War Crimes Prosecution Watch

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)

Khmer Rouge Defendant Taken to Hospital
Associated Press via Google News
By Ker Munthit
February 4, 2008

One of the five former Khmer Rouge leaders being held for trial by Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal was rushed to a hospital Monday, just hours after one of his co-defendants made his first courtroom appearance.

Ieng Sary, the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister, was hospitalized for a urinary tract problem, said his lawyer, Ang Udom.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said it was the second time in the past 10 days that the 78-year-old Ieng Sary, who has a history of heart trouble, has been taken to a hospital.

Many victims of the Khmer Rouge have long feared that some of the defendants, now aging and infirm, could die before they could be tried. The 1975-1979 communist Khmer Rouge regime is widely considered responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people though execution, overwork and starvation.

"We try our best to take care of all the defendants without thinking about the costs ... so that they remain healthy to confront the law," Reach Sambath said.

Earlier Monday, another former Khmer Rouge leader demanded "international standards" of justice and asked for release on bail in his first appearance before the tribunal.

Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge's former ideological leader, has been detained since Sept. 19 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The tribunal earlier said detention was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses, destroying evidence or escaping. The judges said the safety of the 81-year-old Nuon Chea could be at risk if he was released.

His Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun, claimed the tribunal's investigating judges did not have sufficient grounds to detain him and asked the court to postpone the hearing so a foreign lawyer could join him. He was given until Wednesday to explain how much time is needed.

In December, the pretrial chamber judges ruled against a similar appeal for release by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison and torture center.
The tribunal is expected to begin holding trials later this year.

The other defendants are Ieng Sary's wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs in the Khmer Rouge government, and Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state.

Court Calls for Briefs in Ieng Sary Hearing
VOA Khmer
By Chun Sakada
February 6, 2008

Cambodian bar Wednesday morning, following a procedural glitch at a tribunal hearing Monday.
Koppe had filed at least one motion on Nuon Chea’s behalf without technically being eligible under tribunal rules.

Now a member of the bar, he can legally represent Nuon Chea, whose hearing over pre-trial detention was postponed Monday.

“From now on, he has full rights as a lawyer,” Cambodian Bar Association President Ky Tech said.
No new date has been set for the next hearing, which will be only the second of the tribunal.
“It will not take long, as the Pre-Trial Chamber wants to get it done quickly,” tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said. “There are three more appeals against temporary detentions.”

Nuon Chea Lawyer Sworn in After Gaffe
VOA Khmer
By Heng Reaksmey
February 6, 2008

Victor Koppe, lawyer to jailed Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, was sworn in for the Cambodian bar Wednesday morning, following a procedural glitch at a tribunal hearing Monday.

Koppe had filed at least one motion on Nuon Chea’s behalf without technically being eligible under tribunal rules.

Now a member of the bar, he can legally represent Nuon Chea, whose hearing over pre-trial detention was postponed Monday.

“From now on, he has full rights as a lawyer,” Cambodian Bar Association President Ky Tech said.

No new date has been set for the next hearing, which will be only the second of the tribunal.

“It will not take long, as the Pre-Trial Chamber wants to get it done quickly,” tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said. “There are three more appeals against temporary detentions.”

Khmer Rouge trial taps donors for another $114 mln
Reuters via National Post
By Ek Madra
February 6, 2008

Cambodia's U.N.-backed "Killing Fields" court has trebled its initial budget, seeking an extra $114 million from international donors to continue its pursuit of Pol Pot's top surviving henchmen, a spokesman said on Thursday.

Under the new proposal, the long-awaited tribunal's three-year lifespan would grow by two years, dragging out proceedings until 2011 even though most of the Khmer Rouge's leading cadres are old and in poor health.

Given the problems with finding the court's initial $56 million, the request for such a large sum is unlikely to go down well with donors who already pump $600 million a year into Cambodia's war-scarred but now booming economy.

"We have no choice but to expand," court spokesman Peter Foster told Reuters shortly after the start of a bail hearing for "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, charged last year with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"I would not call it a delay, but I would call it a more realistic plan," he said.

An estimated 1.7 million people were executed or died of torture, disease or starvation under Pol Pot's 1975-79 reign of terror as his dream of creating an agrarian peasant utopia descended into the nightmare of the "Killing Fields."

After nearly a decade of delays and tortuous talks with the United Nations, the court kicked off in earnest last year with charges against Nuon Chea and four other senior cadres.

SURPRISE

However, it has long been clear the court was short of cash.

One Phnom Penh-based diplomat said the request for more money had been in the pipeline for some time, but the size of the increase was a surprise.

"The original budget was too low and a lot of key elements had not been costed properly, but this is certainly a pretty hefty rise," the diplomat said.

Foster said he hoped countries such as Japan, which has bankrolled much of the proceedings so far, would dig deep to ensure the court achieved the aim of prosecuting "those most responsible" for the atrocities without compromising standards.

"I am optimistic because the extra funding that has been requested is for units and staffing that are absolutely essential for the court to maintain international standards," he said.

Tokyo hopes the trials will expose the full extent of the links between Pol Pot's murderous regime and China, analysts say.

The expanded budget would be mainly for more court staff, translation and transcription facilities and victim and witness support units, and suggested prosecutors would widen their net well beyond the five already in custody, Foster said.

At his bail hearing, the octogenarian Nuon Chea argued he was not a flight risk and would not try to influence potential witnesses. Fears for his safety were also overblown, he said.

"I have no desire to leave my beloved country," he told a courtroom packed with reporters.

The court is not expected to announce its decision for several days, but he is extremely unlikely to be released.

Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng on the Thai border.

Besides Nuon Chea, members of his inner circle now in custody are former president Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith, and Duch, head of Phnom Penh's Tuol Sleng, or "S-21" interrogation and torture centre.

Victim confronts ex-Khmer Rouge leader
Associated Press via CNN
February 7, 2008

A Cambodian genocide victim confronted a former Khmer Rouge leader in the courtroom for the first time Friday, questioning him on who was responsible for the death of some 1.7 million people in the late 1970s.

Theary Seng, whose parents died during the Khmer Rouge regime, took the stand as a representative of the civil party in a hearing on Noun Chea's appeal against his pretrial detention at Cambodia's U.N.-backed genocide tribunal.

Nuon Chea, who was the main ideologist for the now defunct communist group, has been held since September 19 on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the group's brutal 1975-79 rule, which caused the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people.

The former Khmer Rouge leader said Thursday he would not try to flee the country to escape from justice as he pressed for an appeal against his pre-trial detention by Cambodia's U.N.-backed tribunal.

He is one of five former Khmer Rouge leaders detained by the tribunal, which is expected to begin holding trials trial later this year, and the second former Khmer Rouge leader to appear before the judges.

Many victims of the Khmer Rouge have long feared that some of the defendants, now aging and infirm, could die before facing trial.

The 1975-1979 communist Khmer Rouge regime is widely considered responsible for the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people though execution, overwork and starvation.

"We try our best to take care of all the defendants without thinking about the costs ... so that they remain healthy to confront the law," Reach Sambath said earlier this week.

The tribunal earlier said detention of Nuon Chea was necessary to prevent him from pressuring witnesses, destroying evidence or escaping.

The judges said the safety of the 81-year-old Nuon Chea could be at risk if he was released.

His Cambodian lawyer, Son Arun, claimed the tribunal's investigating judges did not have sufficient grounds to detain him and asked the court to postpone the hearing so a foreign lawyer could join him.
He was given until Wednesday to explain how much time was needed.

In December, the pretrial chamber judges ruled against a similar appeal for release by Kaing Guek Eav, also known as Duch, who headed the Khmer Rouge's notorious S-21 prison and torture center.

The tribunal is expected to begin holding trials later this year. The other defendants are Ieng Sary's wife Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs in the Khmer Rouge government, and Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state.

Ex-Khmer Rouge Minister Out of Hospital
Associated Press via Google News
February 10, 2008

A former Khmer Rouge foreign minister returned to detention under Cambodia's U.N.-assisted genocide tribunal after spending nearly a week hospitalized for a urinary tract problem, officials said Sunday.
Ieng Sary was discharged from the hospital Saturday evening and returned to his cell at the tribunal's custom-built compound, said tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath.

Ieng Sary is one of five former high-ranking members of the Khmer Rouge who were taken into custody last year, and are now awaiting trial in connection with the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people through execution, overwork and starvation when the group held power from 1975-79.

Many victims of the Khmer Rouge have long feared some of the defendants, now aging and infirm, could die before facing trial.

"Doctors have told us he is fine, and he is now back in detention" at the tribunal, Reach Sambath said.
Ieng Sary's lawyer, Ang Udom, said his client's health condition "has improved."

Ieng Sary was hurried to Calmette Hospital — Cambodia's best medical facility — on Monday last week after urinating blood. It was the second hospital visit in 10 days by the 82-year-old former Khmer Rouge foreign minister, who also has a history of heart trouble.

Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, who was minister for social affairs in the Khmer Rouge government, are both held pending trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The couple have appealed against their detention, but the tribunal has not yet set dates for hearings.

Nuon Chea, the Khmer Rouge main ideologist, was confronted by a genocide survivor last week in a hearing on his appeal against pretrial detention. Judges are expected to announce a ruling on his appeal in coming days.

Kang Khek Ieu: 'They all had to be eliminated'
The Independent
By Valerio Pellizzari
February 11, 2008

In the West he has been called "Cambodia's Heinrich Himmler"; since Pol Pot himself and his lieutenant Ta Mok cheated justice by dying, he is the most vivid symbol of the Khmer Rouge left alive. His name is Kang Khek Ieu, but he is better known by his nom de guerre, Duch (pronounced "Doik"). This spring, 28 years after fleeing Cambodia ahead of the Vietnamese army, his trial for mass murder may finally get under way.

Now, in the first interview he has given since his capture more than eight-and-a-half years ago, he talks freely about how and why he sent 17,000 Cambodians to their deaths in the killing fields.

And even as he waits to confront the proof of his crimes, it is clear that, for him, there was never any choice: anybody who was thought to pose a threat to the revolution had to be tortured and killed. Asked whether he had any moments of uncertainty, any doubts or feelings of rebellion while he set about wiping out his country's entire intellectual class, he answered: "There was a widespread and tacit understanding.

"I and everyone else who worked in that place knew that anyone who entered had to be psychologically demolished, eliminated by steady work, given no way out. No answer could avoid death. Nobody who came to us had any chance of saving himself."

The command had come from above, he said. "All the prisoners had to be eliminated. We saw enemies, enemies, enemies everywhere." He could not have rebelled or fled, he insisted. "If I had tried to flee, they were holding my family hostage, and my family would have suffered the same fate as the other prisoners in Tuol Sleng. If I had fled or rebelled it would not have helped anyone."

Between 1975 and the beginning of 1979, under Pol Pot, two million men and women, almost a third of the Cambodian population, were brutally eliminated by the Khmer Rouge – an extreme Marxist movement that aimed to take Cambodia back to "Year Zero", cutting it off from the outside world and imposing their leaders' vision of an "agrarian utopia".

Of its two million victims, more than 17,000 – party officials, diplomats, Buddhist monks, engineers, doctors, teachers, students, musicians and dancers, were brought to a former school in the heart of Phnom Penh that had been converted into a torture centre. Only six came out of it alive.

Codenamed S-21, the centre was run by Duch, a former maths teacher who had become the head of the regime's secret police. In the former classrooms, over a period of 40 months, Duch oversaw the extermination of the entire Cambodian intellectual class with mathematical rigour.

Confessions were extracted by primitive torture: prisoners were strapped to iron beds, suspended upside down from ropes, threatened with drowning, tormented with knives and pincers, locked in tiny cells.

Then, at night, they were taken by lorry to the outskirts of Phnom Penh and killed in the rice fields. The Khmer Rouge were obsessed with killing by night.

Now at last, after years of argument between the Cambodian government and the United Nations, the surviving members of the Khmer Rouge hierarchy are finally being brought to justice. They will be tried under a hybrid UN-Cambodian tribunal known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; the pre-trial hearings began in November and are still going on. Pol Pot, of course, is long dead, having died under house arrest before he could be tried in 1998. The bloodiest of his comrades, Ta Mok, died in 1996. But five senior leaders including Khieu Sampan, the Khmer Rouge president, await trial.

Duch made his first appearance in court in November when his lawyer asked for him to be let out on bail because his "human rights had been violated, even if he was not beaten or tortured". A ripple of ironic laughter ran round the courtroom. The request was rejected.

My quest to interview Duch had begun nearly three years ago. I first visited S-21, soon after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Since his arrest more than eight years ago, nobody from the outside had even clapped eyes on him. Now, finally, I was looking at this frail, 66-year-old man with his protruding, irregular teeth, bug eyes and washed-out grey clothes. I was confronting the mystery of the banality and the innocence of evil.

Throughout our interview, his voice was low, respectful like a mantra, a Buddhist prayer, rather than what it really was; the soundtrack of a nightmare still freighted with questions. His mild-mannered almost frail appearance in no way suggested the role of a mass murderer.

For the interview, conducted at the end of 2006 after six years of negotiation, the rules were strict: no tape recorder, no camera, no talking to him directly in French or English but only through a Cambodian interpreter, and no publication until the trial was imminent. General Neang Phat, Cambodia's Secretary of State, and other generals were sitting in the same room, listening to and scrutinising this indefinable and unfathomable man. Some of them, too, have evil memories of the Khmer Rouge years. But Duch was the exact picture of the banality and innocence of evil.

Duch, the nickname he assumed when he was young and joined the guerrillas, told me that the torture centre at Tuol Sleng was set up in August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge entered Phnom Penh, and began work two months later.

"I was given the task of creating it and starting it up, although I never found out why they chose me. Before 1975, when the Khmer Rouge lived in hiding, in the jungle, or in the liberated zones, I was the head of Office 13, I was the chief of police in the special zone bordering on Phnom Penh."

He described a routine of bureaucratic monotony. "Every day I had to read and check the confessions. I read from seven in the morning until midnight. And every day, towards three in the afternoon, Professor Son Sen, the minister of defence, summoned me. I had known him since my time as a high school teacher. It was he who had asked me to join the guerrillas.

"He would ask me how my work was going. Then a messenger would arrive, an envoy, who collected the confessions that were ready and took them to Son Sen. These messengers were the only links between one office and another."

I wanted to know if Duch had any moments of uncertainty, doubts, feelings of rebellion while he was wiping out his country's entire intellectual class.

He admitted the idea had crossed his mind. "When the work started at Tuol Sleng, I asked my bosses now and then, 'Do we really have to use all this violence?' Son Sen never answered. Nuon Chea, the No 2 Brother in the power structure, who was above him, told me: 'Don't think about these things.'

"I personally had no answer. Then with the passing of time, I understood. It was Ta Mok who had ordered all the prisoners to be eliminated. We saw enemies, enemies, enemies everywhere.

"I was cornered, like everyone in that machine, I had no alternative. Pol Pot, the No 1 Brother, said you always had to be suspicious, to fear something. And thus the usual request came: interrogate them again, interrogate them better."

Sometimes Duch was tempted to be merciful, he claimed – and his superiors began to mistrust him. He recalled the time a cousin was brought to S-21.

"I knew him well, we had formed sincere family ties but I had to eliminate him anyway. I knew he was a good person but I had to pretend to believe that confession extorted with violence. So in order to protect him I didn't analyse those statements too rigorously. And on that occasion my superiors began to lose full trust in me. At the same time I didn't feel safe any more."

But the moment of official doubt passed. The interrogations and executions continued, remorselessly until the end.

"You kept your post until the end," I said. "Did you always carry out your orders thoroughly?"
Duch answered: "I obeyed. The work carried on until 7 January 1979, when the Cambodian liberation forces, supported by the Vietnamese, conquered Phnom Penh. There was no escape plan, no pull-out plan ..."
But, after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the executioner blended back in among his countrymen, and disappeared, as so many did in the post-war chaos, swallowed up by the void.
Many years later he was converted to Christianity by American missionaries. His true identity was discovered in 1998 and soon afterwards he was arrested. He remains the most disquieting witness of the political madness planned by the Khmer Rouge, after the death of Pol Pot and Ta Mok, the one-legged "butcher".

I asked him how he converted to Christianity and why that happened. "I became convinced that Christians were a force, and that this force could beat Communism. At the time of the guerrilla war, I was 25 years old, Cambodia was corrupt, Communism was full of promise and I believed in it. But that project failed completely."

So if Duch has repented now, what is his attitude to all those thousands of victims of his violence? There was no alternative for people like himself, trapped inside the machinery of the Khmer Rouge, he said.
"If someone goes looking for guilt, and the various degrees of guilt, I say that there was no way out for anyone who entered the power system conceived by Pol Pot. Only at the top did they know the real situation in the country, but the intermediate functionaries did not know. And then there was that obsession with secrecy.

"Of course, you are asking me whether I could have rebelled, or at least fled. But if I had tried to flee, they were holding my family hostage, and my family would have suffered the same fate as the other prisoners in Tuol Sleng. If I had fled or rebelled it would not have helped anyone."

Experts See Plea in Words of Nuon Chea
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
February 13, 2008

In his words during a bail hearing last week, jailed Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea may have embedded a plea for intervention from the government, tribunal observers said recently.

During statements at his hearing, Nuon Chea praised the government and the leadership of Prime Minister Hun Sen, but the tribunal is beyond the reach of such intervention, the observers and tribunal officials told VOA Khmer.

“Intervention from foreign countries is still blocking the development of Cambodia to a certain extent,” Nuon Chea said to a panel of pre-trial judges during his hearing.

“The rectangular and win-win strategies of the Cambodian government led by Samdech Akkiak Moha Sena Dechchor Hun Sen will win over all these obstacles,” he said, including several honorifics before the prime minister’s name.

Such statements are attempts to use the tribunal as a “mail box” to pass messages to top officials like Hun Sen, said Hisham Mousar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc. “The tribunal is composed of different elements, and its weaknesses are well understood by the Khmer.”

Cambodia’s national courts are roundly criticized for politicization and intervention, but observers said the tribunal was not the same.

“Nuon Chea still thinks Hun Sen is a king, and if [Hun Sen] was able to arrest him and put him in jail, he should be able to release him as well,” said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia.

Former Khmer Rouge chief on ‘silence strike’
FRANCE 24
By Cyril Payen
February 13, 2008

Khieu Samphan, former Cambodian president during the country’s dark Khmer Rouge years, who is scheduled to go before a judge for preliminary questioning Thursday, made it known through his lawyer that he will be going on a “silence strike,” or “grève de la parole” as it’s called in French.

Specifically, he will refuse to answer questions put to him by the international tribunal established to judge the genocide perpetrated in Cambodia during the 1970s.

“This is bad news for a trial that comes 30 years after the facts,” said Cyrile Payen, FRANCE 24 correspondent in Phnom Penh.

The former president cited procedural reasons related to administrative delays at the tribunal. “Not all the documents relating to the charges have been translated into the desired languages (Cambodian and French) and Khieu Samphan’s legal team claims it cannot continue in this manner,” said Payen.

Samphan’s French lawyer Jacques Verger announced that he would be leaving Cambodia on Thursday. With a principal defendant refusing to participate and a defense lawyer leaving the proceedings, the UN-sanctioned trial is facing new difficulties after already suffering numerous delays.

Some two million people died under the Khmer Rouge regime, which, in the name of an ideology inspired by Maoism and tinged with nationalism, sowed the seeds of terror between 1975 and 1979 in Cambodia. It purged cities to benefit the rural areas, imposed forced labor and systematically eliminated all opponents.
Khieu Samphan, along with Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary and Kaing Guek Eav, also known as "Duch", are all currently in jail, awaiting judgment for crimes committed during this period.

Most of the suspects are senior citizens, and tribunal officials fear they will die in prison while awaiting trial—the date for which has not yet been set.

The tribunal, expected to focus mainly on the Cambodian genocide, was set up with much difficulty in July 2006 in Phnom Penh after a decade of negotiations between the Cambodian government and the UN.
Granted an initial budget of more than 56 million dollars for a three year period, the court is beginning to face financial difficulties and recently gave notice that it needed an additional 114 million dollars to function until 2011.

Cambodia Tribunal: Up to 8 Defendants
Associated Press via Google News
By Ker Munthit
February 14, 2008

Cambodia's genocide tribunal expects to try up to eight suspects over the Khmer Rouge's brutal rule, while seeking to nearly double its staffing levels to 530, according to a tribunal planning document.

The cap on the number of prosecutions was noted in a document that outlines the tribunal's proposal to increase its budget to $170 million — a sharp increase from the original $56.3 million.

The document with the revised budget estimate — presented to donor nations in New York last month — was obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The tribunal, which opened its offices in early 2006 after years of wrangling between the Cambodian government and the U.N., took five suspects into custody last year and hopes to begin their trials later this year.

Starvation, overwork, lack of medical care and execution led to the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million people during the 1975-79 communist Khmer Rouge regime.

The budget document says more money is needed to expand services and personnel to allow the tribunal to operate through March 2011, instead of December 2009 as had been anticipated earlier.

"This extension is based on a more realistic expectation of the work of the court, with a maximum number of eight detainees," it said. The document did not explain how the number had been arrived at, or who the additional suspects might be.

The five senior Khmer Rouge leaders under detention — including the group's former head of state, Khieu Samphan, and its foreign minister, Ieng Sary — are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

There are fears that the aging and infirm defendants could die before facing justice. The group's leader, Pol Pot, died in 1998.

Officials authorized to speak for the tribunal could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The tribunal has been dogged by allegations of corruption and delays. Donors have pressed it for reforms and more transparency in its conduct.

"The tribunal will have to explain clearly what kind of reforms they are undertaking with regards to administration and why they have chosen a budget like this," said Tom Barthel Hansen, a Danish Embassy official, whose country contributed about $500,000 to the original budget.
He said it was not yet clear how his government would respond to the new request.

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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

Pretrial hearing postponed for Congolese militia leader charged with war crimes
PR Inside
February 4, 2008

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - A crucial pretrial hearing for a Congolese militia leader accused of mass murder, rape and sexual enslavement has been postponed to allow his defense attorneys more time to prepare, the International Criminal Court announced Thursday.

A hearing to present a summary of evidence against Germain Katanga had been penciled in for Feb. 28, but has been pushed back to an undecided later date, the world's first permanent war crimes court said in a statement.

Lawyers have yet to agree on issues such as disclosure of evidence by the prosecution to the defense ahead of the trial, the court said.

A panel of judges dealing with the case said in a written decision that «the Defense must have access to the evidence on which the Prosecution intends to rely on 30 days before the initiation of a confirmation hearing.

The February hearing was intended to let judges decide if the evidence against Katanga is strong enough to warrant a full trial.

Katanga, known by the nom de guerre Simba, is accused of leading the Patriotic Resistance force when it launched a murderous February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro in northeastern Congo.

The soldiers murdered 200 villagers, raped women and girls and forced them into sexual slavery, according to details released by prosecutors. Katanga's men _ notorious for eating the hearts and livers of their victims _ also imprisoned other villagers in a room full of corpses.

Katanga, who claims to be a student of pedagogy, also is charged with using child soldiers in the attack. In total, he faces three charges of crimes against humanity and six of war crimes.

He was handed to the court by Congolese authorities in October and has not entered a plea.

Katanga is one of only two war crimes suspects being held at the court's detention unit inside the high walls of a Dutch jail close to The Hague's North Sea coast. The other suspect is also an alleged Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, who is charged with recruiting child soldiers. Lubanga's trial is expected to start this year.

Back-to-back wars in Congo from 1998 to 2002 drew in armies from half a dozen neighboring countries. Sporadic fighting continues in the country's eastern border region, which is divided into zones controlled by rival factions.

All Eyes on Lubanga Trial
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Désiré-Israel Kazadi in Kinshasa
February 4, 2008

The credibility of the International Criminal Court will be tested at its inaugural trial in two months’ time, which will see the militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo facing charges of recruiting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo's northeastern Ituri region.

The case - which begins on March 31 - will send signals to other governments and their leaders, not the least of which are Uganda and Sudan, where men indicted by the ICC are still at large, as to how committed the world is to a universal system of justice.

A thorough and reasoned trial for Lubanga could generate respect for international judicial mechanisms, and may well spur cooperation and police action, not simply verbal assurances of support.

And, perhaps more important, a successful trial, no matter how it is defined, could instill a sense of trust in the ICC. Ultimately, that trust would offer hope for millions of victims of war crimes, not only in the eastern Congo, but in dozens of other war-torn regions.

Consequently, interest in the Lubanga case has been high among journalists in the Congo’s sprawling capital of Kinshasa. This has intensified with the recent arrest and incarceration of a second Ituri militia leader, Germain Katanga.

“We give a very good position to the ICC [in our publication], because we think that it guarantees the impartiality of its judges and is determined to track down alleged criminals,” said Diana Gikupa, editor-in-chief of Kinshas’a pro-government newspaper L’Avenir.

In the Congo, where judges are notoriously corrupt and the judicial system is chaotic at best, crimes go uninvestigated and unpunished, leading to widespread distrust of courts.

The ICC’s Lubanga trial is a watershed event for war-weary Congolese who have stood by and watched as perpetrators of horrific crimes of war walk away free.

The ICC is dependent on the Congolese press to inform citizens about the Lubanga trial’s daily turn of events, procedures, motions and rebuttals, but often finds that this is done with mixed results.

Congolese reporters tend to be poorly trained and many are unfamiliar with the legal workings of a far-off international court based in The Hague.

“Sometimes they write inaccuracies or spread rumours,” acknowledged Paul Madidi, the ICC’s spokesman in the Congo. “Fortunately, not everyone has this vice.”

To combat this problem, the ICC spent three years working with and educating journalists about the ICC. Yet, said Madidi, it may have been insufficient to overcome some pervasive misconceptions.

Among the most prevalent, he said, is that the ICC doesn’t have jurisdiction over crimes committed before July 2002, the year the court came into effect. This perplexes many Congolese because they’ve experienced war crimes for decades.

Troubling to Congolese journalists and observers alike is that Lubanga is not being prosecuted for far more serious crimes, which many say he has committed. They also wonder why the ICC isn’t prosecuting those who they say are behind the conflicts in Ituri.

“During the election campaign in 2006, one newspaper had on its front page an article saying that ‘ICC is to arrest [opposition leader Jean-Pierre] Bemba,’” said Madidi.

“Similarly, headlines in other newspapers read that the ICC is about to arrest [rebel leader Laurent] Nkunda.”

Neither statement was true.

“Other newspapers say the ICC is behind the international arrest warrant delivered against Nkunda,” continued Madidi, yet it was actually the Congolese government that issued its own warrant in 2005 for crimes allegedly committed by Nkunda’s soldiers during an attack on the South Kivu town of Bukavu in 2004, he explained.

At the Kinshasa weekly Echoes des Grand Lac director John Lwamba said he follows the work of the ICC with a critical eye.

“We criticise, in our analysis, the work of the court, considering that the court is only dealing with ‘small fish’, using the DRC as a guinea pig and ignoring all other crimes committed before July 2002,” said Lwamba.

Belhar Mbuyi, general director of a Kinshasa-based television channel and radio station, also keeps watch on the ICC. “We make independent analysis about this court,” he said. “We point out its strong and weak aspects in our editorials.”

Sonia Robla, the Hague-based head of the ICC’s public information unit, admitted that the court faces an uphill battle to generate sympathy and support for its work in the Congo.

Robla said the court works hard to correct the various mistakes and deeply held misconceptions among some members of the press.

“We have organised training [for] journalists and have regular meetings with them,” she said.

To this end, the ICC brought a group of Congolese journalists from radio, television and print to The Hague to cover the November 2006 hearing when judges confirmed the charges against Lubanga.

Like the country itself, the Congolese media is sprawling and disparate, with several daily newspapers in the capital and hundreds of small radio stations scattered around the country, many of which produce their own news programmes.

The United Nations Mission in Congo, MONUC, has a station, Radio Okapi, that broadcasts around the country, while several television stations, including the state broadcaster Radio-Television Nationale Congolaise, RTNC, also have nearly national coverage.

But because the printed news media is virtually non-existent outside Kinshasa, Madidi told IWPR that it is through radio and television that most Congolese hear about the ICC.

To generate interest in the ICC, popular Congolese actors have been enlisted for sketches that are broadcast to explain the ICC, including the rights of the accused and crimes under the court’s jurisdiction.

It seems to be working. Awareness of the court is high in the Congo.

Surveys of more than 4,000 people conducted late last year by the Congolese Coalition for the ICC found that 86 percent had heard of the court, and some 55 percent considered it to be fair and independent.

But the poll, conducted in Kinshasa, Bukavu, Bunia, and elsewhere, also revealed that the ICC still has its critics. More than 30 percent said they disliked the slow speed at which the ICC works.

“The Congolese deplore the slowness in the procedures before the ICC, which in four years of investigations has not yet rendered a single judgment,” said one member of the Congolese Coalition for the ICC.

With its first trial finally set to begin, the ICC hopes to quiet some of this criticism.

Exactly how the court will ensure that the Congolese population, including journalists, will be kept informed about proceedings in The Hague isn’t clear.

Public viewing sites followed by discussions are one option, as are interactive town hall style meetings, say court officials. Live on-line streaming of the trial at the court’s field offices, has been one suggestion, but due to severely limited access to the internet, this is an unlikely solution.

“It is important to bring everything happening in the courtroom as close as possible to the communities affected, and journalists are a natural way to convey information in the country,” said Robla. “For the court it is not only important that justice is done, but also that justice is seen to be done.”

Désiré-Israel Kazadi is an IWPR journalist in Kinshasa. International justice reporter Lisa Clifford contributed to this article.

DR Congo war crimes suspect in custody of international court
Agence France Presse
February 6, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — A former militia leader in Democratic Republic of Congo was transferred into the custody of the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Thursday to stand trial for the massacre of some 200 villagers in 2003, court officials said.

Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, former head of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI), is accused of ordering his forces to "wipe out" the village of Bogoro, in the northeast Ituri region.

"Hundreds were killed, maimed or terrorised. Women were forced to become sexual slaves. The village was pillaged by FNI forces and razed to the ground," the court's deputy prosecutor Fatou Besouda said.

Ngudjolo, believed to be 37 years old, was arrested in Kinshasa on Wednesday on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity and sent immediately to The Hague, DR Congo Justice Minister Symphorien Mutombo Bakafwa said.

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Ngudjolo's transfer to The Hague "completes the first phase of the DR Congo investigations" focusing on crimes in the Ituri region.

"We are now moving on to our third case in the DR Congo, with applications for other arrest warrants in the coming months and years," he said from Central African Republic, where he is on a visit.
Moreno Ocampo said his team now will turn its attention to the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where "there are clear reports of serious crimes being committed even today".

"There will be no impunity for the worst perpetrators of the worst crimes in the DR Congo," he said.

Since 1999, clashes among militias and tribal killings have claimed at least 60,000 lives in mineral-rich Ituri, which borders on Uganda, and displaced more than 600,000 people, according to aid agencies.

The prosecution alleges that Ngudjolo, "as the highest ranking FNI commander, played an essential role in designing and implementing an indiscriminate attack against the village of Bogoro, in the territory of Ituri, on or around 24 February 2003".

About 200 civilians were murdered, while others were tortured, imprisoned in a room filled with corpses, or used as sex slaves, according to the arrest warrant.

The attack was allegedly agreed by Ngudjolo and other commanders from the FNI and the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI). The arrest warrant lists nine counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including the use of child soldiers.

Ngudjolo is the third person in the custody of the International Criminal Court, after the transfer in October by the Congolese authorities of Germain Katanga, a Congolese national and alleged commander of the FRPI.

Katanga has also been charged in connection with the Bogoro attack.

"For convenience, it would be good to try them together, but that is a determination for the court to make," Bensouda said.

In March 2006, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese national and alleged founder and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), was the first ICC suspect to be sent to The Hague.

The ICC prosecutor opened investigations in DR Congo in June 2004 after the Congolese government referred the situation in the country to the court, and Lubanga and Katanga were arrested in Kinshasa in March 2005.

Ngudjolo, a colonel with DR Congo's government army (FARDC), was arrested at a Kinshasa military academy where he was being trained since November last year after leaving Ituri following a July 2006 peace accord.

Congo-Kinshasa: Congolese Rebel Leader Makes First Appearance At International Criminal Court
UN News Service via Allafrica
February 11, 2008

The former Congolese rebel leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui today made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he is facing nine counts of war crimes that include allegations of sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers.

Judges at the ICC, which sits in The Hague, verified Mr. Ngudjolo Chui's identity and had the full arrest warrant read out to him, four days after he was arrested by authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and handed over to the court.

The ICC is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow to determine whether to join the charges against Mr. Ngudjolo Chui with the charges against Germain Katanga, another indictee before the tribunal.

Currently a colonel in the DRC's national armed forces, Mr. Ngudjolo Chui is a former commander of the rebel National Integrationalist Front (FNI), and he faces three counts of crimes against humanity and six of war crimes.

He is alleged to have played a key role in designing and carrying out a deadly attack on the village of Bogoro, in the north-eastern DRC province of Ituri, in February 2003.

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern - namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The situation in the DRC is one of four situations currently under investigation by the ICC Prosecutor. The others are the Darfur region of Sudan, the Central African Republic and Uganda.

First trial at permanent war crimes court delayed
Reuters
February 14, 2008

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Judges have delayed the first trial at the International Criminal Court after lawyers for a Congolese militia leader accused of using child soldiers insisted on more time to prepare his defence.

The trial of Thomas Lubanga at the world's first permanent war crimes court had been due to start in March, but Lubanga's lawyers said prosecutors had not disclosed all the evidence as stipulated by the court.

A court spokeswoman said on Thursday that judges will now set a new date by which time prosecutors must disclose all evidence to the defence, with the trial expected to start three months after that.

During a hearing on Wednesday judges mentioned a tentative start date of June.
Lubanga, who founded and led a militia in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri district, was arrested in 2006 and accused of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 to kill members of the Lendu ethnic group during the country's 1998-2003 war.
Lubanga has denied the charges.

The ICC ruled in January 2006 that there was enough evidence to try Lubanga, a milestone for the institution that was set up in 2002 and is now backed by 105 nations.
Lubanga led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), an ethnic militia now registered as a political party, and is accused of using children to kill his enemies in the ethnic conflict in Ituri between the Hema and Lendu, and in clashes between militia groups vying for control of mines and tax revenues.

The ICC is also in the early stages of prosecuting Germain Katanga, another Congolese militia leader, who is accused of murder, sexual slavery and also using child soldiers.
A third suspect, former Congo warlord Mathieu Ngudjolo, was surrendered to the court last week, where he faces war crimes charges of murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

Ngudjolo's arrest comes as the government of President Joseph Kabila is attempting to bring to an end a decade of violence in Congo that experts estimate has killed 5.4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

'Ahmad Harun Will Face Justice; It Is His Destiny'
Inter Press Service, via AllAfrica.com
February 6, 2008

In April 2007, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued its first arrest warrants in a three-year investigation of war crimes in Darfur, Sudan, naming Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb and Sudanese official Ahmad Muhammed Harun, who is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the well-reported mass killings and displacements in the region.

Nearly a year later, Sudan has not made any move to execute the warrants. The government, led by Omar Hassan al-Bashir, does not recognise the jurisdiction of The Hague-based ICC over crimes in Darfur -- despite a Security Council resolution requiring Sudan's cooperation -- instead insisting that they be investigated and prosecuted locally.

"As minister of state for humanitarian affairs, Ahmad Harun, a man indicted by the International Criminal Court, is responsible for providing relief, for working with international aid organisations, and for coordinating with relevant security organs the security in the IDP [internally displaced persons] camps," the ICC's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, told IPS. "Formally, he shares responsibility for the safety and well-being of the displaced population. In reality, he joins in constant abuses against them."
"In Darfur in 2003-2004, we witnessed the first phase of the criminal plan coordinated by Ahmad Harun. Millions of people were forced out of their villages and into camps. In the second phase -- happening right now in front of our eyes -- the victims are attacked in the camps. Ahmad Harun is a key actor. But he is not alone. Failure to take any step to investigate or arrest him and failure to remove him from office are clear indicia of the support Harun receives by other high officials," Moreno-Ocampo said.
IPS correspondent Mark Weisenmiller recently interviewed Moreno-Ocampo, 55, about the status of the case against Harun, and whether he will ever be brought to trial.

IPS: In a Dec. 5, 2007 meeting of the United Nations Security Council, you told all present that "the only realistic solution today is to request the removal and arrest of Harun as a first step..." Since then, have you or anybody from the ICC prosecutor's office received any communication from the Sudanese government about this matter?

LM-O: The content of the Office of the Prosecutor's communications with states is confidential. However, the prosecutor reported in December to the U.N. Security Council that Sudan was not complying with its obligation. The situation has not changed since. The government of Sudan, as the territorial state, has the legal obligation to arrest and surrender Ahmad Harun and has the ability to do so. Sudan is a member state of the U.N. Sudan cannot ignore the law.

IPS: Is there anything that any unit of the U.S. government [which is not a party to the ICC] could do to help bring Harun to justice?

LM-O: We cannot comment on our bilateral cooperation. Our requests are confidential so as to avoid any impact on our investigative activities. We have noted recent comments that the U.S. would provide assistance in response to an appropriate request...the U.S. is aware of our confidentiality requirements...What we need is for U.N. Security Council members -- and among them, the U.S. -- to demonstrate, publicly and proactively, now their support to arrest indicted individuals. This is the kind of concrete, immediate assistance we are requesting.

IPS: In last December's Security Council meeting, you said that internally displaced persons who are living in camps "are deliberately kept in a state of destitution. Obstacles to the delivery of aid are part of the pattern of attacks." What concrete evidence do you have for these claims?

LM-O: In relation to the first new investigation, we have consistent indicia showing a pattern of attacks by Sudanese officials against civilians, in particular those 2.5 million people forcibly displaced into camps. Far from disarming the Militia/Janjaweed as it committed to, the GoS [government of Sudan] has for the most part integrated them into its security apparatus and has stationed them in the vicinity of camps. Rapes of women when they leave the camps are systematic.

Instead of upholding their promises of facilitating returns, Sudanese officials are said to facilitate settlement of Militias/Janjaweed supporters on land inhabited previously by Fur and Masalit. In addition, approximately 35,000 Chadians have also been encouraged to settle in destroyed villages or surrounding land. Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa are thus deprived of a safe place to return. Resettlements are consolidating the displacements. Victims are faced with two options: remaining under attack in the camps or going back to hostile territory. They are left with no hope for the present and no prospect for the future. This is how the slow destruction of entire communities is pursued; in full sight of the international community.

IPS: If, as seems to be the case, Harun is not handed over to the ICC, then what happens? Can you proceed with a trial of Harun in absentia, or will there continue to be diplomatic and bureaucratic limbo?

LM-O: The Rome Statute [creating the ICC] does not allow for trial in absentia. It provides, however, for confirmation of charges in the absence of the accused, although this is not an option being pursued at the moment. Ahmad Harun will face justice. It is his destiny. Look what happened to Charles Taylor, Jean Kambanda, and Slobodan Milosevic; it is a clear trend; there is no more impunity.

IPS: After the trial of Harun is completed -- if, indeed, a trial does take place -- who do you and the ICC Prosecutor Office next plan to indict on human/civil rights charges, or war criminal-related charges ?
LM-O: In Darfur today, massive crimes continue to be committed... Failure to protect persons displaced from constant attacks by Militia/Janjaweed and GoS agents, failure to facilitate deployment of those peacekeepers who could protect the victims are clear indicia of endorsement, acquiescence or active participation by other high officials.

The office will proceed to investigate who is bearing the greatest responsibility for ongoing attacks against civilians; who is maintaining Harun in a position to commit crimes; who is instructing him. This is the second Darfur case. In relation to the other new investigation, on 29 October, 10 soldiers of the AU Mission in Sudan, AMIS, were killed, eight injured and one unaccounted for after the attack on their Haskanita base. The incident appears to have been committed by rebel forces. It represents an increasing trend in attacks against AU, U.N. and other international workers by various forces, a trend which the office is monitoring with concern.

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Uganda (ICC)

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

Uganda: ICC No Obstacle to Peace – Museveni
New Vision
By Alfred Wasike
February 5, 2008

THE indictment of LRA leaders by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is not an obstacle to reconciliation or justice in northern Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni has said.

He described the ICC as complementary justice that addresses impunity.

He said it was LRA apologists deceiving the world that the ICC is an obstacle.

"The ICC is against impunity so am I and I hope so are you," he added.

Museveni was reacting to questions at a press conference he addressed together with visiting German President Horst Kohler at State House Entebbe on Monday.

Impunity, Museveni said, comes about if the national jurisdiction is unwilling to try the criminals or unable as the case is for Uganda. He added the Ugandan criminals fled to the DR Congo.

"We cannot get there unless we attack our neighbour to get the criminals."

Museveni said the Government had provided a soft landing to the rebels using traditional justice to allow them account for their crimes, but they had remained in hiding.

The President said there was a 14-point ongoing programme for the reconstruction of the north.
Turning to investments, Museveni urged Germans to emulate birds. "Germans and other Europeans should imitate what birds learnt a long time ago.

"During winter, birds fly to Africa and only return to Europe during summer. Why don't Europeans do that too?"

In his comments, Kohler said Uganda was on "the right development track" and was "an anchor of stability in the conflicts in the region." He said he was impressed by Uganda's fight against poverty.

"The number of people living in poverty has been reduced from 60% to 30%. Uganda is a shining example in Africa."

Commenting on the situation in Kenya, Sudan and Chad, which have civil strife, Kohler said: "One of the reasons for the conflicts is joblessness. The only way out for Africa is job creation."

Yesterday, just before he arrived at Coope displaced people's camp in Gulu, fire broke out and destroyed at least 20 huts.

Explaining the cause of the fire, Police chief Peter Wateya said: "Some people were cooking outside and wind blew a spark to the roof of a hut, causing a flame that quickly caught other huts."

A fire brigade truck from Gulu town arrived shortly afterwards and put out the fire. But several women ignored the Police and tried to save their property from the burning huts.

Speaking to the displaced, Kohler urged the delegates to the Juba peace talks to ensure that the process is not reversed.

Peace was a prerequisite for development, he said, and pledged Germany's support to the region.
Acting northern Uganda minister Nyombi Thembo noted that the peace in the north was stable.
Gulu chairperson Norbert Mao said Kohler's visit had made Gulu people feel cared for.

"Suffering alone is more painful but suffering when you know you have friends gives you hope."

INTERVIEW-ICC vows "no impunity" for African war criminals
Reuters
By Pascal Fletcher
February 7, 2008

DAKAR, Feb 7 (Reuters) - There can be no impunity for those guilty of war crimes in Africa such as mass rape or slaughtering civilians, even when peace processes are under way, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor said on Thursday.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo made the pledge as he arrived in Central African Republic for a visit to back an ICC investigation into a series of rapes, killings and other abuses that occurred during armed conflict in the country in 2002 and 2003.

The Hague-based ICC, which has opened an office in the poor, landlocked former French colony, is gathering evidence about systematic acts of sexual violence which accompanied fighting in the capital Bangui between government troops and rebels.
"Here, the rapes outnumbered the other crimes ... young girls and old women were gang raped, in public places," Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in a phone interview from Bangui.

He was due to meet some of the at least 600 reported victims of conflict-related sexual violence in Central African Republic, which has a history of bloody coups and mutinies.

"We are here to meet with the victims, to say to them that we will prosecute the perpetrators," said Moreno-Ocampo, who had prosecuted human rights cases in his native Argentina.

"There can be no impunity for these kinds of crimes," he said. Even when suspects might be engaging in national processes of peace and reconciliation, "you respect the laws".

The ICC was also pursuing war crimes prosecutions against suspects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and in Sudan, relating to its war-torn western Darfur region.

Shortly after Moreno-Ocampo spoke, the ICC announced a former Congolese warlord, Mathieu Ngudjolo, was flown from Congo to ICC custody in the Hague to face war crimes charges including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

Ngudjolo is the third militia chief from Congo's conflict-torn northeast Ituri province to be transferred to the ICC in a year. The court is already prosecuting Thomas Lubanga and Germain Katanga for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
"NEVER ENOUGH JUSTICE"

Moreno-Ocampo said these prosecutions were a sign that the court, which started work in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court, was getting its message across that perpetrators of horrific crimes would not escape justice.

"In a short time, the court is showing its impact," he said, adding that investigations into the use of child soldiers were also taking place in Sri Lanka and Colombia.

But he said ICC investigations could take between nine and 18 months and acknowledged some victims might feel this was slow. "You can never do enough justice for victims, if someone raped my daughter, who can compensate for that?" he said.

In Bangui, the ICC prosecutor was to meet senior members of the government of President Francois Bozize, who seized power in a 2003 coup which toppled then head of state Ange Felix Patasse.

The crimes being investigated by the ICC were committed during periods of fierce fighting in Bangui between Patasse's troops, supported by Congolese rebels, and insurgents led by Bozize who were backed by Chadian mercenaries.

The government of Bozize, who consolidated his position by winning elections in 2005, had asked the ICC to investigate Patasse and several aides for alleged war crimes, after the country's own justice system said it could not handle the cases.

In a separate move, the International Federation of Human Rights, which groups rights leagues across the world, filed a war crimes case with the ICC against Congolese opposition figure Jean-Pierre Bemba, whose fighters supported Patasse in Bangui.
Both Bemba, who is in exile in Portugal, and Patasse, who lives in exile in Togo, deny the war crimes accusations.
Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC was also concerned about reports of systematic sexual violence by rebel fighters, militia and government soldiers in Congo's North and South Kivu provinces.

Congo's government signed a peace deal last month with rebel and militia groups in the Kivus, which included an amnesty offer for rebel warlords like renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.

But Moreno-Ocampo said the amnesty offer did not cover war crimes and crimes against humanity and said Nkunda, who was the target of a now-expired government arrest warrant, may still "eventually" face an ICC investigation. (Editing by Daniel Flynn and Mary Gabriel)

Uganda: Military Action an Option If Peace Talks Fail – Government
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
February 15, 2008

Renewed military action against the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) would be an option if peace talks between the insurgency and the Ugandan government did not lead to an agreement by the end of February, a spokesman for the state delegation said.

"The February 29 deadline is still on and I can tell you in no uncertain terms that [the] government has no plans of renewing or announcing other deadlines," Captain Chris Magezi told IRIN on 13 February. "After the expiry of the deadline, the government will have an array of options, including the military option," he said.
Magezi repeated the government's assertion that the talks, which been going on intermittently for 18 months, must have a conclusion.

"These talks have gone on for this long because the LRA is not serious. But it is our view that they [the talks] cannot go on for ever," he added.

The LRA was accused of an attack on a village in Southern Sudan on 30 January, which further heightened tensions.

The talks are aimed at ending two decades of a brutal civil war that killed thousands and displaced more than a million people in northern Uganda. Civilians were the main victims, with the LRA widely accused of untold atrocities, including massacres, mutilations and the abduction of children and young adults for conscription and sexual slavery.

Commenting on the latest ultimatum by the government, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Gulu in northern Uganda, John Baptist Odama, urged the government to maintain its commitment to the peace process.

"They should not be impatient. Patience pays. They should stay the course. Enough of violence as violence profits nobody. It is wasteful," the bishop said.

"Both parties should know that the people of northern Uganda would not want a bloodbath again after both the government and the LRA took the decision to go to peace talks. Those who propagate war should be ready to answer for the lives that would be lost and be ready to face the consequences of the resumption of war," he added.

Some progress has been made in the latest round of the peace talks, which resumed in the Southern Sudan capital of Juba in late January. An agreement has been reached to set up a unit within the Ugandan High Court to try crimes committed during the war, including murder, abduction of children and rape. The decision is an attempt to allay LRA fears about the group's leadership being handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for trial on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The ICC has indicted five LRA commanders, including the leader Joseph Kony.

The special unit of the High Court would not hand down the death sentence to LRA suspects on conviction, according to Magezi. It would only pronounce prison terms, he said.

We did agree also on the implementation modalities of accountability and reconciliation. We have not signed the agreement because the LRA wants to make consultations with their leaders. But we have made reasonable progress. In fact we have also discussed the implementation modalities of comprehensive solutions and we had embarked on considering agenda item number four, which is a final ceasefire," said Magezi.

The LRA could not be reached for comment.

Rebel Army in Disarray?
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
Charles Mwanguhya Mpagi
February 15, 2008

LRA seemingly in turmoil amid infighting, claims of new massacre and more executions.
After 20 years of war and a year-and-a-half of on-off peace negotiations, the brutal and enigmatic Lord’s Resistance Army of northern Uganda appears to be in disarray.

Over the course of the week, reports have emerged of a massacre by an alleged LRA splinter group and of further executions of LRA commanders suspected of being disloyal to the rebels’ reclusive leader, Joseph Kony.

The suspected breakaway rebel unit, said by some to be fighters once loyal to the former LRA second-in-command, Vincent Otti - who was killed by Kony last October - is now reportedly headed to the Central African Republic, CAR.

These reports have compounded not only the growing suspicions that the LRA is disintegrating, but that the stumbling peace talks, which were recessed last week after restarting only days earlier, may never reach a conclusion.

The most recent victim of the increasingly unpredictable Kony was apparently a commander named Pope Ojara, who was caught trying to escape the rebels’ camp in Garamba Park in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC.

Ojara reportedly was killed along with his pregnant wife and another child after being captured in the village of Dungu, which is near Garamba.

The rebels were also accused of carrying out an attack on a village in the Western Equatoria province of South Sudan where an estimated 136 people were killed, a number abducted and drugs and food were looted.

Provincial Deputy Governor Joseph Ngere, who investigated the attack, said the rebels were moving towards CAR.

“We have seen hundreds of LRA rebels, children, the elderly and fighters moving westwards in the direction of Central African Republic. They have been moving for the last two days,” Ngere told the Daily Monitor of Kampala.

Meanwhile in Juba, South Sudan, where the peace talks were temporarily suspended, three more people have abandoned the LRA negotiating team - the latest being Crispus Ayena Odongo, a Kampala lawyer who has been acting as a legal advisor.

Although the LRA team had returned to the peace talks on February 6 under the new leadership of David Nyekorach Matsanga, the talks were suspended when he asked for time to go to Nairobi to meet negotiating team replacements and then with Kony in Garamba.

The new legal team consists of Caleb Alaka of Kampala, and an international criminal lawyer, Jane Aywar, who has reportedly worked with the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, ICTR.

The Nairobi trip was cancelled, however, said Matsanga, and the negotiating team was to meet in Juba this week.

Because of the disruptions, discussions on critical issues such as demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration, which were to have been resolved by the end of January, will not begin until early in March, if at all.

Despite the frequent delays and distractions, the LRA’s chief negotiator remained upbeat.

“We are here, we are ready, and I can assure you there is no other way we are going to achieve peace in northern Uganda apart from using the peace process,” said Matsanga.

In what has become a confusing, yet routine part of the negotiating team’s rhetoric, Matsanga blamed Uganda for the delays.

“It is the government delegation that is failing us,” charged Matsanga, noting that Uganda’s chief negotiator, Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, had left Juba after the LRA asked for a pause in the talks. “They don’t want to address the root causes of this conflict.”

Sources within the diplomatic community suggested that recent events show Kony is becoming desperate because his commanders are abandoning him. As a result, the say, he is increasingly distrustful and brutal towards his own men.

Curiously, Matsanga refuses to admit that Otti is dead, despite Kony already admitting that he executed him for supposedly profiteering from the peace talks and establishing links with the Ugandan government.

Instead, he has said Otti “is absent” and has also denied that there has been a new wave of executions, dismissing them as Ugandan government propaganda.

While Otti is thought to have executed a number of commanders, some are thought to have escaped. One who reportedly did so was Ceasar Achellam, and some suspect he is now leading the breakaway LRA faction.

Despite this backdrop of chaos, Rugunda told IWPR that he was still optimistic about the talks.

“We have made a lot of progress on [reconciliation and accountability] and we are now waiting to discuss agenda item four on implementation and a comprehensive ceasefire,” he said.

He and his team were to return to Juba this week.

But after more than one and a half years, and with endless distractions and delays, the enthusiasm that once characterised the peace process has begun to fade.

“President Yoweri Museveni has said this process cannot go on forever [and] the chief mediator, Riek Marchar, has said the process must end at sometime,” said Uganda’s army spokesman, Captain Paddy Akunda.

Akunda warned that an agreement between Museveni and his DRC counterpart, Joseph Kabila, to attack the rebels if the peace talks fail, remained an option.

Also unresolved are the outstanding International Criminal Court, ICC, indictments against Kony and his top commanders that were unsealed in October 2005, charging them with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Two of the commanders have died and the others remain at large.

“President Museveni and Kabila signed an agreement to deal with the LRA. That agreement was to be implemented by the 31st of January. Now that has passed,” said Ankunda, dismissing rebel claims that they could abandon the talks and still survive.

Museveni said recently that when he agreed to enter peace negotiations, rather than continue military action against Kony, he had offered the LRA a soft landing.

Apparently, the LRA is letting that option fall by the wayside.

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ICC - Other

Official Website of the International Criminal Court

Atrocities in Kenya Must Not Go Unpunished
Times Online
by Mark S. Ellis
February 6, 2008

For the sake of the nation's future it is vital that international law is upheld in the wake of the election crisis

Kenya is a country overwhelmed by despair. Mired in violence, dispossession and a crumbling infrastructure, the once peaceful coexistence shared by its ethnic groups has vanished. Ethnic cleansing has taken its place. More than 200,000 people have been displaced, according to the International Red Cross, and there is mounting evidence of murder, torture and gang rape. These are not random acts of violence; these are crimes against humanity.

In the rush to end the violence and re-establish order, the international community should not lose sight of the fact that atrocities have been committed. Out of political expediency or the need for a bartered settlement, pressure may mount to adopt a policy of impunity for these crimes. This would be a monumental and tragic mistake.

A policy of impunity in Kenya would be based on a misguided belief that it is necessary to chose between peace and justice. But this is a false and hollow choice. It would leave the victims of these crimes emotionally destitute and irrevocably weaken the rule of law.

Most damaging, however, is what impunity would do to Kenya's future. It would provide impetus for more violence and suggest to all Kenyans that these crimes can somehow be condoned. But they cannot ever be accepted. Kenya, like all post-conflict countries, will not return to a stable, peaceful environment unless it deals forcefully with the deep divisions engendered by the atrocities.

The international community has long recognised the nexus between reconciliation and justice and has made it clear that those who have committed crimes against humanity cannot be exonerated; they must be held accountable.

Under international law, Kenya has the responsibility to prosecute the perpetrators of these crimes. It is true that the current political situation could make it difficult to carry out effective investigations and prosecutions — that is why the only viable option to ensure justice is for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to step in.

Established on July 1, 2002, the ICC was the first permanent international court to investigate and try individuals for the most heinous violations of international criminal law: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity. The court reflects the international community's respect for and enforcement of justice and its determination that grave breaches of criminal law will not go unpunished.

Kenya made known that it would adhere to these principles when it ratified the ICC's Statute in March 2005. Consequently, it is subject to the ICC's jurisdiction and is obligated to cooperate fully with any investigations.

Based on what we know already, there is a reasonable basis for the prosecutor to seek authority from the court to proceed with a full investigation. Immediate steps should be taken to collect, examine, and preserve any evidence. Most importantly, measures must be taken to protect the victims and witnesses — they are the most vulnerable in the crisis and the most pivotal in bringing about justice.

International law has progressed significantly over the last decade. One of its fundamental tenets is that there can be no impunity for those who commit gross violations of humanitarian law, such as crimes against humanity. Failure to prosecute these crimes is not the result of the absence of law, but rather the lack of political will.

The international community must ensure that this does not happen in Kenya. An ICC investigation would send a clear message to the perpetrators and to those who might be emboldened by a lack of action: impunity for these crimes will not be tolerated. Justice is not expendable.

Mark S. Ellis is the executive director of the International Bar Association

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

UN war crimes tribunal to hold second hearing in Sarajevo
UN News Centre
February 6, 2008

The United Nations tribunal set up to try those responsible for the worst war crimes committed in the Balkans in the 1990s will travel to Sarajevo – a city synonymous with the conflict – on Friday for a four-day hearing in the trial of the former head of the Bosnian Muslim forces during the Balkan wars.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is based in The Hague, has scheduled an evidentiary hearing in the trial of Rasim Delic after a request from prosecutors.

It is only the second time that the Tribunal has conducted a hearing away from its seat in the Netherlands; the other occasion occurred in September last year during the same case. The hearing, which will be held in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will involve testimony from Aiman Awad, the final prosecution witness in the Delic trial.

Mr. Delic, 59, is charged with murder, cruel treatment and rape of captured Croat and Serb soldiers and civilians on the basis of his responsibility as Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina from June 1993.

The indictment against him states that he failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent his subordinates committing torture, beatings, rapes and murders – including a decapitation – at Kamenica camp, a detention centre for captured Bosnian Serb soldiers and local civilians in central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In the most notorious murder, carried out on 24 July 1995, a Bosnian Serb army prisoner was decapitated at Kamenica and all the other prisoners were forced to kiss the severed head, which was later placed on a hook on the wall of the room where the prisoners were being held.

Mr. Delic also stands accused of failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to punish those soldiers who executed captured Bosnian Croat civilians and soldiers in two villages in Travnik municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

War crimes trial of Croatian general to start
Reuters
February 6, 2008

AMSTERDAM, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Croatian General Ante Gotovina and two other commanders will go on trial at the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on March 11 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the tribunal said on Wednesday.

Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac, are accused of persecution and murder during a 1995 Croatian military offensive to retake the Krajina region from the Serbs.

The tribunal said the opening statement of the prosecution will be delivered on March 11. The defence will be given the opportunity to give opening statements one day later.

Gotovina, was arrested in 2005 in Spain's Canary Islands after evading his international war crimes indictment for four years.

(Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Matthew Tostevin)

ICTY: Birth of the Al Mujahadin Unit
BIRN Justice Report
February 8, 2008

Witness Aiman Awad speaks about his arrival in BiH and of the establishment of the "Al Mujahadin" Unit.

The trial of Rasim Delic, conducted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has continued before the Court of BiH in Sarajevo. Witness Aiman Awad, a former member of the "Al Mujahadin" unit, testified as the final Prosecution witness.

The ICTY Trial Chamber approved the Prosecution's request to examine this witness in Sarajevo "due to the specific circumstances of the witness". After a revision process, Awad was stripped of his Bosnian citizenship, which he had obtained as member of BiH Army during the war. Awad is considered to represent a threat to national security and currently faces deportation.

Rasim Delic, who was commander of the General Staffs of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH) from June 1993 to September 2005, is charged, on the basis of command responsibility, with murder, cruel treatment and rape committed by "units, which were under his command".

The indictment, inter alia, alleges that Delic did not undertake "the necessary and reasonable measures" to sanction those who killed captured civilians and soldiers who had surrendered to the Army of BiH in Maline and Bikosi villages in Travnik municipality.

On the first day of his testimony, Syrian-born Aiman Awad mainly spoke about the reasons for his arrival in BiH and the establishment of the "Al Mujahadin" unit.

Before the examination got underway, the witness insisted on being given a chance to deny "the allegations of the media" in BiH which said that "he agreed to testify against Delic" if his BiH citizenship was returned to him. He also said he had appeared at the Court "in response to an invitation by the ICTY Prosecution".

"I arrived in BiH in December 1992, in order to fight together with Muslims. I was not invited by anyone. Nobody organised my arrival or paid for it. While living in Rijeka, I heard stories told by displaced Muslims about their suffering. I realised that I could help, as a young Muslim man," Awad said.

He claims to have gone to BiH together with two colleagues from "a humanitarian organisation", for which they worked in Croatia. After spending nearly three months in Zenica, Awad said he joined a group of Arabian Mujahadins in Bilmiste barracks in April 1993. The barracks was used by the Seventh Muslim Brigade of the Army of BiH.

"The group consisted of eight to ten people, originating from Libya, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan, Algeria and Lebanon. Algerian Abu Mali was in charge of those people. At the time, the group of Mujahadins did not have any activities. Apart from the Mujahadins, a group of Turks was also situated in the same building, but I did not have any contact with them," Awad said.

Awad told the Court that "four or five Arabians" joined the Mujahadins group in Bilmiste and that, later on, they went to a military camp in Mehurici near Travnik, which he "visited on one occasion". He also said that he saw two houses there and a local commander named Vahidin.

Speaking about the establishment of the "Al Mujahadin" unit, Aiman Awad said that he personally took a request for the establishment of an "Al Mujahadin" unit to the logistics of the Third Corps Staffs of BiH Army in June or July 1993.

"I do not know who decided concerning the request, but I know that a group of people, led by Dr Abu Haris, submitted a request for establishment of the unit. I personally translated the text written by Vahidin or Mu'taz into Bosnian," the witness indicated.

Asked by Prosecutor Mandes Deril why the unit was established, Awad mentioned two reasons.

"A group of Bosniaks, who left their units and who were considered as deserters, were with us Arabians. We wanted them to have a regular status, as they did not want to go back to their units. In addition, we wanted everything done by the Mujahadins to be legal and to differentiate this group from 'the freelancers'," the witness said.

The request also contained a description of the future unit. Awad explained that the request indicated that the unit would be commanded by Dr Abu Haris in Mehurici, while his deputy would be Abu Mali in Zenica. The witness added that Vahidin was in charge of military issues in the unit.

"The request was made on behalf of a group of about 60 or 70 people. Later on, the unit had about 100 members and this list was used in the 'Al-Maktouf' case. Most names were Arabian, but there were a few Bosnian names as well," Awad explained.

Iranian-born Abduladhim Maktouf was sentenced by the Court of BiH to five years' imprisonment for assisting in crimes against civilians in central Bosnia area.

Awad said that the order on the establishment of the "Al Mujahadin" Unit was made on August 13, 1993. "The order was sent to us via the Third Corps, and I do not know if it was sent through the Bosanska krajina Operation Group, but it originated from the General Staffs of the Army of BiH. On that occasion, a celebration was organised in the camp in Mehurici, which was attended by about 60 persons, including some members of the Third Corps Staffs and Bosanska Krajina Operational Group, as well as a few civilians," Awad said.

The witness recognised senior BiH Army officers Mehmed Alagic, Sakib Mahmuljin, Hadzi Mithat Puric and El Mujaheds Abu Haris, Abdul Malik and Vahidin on the video recording made during the celebration and shown in the courtroom. The witness added that Nusret Avdibegovic, Mufti of Travnik, and Muhamed Curic, Mayor of Travnik Municipality, also attended the ceremony.

At the today's hearing a voice recording was also played, featuring Mujahadin Abdul Malik translating a speech of Abu Haris, leader of the newly established unit.

"The state of BiH and the General Staffs of BiH recognised the 'Al Jihad' unit as part of the BiH Army," he said.

Aiman Awad said that he was translator in the "Al Mujahadin" unit, which was incorrectly pronounced as Al Jihad" or "Al Mujahed", from its establishment until its dismissal in December 1995.

Asked by Prosecutor Mendes who decided on military priorities, Awad said that his unit was not able to make such decisions independently. "The decisions on military priorities were made either by the Corps or the Operational Group. The 'Al Mujahadin' unit could not decide independently on which area to attack," the witness stressed.

"The priorities were communicated to the 'Al Mujahadin' unit senior officers. When some military operation was to be organised, we would be invited either by the Operational Group Staffs or the Corps Staffs to agree on participation together with other units. Those units were tasked with showing us the terrain as we were not familiar with it," Aiman Awad said, adding that the "Al Mujahadin" unit was under the command of the Third Corps of BiH Army.

The trial of Rasim Delic is due to continue on Saturday, February 9. This is the second time that the ICTY has convened a hearing away from its courtrooms in The Hague. In both instances, the hearings have been held in the premises of the Court of BiH as part of the trial of Rasim Delic. Abduladhim Maktouf, who is currently serving a prison sentence, was examined as a witness in Sarajevo on the previous occasion.

Serb extremists disrupt Kosovo Albanian art exhibition
Agence France-Presse (AFP)
February 7, 2008

BELGRADE (AFP) — Some 100 Serbian ultra-nationalists disrupted Thursday a Kosovo Albanian art exhibition in Belgrade, forcing organisers to cancel the event that was intended to bring the two ethnic groups closer.

The exhibition was called off soon after it opened when some 100 riot police prevented the extremists from breaking into the gallery, said an AFP photographer at the scene. One of the protesters did, however, manage managed to reach the exhibition and tear up a placard of late Kosovo Albanian guerrilla leader Adem Jashari depicted as a pop icon along with late US rock legend Elvis Presley.

Jashari -- killed by Serb forces at the beginning of the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo -- is regarded by ethnic Albanians as a martyr for independence.

A Kosovo Serb painter, Zoran Calija, protested the opening of the exhibition, insulting the artists and organizers and threatening them with a stone, Tanjug news agency reported.

Acting on police advice, the organisers decided to cancel the exhibition of artwork by 11 young ethnic Albanians from the Kosovo capital Pristina, Ljubica Beljanski Ristic told the news agency.

The protestors, mostly from the ultra-nationalist youth group Obraz, chanted "Go back to Kosovo" and "Let's go to Kosovo," as well as the name of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, who has been indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague but remains at large.

They carried a poster of Milorad "Legija" Ulemek, a former commander of a notorious Serbian special police unit that fought ethnic Albanian rebels during the Kosovo conflict. The controversial exhibition was previously held in the northern Serbian city of Novi Sad, triggering angry reactions, but no incidents, Tanjug said.

The exhibition was opened amid a severe political crisis in Serbia linked to the imminent independence of its disputed province of Kosovo.

Leaders of the southern province's 90-percent ethnic Albanian majority plan to make a declaration of independence within the coming days or weeks.

Estonia agrees to enforce sentences imposed by UN war crimes tribunal
UN News Centre
February 11, 2008

Estonia today became the fourteenth European country to agree to enforce a sentence imposed by the United Nations war crimes tribunal that was set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s.

Anyone convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and given a jail term can now serve that sentence in an Estonian prison after an agreement was signed in Tallinn, the capital.

Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ukraine and Portugal have already entered into similar agreements with the Tribunal.

More than 35 people convicted by the ICTY either have served, or are currently serving, their sentence in one of the European countries which have signed an agreement. Seven others are awaiting transfer to one of the States.

Under today’s agreement, which must be ratified by the country’s Parliament, Estonia will only enforce ICTY sentences when the length of the jail term does not exceed the highest maximum sentence for a relevant crime under its domestic laws.

EU Gives Final Approval to Kosovo Police Mission
VOA News
February 16, 2008

The European Union has approved a civilian police and justice mission to help keep the peace and prevent human rights abuses in Kosovo, in advance of an anticipated declaration of independence from Serbia that could be made Sunday.

A force of about 1,800 troops specializing in police, prosecution and government administrative duties was given final EU approval Saturday. The mission had to be approved by all 27 EU nations.

Both Serbia and Russia oppose the EU mission as well as Kosovo's move towards independence.

President Bush and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon discussed the situation in Kosovo at the White House Friday. Further details of their talks are not available, and U.N. officials in New York also said Friday they had no comment on a call by Serbia's foreign minister for Mr. Ban to reject any independence proclamation by Kosovo's ethnic-Albanian administration.

Kosovo has been under United Nations administration since 1999, when NATO air strikes halted a Serbian crackdown on Kosovo's ethnic Albanians.

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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website

Former Bosnian Serb Soldiers Jailed For War Crimes
Janvo
February 4, 2008

A Bosnian court on Monday convicted two former Serb soldiers of crimes against humanity committed against Muslim civilians at the beginning of the country's 1992-1995 war.

Brothers Ranko and Rajko Vukovic were each sentenced to 12 years in jail, the Court of Bosnia-Hercegovina said in a statement.

They were found guilty of killing two Muslim civilians in the village of Podlokum near the eastern Bosnian town of Foca in May 1992, when they were serving in the Bosnian Serb army. Ranko Vukovic was acquitted of charges relating to the rape of a Muslim woman in Miljevina, another village in Foca area in July 1992.

Both men have been in detention since last year.

Serb forces captured the eastern region of Bosnia including Foca in mid-1992, killing many and expelling its majority Muslims as part of a campaign of "ethnic cleansing."

The Bosnian conflict claimed at least 100,000 lives, while some 2.2 million people, or more than half the country's population, were displaced.

Local authorities are allowed to try low-profile war crimes cases, while The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal is tasked with those involving top wartime officials.

Sipic: Murder in Korjenovo Brdo
BIRN
February 8, 2008

The trial of Idhan Sipic has begun after the Prosecution and Defence failed to reach a guilt admission agreement.

At the beginning of the trial of Idhan Sipic, charged with the murder of Andja Banjac during the "Sana 95" military operation in Korjenovo brdo, Kljuc municipality, the Trial Chamber once again invited the parties to reach an agreement on admission of guilt, but this did not happen.

The Prosecution of BiH charges Sipic, as a member of the Reconnaissance Squad of the Fifth Corps of BiH Army, with having killed an elderly Serbian lady, cut her body into pieces and thrown it into a well in September 1995.

Prosecutor Milorad Barasin was willing to dismiss the part of the indictment disputed by Sipic, which alleged that, after the murder, the victim's body was cut into pieces and thrown into a well. However, the Defence did not want to sign the agreement. Consequently, the Trial Chamber decided that the main trial could commence by presentation of the Prosecutor's introductory arguments and the examination of four witnesses.

Defence attorney Binasa Abaspahic previously announced that she would invite all Prosecution witnesses to testify as Defence witnesses. The Trial Chamber approved her proposal "due to cost-efficiency of the process" and offered her an chance to implement this at the first hearing.

Witness Mithat Coralic, who was commander of the Reconnaissance Unit in mid 1995, said that he remembered Sipic only "as if he had seen him in a movie" and that he could "vaguely" remember his face.

"I did not see him very often and I do not know what he did. It was not until the police called me to give a statement that I found out about the events in Korjenovo brdo," Coralic said.

Second witness Zijad Hodzic, who took over from Coralic as commander of the unit, said the same thing. "I do not know where Korjenovo brdo is and I have not heard anything about the event that happened there," Hodzic claims.

Witness Samir Jusic said that, in September 1995, he was with Sipic in Korjenovo brdo, where they were supposed to "collect cattle for the Fifth Corps". He also said that he witnessed "an unforgettable massacre", allegedly committed by the indictee, who was "drunk and drugged".

"In the village we met an old lady of about 80 or 90 years of age. Sipic was drunk and he said he would revenge his mother and sister, who had allegedly been slaughtered by Serbs. I tried to stop him, but, while I was away collecting cattle, he stuck his bayonet through the old lady's throat, so her head was dangling," the witness said, adding that he was 18 years old in 1995.

Jusic claims that, after this event a person named Harbas set the house on fire, while he and Sipic "took the old lady to the well in front of the house". He then "went to the cowshed to let the cattle out".

"When I returned Sipic was cutting her into pieces and throwing them into the well. I remember that two or three fingers and her red scarf remained in the bucket," Jusic said, adding that he informed commander Mithat Coralic about this event. The commander came half an hour ater, but he did not take any action.

After the Prosecution completed the examination of this witness, the direct examination was postponed, because Trial Chamber Chairwoman Minka Kreho asked Defence attorney Abaspahic, on several occasions, to ask questions "in accordance with the law".

"As the witness has to catch a bus today, we suggest he appeared at the next hearing, and you should be ready to examine the witness by then," Kreho said.

At the today's hearing, witness Radomir Radakovic was also examined. He is an independent investigator in the war crimes section of the Cantonal Ministry of Internal Affairs in Bihac, who examined Sipic in October 2007, when he surrendered and admitted guilt.

"He behaved in a correct and sober manner. He said he traveled throughout Europe and that he constantly had nightmares. Whenever he closed his eyes he could see that woman and that act. This haunted him and he decided to surrender," Radakovic said.

The trial is due to continue on February 22, when the Prosecution will complete its evidence presentation process.

Milanovic Case Referred to Cantonal Court in Sarajevo
BIRN Justice Report
February 12, 2008

The Court of BiH has made a decision to refer the Mladen Milanovic case to the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo.

Acting on a motion filed by the Prosecution of BiH, the Court of BiH has rendered a decision to refer the "Mladen Milanovic" case to the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo for further processing.

This is the second time the Court of BiH has decided to refer a case to a lower court. The first decision concerned the case of Boro Milojica and it was rendered in August 2006. The same year, Milojica was processed and sentenced to seven years' imprisonment for crimes committed in Hegici village near Prijedor.

According to the existing legal regulations, the Court of BiH is competent to decide at which level the war crime trials shall be conducted.

In its motion, filed with the Court of BiH, the Prosecution requested referral of the Milanovic case due to "lack of personnel" in the Prosecution and Court, as well as "the large number of cases which are still in an investigation phase" and the fact that all witnesses live in the area under the jurisdiction of the Cantonal Court.

In its decision of January 10 this year, the Court of BiH indicated that it appreciated the Prosecution's proposal, which was "based on reasons related to cost-efficiency, effectiveness of the process and non-complexity of the case". It further stressed that the indictee's Defence attorney was in agreement with the proposal.

"The Court finds the Prosecutor's allegations that this is not a complex case, as the indictee is charged with one criminal action only, to be correct," the decision indicates. It further says that the consequences of the crime charged upon Milanovic "are less severe than those generated by most other war crimes processed before the Court of BiH".

The indictment, confirmed by the Court of BiH in December 2007, alleges that Milanovic, as a member of military forces of the former Serbian Republic of BiH, physically maltreated a prisoner in the "Bunker" detention camp in Semizovac, where he was a guard, in 1992. In addition, he is charged with having "enabled members of military and paramilitary groups to enter the detention camp and physically and mentally maltreat the prisoners".

As per a warrant issued by the state Prosecution, Milanovic was arrested on July 28 last year. He has been held in custody since then.

To date, the Court of BiH has sentenced Dragan Damjanovic to a long-term imprisonment of 20 years for crimes committed in detention camps in Vogosca, while Borislav Herak and Sretko Damjanovic were sentenced by the Cantonal Court in Sarajevo to 20 years' imprisonment each for crimes committed on the territory of this municipality.

Bosnia Officer Held Over War Crimes
BIRN Justice Report
February 12, 2008

A man accused of crimes against humanity in Bosnia's eastern town of Foca during the War has been arrested.

Acting on a warrant issued by Bosnia's State Prosecution, the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) detained the man, only officially referred to as M.N. He will be questioned before being handed to Prosecution authorities. According to unofficial sources, M.N. is believed to be Miodrag Nikacevic, an employee of the Traffic Safety Department at Foca's Public Safety Centre. Within the next 24 hours, he will be examined by a prosecutor, who will decide on filing a custody order with Bosnia's top court.

According to victims' statements, Nikacevic committed a number of crimes in Foca during the 1991-1995 Bosnian War, and was the alleged commander of a unit composed of 50 soldiers. Up to now, several indictments have been filed at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina over war crimes committed in Foca. Radovan Stankovic was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment although he is now on the run after escaping from jail in May last year. Gojko Jankovic was sentenced to 34 years imprisonment for crimes committed in Foca. He is currently serving his sentence, as is Nedjo Samardzic, who was sentenced to 24 years behind bars

Miodrag Nikacevic ordered into custody
Court of BiH
February 14, 2008

On 14 February 2008, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) issued a decision ordering Miodrag Nikacevic into one-month custody. Pursuant to the Decision, custody may last until 12 March 2008. Miodrag Nikacevic is suspected of Crimes against Humanity.

In its motion for custody, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH submits that there is grounded suspicion that Suspect Miodrag Nikacevic, in mid April 1992, armed and in uniform entered the apartment of a Bosniak female, swearing and yelling and forced her into sexual intercourse. Further in its motion, the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH alleges that in mid June 1992, the Suspect came to an apartment of another Bosniak female, which was located across the Suspect’s apartment, telling her daughter to come to his apartment purportedly to clean it, threatening that she will cry for her brother if she does not come. On this occasion the Suspect raped her. On 2 August 1992, as alleged in the Prosecutor’s motion, armed and together with two other members of the Armed Forces of Republika Srpska, the Suspect took part in taking. away, and later on in the unlawful detention of a Bosniak civilian. The civilian was taken from the Penal and Correctional Facility (KPD) by unidentified persons on an undetermined day and killed at an unknown location.

Having reviewed the evidence submitted, the Court concluded that there was grounded suspicion that the Suspect had committed the criminal offence in question. Further, the Court ordered his custody having found that if released, the Suspect would hinder the criminal proceedings by influencing witnesses, accessories, or accomplices

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Review Doctor's Genocide Conviction
Human Rights Watch
February 15, 2008

Officials of the Rwandan popular justice system known as gacaca should immediately review a recent judicial decision that found the surgeon and former presidential candidate Dr. Theoneste Niyitegeka guilty of complicity in genocide, Human Rights Watch said today.

Dr. Niyitegeka, a surgeon who cared for untold numbers of wounded persons during the 1994 genocide, sought to oppose President Paul Kagame in the 2003 presidential elections. Niyitegeka was originally acquitted of all charges in October 2007 but was found guilty by an appeals court on February 5, 2008. The appeals court provided no reason for overturning the acquittal.

"The evidence presented in this case is vague and contradictory. No convincing proof supports a guilty verdict for Dr. Niyitegeka," said Alison Des Forges, senior Africa advisor at Human Rights Watch. "Rwandan officials now need to correct this serious case of injustice."

The decision comes at a moment when judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and a judge in the United Kingdom are evaluating the fairness of Rwandan judicial processes as they consider sending Rwandans accused of genocide back to Rwanda for trial. The gacaca jurisdictions are part of the overall Rwandan judicial system, but under Rwandan law they would not be the venue for trials of persons sent back from abroad.

During the 1994 genocide against Tutsi, soldiers and militia members sought out targeted persons in hospitals as well as in churches and schools. In this case, Dr. Niyitegeka is accused of having turned over a hospital patient to killers at Kabgayi hospital, where he was a surgeon.

The chief witness gave vague and contradictory testimony about the date of the alleged crime, saying both that it happened in early April and that it occurred after the arrival of patients transferred from a hospital in Kigali, an event that took place in late May 1994.

The only other witness against Dr. Niyitegeka gave testimony at the trial that contradicted testimony she had given on a prior occasion.

At least a dozen witnesses, including doctors and nurses who worked with Niyitegeka every day, testified he was innocent of the charges. They also provided additional factual information that contradicted assertions of the accusers.

One Tutsi survivor of the genocide testified movingly that Dr. Niyitegeka had provided her with excellent care for a terribly festering wound.

"Really I didn't know that a doctor could agree to treat such a disgusting thing. He was someone who treated all patients, without distinction," this genocide survivor told the court. "He showed a love for others like I've never seen before."

Dr. Niyitegeka's case was heard as part of an innovative judicial system known as gacaca, created to try more than one million cases resulting from the 1994 genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda. According to the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions, gacaca judges, who are elected and have only a few days of training in legal matters, tried hundreds of thousands of cases, most of them since April 2007. The process was due to finish at the end of December, but the government recently decided to shift thousands of cases, previously set for conventional courts, into the gacaca system.

Like customary courts, gacaca jurisdictions can sentence convicted persons to terms of up to life in prison. Unlike conventional courts, however, gacaca jurisdictions do not permit the accused the right to legal counsel. In addition to an appeals proceeding, which resulted in the verdict against Dr. Niyitegeka, the Rwandan gacaca system also provides for further review by another group of judges. Officials of the National Service of Gacaca Jurisdictions may order such a review.

Human Rights Watch said there are questions as to whether a political motivation may be driving the inexplicable appellate decision to convict Dr. Niyitegeka. In 2003, recently returned from the United States, Niyitegeka sought to oppose President Paul Kagame in the presidential elections that year. His candidacy was refused by the electoral commission and he was briefly detained on charges of "divisionism" just before the election. Rwanda is now preparing for legislative elections to be held in late 2008.

Dr. Niyitegeka, who has occasionally commented on Rwandan political questions for the local and foreign press, criticized the gacaca system in an interview on the Voice of America radio service in 2005. He was interrogated by the police about his comments and, intimidated by the experience, he fled the country briefly. Upon his return, unidentified assailants blew up his car, parked behind his house. Soon after, soldiers came to his home to try to pressure him into disavowing his criticism of gacaca.

After the doctor was acquitted of genocide charges by the gacaca court in Gihuma sector, Southern Province in October 2007, the person who had brought the charges appealed the acquittal. The appeals court scheduled hearings but postponed them three times for lack of witnesses. When the appeals court convened on February 5, judges discussed the case for eight hours inside a small building, sometimes shouting so loudly that they could be heard by the large audience waiting outside for the verdict.

Late in the afternoon, judges said they had overturned the acquittal because there were "new elements" in the case, but they gave no explanation of what those were. They sentenced Dr. Niyitegeka to 15 years in prison.

Uniformed and armed soldiers attended the trial as well as the appeals hearing, an unusual occurrence. After Dr. Niyitegeka was convicted, he was immediately put in the back of a military pickup truck and taken away in the rain.

"When facts seem lacking to back up a judicial decision, it's easy for people to suppose outside interference," said Des Forges. "The more often this happens the faster the system loses credibility. In this case, the disconnect between facts and judgment is dramatic and the way his acquittal was overturned raises serious questions. For the good of the system, and to see justice for Dr. Niyitegeka, officials should immediately review the decision."

Country Says Still Has Case Against ICTR Investigator
The New Times
By Felly Kimenyi
February 15, 2008

The Rwanda prosecution has said that they still have a case against Leonidas Ncogoza, the attorney accused of contempt of court at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).

Ncogoza who had been remanded on similar charges in Rwanda, on Monday appeared before the ICTR and was charged with four counts after he surrendered to the UN tribunal last week.

"We still have a case against him despite the fact that he surrendered to another court," Prosecution Spokesman John Bosco Mutangana on Wednesday.

He said that Ncogoza had been released provisionally by the Gasabo Higher Instance Court.

Ncogoza, who was an investigator on the defence team of Genocide suspect Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda at the ICTR, had been arrested in Kigali June last year.

He is accused of having committed the offences with intent to fabricate additional evidence and procure false statements for use in support of the appeal against conviction and sentence of Kamuhanda.

Ncogoza, a member of Kigali Bar Association, has since been thrown into the ICTR custody in Arusha, Tanzania.

Burundian Refugees Attacked Tutsis in Country
Rwanda News Agency
February 15, 2008

Burundian Hutu refugees attacked Tutsis in southern Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, claimed a protected witness who testified Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the slaughter.

The witness, who testified under the pseudonym "CBP-77" for safety reasons, added that the attack was launched with armed rifles around 20 April at the Kansi Parish Church, where several Tutsis had sought refuge.

There have been allegations since the Genocide suggesting that Burundians were brought in to reinforce the Genocide machine. Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana had a cordial relationship with Burundian counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira, and both died in the Presidential plane over Kigali from Arusha-Tanzania.

According to reports, the civilians on border areas between Rwanda and Burundi often attacked Rwandans fleeing the massacres. Witnesses testifying in the Mucyo commission probing the role of France in the Genocide alleged that Burundians were also brought in to train militias in eastern Rwanda.

The visiting Burundian Senate President Mr. Gervais Rufyikiri expressed concern yesterday that Burundians had attacked their Rwandan brothers and sisters. These acts if they happened are inhuman and those responsible should be followed so they face the law, Rufyikiri told journalists in Kigali.

The witness "CBP-77" at the UN tribunal rejected the prosecutor's argument that Rwandan gendarmes had launched the attack.

"I knew the uniform of the gendarmes, if they had been there, I would have recognized them", stressed the witness, who was testifying for the defence of General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, former Chief of Staff of the Gendarmerie, during 1994 genocide, according to Hirondelle News Agency.

Accused of crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the General is in particularly prosecuted for not having sanctioned gendarmes implicated in the massacres.

The witness indicated to have seen gendarmes only at the residence of the defendant located, according to him, between two and three kilometres from the Parish.

General Ndindiliyimana is on trial alongside three other officers of the former Rwandan Armed Forces (RAF), including the former army Chief of Staff, General Augustin Bizimungu.

The Burundian Senate President said under the new cooperation accords signed with the Rwandan Senate, there would be a platform through which such crimes could be addressed and brought to book by responsible officials.

Rwanda's Fury at Spanish Warrants
BBC News
February 11, 2008

Rwanda has urged foreign governments and Interpol to ignore Spanish arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan army officers on genocide charges.

The Rwandan foreign ministry called the warrants "bogus" and "ridiculous", and said the case was based on falsehoods, racist language and genocide denial.

Spain's high court has accused the officers of involvement in mass killings in the early 1990s.

Spanish courts can prosecute war crimes even if the offences took place abroad.

Judge Fernando Andreu also indicted the Rwandan officers for the murder of nine Spanish citizens, including six missionaries.

He said he had evidence implicating Rwanda's current President Paul Kagame, who has immunity from prosecution.

But Rwanda's foreign ministry said the judge had never visited Rwanda or the Democratic Republic of Congo, where some of the killings are alleged to have taken place.

"He just sat in Madrid, listened to well-known detractors of Rwanda and based on their falsehoods, which he never tried to cross-check, just went ahead and issued indictments," a statement says.

It adds that he has not tried to liaise with Rwanda's judicial authorities to seek the officers' arrest.

Judge Andreu began considering the case in response to a complaint from a human rights group in 2005.

Diplomatic Row

During a 100-day period in 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed, mainly ethnic Tutsis at the hands of radical Hutus.

The genocide came to an end when Tutsi-led rebels under Paul Kagame took control.

But the judge said that, after taking power, the army under Mr Kagame carried out mass killings of Hutus in Rwanda and in refugee camps in what was then neighbouring Zaire.

The indicted members of the military are also accused of crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism.

In 2006, French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued indictments against nine close aides of Mr Kagame, sparking a huge diplomatic row.

Previous attempts by Spanish judges to open human rights cases against foreign figures have largely failed.

In 1998, former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet was indicted while in London but not extradited.

Spain Judge Indicts Rwanda Forces
BBC News
February 6, 2008

A judge in Spain has issued international arrest warrants for 40 Rwandan soldiers accused of mass killings following the 1994 genocide.

Judge Fernando Andreu also indicted them for the murder of nine Spanish citizens, including six missionaries.

He said he had evidence implicating Rwanda's current President Paul Kagame, who has immunity from prosecution.

Under Spanish law, a court can prosecute human rights crimes even if the alleged offences took place abroad.

Judge Andreu began considering the case in response to a complaint from a human rights group in 2005.

During a 100-day period in 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed, mainly ethnic Tutsis at the hands of radical Hutus.

The genocide came to an end when Tutsi-led rebels under Paul Kagame took control.

But the judge said that, after taking power, the army under Mr Kagame carried out mass killings of Hutus in Rwanda and in refugee camps in what was then neighbouring Zaire.

The indicted members military are also accused of crimes against humanity, genocide and terrorism.

Previous attempts by Spanish judges to open human rights cases against foreign figures have largely failed.

In 1998, former Chilean president Augusto Pinochet was indicted while in London but not extradited.

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Special Tribunal for Lebanon

Germany provides 1 million dollars to UN tribunal on Lebanon
The Earth Times
February 14, 2008

Berlin - Germany said Thursday that it was making 1 million dollars available to the UN special tribunal set up to investigate the slaying of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. A statement released by the foreign ministry said the move underscored Germany's commitment to a thorough judicial investigation of political killings and long-term stabilization of Lebanon.

Thursday marked the third anniversary of Hariri's death in a bomb explosion blamed on agents of Syria, a former power broker in Lebanon.

Since the former premier's death in 2005, nine anti-Syrian politicians, journalists and two independent military figures have been killed in similar attacks.

In 2006, the UN set up an international criminal court called the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to investigate the Hariri killing.

Ban creates management team for Special Tribunal
The Daily Star - Lebanon
February 15, 2008

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has established a management committee of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon being set up to try those responsible for political killings, particularly the February 2005 car bombing in Beirut that killed former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others, a statement issued by Ban's media office said on Thursday.

"The secretary general believes that this step, along with other steps announced in December of last year - the selection of the judges, the appointment of the prosecutor, the finalization of a headquarters agreement with the government of the Netherlands enabling the Tribunal to be based in that country, and agreement on a building near The Hague to house the Tribunal - are decisive landmarks in the process of making the Special Tribunal a reality," Ban's spokesperson said in a statement.

The committee, which will among other tasks provide advice and policy direction on all nonjudicial aspects of the operations of the Special Tribunal and review and approve its annual budget, is composed of the body's main donors, according to the statement.

The spokesperson for Ban also announced that the expected contributions to the Special Tribunal will meet the budgetary requirements for its establishment and the first 12 months of operations.

"This will assist greatly in the effort by the Secretariat to establish the Special Tribunal in a timely manner as requested by the Security Council in resolution 1757," the spokesperson said. "This development, as well as the others previously set out, confirms the Secretary General's belief in the irreversibility of the establishment of the Tribunal."

In April 2005 the Security Council set up the International Independent Investigation Commission (IIIC) after an earlier UN mission found that Lebanon's own inquiry into the Hariri assassination was seriously flawed and that Syria was primarily responsible for the political tensions that preceded the attack. Hariri died in a massive car bombing in Beirut in February 2005 that also took the lives of 22 others.

Meanwhile, Germany on Monday announced it will extend $1 million for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

"Thursday, February 14, 2008, was the third anniversary of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and his escorts. Ever since 2005, the German government has called for the perpetrators of this offence and other political attacks in Lebanon to be brought to justice, and has campaigned for the timely establishment of a special tribunal for Lebanon," a statement issued by the German Foreign Ministry said. "The Tribunal can only start its work if funding is secured ... The German government has therefore made $1 million dollars available to the Tribunal."

The statement added that funds were drawn from the Federal Foreign Office budget and will be paid as a voluntary contribution into the trust fund set up for the Tribunal by the United Nations.

"With this contribution, Germany is again underscoring its broad commitment to subjecting the political murders in Lebanon to judicial scrutiny and to stabilizing the country in the long term," the statement said.

The German government also called on other members of the United Nations to make voluntary contributions for the Special Tribunal.

The United States also announced on Thursday that it is doubling to $14 million its contribution to the Tribunal.

"We hope the Tribunal will help deter further political assassinations, end an era of fear for Lebanese citizens and impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes, and help protect the sovereignty of Lebanon," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

Washington suspects Syria of having assassinated anti-Syrian figures like journalists, lawmakers and security officials in a bid to destabilize Lebanon and regain the influence it once had here. Syria has repeatedly denied the charges.

Rice said the doubling of the pledge to $14 million would be effective once legal notifications have been made in Congress. - With Agencies

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Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) &
Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Offical Website of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme
OSI's CharlesTaylorTrial.org
Official Website of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Prison Officers Recognised by Special Court
Special Court for Sierra Leone
February 4, 2008

Ten members of the Sierra Leone Prison Service were awarded certificates on Monday after completing training in Control and Restraint Techniques. The ten graduates were chosen from 55 Prison Officers seconded to the Special Court.

The four-month course was aimed at teaching Prison Officers how to use a minimum amount of force in dealing with uncooperative or violent detainees. Raymond Cardinal, the Special Court’s Chief of Detention, noted that most times, the presence of a uniformed officer is sufficient to deal with most situations. At other times, he said, a Prison officer may be called upon to use “a minimal amount of force” to prevent injury to both the staff member and the detainee.

“The action is done in a professional manner using both verbal and physical contact,” Mr. Cardinal said. “The force used is just enough to meet the threat and control the incident. At all times the use of minimum force must be justified and within the rules of detention and the rule of law.”

Special Court Registrar Herman von Hebel, who officiated at Monday’s ceremony, noted that the skills learned in the training would increase the professionalism of Sierra Leone’s national authorities when the graduates return to the Sierra Leone Prison Service.
“Part of the Special Court’s legacy to Sierra Leone will be the strengthening of Sierra Leone’s justice institutions,” Mr. von Hebel said. “This Special Court training is a significant step in that process.”

73 Witnesses Testify in Montserrado County
AllAfrica.com
February 10, 2008

Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) heard 73 cases of atrocities and rights violations committed in the country's ugly past during public hearings held in Montserrado County.

According to TRC Press Release, the hearings which commenced from the 8th to 31st January, 2008, recorded 73 witnesses who gave testimonies.

Out of the total number of witnesses, 58 were victims while nine were perpetrators. Three others testified as eyewitnesses recounting their war experiences.

In compliance with the protection of the rights of witnesses' privacy as desired, three witnesses testified in camera as per their request.

The gravity of violations recorded so far ranged from killings, massacres, rapes, forced displacements, arbitrary arrests, detentions, extortions, arsons, denial to properties, among others. During the first week, 11 persons testified and all of them victims. Of the 11, six were males and five females.

From January 14th - 17th, the second week of the hearings, 19 persons gave testimonies. Thirteen of them were victims while five were perpetrators. One of the witnesses gave testimony in camera. They included 18 males and one female.

During week three of the Hearings, 23 witnesses testified, 18 of them victims, three perpetrators and two eyewitnesses. The 23 testimonies included 17 males and six females.
In concluding the Montserrado Hearings from January 28 to 31, 20 cases were heard, 16 victims, one perpetrator and an eyewitness. Two of the cases were heard in camera. The 20 included 11 males and nine females.

The TRC is an independent body set up to investigate the root causes of the Liberian crisis, document human rights violations, review the history of Liberia, and to put all human rights abuses that occurred during the period 1979 to 2003 on record.

The TRC mandate is to also identify victims and perpetrators and make recommendations on amnesty, prosecution and reparation.

Arms Dealer Appeals
The Times
February 11, 2008

THE HAGUE - Dutch prosecutors have called for a 20-year prison sentence on appeal for a timber trader convicted of selling arms to Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor.

"The prosecution is seeking a 20-year jail sentence and a fine of 450,000 euros for participating in the commission of war crimes and violating a United Nations (UN) arms embargo," prosecution spokeswoman Thea Tjeerdema told AFP.

Timber trader Guus Kouwenhoven was already convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison by a lower court. On appeal the prosecution is trying to get a higher sentence and a conviction for war crimes.

A former president of the Oriental Timber Corporation, Kouwenhoven was convicted in June 2006 for supplying AK-47 machine guns and anti-tank weapons to Taylor between 2000 and 2003, in violation of a UN arms embargo against Liberia.

According to the court, he exchanged the weapons for lucrative timber concessions. Kouwenhoven has always maintained his innocence.

Former Liberian strongman Taylor is now being held in a prison in The Hague after his trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone was moved to the Netherlands amid fears his presence in Freetown could threaten security in the region. He was questioned over the Kouwenhoven case last Friday.

"I understand he appeared before a Dutch investigative judge but he would not say anything other than to confirm his name was Charles Taylor," Tjeerdema said.

The former Liberian president faces charges of controlling armed militias in neighbouring Sierra Leone that murdered, raped and tortured civilians during the country’s 1991-2001 civil war.

A Dutch businessman in his sixties, Kouwenhoven was released in March pending his trial because judges said the appeals procedure was taking too long.

His defence will give their closing arguments in the appeals case next Monday. The appeals court is expected to hand down a verdict in the first half of March, Tjeerdema said.

Lebanese Businessman Imports Arms for President Taylor
TRC of Liberia
February 13, 2008

Harper, February 14, 2008: A former employee of the Port of Harper in Maryland County says Lebanese Businessman Abbas Fawaz used the port to import arms and ammunition for the National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) and later the Taylor government.

Maximillian N. Jah, Sr., now an amputee and former employee of the port’s warehouse department was testifying Wednesday at the ongoing Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Liberia Public Hearings at the Harper City Hall, Maryland County.

Jah said Fawaz imported weapons regularly through the Port of Harper which he disclosed was operated by the expatriate businessman.

“Abbas Fawaz was the President of Maryland County and was responsible for the port here. We were at the port one day when the vessel came with the arms and the former superintendent Dan Morias and General Charles Sumo drove us the workers when the ship docked. Fawaz was also with them,” Jah told the audience in the jammed packed city hall.

The witness said he was present at the port during four shipments of weapons before they were usually driven out for the cargo to be offloaded.

Mr. Jah said he was later present at a warehouse owned by Fawaz in Harper City where the weapons were discharged and stored. “After they drove us I came to Fawaz store where the arms were stored. And I saw it,” he claimed.

The witness also claimed that NPFL Special Forces Commanders led by former President Moses Blah ordered him shot before they broke into containers at the port and looted vehicles belonging to SIDA, a rubber company then operating in Maryland County.

Mr. Jah said Generals Blah, John Gbaintor and Charles Sumo ordered him from his hospital bed after he was shot to open containers at the port where Land Rover jeeps belonging to the rubber company were containerized.

Mr. Jah:“John Gbainto and Moses Blah went to me at the hospital and said someone told them that I knew about the containers that were in the port. They ordered me out of the hospital and took me to the port and I showed them the container. They forced me to show them where the Land Rovers were. After I showed them the containers and they took off the jeeps then John Gbainto kicked me in my stomach before I was taken back to the hospital.”

Jah said the containers were burst open by fighters under the command of the three men and the vehicles looted. He said the vehicles were used by Blah and his men during their control of Maryland County. Blah, the witness said was then commander of NPFL forces in Harper.

“A rubber company here had brought a consignment of vehicles. All Land Rover jeeps. They did not know how to get it out so someone told them that I knew something about the jeeps and that how they went for me at the hospital. They were all white jeeps and the ones they were using here,” the witness testified.

Fred Bahway, the first witness to testify Wednesday said fighters of the NPFL drank the blood of wounded civilians and ate their hearts after they ambushed the vehicle they were riding in.

Bahway who lost his left ear in the incident said following the ambush the fighters drained the blood of their victims and extracted their hearts.

“After we were attacked and they were still in ambushed, I fell under a stick and a car came from behind, and I could hear Charlie Jayswen, Turtle Bone and JJ. They were the people that led the group to Maryland. They came and drank the blood of some of the passengers and they were also eating their hearts. If I did not camouflage they would have done the same to me,” Bahway explained.

He said one of the fighters later shot his left ear with a single barrel gun. “Later the LPC came and each time they see my ear cut, they say I am a rebel and they wanted to kill me.”

“I have being living a miserable life. Only God help me to reach this day, for I am still in pain. I am begging the Liberian government and the TRC to send me to hospital, I don’t want money,” the distressed witness pleaded.

Another witness, Jacob Wah said fighters of the Liberia Peace Council (LPC) summarily executed his mother and brother in his presence in Pleebo, Maryland County.

Wah also claimed that fighters of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) killed his daughter in his presence before chopping him with a bayonet.

The first female witness to testify Wednesday broke down in tears when she recounted stories of atrocities committed by the LPC.

“During the second LPC war, we were sleeping and the people came and we began to run. We saw the people and started to run but did not know where we were going. My mother asked my two brothers to come back and take some of our things. I heard firing and I said oh! the people in town, your look for canoe for us to cross. When they saw the canoe they started shooting and the bullet touched me and one of the boys dropped. I said you have to be strong before they kill all of us and the other boy dropped too and they were still shooting and I jump in the water and swam across,” Josephine Nimely recounted her experience in tears.

She said the fighters pursued them in another canoe but were unfortunate to capture them. The weeping witness said her mother collapsed and died when she narrated accounts of the incident to her.

Nathaniel Seton, Wednesday’s last primary witness said fighters of the LPC killed his two daughters when they attacked Maryland County.

When the fighters attacked the county in 1995, Seton explained they met his two daughters at the waterside and shot the junior one first and chopped the elderly one into pieces when she came to the aid of her sister.

The TRC is an independent body set up to investigate the root causes of the Liberian crisis, document human rights violations, review the history if Liberia, and put all human rights abuses that occurred during the period from 1979 to 2003 on record. The TRC mandate is to also identify victims and perpetrators and make recommendations on amnesty, prosecution and reparation.

The public hearings, under the theme: “Confronting Our Difficult Past for a Better Future,” will move next week to the south eastern counties of Grand Kru, River Gee, Sinoe and Grand Gedeh.

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United States

CIA Used Waterboarding on Three al-Qaeda Detainees
AFP
February 5, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — CIA director Michael Hayden for the first time admitted publicly Tuesday that the agency had used "waterboarding," or simulated drowning, in interrogations of three top Al-Qaeda detainees nearly five years ago.

The technique, which critics say is tantamount to torture, was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Rahim al-Nashiri at a time when further catastrophic attacks on the United States were believed to be imminent, Hayden said.

"Let me make it very clear and to state so officially in front of this committee that waterboarding has been used on only three detainees," he told members of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
"It was used on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. It was used on Abu Zubaydah. And it was used on Nashiri."

Mohammed has claimed to be the operational mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Abu Zubaydah is alleged to have been an aide to Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. And al-Nashiri is alleged to have been the operational commander of the suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.

All three were initially held and interrogated at secret CIA-run detention centers overseas before being transferred in 2006 to a military-run facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Hayden's remarks were the first direct official admission that agency interrogators had used "waterboarding" in questioning "war on terror" detainees.

The admission came amid a long-running battle between the administration and members of Congress over so-called "enhanced" or coercive interrogation techniques used by the CIA.
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey Tuesday, demanding a Justice Department investigation into whether the use of waterboarding violated the law.

Human Rights Watch said Hayden's remarks were "an explicit admission of criminal activity."
"General Hayden's testimony gives the lie to all of the administration's past protestions that the CIA has not employed torture," said Joanne Mariner, a spokeswoman for the New York-based rights monitor.

"Waterboarding is torture, and torture is a crime."

Mukasey told Congress last week that the CIA no longer uses "waterboarding" and that it was not "currently" an authorized interrogation technique.

But he refused to say whether waterboarding is torture.

"There are some circumstances where current law would appear clearly to prohibit waterboarding's use. Other circumstances would present a far closer question."

The New York Times disclosed in December that videotapes of interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Al-Nashiri were destroyed in 2005 on orders of a senior agency official.

In his testimony, Hayden suggested that the CIA no longer needed to use "waterboarding" in interrogations because circumstances had changed since the period following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"We used it against these three high-value detainees because of the circumstances of the time. Very critical to those circumstances was the belief that additional catastrophic attacks against the homeland were imminent.

"In addition to that, my agency and our community writ large had limited knowledge about Al-Qaeda and its workings. Those two realities have changed," he said.

He said the technique had not been used in almost five years.

But Hayden defended the CIA's use of coercive interrogation techniques as lawful and opposed moves by Congress to make the agency follow rules of interrogation set forth in the Army Field Manual.

He said "it would make no more sense to apply the Army Field Manual to CIA -- the Army Field Manual on interrogations -- than it would be to take the Army Field Manual on grooming and apply it to my agency, or the Army Field Manual on recruiting and apply it to my agency, or, for that matter, take the Army Field Manual on sexual orientation and apply it to my agency."

Retired Admiral Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, likewise suggested that the circumstances determine whether waterboarding is lawful.

"If there was a reason to use such a technique, you would have to make a judgment on the circumstances and the situation regarding the specifics of the event," he said.

US Military Charges Two More Guantanamo Captives
Reuters
by Jane Sutton
February 9, 2008

U.S. military prosecutors filed war crimes charges against two more Guantanamo prisoners on Friday, saying one was an al Qaeda videographer and the other one a driver and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden.

That brings to seven the number of captives charged in the revised system of military tribunals created to try non-U.S. citizens held at the U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba as part of the Bush administration's war against terrorism.

The charges say that Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al Bahlul, a 39-year-old Yemeni, was bin Laden's personal media secretary and occasional bodyguard, who created a recruiting video glorifying the bombing of the USS Cole.

Seventeen U.S. sailors were killed when al Qaeda militants attacked the ship as it was docked in Yemen in 2000.

Prosecutors also say al Bahlul made martyrdom videotapes styled as wills for two of the Sept. 11 hijackers and helped research the economic impact of the attacks they launched against the United States.

Military prosecutors say that a Sudanese prisoner, Ibrahim Mahmoud al Qosi, 47, was an armed guard and driver for bin Laden and provided logistical support for an al Qaeda compound in Afghanistan where he lived from 1998 to 2001.

He fought on the front lines as part of a mortar crew in Kabul and helped al Qaeda forces flee into the Tora Bora mountains after U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in 2001, according to the charges.

LIFE IN PRISON

The men are charged with conspiring with al Qaeda to attack and murder civilians. Al Bahlul is also charged with solicitation to commit murder and providing material support for terrorism.

Both face life in prison if convicted and both had been charged in the first Guantanamo court system. Those charges were dropped when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down that version in 2006, before their trials started.

The new charges against them, like those against one other prisoner, must be approved by a Pentagon official before their pretrial hearings can start at Guantanamo.

Since al Bahlul and al Qosi had been charged before, much of the work in their cases has already been done, said a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon. He said the charges show that the trial process is moving forward.

"Today's referred charges demonstrate our resolve to take them to trial and hold them accountable for their actions," Gordon said.

The U.S. military began sending detainees to Guantanamo in January 2002 and hopes to eventually try 80 of the 275 who remain.

The New York Times reported on Saturday that military prosecutors are in the final phases of preparing the first sweeping case against suspected conspirators in the Sept. 11 attacks, citing people who have been briefed on the case.

The charges, to be filed at Guantanamo, would involve up to six detainees. The newspaper quoted on official who spoke on condition of anonymity as saying "the thinking was 9/11 is the heart and soul of the whole thing. The thinking was: go for that."

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined to comment, beyond saying that the government was preparing a case against "individuals who have been involved in some of the most grievous acts of violence and terror against the United States and our allies," the Times said.

Guantanamo cases have moved in fits and starts, often stalled by legal challenges to the system created to try captives the United States considers to be unlawful enemy combatants undeserving of the protections granted to civilians and soldiers.

Only one case has been completed, that of Australian former prisoner David Hicks. He avoided trial by pleading guilty to providing material support for terrorism and served a nine-month sentence. (Editing by Jim Loney and Sandra Maler)

CIA Director: Waterboarding Necessary
CNN
by Terry Frieden
February 7, 2008

Waterboarding is necessary though probably not legal, CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress Thursday as Attorney General Michael Mukasey said he would not open a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of the technique.

Strapping a person to a surface, covering their face with cloth and pouring water on their face to imitate the sensation of drowning could be used if "an unlawful combatant is possessing information that would help us prevent catastrophic loss of life of Americans or their allies," said Hayden.

"In my own view, the view of my lawyers and the Department of Justice, it is not certain that that technique would be considered lawful under current statute," he told the House Intelligence Committee after publicly disclosing that the CIA had used waterboarding on three of the enemy combatants.

He explained that the method was used because of "mis-shaped and misformed" political discussion about waterboarding.

Hayden reiterated that the technique is not part of the interrogation program now and that the waterboarding techniques, when they were used in the 2002 and 2003, were limited to three top al Qaeda suspects.

Also Thursday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey told lawmakers he will not open a criminal investigation into the CIA's use of waterboarding on terror suspects.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers asked Mukasey bluntly whether he was starting a criminal investigation since Hayden confirmed the use of waterboarding.

"No, I am not, for this reason: Whatever was done as part of a CIA program at the time that it was done was the subject of a Department of Justice opinion through the Office of Legal Counsel and was found to be permissible under the law as it existed then," he said.
Mukasey said opening an investigation would send a message that Justice Department opinions are subject to change.

"Essentially it would tell people, 'You rely on a Justice Department opinion as part of a program, then you will be subject to criminal investigations ... if the tenure of the person who wrote the opinion changes or indeed the political winds change,'" he said. "And that's not something that I think would be appropriate and it's not something I will do."

Conyers, D-Michigan, and Mukasey argued over whether the Justice Department will provide documents on the waterboarding opinion to the committee.

Mukasey refused, saying the documents are highly classified and that he had already said he is not going to open an investigation.

Conyers and other House Democrats then called for the criminal investigation.

Hurdles Seen As Capital Charges Are Filed in 9/11 Case
The New York Times
by William Glaberson
February 12, 2008

Military prosecutors filed capital charges against a former senior leader of Al Qaeda and five other Guantánamo detainees on Monday for their roles in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, but the possible obstacles facing a death penalty case in the Bush administration’s military commission system were immediately apparent.

Col. Steven David, the chief military defense lawyer for the Guantánamo cases, who must provide detainees with military lawyers, said he did not have six lawyers available to take the cases, which the Pentagon described as a milestone in the war on terror.

In addition, he noted, a tangle of questions are unanswered in the military commission system, which has yet to begin a single trial. They include whether waterboarding constitutes torture, how statements obtained by coercion are to be handled, whether detainees may be so psychologically damaged that they may not be able to assist in their defense and exactly what the rules of the trials are to be.

All of which, Colonel David said, means there are no answers to what happens next in the most important case in the Guantánamo system, and how long it will take.

“You’re asking me to tell you how we’re going to get to a place we’ve never been, with a map I don’t have,” Colonel David said.

At the announcement of the charges in Washington on Monday, a senior Pentagon official in the Office of Military Commissions, Brig. Gen. Thomas W. Hartmann, described the charges in sweeping terms. He portrayed the Guantánamo system as a painstaking one that will, in the American tradition, sort out conflicting viewpoints in the courtroom.

“We will follow the rule of law,” General Hartmann said.

But some lawyers asked, precisely what law applies?

Neal Katyal, a Georgetown University law professor who represents a Guantánamo detainee, said the Bush administration’s decision to use a military commission system, rather than civilian courts, meant that standard procedures did not apply. That is a prescription for uncertainty, he said.

“When you are using an untested system,” Professor Katyal said, “every single question is up for grabs and every issue is litigated.”

It is not clear whether the government will apply civilian rules holding that death penalty cases are to be treated with extraordinary care — that “death is different,” as the legal maxim has it; or how a death penalty might be carried out, or where. It is not even clear how much of the proceedings may take place in sealed courtrooms.

Guantánamo cases are conducted under a 2006 law that assures detainees in war crimes trials the right to a lawyer, the right to have charges proved beyond a reasonable doubt and the right to appeal.

General Hartmann said Monday that officials were committed to conducting fair trials, that resources would be provided to the military defense lawyers and that trials would be closed as little as possible for national security reasons.

Those charged Monday include Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former Qaeda operations chief who has said he was responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, and five other men held at Guantánamo who are said to have played supporting roles. The charges include conspiracy, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, terrorism and providing material support for terrorism.

Mr. Mohammed and most of the other detainees charged Monday are not believed to have had any contact with a lawyer. Several experienced Guantánamo defense lawyers said the task facing any lawyer who took their cases would be so uncertain that no trial could begin for many months, or years.

Military judges in Guantánamo have acknowledged that basic legal concepts require that defense lawyers review most of the government’s evidence, though the rules remain unclear and some material is to be kept from the defense under national security rules.

In the case of Mr. Mohammed, some lawyers said, the government’s file is likely to be a vast pile of intelligence reports and interrogation summaries that include the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding. The Central Intelligence Agency has acknowledged that Mr. Mohammed was subject to the technique.

Some lawyers have said the obvious defense strategy at Guantánamo will be to try to put the government on trial for its use not only of waterboarding, but also of coercive techniques like keeping detainees in cold rooms for hours and permitting sexually suggestive techniques by interrogators.

Whatever the eventual courtroom strategy, the sheer volume of material to be sorted means defense lawyers will need time, said Joseph Margulies, a lawyer for detainees who teaches at Northwestern University School of Law.

“The government has devoted literally years and thousands of person-hours to refinement of those charges,” Mr. Margulies said.

But Colonel David, the Guantánamo chief defense lawyer, said it remained unclear how the defense was to begin to close that gap. In all, he said, he has seven lawyers available to handle cases, with many of them already assigned to other detainees.

Though prosecutors are relying on evidence gathered by vast American and foreign intelligence agencies, Colonel David said his office roster now included one intelligence analyst and six paralegals. He said the defense office had yet to have a secure room that was required to review reams of classified documents.

In addition to Mr. Mohammed, each of the other defendants charged Monday has a complex story that defense lawyers will need to unravel.

The others are Mohammed al-Qahtani, the man officials have labeled the 20th hijacker, who was denied entry into the United States in August 2001; and four men who officials have said were logistical coordinators, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi and Walid bin Attash.

The prosecutors’ decision to seek the death penalty must be reviewed by a Pentagon official with broad power over the military commission system, Susan J. Crawford.
If Ms. Crawford refers the case for trial as a capital case, it will be the start of a mammoth legal battle, said Neal R. Sonnett, a Miami lawyer who has been an observer at Guantánamo for the American Bar Association.

Any life-or-death case would be complex, Mr. Sonnett said. But that would be a special challenge for the Guantánamo system, which has not yet reached even the first day of its first trial, he said.

“It hasn’t been able to get over the small humps yet,” Mr. Sonnett said, “and this is a mountain.”

Defendants' Lawyers Fear Loss of Potential Evidence at Guantanamo Bay
The Washington Post
by Josh White
February 14, 2008

Lawyers representing military detainees at Guantanamo Bay have expressed concern that the government has violated a federal court order by losing or erasing several years' worth of digital video recordings that could shed light on the legality of detainee treatment.

The concerns are based in part on a recent court filing by Guantanamo's commander, Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, who said video surveillance recordings in several areas of the facility have been automatically overwritten and no longer exist.

"In January 2008, it was brought to my attention that such . . . [recording] systems may have been automatically overwriting video data contained on recording devices, at predetermined intervals," Buzby wrote. "That is, only a specified number of days' worth of recorded data could be retained on the recording devices at a time."

Defense lawyers said the admission suggests that the military has not complied with a 2005 court order to preserve such evidence, even if the deletion of the recordings was inadvertent. They claim that the tapes were of potential use at forthcoming court hearings and trials, a view supported by a Seton Hall University report slated to be released today.

The report, "Captured on Tape," asserts that officials at the facility recorded more than 20,000 interrogations at Guantanamo Bay. It cited FBI statements and military investigative reports as a basis for concluding that video cameras were in interrogation booths and tapes existed.

"All interrogations are videotaped," said an April 13, 2005, report by the Office of the Army Surgeon General on operations at Guantanamo Bay, cited in the Seton Hall study.

Pentagon officials declined to discuss the report or comment on the videotaping.

Military officials familiar with interrogations at the prison of a group of 14 high-value detainees over the past 16 months -- including five of the six charged with criminal conspiracy on Monday -- said those sessions were monitored through video cameras but not recorded. But they declined to comment on any taping of hundreds of others at the prison.

Noting that the CIA has admitted destroying videotapes of aggressive interrogations of two detainees, the authors of the Seton Hall report said the military and other government agencies present at Guantanamo have "identical motives to destroy taped investigations."

They added: "The taped interrogations recorded at Guantanamo Bay are equally important to evaluating the reliability of the evidence against a detainee."

Buzby's declaration, filed in federal cases Friday and yesterday, said the video recordings were part of a surveillance system used to monitor the camps and were mostly of mundane operations. But lawyers for the detainees said they worry that the overwriting could mask important evidence.

David H. Remes, a Washington lawyer who represents Guantanamo detainees, said the overwriting of video recordings is a clear violation of the court's order.

"We'll simply never know whether these videotapes recorded torture or other abuse of our clients, because the tapes no longer exist," Remes said, referring to what he said could be considered evidence. "The government was under an affirmative obligation to preserve it. The fact that they were on automatic pilot with respect to these overrides doesn't get them off the hook."

Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, a New York lawyer who represents detainees at Guantanamo, said his clients reported seeing video cameras -- some mounted, some hand-held -- during their interrogations. "I don't have any problem with them videotaping interrogations, as long as they aren't discarded to protect wrongdoing," Colangelo-Bryan said. "We just don't know."

Marine Is Ordered to Testify Against Leader in Iraq Killings: Immunity Given, But No Plea Deal in Place
San Diego Union Tribune
by Rick Rogers
February 14, 2008

In a surprise turn during the Haditha war-crimes case at Camp Pendleton, a Marine charged for his part in the 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians has been ordered to testify against his squad leader under a grant of immunity.

Lawyers for Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum said they learned Monday that the Marine Corps was forcing immunity on their client so he would take the stand against Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich.

Any testimony that Tatum gives as part of the immunity grant cannot be used as courtroom evidence against him by the government.

Typically, witnesses who receive immunity have not been charged with a crime or are trying to broker a plea agreement. Tatum has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.

“We were sent a copy of the immunity order that we did not negotiate, and we have no (plea) deal,” Jack Zimmermann, Tatum's lead defense attorney, said yesterday. “They are still going to prosecute him, and we still plan to plead not guilty.”

Wuterich and Tatum are part of the Camp Pendleton-based 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. A roadside bomb struck their unit's convoy Nov. 19, 2005, in Haditha, killing one Marine and wounding two others.

For several hours afterward, Wuterich and some of his Marines killed 19 men, women and children in a few homes with small arms and grenades. They also fatally shot five men who got out of a taxi near the bomb blast.

Wuterich is scheduled for trial next month on charges of voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, dereliction of duty and obstruction of justice.
Wuterich and Tatum have called the Iraqi civilians' deaths a tragedy caused by legitimate combat between Marines and insurgents. Prosecutors contend that the actions were criminal.

The decisions to court-martial Wuterich and Tatum were made by Lt. Gen. Samuel Helland, commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. Helland also issued the grant of immunity for Tatum.

The immunity decision was revealed yesterday during court hearings on the base for Wuterich and Tatum.

During one hearing, Wuterich's lawyers argued before a military judge, Lt. Col. Jeffrey Meeks, that a statement Wuterich gave to an Army investigator should be thrown out. They said the investigator obtained the statement by falsely suggesting that Wuterich was not suspected of any crimes.

Meeks did not rule on the motion, and Wuterich's hearing will continue today.
During the hearing for Tatum, Zimmermann sought to have another military judge, Lt. Col. Eugene Robinson, bar certain statements from being used during trial. Tatum gave those statements to agents from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service after asking for a lawyer but never getting one.

Matthew Marshall, an NCIS agent, testified that Tatum demanded a lawyer during a May 9, 2006, interview at Camp Pendleton. Marshall said a lawyer was not brought in because Tatum later changed his mind and agreed to speak to the agents without legal representation.

Zimmermann argued that a lawyer should have been called in immediately. He tried to hammer away at the investigative service's practice of not videotaping interviews with suspects.

More motions in the Tatum case will be presented today, including whether a polygraph test is admissible in court.

Justice: Waterboarding Is Not Legal now
The Associated Press
by Laurie Kellman
February 15, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — A senior Justice Department official told Congress on Thursday that laws and other limits enacted since three terrorism suspects were waterboarded have eliminated the technique from what is now allowed.

"The program as it is authorized today does not include waterboarding," Steven G. Bradbury, acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, told the House subcommittee on the Constitution.

"There has been no determination by the Justice Department that the use of waterboarding under any circumstances would be lawful under current law," he added.

However, under questioning later, Bradbury added that the department also hasn't determined whether it would be unlawful. "The department, as I've tried to indicate, has not had occasion to address the question since the enactment of these new laws."

It is the first time the administration has gone that far.

CIA Director Michael Hayden stopped short of making a similar statement in testimony about waterboarding before Congress last week. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said last month that the question is unresolved.

By not opining one way or another on the current legality of waterboarding, Bradbury's office leaves unclear whether the administration sees any circumstances under which it could legally authorize the procedure.

Bradbury in 2005 signed two secret legal memos that authorized the CIA to use head slaps, freezing temperatures and waterboarding when questioning terror detainees. Because of that, Senate Democrats have opposed his nomination by President Bush to formally head the legal counsel's office.

His testimony comes as majority Democrats in Congress try to clamp down on interrogation methods that can be used on terrorism suspects.

Bradbury's department does not make laws, but issues opinions for Mukasey and produces legal advice requested by the White House on executive orders, proclamations and other presidential actions.

Bush has made clear the administration does not torture. But he also has threatened to veto a bill that prohibits the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh tactics, saying he won't sign legislation that limits the agency's interrogation tactics.

Civil libertarians say waterboarding is illegal whether blessed by the Justice Department or not.

"It is, was and should remain illegal under numerous laws and treaties," said Caroline Frederickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office.

The prohibition was approved by the House in December and rolled into a bill authorizing intelligence activities for the current year, which the Senate passed on a 51-45 vote. It would restrict the CIA to the 19 interrogation techniques outlined in the Army field manual. That manual prohibits waterboarding, a method that makes an interrogation subject feel he is drowning.

The legislation bars the CIA from using waterboarding, sensory deprivation or other harsh coercive methods to break a prisoner who refuses to answer questions. The military banned those practices in 2006.

In testimony before the House Intelligence Committee, CIA chief Hayden acknowledged for the first time publicly that the CIA has used waterboarding against three prisoners.

Hayden said current law and court decisions, including the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, cast doubt on whether waterboarding would be legal now. Hayden prohibited its use in CIA interrogations in 2006; it has not been used since 2003, he said.

The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment for all detainees in U.S. custody, including CIA prisoners.

Waterboarding is still officially in the CIA tool kit but using that technique requires the consent of the attorney general and president on a case-by-case

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UN Reports

UNICEF Concerned Over Possible Prosecution of Child Soldier
UN News Service
February 4, 2008

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concern over the possible prosecution of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay on charges of war crimes he allegedly committed when he was 15 years old.

“UNICEF is concerned that such a prosecution, in particular in front of a military commission not equipped to meet the required standards, would set a dangerous precedent for the protection of hundreds of thousands of children who find themselves unwittingly involved in conflict around the world,” the agency said.

A United States military commission at Guantanamo Bay is scheduled to review the case of the detainee, Omar Khadr, today and decide whether his prosecution for war crimes should proceed. Mr Khadr, who is a Canadian citizen, was arrested in 2002 in Afghanistan.

“UNICEF believes that children alleged to have committed crimes while they were child soldiers should be considered primarily as victims of adults who have broken international law by recruiting and using children… and that these individuals must be provided with assistance for their social integration,” the agency said.

It added that persons under 18 at the time of the alleged offence “must be treated in accordance with international juvenile justice standards which provide them with special protection.”

Khmer Rouge victims participate in ‘historic day’ at UN-backed tribunal
UN News Service
February 4, 2008

Cambodians who suffered under the rule of the Khmer Rouge participated for the first time today in the United Nations-backed tribunal trying the movement’s leaders.

Their participation, through their lawyers, was described by the tribunal’s Victims Unit as “a historical day in international criminal law.”

“To date, no international or hybrid tribunal mandated to investigate war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide has involved victims as civil parties, giving them full procedural rights,” the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) Victims Unit said.

Under the tribunal’s rules, victims of crimes committed under the rule of the Khmer Rouge can play an active role in the court’s proceedings as civil parties, with rights including participation in investigations, representation by a lawyer, the ability to call witnesses and question the accused, and to claim reparations for the harm they suffered.

Today’s hearing on the appeal by former Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea (aka Brother Number Two) against his provisional detention was adjourned in response to a request by a defence lawyer. A decision on the date of its resumption will be announced on 6 February.

Nuon Chea faces charges of having planned and ordered the murder, torture and enslavement of civilians in the late 1970s.

Under an agreement signed by the UN and Cambodia, the ECCC was set up as an independent court using a mixture of Cambodian staff and judges and foreign personnel. It is designated to try those deemed most responsible for crimes and serious violations of Cambodian and international law between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979.

UN War Crimes Tribunal to Hold Second Hearing in Sarajevo
UN News Service
February 6, 2008

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is based in The Hague, has scheduled an evidentiary hearing in the trial of Rasim Deli? after a request from prosecutors.

It is only the second time that the Tribunal has conducted a hearing away from its seat in the Netherlands; the other occasion occurred in September last year during the same case.

The hearing, which will be held in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will involve testimony from Aiman Awad, the final prosecution witness in the Deli? trial.

Mr. Deli?, 59, is charged with murder, cruel treatment and rape of captured Croat and Serb soldiers and civilians on the basis of his responsibility as Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina from June 1993.

Mr. Deli? also stands accused of failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to punish those soldiers who executed captured Bosnian Croat civilians and soldiers in two villages in Travnik municipality in central Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Congolese rebel leader transferred to International Criminal Court
UN News Service
February 7, 2008

Congolese national Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, an alleged former leader of the rebel National Integrationist Front (FNI), has been arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mr. Ngudjolo, currently a Colonel in the national armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), arrived at the Court’s Detention Centre in The Hague earlier today, according to a statement issued by the ICC.

As the highest ranking FNI commander, Mr. Ngudjolo is alleged to have played a key role in designing and carrying out a murderous attack on the village of Bogoro, in the north-eastern Congolese province of Ituri, in February 2003.

He is facing three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, including sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers.

“With the arrest of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, we have completed the first phase of our DRC investigation focusing on the horrific crimes committed by leaders of armed groups active in Ituri since July 2002,” said the Court’s Deputy Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

Mr. Ngudjolo’s initial Court appearance is scheduled for 11 February, and a trial date will be determined later. He is the third Congolese national in the custody of the ICC, after Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and Germain Katanga.

ICC Registrar Bruno Cathala thanked the Government for its help, highlighting the fact that this is the first time that the Congolese authorities, upon the request of the Court, physically arrested someone.

“His arrest and surrender were made possible through the cooperation of the Congolese authorities,” he told reporters in New York.

The situation in the DRC is one of four situations currently under investigation by the Prosecutor of the ICC. The others are Uganda, Darfur and the Central African Republic (CAR).

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Estonia agrees to enforce sentences imposed by UN war crimes tribunal
UN News Service
February 11, 2008

Italy, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Austria, France, Spain, Germany, Denmark, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Ukraine and Portugal have already entered into similar agreements with the Tribunal.

Congolese rebel leader makes first appearance at International Criminal Court
UN News Service
February 11, 2008

Judges at the ICC, which sits in The Hague, verified Mr. Ngudjolo Chui’s identity and had the full arrest warrant read out to him, four days after he was arrested by authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and handed over to the court.

The ICC is scheduled to hold a hearing tomorrow to determine whether to join the charges against Mr. Ngudjolo Chui with the charges against Germain Katanga, another indictee before the tribunal.

Currently a colonel in the DRC’s national armed forces, Mr. Ngudjolo Chui is a former commander of the rebel National Integrationalist Front (FNI), and he faces three counts of crimes against humanity and six of war crimes.

He is alleged to have played a key role in designing and carrying out a deadly attack on the village of Bogoro, in the north-eastern DRC province of Ituri, in February 2003.

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries persons accused of the most serious crimes of international concern – namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The situation in the DRC is one of four situations currently under investigation by the ICC Prosecutor. The others are the Darfur region of Sudan, the Central African Republic and Uganda.

UN recommends Brazilian to be judge in Timor
Brazil-Arab News Agency
February 13, 2008

Judge José Barroso Filho, of the Military Justice of Manaus, is getting ready to take on the position of international judge in East Timor. He was approved in a selective process promoted by the United Nations (UN).

The international selection was promoted to select one magistrate to instruct and try civil law cases in the country – including those related to war crimes during the Indonesian occupation.

The legal activities should be performed for one year and also forecast the judge's working as a professor in the Judicial Training Centre of East Timor.

The selection process began in October last year and was completed last week. In the process, people from several countries interested in the opportunity were submitted to phases that included analysis of their curricula, documents and also oral tests.

In the magistrate's evaluation, his experience in a judicial career and his operation in several areas of Law were fundamental for selection of his name.

"I have been a magistrate for 15 years, and have operated in several areas, like criminal, family, electoral and others. I think my operation as a professor in law school also counted," explained Barroso.

He was born in the city of Ribeirão Preto, in the interior of the state of São Paulo (SE Brazil), but has lived in Manaus, the capital of Amazonas state (N Brazil) since 2004. He is now in charge of the 12th Military Justice Court, responsible for the Northern Brazilian states of Amazonas, Acre, Rondônia and Roraima, which is based in Manaus.

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NGO Reports

Chad: Warring Sides Must Protect Civilians
Human Rights Watch
February 4, 2008

(New York, February 5, 2008) – Government and rebel forces fighting in the Chadian capital N’Djaména must not place civilians at risk, Human Rights Watch said today. Humanitarian agencies have reported substantial numbers of civilian casualties in the past three days of street fighting.

Last week, Chadian rebels launched a major military offensive that reached N’Djaména, home to around 700,000 people, by the weekend. Chadian government security forces countered with tanks and attack helicopters, and on Sunday night the rebels announced a “tactical” withdrawal from the city. Thousands of Chadians have since poured across the border into Cameroon, with hundreds of thousands more remaining in the capital.

“The government and the rebels have an obligation not to place civilians at risk during military operations,” said Georgette Gagnon, acting Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Most of the casualties reported in N’Djaména since the fighting began on Saturday have been civilians with bullet wounds.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Chadian government to ensure that it clearly distinguish between civilians and military targets in any helicopter and tank attacks on rebel strongholds. The government must not launch indiscriminate attacks or attacks that would cause civilian harm disproportionate to the military gain.

The laws of war oblige all parties to a conflict to give effective advance warning of attacks that affect the civilian population. Warring parties must take all feasible precautions to minimize harm to civilians, and they must protect civilians under their control against the effects of attacks. They must allow and facilitate humanitarian aid for civilians in need.

Human Rights Watch has received reports implicating Chadian government security forces in the arrests of opposition politicians in the past three days. Among the prominent members of the political opposition reportedly arrested are Ngarlegy Yorongar le Moiban, Mahamat Saleh Ibni Oumar and Lol Mahamat Choua. It is not clear what justification if any exists for such arrests, and Human Rights Watch believes that they may be arbitrary arrests motivated by political reasons.

“We are concerned that the Chadian government is using the fighting as a pretext for settling scores with the unarmed opposition,” said Gagnon.

In the aftermath of a rebel offensive that brought fighting to the streets of N’Djaména in April 2006, a Human Rights Watch research mission documented abuses by Chadian government security forces, including arbitrary arrest, torture and summary executions of civilians suspected of rebel affiliations and their family members. At least 291 civilians and combatants were killed in six hours of fighting during the April 2006 coup attempt.

The Chadian rebels involved in fighting in N’Djaména over the weekend are from the Unified Military Command, an umbrella group that includes the Union of Forces for Democracy (UFDD), the Rally of Forces for Change (RFC) and UFDD-Fundamental. The UFDD is led by Mahamat Nouri, who, before serving in Idriss Déby’s government, was the right-hand man of former Chadian president Hissène Habré, currently in Senegal facing charges of crimes against humanity. Other members of the UFDD also reportedly have ties to Habré

In the event of a rebel takeover in Chad, Human Rights Watch would be extremely concerned about the fate of Chadian human rights activists whose work helped lead to Habré’s indictment.

Human Rights Watch called on France and other countries that maintain embassies in N’Djaména to take steps to extend protection to those human rights defenders and members of the political opposition at risk of arbitrary arrest or physical abuse.

Chadian rebel groups have received support from the Sudanese government, including safe harbor in Darfur.

In recent weeks, growing insecurity has made it difficult for humanitarian agencies to deliver assistance to more than 400,000 refugees and displaced persons living in camps in eastern Chad. In late January, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) began to evacuate national and international staff members in response to escalating violence in the country.

On February 4, the UN Security Council strongly condemned the rebel attacks and welcomed an African Union initiative to mandate Libyan leader Col. Mu`ammar al-Qadhafi and President Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of Congo to put an end to the fighting. The council also expressed its concern for the safety of civilians, including refugees, displaced persons and humanitarian personnel deployed in Chad, reminding all parties that they have a responsibility to ensure their protection.

ICC/DRC: New War Crimes Suspect Arrested
Human Rights Watch
February 7, 2008

(Brussels, February 7, 2008) – The International Criminal Court’s arrest of a third war crimes suspect in the Democratic Republic of Congo should encourage the court to pursue senior civilian and military officials in the Great Lakes region linked to international crimes committed there, Human Rights Watch said today.
Congolese authorities yesterday arrested Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, former chief of staff of the Front for National Integration (FNI), an ethnic Lendu-based militia group that committed war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Ituri district of northeastern Congo. Ngudjolo was placed in ICC custody on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He will arrive in The Hague later today. At the time of his arrest, Ngudjolo was in military training in Kinshasa following his appointment as a colonel in the Congolese national army in October 2006.

“Ngudjolo’s arrest shows that justice will reach those who seem untouchable because of their official position,” said Param-Preet Singh, counsel in Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program. “The arrest brings hope to the many victims of war crimes in Ituri that other political and military officials will be held to account.”

Unlike the previous two ICC suspects who were already in Congolese detention at the time of arrest, Ngudjolo was not in custody when the ICC served its warrant. Human Rights Watch said that effective cooperation among the Congolese government, the ICC and the Belgian authorities made Ngudjolo’s arrest possible, and expressed hope that such cooperation would be repeated in the future.

The arrest of Ngudjolo follows the October 2007 arrest and surrender to The Hague of Germain Katanga, the former chief of staff of the Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), an ally of the FNI. Like Katanga, Ngudjolo is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, which he allegedly committed in the town of Bogoro in 2003. An ICC hearing to confirm the charges against Katanga will begin later this year. The ICC will also start its first-ever trial against Thomas Lubanga, former warlord and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, a militia force opposed to the FNI and the FRPI sometime in 2008.

Research by Human Rights Watch indicates that Ngudjolo and Katanga’s militia group regularly received financial and military support from high-ranking officials in Kinshasa in Congo and in Uganda and that Katanga had personally been involved in meetings where such support was discussed. This support is also described in a public letter by FNI president Floribert Njabu, in February 2007, in which he implicated senior government officials.

“The three rebel leaders held by the ICC did not act alone in terrorizing civilians in Ituri,” said Singh. “The ICC prosecutor should investigate their links to officials in the Congo, Rwanda and Uganda who might also be responsible for atrocities.”

Two other former warlords-turned-colonels participated in the military training with Ngudjolo in Kinshasa: Cobra Matata, a senior commander during the massacre at Nyakunde in September 2002, the single biggest massacre in eastern Congo during the recent war, and Peter Karim, allegedly responsible for numerous atrocities against Congolese civilians and the hostage-taking of eight UN peacekeepers, one of whom was killed, in April 2006. Both men were appointed as colonels in the Congolese army alongside Ngudjolo. To date, neither individual has been charged with any crimes.

“Ngudjolo’s arrest represents an important break in the vicious cycle of impunity in the Congo,” said Singh. “Instead of rewarding abusive warlords like Cobra Matata and Peter Karim with plum military posts, the Congolese authorities should follow the ICC’s lead and try them for war crimes in fair and effective trials.”

In April 2004, the transitional Congolese government referred crimes committed in the country to the ICC. On June 23, 2004, the prosecutor announced the beginning of the court’s investigation in the DRC.

Background

Mathieu Ngudjolo was a senior military leader in the ethnic Lendu armed group known as the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (Front for National Integration, FNI), at one point in 2003 holding the most senior position as chief of staff. In October 2003, Ngudjolo was arrested with the assistance of UN peacekeepers in Bunia for the killing of a Hema businessman linked to a rival armed group. A court in Bunia later acquitted him, but remained incarcerated while the local prosecutor appealed the decision. The government later accused Ngudjolo of war crimes for a massacre committed by FNI troops in the town of Tchomia in May 2003 and transferred him from Bunia to Makala prison in Kinshasa from where he escaped before a judgment could be delivered.

In 2005, after the downfall of some of the FNI’s top political and military leaders, Ngudjolo helped to launch a new armed group consisting of the remnants of previous militia groups which became known as the Mouvement Révolutionnaire Congolais (Congolese Revolutionary Movement or MRC). Ngudjolo became the MRC’s president.

In mid 2006, Ngudjolo signed an agreement with the Congolese government for the disarmament and integration of his forces into the national army. On October 2, 2006, a ministerial decree promoted him to the official rank of colonel in the Congolese army and he was put in charge of investigations for the army’s operations in Ituri. No investigation was carried out to verify his suitability for the role. On November 2, 2007, Ngudjolo left Bunia to pursue military training in Kinshasa.

The FNI and its allied organization, the FRPI, received military and financial support from Uganda, and, from late 2002, from the DRC central government in Kinshasa as it attempted to forge new allies in eastern Congo. While Ugandan forces were in Congo in 2003, they carried out joint military operations with the FNI and the FRPI. In 2002 and 2003, the FNI and FRPI also benefited from military training and support from a national rebel group, the RCD-ML, then led by Mbusa Nyamwisi, the current foreign minister. The MRC also received support from Uganda.

Over the past six years, Human Rights Watch has gathered hundreds of accounts documenting widespread human rights abuses by all armed groups in Ituri, including the FNI, the FRPI and the MRC. According to eyewitnesses, Ngudjolo participated in and led FNI combatants at several massacres, including in Bogoro, Tchomia, Mandro, and in Bunia, all in 2003.

Gaza: Israel's Energy Cuts Violate Laws of War
Human Rights Watch
February 7, 2008

(New York, February 7, 2008) – Israel’s cuts of fuel and electricity to Gaza, set to escalate today, amount to collective punishment of the civilian population, and violate Israel’s obligations under the laws of war, Human Rights Watch said today.
These cuts, which Israel says are intended to pressure Palestinian armed groups to end their unlawful rocket attacks against civilians in southern Israel, are having a grave impact on Gaza’s hospitals, water-pumping stations, sewage-treatment facilities, and other infrastructure essential for the well-being of Gaza’s population.

Starting today, Israel will reduce the electricity it sells directly to Gaza by 1.5 megawatts over the next three weeks. This adds to a series of Israeli measures since 2006 that have caused a 20 percent shortfall in Gaza’s electricity needs. The Israeli Supreme Court approved the most recent cuts last week, rejecting a petition by 10 Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups.

“Israel views restricting fuel and electricity to Gaza as a way to pressure Palestinian armed groups to stop their rocket and suicide attacks,” said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “But the cuts are seriously affecting civilians who have nothing to do with these armed groups, and that violates a fundamental principle of the laws of war.”

Human Rights Watch said that indiscriminate Palestinian rocket and suicide bomb attacks against Israeli civilians constitute war crimes, but Israel’s attempts to suppress those attacks must not also violate international humanitarian law.

Israeli officials have implicitly acknowledged that the fuel and electricity cuts amount to collective punishment. “There is no justification for demanding we allow residents of Gaza to live normal lives while shells and rockets are fired from their streets and courtyards at Sderot and other communities in the south,” Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on January 24.

Morever, Israeli Defense Ministry spokesman Shlomo Dror said on January 18: “If Palestinians don’t stop the violence, I have a feeling the life of people in Gaza is not going to be easy.”

Israel normally sells to Gaza 120 megawatts of electricity per day, delivered by 10 feeder lines across the border. Gaza’s sole power plant currently produces 55 megawatts. Its full capacity is 100 megawatts, but a 2006 Israeli Air Force attack and subsequent fuel restrictions have prevented the plant from operating at capacity. An additional 17 megawatts come from Egypt.

The electricity that Israel sells to Gaza is paid for by taxes that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. In addition, the Israeli company Dor Alon sells the industrial fuel on which Gaza’s power plant depends. The funds for these purchases come from the European Union.According to the United Nations, Gaza requires roughly 240 megawatts of power per day during the winter. The 48 megawatt deficit has forced the Gaza Electricity Distribution Company to institute rolling blackouts of up to eight hours per day in most areas. In addition to private homes, these blackouts affect hospitals, water pumps, schools and sewage-treatment facilities without distinction. Further cuts of industrial diesel fuel for Gaza’s power plant will make the deficit grow.

During power outages, hospitals and health clinics rely on generators that require regular diesel fuel, as do residential buildings. Restrictions on the supply of diesel in recent months and prohibitively high prices have limited the use of generators. Citing security concerns, Israel has restricted the import of spare parts to repair overused generators. At Gaza’s al-Shifa Hospital, power surges following outages have caused equipment to break.

The problems have been exacerbated by a strike of the Gaza Petrol Station Owners Union, which from January 16 to February 5 refused to distribute some fuel sold by Israel out of protest to the cuts. The union deputy head told Human Rights Watch that, while they blocked delivery of gasoline for cars and regular diesel, which would affect generator use, they did not restrict cooking gas or the industrial diesel fuel used by the power plant. He said the union also delivered diesel fuel as fast as possible to all hospitals that requested it, but poor communication and mismanagement of government institutions at times made delivery difficult.

The authorities in Gaza also have obligations to ensure the well-being of the civilian population under its control, including facilitating the delivery of humanitarian supplies, Human Rights Watch said.

Israel claims the cuts are not depriving Palestinians in Gaza of their “essential humanitarian needs.” But Human Rights Watch, as well as major humanitarian agencies, says that civilians are paying a heavy price.

According to the UN’s top humanitarian official, UN Deputy Secretary-General John Holmes, Gaza in October already faced a “serious humanitarian crisis.” On January 29, the United Nations said that border closures and fuel and electricity cuts have had the following effects in Gaza:

• The World Food Program was unable to provide full food rations to 84,000 of its poorest beneficiaries;
• Around 50 percent of households in Gaza had access to running water for only four to six hours per day; and
• Due to a partially functioning wastewater system, up to 40 million liters of untreated sewage were being dumped daily into the Mediterranean Sea.

On January 25, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “critical.” A health worker for the ICRC said hospitals in Gaza were cold because the heating units had been switched off to conserve fuel, and the gas to cook meals for patients and staff was running low. One patient on a ventilator at Ahli Arab hospital died while...

First Apperance of Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui Before Pre-Trial Chamber
AMICC
February 11, 2008

Thousands of civilians have fled West Darfur’s Sirba region and an unknown number were killed as the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) moved to re-occupy the area, accompanied by uniformed Janjawid militias on horses.

The latest figures indicate that 12,000 people have crossed into Chad, thousands more have gone south to Jeneina and many, especially women and children, are believed to still be sheltering in the bush. Those remaining in the area are vulnerable to attack by militias and others.

It is still not known how many civilians died in the attacks. However, around 100 were said to have been killed in the three main villages in the area, Sirba, Abu Suruj and Silea, which were attacked on Friday (8 February).

The attacks on the area, which was occupied by Sudan’s Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), were supported by military aeroplanes from the SAF, described as being two MIG, two Antonov and four helicopters. The attacks started at 10am on Friday and were continuing at sunset. The SAF now occupies the area.

The JEM leader Khalil Ibrahim has said that African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) forces may enter the area, but not stay. He has warned that his forces will attack them if they stay.

A spokesperson for Amnesty international has said that the organisation is outraged at his remarks. "JEM should immediately and publicly withdraw their statement and undertake not to attack, or impede the work of, UNAMID forces," said Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Programme Director of the Amnesty International's Africa Programme.

Amnesty International has also received information that leads it to understand that the SAF may move to the Jebel Moon area, a JEM stronghold.

The number of civilians in the Sirba and Abu Suruj area has grown due to an influx of internally displaced people who fled there after earlier attacks elsewhere. As well as the population of the area, about 130,000 internally displaced people, who have not been reached by any food distribution since December, have been sheltering in the area.

Amnesty International spoke by phone to a person from the region, who said “The displaced are in desperate need of aid.” The World Food Programme (WFP) sent a rapid assessment mission to Sirba on Monday, with hopes that food can be distributed to those who need it over the next days.

The civilians in the area blame not only SAF and Janjawid, who failed to discriminate between military and civilians, but also JEM, who occupied the area and first used it to threaten attacks on West Darfur's capital Jeneina. JEM then used the area as a launching pad to move into Chad in order to support the Chadian government.

“The Sudanese government and Chadian armed groups they support and the Chadian government and the Justice and Equality Movement, which they support, systematically ignore the need to respect the life, wellbeing and safety of civilians,” said Tawanda Hondora.

This attack is a major test for UNAMID, which took over from the African Union Mission in Sudan on 31 December 2007 with a mandate to protect civilians in Darfur. UNAMID moved to investigate the killings and mass forced displacements on Monday.

Letter Commending Dutch Position on SAA with Serbia
Human Rights Watch
February 12, 2008

H.E. Maxime Verhagen
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Kingdom of the Netherlands

Your Excellency:
We are writing this public letter to commend your government’s principled stand in refusing to sign the Stabilization Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia in the absence of its full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). We also appreciate your government’s clear definition of full cooperation with the Yugoslav tribunal: Serbia must hand over the remaining fugitives to the ICTY before the European Union (EU) will sign the SAA.

To date, it is clear that the work of and conditions set by the EU have been the most important tools in persuading Western Balkan states to cooperate with the tribunal.1 It is, therefore, essential to maintain the requirement of Belgrade’s full cooperation with the ICTY prior to SAA signature. This is the most effective way to ensure that Ratko Mladic, one of the architects of the Srebrenica genocide, and the remaining fugitives will be held to account for crimes alleged. Indeed, your government’s insistence on full cooperation with the ICTY reflects the position that, until recently, the European Union as a whole strongly supported.2 We hope that other EU member states will follow your leadership and return to a principled stance on this issue.

The Dutch government’s resolve to preserve the European Union’s valuable leverage in the Stabilization Association process lays down an important marker for international justice. You conveyed to Serbia, and to the broader international community, that justice for serious crimes, including genocide, remains at the core of Europe’s values. Maintaining a principled stance on cooperation with the Yugoslav tribunal offers the victims of the remaining fugitives – including those of the Srebrenica massacre – the chance to finally see justice for the atrocities that they have endured. They deserve nothing less.

We look forward to supporting the Dutch government’s insistence that Serbia fully cooperate with the Yugoslav tribunal when the issue of signing the SAA arises in the future.

Sincerely,

Richard Dicker
Director, International Justice Program

Lotte Leicht
EU Advocacy Director

Cc: Mr. Robert Milders
Representative to the Political and Security Committee
Permanent Representative to the EU

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