South Sudan denied reports from some of their own officers and the Ugandan army on Sunday that 11 of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels have surrendered to South Sudanese authorities.

The Ugandan army and a south Sudanese officer who demanded anonymity had said on Saturday the rebels had surrendered in western Sudan after fleeing a shootout between the LRA's top two commanders in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

"No LRA officer has handed himself in to the SPLA, and we do not know of any fighting in Garamba Park (in eastern DRC)," South Sudanese army spokesman Kuol Diem Kuol told Reuters.
The rebels could not be reached for comment.

The LRA, whose brutal 20-year war in northern Uganda killed tens of thousands of people and forced 2 million to flee their homes, signed a ceasefire with Uganda last year at peace talks under south Sudanese mediation in south Sudan's capital Juba.

But LRA leader Joseph Kony and other top commanders have refused to leave eastern DRC and participate directly in talks, fearing arrest warrants for them in the International Criminal Court. They have instead appointed representatives.

The Ugandan army says it is concerned Kony may have fallen out with his deputy, Vincent Otti, sparking clashes that put the future of talks in jeopardy.

Kuol said the U.N. Special Envoy for Uganda's conflict, former Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, was due to arrive in south Sudan on Monday for a trip to the Sudan/Congo border to meet the LRA leadership.

Top Ugandan rebel surrenders in neighbouring DR Congo, says UN mission
UN News Service
October 23, 2007

A senior commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army, the northern Ugandan rebel group, has surrendered in the northeast of the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the United Nations peacekeeping mission to that country reported today.

Patrick Opiyo Mayasi and his wife gave themselves up, along with their weapons and ammunitions, to Congolese border police earlier this month and have been transferred to the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

No known criminal charges are pending against Mr. Makasi, who is believed to be operations and logistics commander of the LRA.

The mission, known as MONUC, said it expects Mr. Makasi will be handed over to UN peacekeepers for his reintegration into the disarmament, demobilization and reinsertion programme in the DRC – and possibly for eventual repatriation to Uganda as well.

The LRA, which has fought a civil war with the Ugandan Government since the mid-1980s, became notorious during the conflict for abducting as many as 25,000 children and using them as fighters and porters. The children were often subject to extreme violence shortly after abduction, with many girls allocated to officers in a form of institutional rape.

In October 2005 the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first-ever arrest warrants against five senior members of the LRA: the leader Joseph Kony, and commanders Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Dominic Ongwen and Raska Lukwiya.

Last year, the Government and the LRA agreed to a cessation of hostilities, but Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate earlier this month that the rebels were failing to meet any of their commitments under the cessation deal.

Many LRA fighters have been camped in Garamba National Park in the far northeast of the DRC, rather than assembling in Ri-Kwangba, southern Sudan, as previously agreed.

Army Seeks to Allay ICC Concerns Over Prosecutions
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Brendan McKenna and Samuel Okiror Egadu
October 25, 2007

The Ugandan army, UPDF, appears to be hoping that a series of upcoming trials of soldiers will demonstrate to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague that there’s no need to indict its members.

The ICC has signaled its intention to investigate members of the UPDF for war crimes, but the military says the courts martial of 29 soldiers for the alleged murder of civilians in the north proves it takes seriously crimes committed by its soldiers during the war with the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA.

However, some rights activists have questioned the UPDF’s commitment to bringing to justice those suspected of the worst abuses during the conflict, and have also expressed concern about the integrity of the military judicial system.

The ICC is a court of last resort, acting only when a country is unwilling or unable to prosecute under national law. It is only mandated to try high-ranking suspects. The UPDF has already put to death 124 soldiers for crimes committed against civilians over the course of the 20-year conflict with the LRA.

“We have brought back the rule of law in the army. The UPDF will continue to weed [out] errant soldiers and jealously guard its good image,” said Lieutenant Chris Magezi, the northern regional army spokesman.

The 29 facing court martial will also be executed if found guilty.

Major Felix Kulayigye, the UPDF spokesman, said the 124 soldiers executed ranged from privates to lieutenants.

He said higher-ranking officers, including captains and majors, had been sentenced for up to ten years as a result of their soldiers committing crimes against civilians, but declined to provide exact numbers of such convictions.

“Our army abhors any violation of people’s rights,” said Kulayigye. “We hate anything that injures our relationship with civilians.”

Uganda’s state minister for defence, Ruth Nankabirwa, agreed.

“We don’t condone impunity in the army. Those who murder and are found guilty, we execute them. We have done it and we shall continue to do it,” said Nankabirwa. “In the UPDF we mind about our public image.”

But Elise Kepler of Human Rights Watch’s international justice programme told IWPR that her organisation has documented numerous cases of the Ugandan government not investigating allegations of serious abuses by the UPDF.

“When complaints were raised there was no follow up. Or even when there was follow up, there was no serious investigation and prosecution,” she said.

But the army defends its courts and their decisions, saying they have helped to stop abuses by soldiers against civilians.

Kulayigye said suspects are given fair trials, “The courts are very good. They are like civilians courts. We have prosecutors, advocates and defence lawyers.”

Mocdosman Kabega, a former deputy director of public prosecutions in Kampala who is now one of two Ugandans appointed to serve as defence counsel for the ICC, said that on the whole military justice in Uganda is at roughly the same level as civilian criminal justice.

For example, defendants in both civilian and military courts are provided with defence lawyers if they are too poor to hire their own, said Kabega, and military suspects can also hire private lawyers should they be concerned that a uniformed defence team is not up to the job - though in less serious cases they must pick up the cost of a private advocate.

Furthermore, Ugandan judges are afforded a high level of respect for their independence and impartiality by the international community.

However, HRW has raised several concerns about the Ugandan military and civilian justice system, including the risk of torture for suspects in custody, an under funded judiciary that already faces a backlog of cases as well as the concern that Ugandan criminal law may not include crimes that encompass the scope of the atrocities committed in the conflict between the LRA and UPDF.

In at least one area, the military justice system in Uganda falls short of the ICC, conceded Kabega. Even in the most serious capital cases, the prosecution isn’t obligated to produce a list of witnesses and exhibits for the defence ahead of time, a concern also raised by HRW.

“The state which has all these resources and can martial evidence of this and that … should in all fairness let suspects know that this is the evidence we intend to show,” said Kabega. “But even in civilian trials here - that is the practice.”

And though he praised integrity of the current chairman of the UPDF military court that tries capital offences, Kabega said that much of the fairness of courts martial depends on the presiding officer.

Beatrice Le Fraper Du Hellen, the director of the Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation division for the office of the prosecutor at the ICC, told IWPR that her office is investigating allegations against members of the UPDF and the status of Ugandan government prosecutions of alleged offenders.

However, she stressed that the prosecutor is investigating allegations of crimes by individuals, not the UPDF as an institution.

“We’re after individuals. We’re after the worst perpetrators,” said Le Fraper. “When we started working in the Uganda situation, we quickly realised on the basis of our information and on the basis of evidence that the worst crimes and the worst perpetrators were the five that we indicted and who are allegedly responsible for mass abductions, massive sexual violence and massive killings.”

In July 2005, the ICC indicted LRA leader Joseph Kony, his deputy Vincent Otti, Dominic Ongwen, Okot Odiambo and Raska Lukiwiya on 33 charges including rape, murder, sexual enslavement, and abduction and recruitment of child soldiers. Lukwiya has since been killed in northern Uganda.

Le Fraper added that the prosecutor’s investigations are by no means over.

“We are continuing to analyse alleged crimes conducted by other individuals from other groups,” she said. “Certainly we are assessing, in the same way that we did for others, the status of national proceedings. For that we need very, very specific information from the national judiciary. ... We haven’t finished at all this assessment of the national proceedings. We probably need more [information] and we are asking for such information.”

Before asking for further indictments, the prosecutor must determine whether there are national efforts to investigate alleged crimes and then assess whether these are fair and meet the standards of international justice, she said.

Le Fraper added that although the ICC has a mandate to investigate and prosecute the worst alleged offenders, it should not be seen as the only mechanism to bring justice to the victims of the conflict between the LRA and UPDF.

“We will only go after the worst perpetrators, and in most cases a few people,” she said. “So of course national authorities have to get involved and investigate, prosecute or find other solutions to deal with cases of the rank and file.”

Brendan McKenna is an IWPR reporter in The Hague. Samuel Okiror Egadu is an IWPR reporter in Gulu.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

War crime lawyers fight UN on top job
Reuters
October 16, 2007

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica accused the United States on Tuesday of actively blocking a compromise solution for the breakaway province of Kosovo, whose Albanian majority demands independence.

"Every day, statements by American officials that Kosovo will become independent after December 10 ... aim to stop Kosovo Albanians from accepting a compromise solution for the province," he said in a statement.

The official news agency Tanjug quoted Kostunica as saying Washington's policy of "force" was an extension of NATO's 1999 bombing of Serbia "to deploy military forces in the province to take away 15 percent of our territory".

In Washington, State Department spokesman Tom Casey rejected the Serbian accusations. "We are not impeding anything. In fact we are actively working as part of the troika through (U.S.) Ambassador (Frank) Wisner to bring both sides together," Casey told reporters. He said there was a limit to how long the talks could take.

"It has been clear to us and we have stated it publicly and privately, that barring an agreement among the parties, what we would believe appropriate and what we would tend to move forward with, would be a period of supervised autonomy for Kosovo."

The Serbian statement echoed previous charges that NATO, led by America, wants its own state on Serb territory. NATO denies that and says its intervention was aimed solely at stopping atrocities and ethnic cleansing by Serb forces.

There is no sign that Kosovo Albanian leaders would be open to compromise on independence, which has been the number one objective of the 90 percent Albanian majority since the United Nations took over Kosovo eight years ago.

Western diplomats say Serb leaders need to come to terms with the fact that Serbia will not rule Kosovo again.

They say the status quo -- in which Kosovo is legally Serbian but actually an international protectorate -- is unstable and that trying to preserve it via Belgrade's offer of "95 percent autonomy" is bad for Serbia's own interests.

Some analysts see the prospect of an outcome when one side can claim independence while the other claims it is not.

In Rome, visiting Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic suggested Kosovo could have nearly all the attributes of an independent state except a seat at the United Nations, if only it would compromise and accept Serb terms.

"Serbia is prepared to keep only a very narrowly defined set of sovereign competences ... for example, the seat on the United Nations," Jeremic said. While Kosovo might declare independence unilaterally, he said, it could not secure a UN seat that way.

Backed at the UN by Russia, Serbia earlier this year succeeded in stalling a plan for Kosovo independence under European Union supervision.

Serbs and Kosovo Albanians are now engaged in a new round of talks, mediated by the EU, the U.S. and Russia, which insist they would prefer an agreement acceptable to both sides.

(Additional reporting by Roberto Landucci in Rome)

Serbian minister acknowledges attempts by former government to obstruct war crimes court
AP/International Herald Tribune
October 17, 2007

BRUSSELS, Belgium: A senior Serbian official acknowledged Wednesday that authorities in Belgrade had in the past obstructed cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, but said they are now fully committed to arresting all indictees.

"There is a clear political will to have the remaining fugitives arrested," said Rasim Ljajic, Serbia's minister of cooperation with the tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.

On Monday, Carla Del Ponte, the tribunal's chief prosecutor, told European Union foreign ministers that Serbia was still unwilling to hunt down and hand over four remaining war crimes suspects.

"They have reason to be suspicious because in the past there were examples when authorities claimed they did not have documents (regarding the suspects) requested by The Hague," Ljajic said. We later found those documents and eventually handed them over."

He noted that this happened before the current government was formed in May, adding that he was hopeful of reaching an agreement with Del Ponte for freer access to the archives of Serbia's intelligence agency, and the ministries of defense and interior.

The issue has gained new urgency because Serbia is due to initial a pre-membership association agreement with the European Union in November. Some member countries oppose the accord unless Belgrade receives a clean bill of health from Del Ponte.

Ljajic noted that Belgrade had arrested and extradited a total of 42 Serb suspects indicted by the tribunal for war crimes committed in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo during the 1990s.

"We have suffered huge economic, political and moral damage because these four people remain at large," Ljajic told reporters after meeting with EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn.

The four include Ratko Mladic, the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander, and Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic. They are charged with genocide and crimes against humanity for allegedly orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslim boys and men from Srebrenica — Europe's worst carnage since World War II — and laying siege to the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo.

Rehn said that many EU members remain skeptical because Serbia had in the past not kept its promises to cooperate fully with the tribunal.

Del Ponte is scheduled to visit Belgrade next week and foreign ministers would wait for her assessment before deciding whether to go ahead with the Stabilization and Association Agreement, or SAA, which would allow Serbia to apply for full membership in the European Union.

"We shall take her findings strongly into account concerning the initiative for the SAA," Rehn said.

The government recently offered €1 million (US$1.4 million) for the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic. The U.S. has already offered US$5 million (€3.5 million) for information leading to the arrest of Mladic.

Last month, a former spokeswoman for Del Ponte claimed the United States and leading EU countries had deliberately obstructed the arrest of key suspects during the 1990s.

The allegation were contained in "Paix et chatiment" (Peace and Punishment), a book published in France by Florence Hartmann based on closed-door conversations and events during her time as spokeswoman.

Serb ex-paramilitaries arrested for Kosovo crimes
Reuters
October 19, 2007

BELGRADE, Oct 19 (Reuters) - Serbian police on Friday arrested four men suspected of crimes committed in Kosovo during Serbia's 1998-99 war with ethnic Albanian separatists, local media reported.

The men belonged to the notorious Scorpions paramilitary group. Some of its members have been convicted of killing Bosnian Muslim captives during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, and one was found guilty of killing ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

Serbia's state news agency Tanjug said the men were arrested in the northwestern town of Sremska Mitrovica. The charges relate to crimes committed in 1999 in Podujevo, Kosovo.

Serbia's progress towards joining the European Union depends on showing it is ready to confront its past by arresting war crimes suspects who are still on the run.

Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the Hague-based United Nations war crimes tribunal, is due in Belgrade next week to report on Serbia's cooperation with her court.

While her focus is on fugitives indicted by The Hague, such as top fugitive Ratko Mladic, any arrests related to war crimes are likely to help Serbia's case in Brussels.

The Scorpions were the most brutal of the many Serb and Bosnian Serb paramilitary groups active in the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

The broadcasting in 2005 of a Scorpions videotape showing the killing of six Bosnian Muslim youths shocked the Serb public and raised awareness of atrocities that until then had been dismissed as anti-Serb propaganda.

Kosovo has been under U.N. administration since 1999, when NATO bombed to expel Serb forces accused of atrocities against civilians while fighting a guerrilla insurgency.

The province's ethnic Albanian majority is demanding independence and says the legacy of the war makes a return to Serb rule impossible. Talks on the status of the breakaway territory have been going on for months with little sign of progress.

U.N. prosecutor urges action from Serbia in catching Mladic, other fugitives
AP/International Herald Tribune
October 26, 2007

BELGRADE, Serbia: A U.N. war crimes prosecutor demanded more "concrete actions" from Serbia on Friday in hunting down Gen. Ratko Mladic and other fugitives — a key condition for the country's EU integration.

The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor for former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, spoke at the end of a fact-finding mission in Belgrade designed to assess the Balkan country's cooperation with her Netherlands-based court.

Following the trip, Del Ponte will brief EU officials about her findings. Based on the assessment, they will decide if Serbia can sign a pre-membership aid and trade pact with the bloc.

"I sense that a will to fully cooperate ... exists," Del Ponte said in a speech. "If more concrete actions are undertaken, I will be able to inform ... that there is progress in Serbia's level of cooperation."

Serbian officials have sought to assure Del Ponte that they are serious about catching Mladic, but that they have been unable to locate him and another three suspects still at large.

President Boris Tadic said in a statement that Serbia is "doing all it can" to hunt down the suspects, while Serbian "institutions are working daily" to find and arrest the fugitives.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica also said in a separate statement that "there is determination and political will to fully wrap up cooperation" with the tribunal in The Hague.

Mladic, a former Bosnian Serb army commander, and ex-Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, are the top suspects sought on genocide charges for orchestrating a 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims from Srebrenica.

Also wanted are two more Serb fugitives from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Earlier this month, Del Ponte told EU foreign ministers that Serbia was still unwilling to extradite Mladic. On Friday, she said further EU pressure was needed to force Belgrade to make the arrests.

"I know exactly that Mladic is in Serbia," she said. "We still count on the European Union ... to insist on full cooperation with the tribunal as a condition in the pre-accession and accession process."

The issue of Serbia's cooperation with the tribunal is of critical importance in its efforts to join the European Union, because the initialing of a key agreement in the process depends on Del Ponte's mission.

Earlier this week, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that "we shall take (Del Ponte's) findings strongly into account when making our assessment" on a pre-membership agreement with Belgrade.

Del Ponte insisted that the "Stabilization and Association Agreement process between the EU and Serbia should only be finalized when Ratko Mladic is located or arrested."

Serbia's government minister dealing with the Hague court, Rasim Ljajic, denied that the authorities knew where Mladic was hiding, saying Del Ponte's comments were a "form of pressure."

Day two of Del Ponte's Belgrade visit
B92
October 26, 2007

BELGRADE -- Hague Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte continues her visit to Belgrade today.

She is expected to meet with President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica.

Yesterday, Del Ponte discussed Serbia's cooperation with the UN war crimes court with Rasim Ljajic and Vladimir Vukcevic, the coordinators of the action plan for Hague cooperation. Del Ponte also met with security agency chiefs Rade Bulatovic and Svetko Kovac, as well as Police Director Milorad Veljovic.

The officials aimed to convince Del Ponte that there was sufficient reason for her to report positively on Serbia's Hague cooperation to the European Union.

Representative of the Stability Pact for South-East Europe, Goran Svilanovic, said that he believed Del Ponte's evaluation would be positive and that Serbia would enter the next phase of Euro-Atlantic integration.

Svilanovic told B92 that the aim of Del Ponte’s visit was to find reasons to justify Serbian initialing of the EU Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA).

“My impression is that she’s not looking to disrupt Serbia's political stabilization and association with the EU, but that she is also aware that it is impossible for Serbia to become a member of the union without meeting all of its obligations to the Hague Tribunal. These are very important things for democracy in Serbia. At the same time, Serbia's association with the EU is of essential importance to maintaining democracy in Serbia, and I would say that there was a level of understanding for that on the part of Del Ponte and the European Commission,” Svilanovic said.

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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website

Ex-peacekeepers face families and victims of Bosnia massacre
AP/International Herald Tribune
October 17, 2007

SREBRENICA, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Twelve years after the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 men and boys, their widows and mothers met Wednesday with former Dutch soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Muslim enclave during the Bosnian war.

"Shame on you for coming back here," Sabra Kolenovic, who lost her husband and son in the 1995 massacre, whispered as the soldiers walked into the former factory that served as the Dutch compound during the war.

Questions and accusations accompanied tears as the widows confronted the soldiers about what happened that July.

Bosnian Serbs had overrun the town of Srebrenica, which had been declared a safe haven by the United Nations two years earlier. The Dutch peacekeepers, outnumbered, did not fire a single shot in defense, and the UN did not respond to the Dutch commander's calls for air support.

Srebrenica's Muslims fled to the UN compound seeking protection, but many were not allowed in. Serb soldiers later separated the men from the women and executed the males as the Dutch soldiers looked on helplessly.

"Today I feel the same helplessness I felt in those days," said a tearful Monique Bergman, who was 20 when she served as a peacekeeper at Srebrenica in 1995. "Not being able to do anything is a horrible feeling, which haunted me for years. For years I have been mentally ill because of what happened here."

"I am trying to understand the pain and anger of the survivors and to show respect to the women and victims."

The systematic execution was the worst massacre in Europe since World War II. Earlier this year, survivors sued the Dutch troops for participating in the genocide by failing to try to prevent it. But they lost the case after the Dutch government successfully denied liability, saying its troops had been abandoned by the United Nations.

After reviewing the events, the Dutch government resigned - but not before decorating the soldiers for their experience.

"Did you really receive decorations for what you did here?" yelled Munira Subasic, head of the association Mothers of Srebrenica. "Here, parents are still searching for the bones of their children. Why did you not at least try to save at least one life?"

The soldiers told the widows they did what they could with their lives also under threat and no support from the United Nations. One former soldier acknowledged that mistakes were made. He said some of them were not prepared for the task and could not cope with it.

"I have great respect for you. I came here to pay respect and to talk to you," said Boudewijn Kok, who was in Srebrenica during the massacre.

One former sergeant named Rob said he managed to save a few men when the Serb troops began their separation process. "Even though 12 years have passed, we have not forgotten that genocide happened here," he told the waiting women. "Our arrival is the proof that we have been thinking about it since."

The soldiers and their families are to visit a mass grave, where forensic experts are still exhuming the remains of Srebrenica victims for burial at the Potocari memorial center.

Hearing scheduled before the Appellate Panel in the case of Gojko Jankovic
State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina
October 22, 2007

The hearing before the Appellate Panel of Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in the case of Gojko Jankovic has been scheduled for Tuesday, 23 October 2007 in courtroom 5, starting at 2.00pm.

On 16 February 2007 the Trial Panel handed down the first instance verdict finding Gojko Jankovic guilty of Crimes against humanity and sentencing him to 34 years long term imprisonment.

The Trial Panel found that as a leader of a military unit within the Foca brigade of the Army of the Srpska Republika BiH, Gojko Jankovic participated in a widespread or systematic attack of the army, police and paramilitary formations on the non-Serb civilian population of the Foca Municipality between April 1992 and November 1993.

On 2 August 1992, Gojko Jankovic together with Dragoljub Kunarac and Dragutin Vukovic took three minor female detainees from a house in Aladža to a house in the village of Trnovaca. One of the detainees was held in the house for a few days while the other two were held until January 1993. During that time the Accused and Dragoljub Kunarac kept these two detainees in sexual slavery.

The above verdict was appealed by the defence counsel for Gojko Jankovic.

Bihac: Between Reality and Expectations
BIRN Justice Report
By Una Sana
October 23, 2007

In the first of a series of articles examining efforts to address war crimes at the local level across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Justice Report uncovers the many problems that have dogged the work of prosecutors in north-west of the country.

Since investigations were first launched into war crimes in Bihac, northern Bosnia in 1992, judicial officials there have recorded 198 separate allegations against a total of 1169 individuals. As far as trial proceedings in the local courts are concerned, however, all of this has so far translated into just 17 verdicts.

Activists in Una Sana Canton (USK) express frustration with such figures. But prosecutors say they come down to numerous factors, including the vagueness of many allegations of wartime wrongdoing, a lack of resources for processing cases, and the ease with which suspects have been able to avoid the authorities.

One suspect was however apprehended on October 22. Lazar Stupar was arrested on basis of an international warrant issued in February this year by the Cantonal Prosecution of Bihac who suspect him of committing a number of crimes over non-Serb population of Sanski Most in October 1995.

During the 1992-1995 war, most of the territory that is today under the jurisdiction of the Una Sana legal system was controlled by the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most significant war crimes in the area stemmed from fighting between the Army and paramilitary units controlled by local businessman and politician Fikret Abdic.

Prosecutors and judges in Una Sana have also dealt with cases relating to Prijedor, where three large detention centres were operated during the war by the Republika Srpska army and police force.

Though Prijedor is today part of the Republika Srpska, many Bosniaks and Croats who lived there before the conflict have since moved to other parts of Bosanska Krajina that fall under the jurisdiction of the Una Sana legal system.

According to the figures published by Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center, about 8,000 people are believed to have been killed or are missing from the area.

Bihac, nestled in north-western Bosnia and Herzegovina, borders with Croatia and during the war was encircled by Bosnian Serb forces on one side and Krajina Serb forces from Croatia.

When war crimes investigations first got underway in Una Sana, they were conducted by a body called the Higher Public Prosecution based in Bihac, the regional capital that was a United Nations-protected zone during the conflict.

A Cantonal Prosecution established by the then High Representative Paddy Ashdown in 2002 subsequently took over responsibility for pursuing war criminals, and the following year a specialist War Crimes Department was set up under its auspices.

Up until 2004, the results of all such investigations were forwarded to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, so that lawyers there could decide if there were sufficient grounds to issue an indictment. Since then, this review process has been the responsibility of the state-level Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo.

Jasmin Mesic, a prosecutor from the Cantonal Prosecution, told Justice Report that since 1992, 69 investigations have been opened against 151 individuals with regard to their alleged roles in war crimes. This has led to 37 indictments being filed against a total of 67 people.

Once indictments were approved and issued, trials were originally carried out before the Higher Court in Bihac.

After this body was dissolved in 1996, responsibility for local war crimes proceedings moved to the Una Sana Cantonal Court located in the same town.

So far, the most severe punishment to emerge from such proceedings was a 20-year prison term handed down to Nebojsa Bijelic for his role in crimes including pillaging, killing and the detention of civilians in the Manjaca detention camp.

Others who have been convicted by the court system in Una Sana include former inmates of the Omarska detention centre in Prijedor and the Sana-Keran camp in Sanski Most, who were found guilty of maltreating, beating and murdering fellow detainees.

All but one of the 17 verdicts pronounced to date have been appealed before the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, leading to five being confirmed, five revised and five overturned. One case is still under review.

Senad Ljubijankic, a spokesperson for the Cantonal Court in Una Sana, told Justice Report that proceedings there are carried out to a high standard and always in such a way as to protect the rights granted to indictees under both Bosnian law and international conventions. Indictees who cannot afford to hire a lawyer are provided with legal aid attorneys.

Officials from the Human Rights Department of the OSCE mission in BiH also give a positive assessment of the trials conducted by the Una Sana Cantonal Court, whose work they have been monitoring since 2004.

“I must point out that we have not noticed any violations of indictees' rights in the course of proceedings or any negative practices implemented by the court,” OSCE's Lejla Alagic told Justice Report.

The Cantonal Court has also shown itself to be capable of working efficiently, dealing with one case earlier this year – in which Zeljko Kecman was given a 15-year jail term for crimes against civilians in Sanski Most – in less than two months.

But local activists are becoming increasingly impatient. “We keep asking ourselves how far the investigations have come and what the problems are, and when certain persons will be arrested,” said Enes Zulic from Orasac, who is in the process of registering a non-governmental organisation dedicated to keeping alive the memory of wartime killings in the Ljutocka Valley.

“We never get any answers,” he added. “We often see war criminals walking freely in Bihac, as if nothing had happened.”

Mirsad Topic, the president of a local body known as the Association of Detainees from Cazin, warned that the longer the process drags on, the more potential witnesses to war crimes will die. Each time that happens, he said, “Our truth dies with them.”

Mesic, however, told Justice Report that numerous factors complicate the process of bringing war criminals to justice.

One such factor is the vagueness of many allegations about war crimes.

“Many people reported a criminal act committed, for example, by an entire police station or a squad comprising of 150 people,” he explained. “We were not able to conduct investigations against many of them and determine their concrete responsibility.”

Resources for dealing with war crimes at the local level are also stretched.

The Cantonal Court in Bihac employs 13 judges, two of whom are assigned to overseeing war crimes proceedings but also other general criminal cases.

The two prosecutors working for the War Crimes Department of the Cantonal Prosecution are responsible for conducting investigations in the municipalities of Bihac, Cazin, Velika Kladusa, Bosanska Krupa, Buzim, Sanski Most, Kljuc and Bosanski Petrovac.

They are also responsible for exhuming the bodies of victims of the war not only in Una Sana, but in Prijedor, Bosanska Gradiska and Bosanska Dubica too.

And they also investigate more general criminal cases, not only those involving war crimes.

Mesic told Justice Report that at the cantonal level, there is also a lack of financial resources and technical expertise.

Another serious problem is the difficulty of tracking down war crimes suspects. ”We do not have data on the place of residence of many suspects,” Mesic told Justice Report. “This represents a significant obstacle… because, no matter how many pieces of evidence we collect, we cannot file an indictment if the suspect is not available to give a statement.”

The problem of finding and processing suspects is exacerbated by the fact that many have dual citizenship. When a war crimes indictment was filed against Abdic in 1996, he was able to avoid extradition to Bosnia on the grounds that he also held Croatian citizenship.

He was eventually tried on the same charges in the Croatian town of Karlovac and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Providing further examples, Ljubijankic also highlighted more recent failed efforts by the Una Sana authorities to seek the extradition of an indictee living in Croatia and another living in Serbia, who have citizenship in their respective countries of residence. The issue remains unresolved with regard to both individuals, he said.

There is little disagreement amongst observers in Una Sana about the importance of bringing war criminals to justice.

But it is clear that agreeing on how to go about doing that as efficiently as possible is not such an easy matter.

Mesic told Justice Report that in his opinion, the best solution would be to increase efforts to transfer cases to the state-level Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“We consider that it would be extremely useful for the solving of war crime cases to adopt a state-level strategy, which has been announced for quite some time,” he said.

“It is necessary to process all indictees before the same court and also to keep all pieces of evidence in one place.”

Aida Alic is a journalist with Justice Report. Justice Report is online publication of BIRN Bosnia and Herzegovina. This article has been produced as part of BIRN’s Justice Series project: Local Justice Under Spotlight which has been made possible by the support of American people through the USAID.

Rasevic and Todovic: Mass Graves in Miljevina Mine
BIRN Justice Report
October 23, 2007

Two court experts speak about the remains found in Foca's Miljevina mine.

At the trial of Mitar Rasevic and Savo Todovic, who are charged with crimes against humanity committed against civilians detained in the Correctional Facility in Foca, two expert witnesses have spoken of the cause of death of the victims exhumed from mass graves one and two in Miljevina mine.

"In the first grave we discovered 26 and in the second 47 corpses," said Dr Hamza Zujo, a court expert, adding that bullets were found in many of these bodies.

"There were a few bodies that did not have any visible injuries and the cause of death was therefore not determined. All the others died in a violent way," Zujo explained.

The bullets and capsules that were discovered in these graves were sent to Nijaz Smajic, an expert in ballistics and mechanical traces, in order for him to determine the caliber and type of the weapons used.

"It has not been possible to determine which weapons were used, as the bullets were of several different calibers," Smajic said.

The defence teams and the indictees did not have any questions for the court experts. While they did not have any objections against these findings, the defence denied any link between the indictees and the mass raves in Miljevina mine.

"I am terrified when I listen to all this. It was an awful thing to do – for someone to take people from the correctional facility, allegedly to be exchanged, and then to kill them," said indictee Mitar Rasevic.

The indictment alleges that Rasevic, guard commander in the Foca facility, and Todovic, its deputy manager, were responsible for the civilians detained there. The indictment further alleges that the detainees were taken out of the facility for many different reasons, and that they have been missing since then.

At this hearing, the prosecution presented 166 pieces of material evidence. Following the presentation, Savo Todovic's written complaint against the defence attorneys appointed by the court was discussed.

"I cannot understand how the two attorneys can come to a trial and they do not even know who is supposed to testify on that day. In the course of the seven months, they have never pushed this button in order to protect my rights," Todovic said. He claims that "his hand was shaking" while he was writing the letter and that he wrote it after a careful consideration.

Defence attorneys Mladen Sarenac and Jovan Debelica have also complained, from the very beginning of the trial, about the lack of communication with the indictee.

Trial Chamber Chairman Hilmo Vucinic said that the issue could be defined as a dilemma whether or not to release the defence attorneys from their duty and that the chamber "would consider what was said".

At the next hearing, due on October 30, one more protected prosecution witness will testify.

War crimes suspect in custody
B92
October 27, 2007

SARAJEVO -- The Bosnian Court ordered a month's custody to Idhan Sipic who voluntarily surrendered and admitted to murders during the war.

On 26 October 2007, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina issued a decision ordering one month's custody to Idhan Sipic, who is suspected of war crimes against civilians.

Under this decision, custody may last until November 23, 2007.

The prosecution has justified the motion by claiming that the suspect may seek to influence witnesses and accessories.

Idhan "Nuno" Sipic surrendered to the local police in Bihac and has admitted the crime, which was committed 12 years ago.

"The investigation against Sipic is associated with another extensive investigation covering a large number of perpetrators of a war crime committed in the Bosanski Petrovac area," state prosecutor Milorad Barasin said.

The Bosnian Prosecution considers that, in the course of the Sana 95 military operation conducted in September 1995, Sipic - a former member of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army - committed war crime against civilians. He allegedly killed a Serb woman by knifing her neck with a bayonet and throwing her body into a well.

The victim's body was eventually discovered, and a DNA analysis of the remains is currently underway.

Sipic's Defense has objected the potential custody order, arguing that "the Prosecutor has not referred to the circumstances under which the suspect might influence the witnesses, as their names are not indicated".

"The suspect admitted the crime, which means that he provided the facts related to the commitment of the crime. This implies that his potential attempts to influence the witnesses are irrelevant," said Binasa Abaspahic, the suspect's attorney.

The Court will render its decision concerning the custody order motion at a later stage.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Bikindi Did Not Commit any Massacre in Gisenyi (Witness)
Hirondelle News Agency
October 25, 2007

A defence witness stated Thursday that the artist Simon Bikindi did not commit any massacres of Tutsis in the town of Gisenyi (western Rwanda) as the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) alleges.

A renowned musician, Bikindi, 53, is accused of inciting genocide through his songs; and also of direct participation in massacres, in particular, in the town of Gisenyi. He has pleaded not guilty.

The witness lived in Gisenyi between April and July 1994. He stated that he was charged with transporting the bodies of the people killed at the road blocks and in the neighbourhoods to the cemetery of the city, which had been called for the occasion the "red commune".

The witness cited individuals who, according to him, had been implicated in the massacres in his city and stated that Bikindi was not involved.

He also accused the militia leader Omar Serushago, sentenced to fifteen years in prison by the ICTR after having pleaded guilty of genocide; as well as the military commander of the area for which the judgment is deliberated before the same court.

"The commander in the city was Mr. Anatole Nsengiyumva. If he had had this initiative, he could have stopped the slaughters but he preferred to close his eyes and people continued to die ", he alleged.

The protected witness, who, probably, lives in Rwanda, indicated that some of the authors of these crimes had recently been convicted by the courts of this country.

As previous defence witnesses, this one stated that Bikindi was abroad during the period of the massacres, implying that he had returned as the crimes for which he is accused of had already been committed.

He added that he had not heard anybody in his district allege that Bikindi had killed Tutsis.

"I must say to you that at his arrest, people said that he had probably been arrested for his songs", the witness indicated.

Arrested in Leiden, the Netherlands on 12 July 2001, Bikindi affirms to have sung about peace, democracy and equality between the citizens of Rwanda, irregardless of ethnic affiliation.

His trial began on 18 September 2006. He is represented by Andreas O' Shea of the bar of England and Wales and Jean de Dieu Momo of the bar of Cameroon.

Rwanda: The Case of Dominique Ntawukuriryayo Will Be Heard on 7 November in Paris
Hirondelle News Agency
October 24, 2007

The Court of Appeal of Paris will hear on 7 November the extradition request of a former Rwandan sub-prefect, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, filed by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

A week before, on 31 October, it will have rendered a decision on his request for release. Ntawukuriryayo, was arrested last Tuesday in France at the request of the ICTR.

During the hearing, the president of the investigative chamber, Edith Boizette, proceeded to the formal notification of the charges of "genocide, complicity to genocide" retained by the ICTR against the former sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda). He is accused of being responsible for the deaths of 25 000 persons between 21 April and 25 April 1994.

Dominique Ntawukuriryayo stated to have arrived in France in 1999 and to reside in Carcassonne (Aude) since 2000. His lawyer, Thierry Gréciano, specified that his client was legally in France. A group of twenty people, members of his family and friends, went to the court to show their support for him.

Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, born in 1942, sub-prefect of Gisagara (southern Rwanda), was arrested on 16 October under the terms of an arrest warrant issued by the ICTR.

In April 2006, 32 Rwandan nationals pressed charges in Carcassonne against Mr. Ntawukuriryayo for genocide and complicity to genocide. An order of non-receivability was rendered on 21 August due to the reason that the police had not found him at the address indicated by the plaintiffs.

In a letter addressed at the beginning of the week to the Attorney General of the Court of Appeal of Montpellier (Hérault), the lawyers for the plaintiffs, Sophie Dechaumet and Michel Laval, assured that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on 16 October in Carcassonne "at the residence mentioned in the complaint" of 2006. They were indignant at a situation which "highlights a serious dysfunction of the police and, without it being possible to demonstrate, of the legal authorities".

Alain Gauthier, the president of the collective of the civil parties for Rwanda (CPCR) indicated that he would file Thursday a new complaint in Carcassonne against the former sub-prefect.

Arrested Genocide Fugitive Denied Access to Lawyer
AllAfrica.com
October 22, 2007

French Police on Thursday last week nabbed Genocide fugitive Mr. Ntawukuriryayo Dominique at the request of the UN court for Rwanda but information coming through indicates that his lawyer has been denied access to see him, RNA has established.

Sources tell RNA that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo's family in Carcassonne - southern France is bitter that even they were taken by surprise when police reigned on the long running suspect. They also say Mr. Ntawukuriryayo has not been allowed to seen his lawyer.

Mr. Ntawukuriryayo was the sub-prefect of Gisagara, in the prefecture of Butare (southern Rwanda), in 1994, and is charged with genocide, complicity to genocide and direct and public incitement to commit genocide.

According to the 12-page indictment issued June 10, 2005 by the International criminal tribunal for Rwanda, was responsible for an area with a large Tutsi population and where the massacres were particularly brutal.

The suspect is said to have worked with Interim President Theodore Sindikubwabo (RIP) and a host of senior political, military and police officials to lay out a plan of Tutsi extermination in Southern Rwanda.

Interpol made public his arrest by a search ring involving French police attached to the international police body and Rwandan judicial officials. Interpol had not posted his faded photo previously but did when the man was nabbed.

The first in this series of arrests was made at the end of June after co-operation between officers in INTERPOL's Fugitive Investigative Service (FIS) and law enforcement officials in Rwanda, France and the United States led to the detention of Isaac Kamali at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.

In early October, a team from the FIS was deployed to Rwanda to liaise with the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTR, INTERPOL's NCB in Kigali and the Rwandan judicial authorities in order to develop a common strategy in relation to the location and apprehension of genocide suspects around the word.

Meanwhile, Rwanda has demanded that Mr. Ntawukuriryayo be handed over to Kigali - a request that is of course unlikely despite recent moves to restore working relations between the two countries after a spate. (End)

Rwanda: The ICTR Seems to Be Unaware of Contempt