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 leader 'enacts role'
BBC News
February 26, 2008

The visit to Choeung Ek, where some 16,000 people were buried after being tortured, is part of investigations by the UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Duch is the first of five senior Khmer Rouge officials to be charged.

The Khmer Rouge regime ruled Cambodia between 1975 and 1979 and is blamed for more than one million deaths.

Duch, who is now in his 60s, ran the notorious Tuol Sleng jail in Phnom Penh under the Khmer Rouge, and is accused of overseeing the torture and killing of inmates.

He was driven to Choeung Ek, 10km (six miles) south of the capital Phnom Penh, in a heavily guarded convoy.

The re-enactment was closed to the public and the media.

It is not known if any survivors were witnessing Duch's version of what happened.

Duch was due to go through a similar re-enactment at the former Tuol Sleng jail - now a genocide museum - on Wednesday.

He was arrested and detained in July 2007. In December, a court dismissed an appeal for bail by his lawyers who argued that he was held without charge under the jurisdiction of another court for eight years.

A date for the trial has yet to be set.

Five senior Khmer Rouge officials are now in the custody of the tribunal.

Those also facing charges include Nuon Chea, second-in-command of the late Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot, the former foreign and social affairs ministers Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith, and former head of state Khieu Samphan.

Pol Pot died in 1998.

Jailed former Khmer Rouge leaders seek conjugal visits
EarthTimes
February 26, 2008

Despite being hospitalized with heart problems three times since his arrest last year, elderly jailed former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary has requested the court grant conjugal visits, local media reported Tuesday. The English-language Cambodia Daily quoted Ieng Sary's lawyer Ang Udom as saying the 82-year-old "misses his wife," fellow detainee Ieng Thirith, also known as Khieu Thirith, the sister-in-law of former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot.

"He wants to see her, she wants to see him ... why does the tribunal prevent them from seeing each other?" the paper quoted Ang Udom as saying.

The lawyer was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

The elderly husband and wife are among five senior former Khmer Rouge leaders currently in detention at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Up to 2 million Cambodians died during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 Democratic Kampuchea regime, one of the bloodiest reigns of the last century. Pol Pot died at home in 1998.

The paper also reported that Ieng Sary had requested his current stay in hospital to monitor heart problems be extended indefinitely, but court sources said this request was unlikely to be granted as the court provided round-the-clock medical care and his condition was not thought to be life threatening.

Khmer Rouge torture chief weeps at "Killing Fields"
Africa Reuters
By Ek Madra
February 26, 2008

The chief torturer under the Khmer Rouge "Killing Fields" regime wept and prayed on Tuesday as he led the judges who will try him for crimes against humanity around the mass graves for some of its victims.

Duch, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, accompanied 80 judges, lawyers and other officials of a U.N.-backed tribunal to the 129 graves, uncovered after a Vietnamese invasion sent the Khmer Rouge back to the jungles in 1979.

"I saw Duch kneel in front of the trees where Khmer Rouge soldiers smashed children to death," a policeman told reporters after the four-hour tour.

"He cried and apologised to the victims" in the former ricefields outside Phnom Penh, he said.
Stacks of excavated skulls mark the area.

Some of the victims were from the regime's S-21 prison at the former Tuol Sleng high school in Phnom Penh run by Duch, now 66.

About 14,000 people -- including a few foreigners accused of being CIA spies -- went into the jail to be tortured into confessing to working against a regime deemed responsible for the deaths of 1.7 million people.

Only a handful emerged alive.

"Duch expressed his sadness and shed tears two to three times," tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said. "He held his palms together to pay respect to the victims in front of the shrine of skulls."

Duch, the first senior Khmer Rouge official to be detained, was to lead court officials on a tour of Tuol Sleng on Wednesday.

"This is just one more piece in building a case file. It can be very useful in court to have a visual representation of the site in question," Australian court official Helen Jarvis said.

Tuol Sleng is now a shrine to those killed by the Khmer Rouge, who also eradicated potential opponents of their back to "Year Zero" revolution to produce an agrarian utopia through overwork, starvation and disease.

Detained in 1999 and now a Christian, Duch is expected to be a key witness in the trials of "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's right hand man, Khieu Samphan, president under the regime, Ieng Sary, its foreign minister, and his wife.

"He could not have committed those crimes alone," Duch lawyer Kar Savuth said. "He took orders from the top leaders."

Many Cambodians want to hear what Duch will have to say in trials expected to start in July. The defendants face a maximum of life in prison.

"I still do not understand why Duch jailed me, killed my wife and our baby," said Chum Manh, 78, one of the few survivors of Tuol Sleng.

Nuon Chea is accused of playing a central role in atrocities by the Khmer Rouge during their 1975-1979 rule, which they began by driving everyone out of the cities with whatever they could carry.

He was arrested last year along with Ieng Sary and his wife, lifelong friends of Pol Pot.

Pol Pot died in 1998 in the final Khmer Rouge redoubt of Anlong Veng.

Duch Investigation Could Last to April: Expert
VOA Khmer
By Sok Khemara
February 21, 2008

The investigation leading to the trial of Khmer Rouge prison chief Duch could last through April, with trials starting thereafter, a tribunal expert said Tuesday.

That means Duch, whose real name is Kaing Khek Iev, 65, could see a trial in the second half of 2008, "if there are not political or other problems acting as obstacles," said Hisham Mousar, a tribunal monitor for the rights group Adhoc.

Duch oversaw the infamous Tuol Sleng prison in Phnom Penh, where as many as 16,000 Cambodians were tortured, later to be executed in the "killing fields" outside the capital.

His trial would be the first of five jailed Khmer Rouge leaders, who were ousted from power nearly 30 years ago.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said the investigators were "expediting the investigation" and would wrap up their work by Khmer New Year, in mid-April.

Khmer Rouge leader halts Cambodia genocide court cooperation: report
AFP via Google News
February 20, 2008

The French lawyer defending Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan at Cambodia's genocide tribunal has said his client will no longer co-operate with the UN-backed court, a report said Wednesday.

Jacques Verges, nicknamed "the Devil's advocate" for his defence of some of the world's most notorious criminals, said Khieu Samphan would not speak to court officials until thousands of pages of evidence against him is translated into French.

"In a trial, there is a human being and this human being is fighting," Verges was quoted as telling the English-language Cambodia Daily.

He also told the paper that without a translation of the court documents, which are in English, he would not be able to adequately defend his client.

Verges, a fierce anti-colonialist, reportedly befriended Khieu Samphan and other future Khmer Rouge leaders while at university in Paris in the 1950s.

In a long career, he has acted for Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, better known as Carlos the Jackal.

Tribunal co-investigating judge Marcel Lemonde told AFP that other suspects detained by the UN-backed court have also invoked their right "to remain silent at every stage of the proceedings."

But he said this would not hamper the court's investigation into their alleged crimes.

"We have to organise the investigation differently, that's it," he said in an email.

So far five people have been detained by the tribunal, including former Khmer Rouge ideologue Nuon Chea, the most senior surviving leader of the 1975-79 regime which oversaw one of the worst chapters of the 20th century.

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed by the communist Khmer Rouge, which dismantled modern Cambodian society in its effort to forge a radical agrarian utopia.

Cities were emptied, their populations exiled to vast collective farms, while schools were closed, religion banned and the educated classes targeted for extermination.

Duch Investigation Could Last to April: Expert
VOA Khmer
By Sok Khemara
February 21, 2008

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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

Nkunda Responds to Possible ICC Indictment
In a rare interview, rebel Tutsi leader says he’s willing to face the court as long as his people can eventually live in peace.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Jacques Kahorha
February 19, 2008

The renegade general Laurent Nkunda, who commands a band of rebel Congolese Tutsis in the eastern Congo, said he doesn’t care whether he’s arrested by the International Criminal Court, ICC, if his fight has resulted in justice for his people.

In an exclusive interview with IWPR, Nkunda also denied that he has recruited child soldiers – an accusation made by the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, and various international aid groups working in the North Kivu province.

Nkunda insisted that his mission has been to defend his fellow ethnic Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu fighters who were responsible for that country’s genocide of 1994.

Many of these same Hutus, known as the Interahamwe, fled Rwanda into the Congo. Some formed the Front Démocratique de Libération du Rwanda, FDLR – Nkunda’s enemies.

“My fight is well known,” Nkunda told IWPR, saying that if the ICC arrests him today it won’t matter to him, so long as his fight has resulted in justice for the Congolese Tutsis.

Nkunda, who in the past is widely believed to have been backed by Rwanda, has refused to join the Congolese army despite being offered the rank of general.

Instead, he has maintained his force in the eastern Congo and has successfully fought the FDLR, other militias and the Congolese army.

His goal, he said, was to help his fellow Congolese Tutsis. But although Nkunda claimed to be protecting his ethnic group, he has also been accused of abducting children and forcing them to become child soldiers and sex slaves for his forces, as recently as late last year.

According to a UN report last December, hundreds of child soldiers were used in the front lines of clashes between Nkunda’s forces and the Congolese army.

The UN said Nkunda’s Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, CNDP, and the FDLR were the two main groups who routinely grabbed children from schools and internal refugee camps.

The UN also said that many of the estimated 8,500 former child soldiers who have been rescued since 2004 have since been re-recruited.

An estimated 800,000 Congolese have been displaced in North Kivu. This includes 170,000 who last year were forced to flee the fighting, which has since quieted in the wake of an agreement signed earlier this year by more than 20 warring militias, including that of Nkunda.

Nkunda, however, has denied collecting new child soldiers. He said, "I have no children in the army under my control. You can go around if you want, and you will not find any."

Nkunda claimed, however, that he had inherited child soldiers from the Rally for Congolese Democracy, RCD, a former rebel faction reportedly backed by Rwanda and which operated in eastern Congo from 1998 to 2003. Nkunda was a senior officer in the RDC, which was one of the major rebel groups fighting there.

In June 2004, he led a force of several thousand soldiers into Bukavu, the capital city of the South Kivu province which sits on the far southern shores of Lake Kivu. Although Nkunda withdrew after only occupying the town for a week, it was a bloody episode, with widespread reports of killing and rape.

Nkunda later justified his occupation on humanitarian grounds, saying he thwarted a planned genocide against Congolese Tutsis. He pointed out that later that year, 160 Congolese Tutsis were killed in neighbouring Burundi.

Nkunda also later said he refused integration into the Congolese forces because it would have meant working with former enemies whom he did not trust.

In September 2005, the Congolese issued an arrest warrant for Nkunda, accusing him of numerous war crimes and human rights abuses.

Many of these have been documented by such groups as Human Rights Watch, and include summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command in Bukavu in 2004 and in Kisangani in 2002.

While the arrest warrant was never carried out, some speculate that the government’s evidence against Nkunda could become the basis for indictments against him by the ICC.

“Some organisations do not want to present anything positive on my side,” Nkunda told IWPR. “Since 2004, I have already demobilised 2,600 child soldiers that I handed to Caritas [the Catholic church’s humanitarian agency].”

Oswald Musoni, director of Caritas in Goma, acknowledged that Nkunda had turned over many child soldiers.

“From the 2,226 children we demobilised from 2004 to 2006, 2,003 came from Nkunda’s armed forces, as he was controlling almost the entire region,” said Musoni.

Of all the charges that have been levelled against Nkunda, the forced recruitment of child soldiers could cause the most trouble for him.

Thomas Lubanga, a warlord from the Ituri region adjacent to North Kivu, was arrested and transferred to the ICC for having recruited child soldiers in 2006. Although his trial was due to start at the end of March, it now looks likely to be delayed until later this summer.

Nkunda, however, doubted that the recruitment of children was the reason for Lubanga’s arrest, and suspected that it was because of his alleged killing of the ethnic Lendu in the Ituri region.

“I heard that Thomas Lubanga was first accused of having killed Lendu in Ituri. Then, it was noticed that even Lendu killed so many Hema in that district,” said Nkunda. He noted that recruiting child soldiers was common practice in the region and that Lubanga certainly was not “the first to recruit child soldiers in this country”.

In an interview with journalists in Goma earlier this year, Alan Doss, the UN’s representative to the region, said most countries, including the DRC, support the rights of children. Armed groups are aware that they should not recruit child soldiers because they are brutalised and traumatised. He urged the practice to stop.

In addition to Lubanga, two other Ituri militia leaders have been arrested and transferred to the ICC. Germain Katanga is accused of murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

And on February 7, Mathieu Ngudjolo, the head of the Front of Nationalists and Integrationists, FPI, was taken to the ICC. He faces war crimes charges, including murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.

The ICC said it had “strong evidence” that Ngudjolo “committed crimes of shocking violence against men, women and children”, mostly associated with a February 2003 attack on the village of Bogoro, which he commanded along with Katanga. Some 200 people were killed and countless others were wounded. The village was then pillaged, said the ICC.

Following the arrest and pending prosecution of the three war lords, the ICC has signalled that it is preparing a further probe into war crimes and crimes against humanity in the North and South Kivu provinces.

“The office of the prosecutor is now moving on to a third investigation in the DRC, with other applications for arrest warrants to follow in the coming months and years,” the ICC said in a statement last week.

“The actions of armed groups still operating and reportedly still committing crimes in the east of the DRC, and in particular in the Kivu provinces, and the situation of those individuals who may have played a role in supporting and backing DRC armed groups, are among the principal options upon which the [office of the prosecutor] is focusing for this third investigation.”

Nkunda and his soldiers are among those referred to.

Will ICC Indictments Extend Beyond DRC Borders?
Analysts suggest officials in Rwanda and Uganda could be in the sights of ICC investigators.
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
By Lisa Clifford, Sonia Nezamzadeh and Eddy Isango
February 21, 2008

Activists are urging International Criminal Court, ICC, prosecutors to consider the Democratic Republic of Congo’s closest neighbours when deciding who next to bring to The Hague.

The court said recently it was considering investigating a case against officials who financed and organised the militias in this central African nation, devastated by years of fighting between rival warlords. Prosecutors said those officials could be from DRC or elsewhere, with analysts suggesting Rwanda and Uganda as possible targets.

“Virtually all Congolese warlords have relationships with officials of these two countries,” said Amigo Gonde, an activist at the Congo-based African Association for the Defence of Human Rights.

Both Uganda and Rwanda sent troops into then-Zaire in the late Nineties to remove Congolese President Mobutu Sese Seko, installing Laurent Kabila in his place.

Kabila and his former allies subsequently fell out and he gained new backers in the form of Angola, Zimbabwe and others. Uganda and Rwanda in turn supported opposing rebel movements and devastating wars broke out. Both countries were accused of exploiting Congo’s vast mineral wealth during the conflicts.

“A strong interest in the resources in the Congo and interest on the part of neighbours to create mayhem to open access to these resources [was] at the heart of this war,” said Geraldine Mattioli of Human Rights Watch.

Although they eventually withdrew their troops under international pressure, Rwanda in particular remains a player in the east - with critics accusing Kigali of supporting Congolese Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda.

After initially focusing on Congolese militia leaders in the northeastern Ituri region, the ICC has hinted it may begin looking further afield for its next arrests. Warrants for two indictees now in Hague custody - Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo - both named the Ugandan army as a participant in the Ituri conflict.

Marcel Akpovo , a former researcher on armed conflicts for Amnesty International and an expert on the Ugandan involvement in DRC, agrees the Kampala government has been “extremely supportive” of militia groups there. “I strongly believe that not only the Ugandan government has provided political support but also financial support to some of these armed groups - including that of Germain Katanga,” he said.

The International Court of Justice, ICJ, which arbitrates disputes between states, confirmed in 2005 that Uganda occupied territory in Ituri between 1998 and 2003 and provided military, financial and logistical support to rebels.

The evidence of links between Katanga and the Ugandan army - the Ugandan People’s Defence Force, UPDF - also surfaced last year in public letters by Floribert Njabu, president of Katanga’s militia group, the Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri, FRPI.

The letters identify specific high-ranking officials who Njabu claims provided financial and military support to his militia group.

Katanga confirmed Njabu’s charges implicating senior government officials in Kinshasa and Uganda in face-to-face interviews, said HRW’s Anneke Van Woudenberg. Katanga told Van Woudenberg he was personally involved in meetings where financial and military support was discussed.

“He alludes to having received significant support… and he names names. And those allegations ought to be investigated and seriously looked at,” she said.

Analysts - and many Congolese - wonder why the ICC has so far been slow to react to such accusations.

François Grignon, Africa programme director at the International Crisis Group, believes the court has tied its hands in Uganda by accepting the government’s invitation to investigate war crimes in the country.

“For the ICC to have any success against the Lord’s Resistance Army, the ICC needs the Ugandan government cooperation,” he said. “That means prosecution against crimes committed by Ugandan troops in the Congo would probably have to be abandoned. They might be worried that the Ugandans will say, ‘If you go after us in the Congo we will suspend our cooperation in Uganda’.”

Lawyer Martien Schotsmans agrees arresting Ugandan officials could be problematic. “In Uganda they can’t arrest those the government has agreed to arrest,” said Schotsmans, a lawyer with Avocats Sans Frontières. “How can they arrest someone who might be close to Ugandan government?”

Akpovo suggests the court has so far delayed investigating Ugandan involvement in Congo in part to maintain the fragile peace process.

“Ugandans are adamant that the peace process should go ahead,” he said. “I’m for peace, but in this particular case, international justice should prevail… regardless of the peace process.”

And there are other obstacles to foreign prosecutions for crimes committed in Congo. Legal experts say such cases can be extremely difficult to prove.

“There’s a difference between gathering evidence on somebody’s physical participation and someone’s command responsibility. It is always much harder,” explained Schotmans. “Someone who was in command but not on the spot - that is always harder to prove.”

That’s an argument echoed by the ICC itself. Beatrice Le Frapper du Hellen, who heads the ICC’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation division, says the court is keen to target those who organised and financed war crimes but says it can be tough to find the evidence establishing the links.

“We have to have very strong cases when we go to the judges,” she told IWPR.

Also complicating such prosecutions is that many of the war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Rwanda and Uganda on neighbouring soil happened years before July 2002 when the ICC’s mandate begins.

That includes bloody battles for control of the northeastern city of Kisangani and its diamonds and gold. Uganda and Rwanda occupied Kisangani and in a series of clashes destroyed large parts of the city, killing hundreds of civilians.

However, Grignon points out there are plenty of crimes for the ICC to consider. He suggests that Rwanda’s alleged involvement in attacks by Nkunda on Bukavu in 2004 is one possibility. He says evidence exists that Nkunda’s march on the South Kivu town was supported by Rwanda - a charge it denies.

Though Rwanda has supported Nkunda in the past, Grignon says it would be a mistake to assume that Kigali is behind the recent violence in North Kivu.

“You cannot compare Nkunda’s offensive on Bukavu and the current crisis,” he said. “It would be wrong to say Rwanda is again behind Nkunda. This is not true. In 2004 there was a state policy to support Nkunda but there is none now. There is no active state support for Nkunda. I don’t think Rwanda would be worried about prosecution for any of the crimes recently committed [in North Kivu].”

Rwanda is not a member of the court, leading to talk in Congo that the ICC can’t take action against Kigali.

“We believe that for the moment, the ICC cannot pursue foreigners involved in eastern parts of the country, in Ituri and the Kivus, because Rwanda is not a signatory of the [Rome Statute], which makes it difficult to take legal action against it,” said Gonde.

Schotsmans, however, says that isn’t the case. Congo has signed up to the court which means if a war crime is committed on its soil then the ICC is free to investigate any cross-border connections.

Though the ICC could prosecute, analysts speculate that Rwandans are afforded some protection by their country’s recent history. The 1994 genocide claimed 800,000 victims over a three-month period. The international community did almost nothing to stop the killings and a sense of guilt has lingered.

“They got away with an awful lot of political violence either being committed in the Congo or inside their own country [as a result of the genocide],” said Grignon.

But there are those who defend the ICC’s lack of action so far on Rwanda and Uganda.

Former chief prosecutor at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal Richard Goldstone dismisses criticisms of the ICC for not moving fast enough when it comes to investigating higher-level government officials and militia supporters in the DRC.

“It obviously takes longer to get people higher up the ladder of control because there are less witnesses available. There will always be people higher up. But just because there are other people higher up doesn’t mean they shouldn’t get people who are at [a lower] level,” he said.

Others, however, say it would be a mistake for ICC prosecutors to proceed too slowly with their investigations.

“I think it would set a very important precedent - to look at individuals who have… aided and abetted,” said HRW’s Van Woudenberg. “This is an important part of what the office of the prosecutor should be doing and what the [ICC] is there for. It requires in depth investigations and a lot of tough work, but in the end… everyone in the background needs to be held [accountable].”

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

ICC prosecutor to investigate senior Sudanese officials
Sudan Tribune
February 24, 2008

(THE HAGUE) — Nine months after the first arrest warrants were issued for those suspected of being behind atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur region, the chief international prosecutor believes he has the masterminds in his sights.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has vowed to target the most senior people behind the violence and says that peace will only be possible in troubled Darfur if arrests are made and those responsible are brought to justice.

He issued a warrant last May for the arrest of Sudan’s secretary of state for humanitarian affairs Ahmed Harun, but despite a UN resolution requiring Khartoum to comply with the court Harun is still at large.

“If Harun is not arrested and removed there will be no justice, no peace in Darfur,” Moreno-Ocampo said in a telephone interview with AFP from his native Argentina on Friday.

He said arresting Harun “is the condition for any solution in Darfur.”

The prosecutor also announced new investigations into crimes against refugees in the region blighted by five years of civil war after ethnic minority rebels took up arms against Sudan’s Arab-dominated regime in February 2003.

At least 200,000 people have died in the conflict and more than two million have fled their homes, according to UN figures, although the Khartoum government maintains that only 9,000 have been killed.

Moreno-Ocampo said he aimed to hunt down the top echelons above Harun in the chain of command and behind the savage atrocities in the west of the country.

Asked for details of new arrest warrants, he replied: “The second case will be different. Harun is instructed, he’s supported,” he added without elaborating.

The International Criminal Court, the first permanent tribunal set up to tackle war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, is based in The Hague and issued its first arrest warrants in May against Harun and Janjaweed militia chief Ali Kosheib.

They were accused of 51 crimes against humanity and war crimes — including murder, torture and mass rape.

Sudan has failed to hand over the two suspects, and in an act of defiance in November it appointed Harun to help overseeing the hybrid UN and Africa Union peacekeeping force currently deployed in Darfur.

“The most violent phase of the conflict in Darfur started in 2003, but it’s very important to realise that it is not over,” Moreno-Ocampo told AFP.

“It is still happening, before the very eyes of the international community,” he added, referring to reports of communities being displaced, bombing raids on villages and attacks on refugee camps.

He alleged Harun had played a “key role” in these incidents and was also responsible for slowing the delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid.

“I think the Security Council has to do more for these mandates to be executed. I told them so,” said the prosecutor who in December drew up an indictment against Khartoum which he handed to the United Nations.

Last October Ocampo criticized the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon for neglecting the issue of justice in his monthly reports on Sudan.

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

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

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

“What is at stake is simply the survival of 2.5 million people. As a prosecutor I do my part. My responsibility is to the victims.”

“Executing these arrest warrants is a test for the international community,” he said, but without answering questions about support from specific members of the UN Security Council.

Moreno-Ocampo pointed to frequent meetings held with regional powers, some of which are ICC members and others, which are not, and regional groups such as the Arab League.

“It is important to show that we are not in any kind of conflict between the West and the Arab world,” he said.

About Harun he added: “For me as a prosecutor, I know Harun’s destiny is in court.”

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

Calls to arrest alleged Darfur war crime suspects
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
February 27, 2008

An international coalition of 45 human rights groups has launched a campaign to demand the immediate arrest of two men accused of war crimes in the Sudanese region of Darfur.

Sudan's Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Ahmed Harun, and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb were indicted by the International Criminal Court a year ago, but were not handed over.

The campaign wants the United Nations Security Council to push for the immediate arrest of the two named suspects and are calling on the UN to apply targeted sanctions, such as freezing assets, on those in Khartoum who continue to harbour them.

Campaigners were horrified when a committee headed by Ahmed Harun was chosen to investigate human rights abuses in Darfur at the end of last year.

Kenyan Civic Groups Call for Prosecution of Darfur's War Criminals
Catholic Information Services for Africa
March 3, 2008

(Mombasa) Civil society groups at the Kenyan Coast joined more than 50 international NGOs calling for the arrest of suspected Sudanese war criminals indicted by the International Criminal Court, in a campaign dubbed ‘Wanted For War Crimes.’

A year ago, on February 27, the ICC issued a warrant of arrest for Ahmad Harun and Ali Kuhsayb. The two and their followers are named as being responsible for over 40 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Wanted for War Crimes Organisation urged the United Nations Security Council to freeze the assets of those Sudanese officials protecting the indicted men, and to visit Khartoum and tell the Government of Sudan to hand over the suspects.

Hassan Greeve, chairman for the Prepared Society, one of the organisations in the ‘Wanted For War Crimes’ campaign, said that the civil society organizations in Kenya’s Coast Province believed that if a man killed a person, raped a girl, or burned down a mosque, the law should respond.

It should not be any different if a man killed hundreds of civilians, raped many women or burned an entire town.

Harun, one of the Sudanese indictees, has since been promoted to Humanitarian Affairs Minister from State Minister for the Interior in Khartoum. He was then appointed to head committees charged with investigation of human rights complaints in Darfur and liaising with UN peacekeeping force. He is now slowing aid deliveries and obstructing peacekeepers, contributing to the deaths in slow motion that we see today in Darfur.

A website has been set up to allow members of the public to email the UN Security Council: www.wantedforwarcrimes.org.

Justice slow for female war victims
Toronto Star
by Craig and Marc Kielburger
March 3, 2008

First there were the Nuremburg Trials. Then the Geneva Conventions. And finally, the Rome Statute.

These documents and events, spanning some 60 years, all mark watershed moments in the development of international humanitarian law. Building on one another, each is designed to protect civilians from the scourge of war.

None has been more complete than the Rome Statute. Enacted in 2002, it established the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world's first permanent tribunal to prosecute war crimes. In the clearest terms yet, the statute identifies specific gender-based crimes, from rape and sexual slavery to forced pregnancy and human trafficking, as being just as heinous as other crimes against humanity.

Hailed as a triumph for women's rights, the Rome Statute was to put an end to the impunity that's often met these crimes. But six years on, as the world gets set once again to mark International Women's Day on Saturday, progress in the court has been painfully slow.

"We have yet to see the investigative approach needed to ensure the prosecution of gender-based crimes," says Brigid Inder, executive director of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, a Hague-based group that promotes and monitors women's rights in the international court.

The numbers paint a disappointing picture. The court has issued warrants against 10 people – in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic and Sudan. Five of those remain at large and not one has been convicted yet. Of the 10 warrants, only a few include gender-based crimes – even though women continue to be common targets in conflicts around the world.

In Iraq, victims of rape are often blamed for their plight and forced to marry their attackers. In Colombia, rebels use women as sexual slaves. In Burma (also known as Myanmar), women are regularly attacked by the ruling junta's soldiers.

At the crux of this slow progress is the court's inability to identify enough victims, especially female ones. The stigma of sexual violence can be a huge burden for women, forcing them into silence. According to the 2007 ICC Gender Report Card, published by Inder's agency, barely a third of 500 victims who have applied to participate in war crime tribunal proceedings are women. The court officially has identified just 17 as victims so far.

Inder acknowledges the tribunal is still young, adding many more victims need inclusion to ensure violence against women does not continue to go unpunished.

"They've been very cautious in their interpretation of the statute. The ICC has teeth. Its mandate is enormous. It needs to show it knows how to use its teeth."

To the UN, violence against women is "one of the most serious and urgent challenges of our time" because every time women are targets of violence, the health and vibrancy of children, families and communities are in jeopardy.

Inder says the court can help deter such violence by better reaching out to female victims in conflict zones, helping them come forward. This would lead to more charges being laid against perpetrators while setting international precedents, proving that violence against women will no longer be tolerated. "It's very powerful for the court to do that. This is a court created to be bold. The world needs it to be."

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Uganda (ICC)

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

Kony Arrest Warrant Still Stands - ICC
New Vision
By Milton Olupot
February 20, 2008

THE international arrest warrants against Joseph Kony and two of his commanders still stand, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said in a statement yesterday.

The announcement came two days after the LRA and the Government signed a landmark agreement on trying serious crimes at a special division of the High Court in Uganda.

"The office of the prosecutor is not a party to the peace process," the ICC statement from The Hague said.

"The arrest warrants against the LRA commanders were issued by the court and remain in effect," the statement added.

The indictments can only be lifted when the ICC judges determine whether national trials are an adequate alternative to prosecution, it explained.

"A challenge to the admissibility of the case remains hypothetical and, in any event, would be a matter for the judges of the court to decide upon."

The prosecutor noted with concern the allegations of recent LRA atrocities in South Sudan and the movement of LRA personnel into or towards the Central African Republic (CAR)," the statement added.
UN security reports have confirmed that a well-armed group of 200 LRA entered CAR on February 18.

The UN mission in South Sudan also raised the security alert after reports of LRA attacks on villages between Yei and Kajo-Keji, in which SPLA soldiers and civilians were killed.

Meanwhile, the peace talks hit another stalemate after the Government rejected the new demands tabled by the LRA.

The LRA in a document on Tuesday asked for five ministers, five ambassadors, two commissioners and 20 senior positions in Government.

The power-sharing is part of Agenda No. 2 for the comprehensive solutions that is being discussed under the chairmanship of the Vice-President of South Sudan, Riek Machar.

"That is what the LRA high command has agreed on, we can not settle for anything less than that," the leader of the LRA team, David Nyekorach Matsanga, told The New Vision.

He said they had discussed the issue with President Yoweri Museveni during the time of consultations in Kampala.

"He (Museveni) said he was willing to allow General Joseph Kony and other LRA officers to maintain their ranks. He also said they can have a battalion of their won under the UPDF," Matsanga stated. But the Government delegation spokesman, Capt. Chris Magezi, dismissed the demands as unconstitutional.

He said the Government would not allow demands that would disrupt the existing political momentum in the country.

"Participation in national politics and institutions in Uganda is guided by the constitution of Uganda. To get political power, you must stand for elections."

He also questioned whether the LRA were the legitimate representatives of the people of northern Uganda.

"The LRA has no mandate to claim that they are representing the people of northern and north eastern Uganda, because the people there have their legitimately elected leaders."

He said there was a system of recruitment and promotion in the public service and the army.

"In the army, ranks come with responsibility and the UPDF is not about to compromise those standards," he explained.

"LRA combatants who qualify and wish to join the UPDF will be integrated, undergo formal processes of training and promotions, and be given ranks according to their responsibilities."

The mediator adjourned the talks to allow both sides to consult among themselves and their higher authorities.

Both the LRA team and the Government team were locked in separate marathon meetings in their hotels all day yesterday.

ANALYSIS-Doubts over Uganda peace talks despite progress
Reuters
By Daniel Wallis
February 27, 2008

NAIROBI, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Despite new hope of a peace deal in Uganda, questions remain not only over whether it could work in practice but also whether negotiators truly speak for rebel leader Joseph Kony -- Africa's most wanted man.

Talks had limped along at a hotel in Juba, south Sudan, since mid-2006 before the government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels suddenly signed a raft of accords last week to help end one of the continent's longest wars.

With only the demobilisation of the rebels still left on the agenda, overjoyed mediators forecast a final deal within days.

But the agreement all depends on Kony, who has never attended the talks and stays hidden in the dense forests of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, unseen by outsiders for months and wanted by the International Criminal Court.

Because the negotiators are mostly Ugandans from the diaspora with no experience of fighting in the two-decade bush war, it is unclear to what extent they really represent him.

"I find the fanfare, or celebrations, in Juba greatly misplaced," Ugandan analyst Levi Ochieng told Reuters.

"The main issues are, what happens to Kony? Will any deal be binding on him? Where is he now? If you let him get away, you're letting him continue the conflict."

Although the rebellion has little direct impact on one of Africa's fastest growing economies, ending it permanently would be a major coup for President Yoweri Museveni and a relief in the coffee-exporting country of over 30 million.

It would also remove a destabilising element in a remote corner of the continent where conflicts respect no borders.

So far, both sides have agreed that crimes from the 22-year conflict can be dealt with by Ugandan courts, and the government has promised more public posts to people from the rebels' northern homeland. On Friday they inked a "permanent ceasefire".

ACCUSATIONS

But saying it had always doubted Kony's intentions, Uganda's military on Monday accused LRA fighters, perhaps including the rebel leader himself, of quitting camps on the Sudan-Congo frontier and rampaging into the Central African Republic.

LRA representatives in Juba said that was "nonsense".

Under the ceasefire terms, rebel fighters were to stay in an assembly area on Congo's border, guarded by the south Sudanese.

The rebels, notorious for slaughtering civilians, mutilating survivors and kidnapping children, have resisted all moves to surround them in the past, roaming vast unguarded reaches of Uganda, south Sudan, Congo and now the Central African Republic.

If a final deal is reached, then one of the next big steps would be for Kony to present himself for demobilisation -- and probable prosecution in Uganda.

But that could prove difficult for the International Criminal Court in The Hague, which has a warrant out for Kony and would be reluctant to drop it given that it was set up to prosecute exactly the kind of atrocities he is accused of.

The rebels say they will not sign a final deal until the court's arrest warrants are scrapped and the government says it will support that position if an agreement is reached.

EXAMPLE

But the suggestion infuriates activists who say the court would be setting a terrible example.

"It is not acceptable for the government and the LRA to make a deal that circumvents international law," said Christopher Keith Hall, a senior legal adviser to Amnesty International.

Uganda's government itself called on the ICC to charge Kony, which it did in 2005. Analysts say Kampala's only hope of persuading the court to step back would be to convince them Ugandan courts can do the job.

The ICC does not want to be seen as the last barrier to peace in a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, uprooted 2 million more and ravaged parts of three countries.

Commentators say the most important question now is whether Kony can overcome his fear of arrest.

Little is known about the self-proclaimed prophet leader who once said he wanted to rule Uganda according to the Biblical Ten Commandments. He has earned a reputation for violence, elusiveness and most of all unpredictability.

Defectors said he executed long-time deputy Vincent Otti in October after accusing him of being a government spy. He then sacked the head of his negotiating team in Juba and withdrew other key members.

On Tuesday, the government team proposed March 6 as the date to complete the talks. David Nyekorach-Matsanga, a UK-based exile who is the new chief LRA representative at the talks, said his side was in no rush and needed more time to consult Kony.

Ochieng, the analyst, said he still thought there could be a deal soon because the government and international community were keen for it, but warned against rushing.

"The talks have brought some calm to the region, but do we really want calm or a complete resolution that deals with the armed groups?" (Editing by Brsyon Hull and Matthew Tostevin).

Uganda rebels lay down world court ultimatum
Reuters
February 27, 2008

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Representatives of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army rebels demanded on Wednesday that the government ask the International Criminal Court to scrap arrest warrants for their leaders as a condition for any peace deal.

Negotiators from both sides meeting in Juba, south Sudan, signed a number of agreements last week that had raised hopes of an end to one of Africa's longest conflicts.

But the outstanding issue of indictments by the United Nations-backed ICC for the LRA's self-proclaimed prophet leader Joseph Kony and two of his senior commanders has proved to be the biggest hurdle so far.

"We cannot move any further from here if we do not get an assurance in the form of a document to show that the Uganda government will ask the U.N. to defer the arrest warrants," LRA chief negotiator David Nyekorach-Matsanga told Reuters in Juba.

The LRA is notorious for massacring civilians, mutilating survivors and kidnapping thousands of children to serve the group as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

Last week, both sides agreed that crimes during the 22-year civil war in northern Uganda could be dealt with by Ugandan courts. But the government says it will only ask the ICC to drop its warrants once a final deal is in place.

A government spokesman rejected the rebels' new demand.

"The LRA wants us to go to the United Nations to request a deferral when we do not even have their leader Kony in our custody," said Captain Chris Magezi, spokesman for the Ugandan government delegation in Juba. "That's impossible."

Two decades of civil war have destabilised northern Uganda and neighbouring parts of eastern Congo and south Sudan, killing tens of thousands of people and uprooting 2 million more.

On Tuesday, the government said it was pushing for a final peace deal to be signed on March 6, but the rebels said they were in no rush and needed to more time to consult Kony.

Casting doubt on process, Uganda's military has also accused the LRA of breaking the terms of a truce by leaving camps on the border between south Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo and rampaging north into Central African Republic.

LRA representatives in Juba said that was "nonsense".

Uganda ceasefire brings hope
International Relations and Security Network
By Peter Eichstaedt
February 29, 2008

With the signing of a permanent ceasefire between Uganda and the LRA a done deal, celebrations abound, but the ICC should still stand behind its warrants for rebel leader Kony and his compatriots.

The scene in Juba, South Sudan on 23 February was downright giddy. Backs were slapped, according to reports, tables pounded with finality, and whoops of joy filled the air.

And no wonder. A permanent ceasefire had just been signed ending 21 years of brutal fighting between the Ugandan military and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The war has been one of the world's worst conflicts, and one of the least reported. An estimated 100,000 people have died, most of them from war-related causes. Approximately 50,000 people have been kidnapped, most of them children, and nearly two million people have been permanently displaced.

The signing of the ceasefire was nothing short of a minor miracle for the two parties that have been engaged in turbulent, on-again, off-again peace talks since July 2006.

As I watched the shaky beginning of the talks some 18 months ago, such an eventually seemed unlikely.

I had just returned from a disappointing meeting on the jungle border of Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo with the late LRA deputy commander Vincent Otti and the talks' mediator, Riek Machar, the vice-president of South Sudan.

While Otti eagerly promised a peace deal eventually would be signed, that reality was in doubt due to the quixotic and unpredictable nature of rebel leader Joseph Kony.

Kony had promised to show up for the meeting, then had to back out at the last minute, fearing arrest or worse, and then refused to let Otti or any other high ranking commander participate in the talks.

He was afraid that these men, all of whom have been indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on war crimes and crimes against humanity would be arrested in Juba and whisked away to jail cells in The Hague.

Then, at the opening day press conference, the LRA launched into a tirade against the government, accusing it of atrocities against the Acholi people of northern Uganda, and threatened to resume the war if it didn't get its way.
The Ugandan negotiator, Ruhukana Rugunda, almost scrapped the talks because of it.

Now finally, what had begun with as a flickering flame of peace amid the winds of war, has become a beacon of hope for Uganda. Only the final segment of the peace deal – demobilization, disarmament and reintegration – remains to be settled.

The true benefactors of this deal are the long-suffering people of northern Uganda, which has been a war zone for more than two decades.

During the past several years, I've visited many of the north's refugee camps and talked with many dozens of refugees. The pain and suffering they've endured was unmistakable. The look in their eyes and the tone of their voices told me that they were as confused as the rest of the world as to why the senseless agony had continued for so long.

On my most recent visit this past December, the dividends of the past year and a half of peace were already evident. Cash crops such as cotton were being grown all over the north – something that had been unthinkable for decades – and new homes were being built.

But as a final peace deal appears within reach, a number of questions still swirl about the talks.

Unresolved is the issue of the ICC indictments against Kony and his top commanders, two of whom have died since the indictments were unsealed in October 2005.

Uganda has agreed to set up a special court that will hear the cases against the LRA commanders, and it has also agreed to investigate the atrocities the LRA says were committed by the Ugandan army in mid-1980s which supposedly ignited the war.

Kony has apparently agreed to face such a court in Uganda, but has repeatedly said he won't sign a final peace deal until the ICC lifts the indictments.

Late last week, ICC chief prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo said the ICC fully intends to stand behind its warrants and seek the trial, regardless of what the parties have agreed to in a peace deal.

Despite numerous reports that Uganda may ask the ICC to drop the indictments, it has not yet been done, and
Moreno-Ocampo noted that such a move was problematic.

But, in a recent report, the human rights group Refugees International said that articles within the Rome Statute, the international document that created the court, provide methods by which the charges can be postponed or removed.

One is for the UN Security Council to order the charges be deferred in one-year increments, allowing for alternative justice options. Another is for the court to decide the case is not worth pursuing if Uganda is doing what it considers to be sufficient for the case.

But both of these options seem unlikely.

The ICC indictments spurred the peace talks in the first place by raising the visibility of this tragic war and the need
for peace. Dropping the case would remove the necessary pressure on both Uganda and the LRA to not only end the war, but bring about a lasting peace.

The LRA indictments were the fledgling court's first, and dropping them would be an admission of its own failures – the most glaring of which is its inability to secure Kony's arrest.

The Security Council is unlikely to order a deferment, even for a year, because it has been heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect human rights, first in Rwanda, then the eastern Congo, and most recently, Darfur.

The issue in northern Uganda has been the need for the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to be brought to justice - not only local justice, but international justice. This is why Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni asked the ICC for help in the first place.

Only in the context of international justice will the people of northern Uganda be able to find a lasting peace. But the effects will go far beyond Uganda.

As a human rights attorney once told me, the underlying issue here is: what kind of world do we want to live in? Insuring accountability for war crimes will be one step toward that world.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Security Council agrees to increase number of judges at UN’s Balkans tribunal
UN News Centre
February 20, 2008

The Security Council today authorized Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to appoint up to four extra judges to the United Nations tribunal set up after the Balkan wars of the 1990s to help that court better meet its target to try all defendants by the end of this year.

Council members unanimously adopted a resolution endorsing the proposal of the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to appoint the extra ad litem, or temporary, judges on top of the 12 ad litem judges currently authorized.

This means up to 16 ad litem judges could serve on the ICTY at any time, although the number must not exceed 12 after 31 December this year. There are also 16 permanent judges on the court.

This temporary measure has been introduced to allow the ICTY “to conduct additional trials as soon as possible in order to meet completion strategy objectives,” the resolution stated.

Under the completion strategy for the Tribunal, which is based in The Hague, all trials at first instance are supposed to be completed by the end of this year and all appeals by 2010.

ICTY: Herceg Bosnia Leaders Bailed
BIRN Justice Report
February 20, 2008

The Hague tribunal has ruled that five indictees can wait for the Defence stage of their trial while at liberty.

Five leaders from Herceg Bosnia, who are currently on trial in The Hague, have been granted release from custody. Jadranko Prilic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoje Petkovic and Valentin Coric will be on provisional release from Thursday February 21 until May 4.

All five, together with Berislav Pusic, were high officials of the former Croatian Republic of Herceg Bosnia and were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes committed during 1992 and 1993 on the territory of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Capljina and Vares.

The five are being allowed to wait for the beginning of the Defence process at liberty. Still, by this decision, they will have to appear at the ICTY on March 17 and 26, and April 21 during pre-Defence conferences.

The ICTY has also ruled that all five must stay on Croatian territory, where the government has agreed to provide necessary security measures and ensure the indictees' return to The Hague.

The trial started on April 26, 2006, with the Prosecution case closing on February 6, 2008. The Defence's case is set to start on May 5, 2008.

Bosnia: New Row Over ICJ Ruling
IWPR
February 29, 2008

Last year’s International Court of Justice ruling provokes political disagreement in Bosnia.

Bosnian victims of the 1990s Balkans wars welcomed last year’s ICJ ruling that Serbia was guilty of failing to punish the perpetrators of genocide. However, 12 months later, it seems that the verdict has only served to deepen political division in the country.

When the verdict of the world’s highest court was announced, it was interpreted differently in Bosnia and Serbia.

Bosniaks focused on the fact that Serbia was found guilty of failing to use its influence to prevent genocide and of failing to meet its obligation to punish the perpetrators, while Belgrade celebrated being acquitted for direct responsibility for genocide, and ignored the nuances, including the finding of partial responsibility.

Serbia has still not captured war crimes suspects Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, in spite of an order contained in the ICJ ruling that it “take immediate steps… to transfer individuals accused of genocide to the ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia] and to co-operate fully with the tribunal”.

Bosnian leaders, whose communities waged war against each other in the 1990s, are now split over what action should be taken against Serbia’s failure to hand over the men.

Earlier this month, the Bosniak and Croat members of the state presidency - Haris Silajdzic and Zeljko Komsic - decided to ask the UN Security Council to force Serbia to comply with the ICJ ruling and finally extradite all fugitives to the Hague tribunal.

However, Serb member of the presidency Nebojsa Radmanovic, backed by the parliament in the Serb half of the country, vetoed this decision, saying it was detrimental to “Bosnian Serbs’ vital national interests”.

Speaking to the Bosnian Serb parliament on February 22, Radmanovic said such a request to the Security Council “would also be against good neighbourly relations with Serbia, and it comes at the most difficult time for that country".

Strangely enough, the full ICJ judgment has never been translated into local languages in Bosnia, nor has it been published in the country’s Official Gazette. These steps should be taken urgently, said Sakib Softic, former leader of the team representing Bosnia at the ICJ.

“Only when the judgment is translated and made available to all Bosnian citizens, can we think of further moves that we can make,” he said.

The prevailing view in Serbia is that the ICJ’s decision was not binding and was only a recommendation as to which steps the country should take after the verdict.

“Serbia was not obliged to fulfill the ICJ judges’ requests for full co-operation with the Hague tribunal,” said Radoslav Stojanovic, head of the legal team which represented Belgrade at the ICJ.

“Therefore, we cannot be punished by the UN Security Council for failing to meet those requests.”

However, Stojanovic added that this did not mean Serbia should not aim to cooperate fully with the ICTY.

“That’s our moral obligation, and that issue should not be put aside,” he said.

Spokesman for Serbia’s prosecutor for war crimes Bruno Vekaric said Serbia currently has too many other problems and is not able to deal with the ICJ judgment.

Angered by western support for Kosovo, which declared independence on February 17, the country has threatened to cut ties with all countries which recognise the province, including the US and most EU members.

“Although as a Serbian citizen, I am glad that my country was acquitted of direct responsibility for Bosnian genocide, the judgment - which clearly stated that Serbia has not done enough to prevent or punish perpetrators of this crime - certainly obliges us all to do something about it,” said Vekaric.

Vojin Dimitrijevic, a former ad hoc judge at the ICJ, said the fact that Serbia has done nothing yet to comply with the ICJ ruling - whether it was legally bound to or not - would not help Belgrade’s reputation.

“Serbia is constantly calling for the respect of international law when it comes to Kosovo’s secession, but how can it be taken seriously when Belgrade itself is in breach of international law?” he asked.

Ana Jerosimovic from the Centre for Human Rights in Belgrade blamed the media for not providing an accurate interpretation of the judgment to the Serbian public.

“There was no public debate on this judgment and the only official statement related to the verdict was given by Serbian president Boris Tadic, who said that the National Assembly should adopt a declaration condemning the genocide in Srebrenica. Regretfully, this never happened,” she said.

Activists have urged international prosecutors to take additional steps to revise the judgment. One such move could be to push for a renewal of the process, which would be possible if compelling new evidence appeared within the next nine years.

Such evidence may be hidden in the transcripts of Serbia’s Supreme Defence Council, SDC, meetings. These documents, which were not requested from Serbia by ICJ judges, are seen by many in Bosnia as being of great importance.

Activists believe they could show to which extent Belgrade’s top officials were involved in Srebrenica’s 1995 massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, classified by both the ICTY and the ICJ as genocide.

Edina Becirevic, a senior lecturer at Sarajevo’s Faculty of Criminal Justice Sciences, said prosecutors needed to be imaginative in exploiting what evidence was available, despite the official secrecy.

“A book written by former Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic called ‘The Unspoken Defence’ contains a great number of confidential documents and SDC transcripts which the ICJ judges failed to request from Serbia at the time when the Bosnian case was being presented at this court,” she said.

“This book alone should be a sufficient reason for renewed pressure on Serbia to reveal these documents in full. If all the SDC transcripts - including those from 1995 - finally become public, then Bosnia might have a chance of renewing the process before the ICJ. And maybe even win this time.”

Serbia Ties EU Bid to Kosovo Issue
Deutsche Welle DW-World.de
February 29, 2008

Serbia's prime minister has said his country's EU membership depends on Brussels recognizing Serbia and Kosovo as a single entity and expressed hostility to an international mission to monitor independence in Kosovo.

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica repeated his stance that Belgrade will not discuss EU membership unless Brussels recognized Serbia and Kosovo as a single state.

Backed by Russia, Serbia and Kosovo's 120,000 remaining Serbs continue to reject the Western-backed secession.

"For us ... [it is] clear -- when it comes to any further negotiations on EU membership it means for us only Serbia with Kosovo,' he told the Russia Today TV channel on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Kostunica has already frozen Serbia's EU membership bid over the Western support of Kosovo's independence, declared on Feb. 17. Serbia has also recalled ambassadors for consultations from the 20 countries that have recognized Kosovo so far.

Belgrade's relations with the West have been chilly in the wake of last week's riots targeting the US and other embassies representing countries that Serbian nationalists consider to be hostile.

Face-to-face

At a meeting of Balkan foreign ministers in Sofia, Serbian and Kosovar officials came face-to-face Thursday for the first time since Kosovo declared independence.

"Let me tell you loud and clear: for as long as Serbia is, Kosovo shall never be," warned Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic. "Kosovo will not be a member of the United Nations. It will not be a member of the OSCE. And as such it will not belong to the world community of sovereign nations. It will never acquire this ultimate status of legitimacy," he said.

According to AFP, Jeremic also said that Belgrade would ask the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to ascertain "whether or not this [declaration of independence] was done in compliance with international law."

The minister called on the international community not to recognize Kosovo until the ICJ had made its ruling, stressing that Kosovo's "illegal attempt" to secede from Serbia would create instability throughout the region and encourage separatist movements around the world.

Jeremic also criticized the international community for asking Serbia to choose between Kosovo and the EU, and slammed Balkan countries for succumbing to outside pressure and recognizing Kosovo.

"Deals have been made, pressure has been exerted, arms have been twisted -- throughout the region, across Europe and around the world," Jeremic added.

Russia lambastes EU mission

The EU's mission to Kosovo, EULEX, is set to swing into action soon. The mission, seen as an EU effort to assist Kosovo's government in developing a stable and multi-ethnic democracy, was deemed "illegal" by Russia at the UN Security Council on Thursday.

Composed of more than 2,000 police officers, judges and prosecutors, the mission will be cooperating with NATO forces in Kosovo to maintain stability there.

Along with Serbia, Russia strongly opposes the EU presence in Kosovo, charging that it violates international law and UN resolutions.

Germany, moreover, has decided to send more troops to Kosovo, a Bundeswehr source said on Friday. The extra soldiers would be deployed from the state of Bavaria in the next few days as part of a training exercise, but the transfer was also meant to demonstrate the force's strength in the context of recent violence, the source said.

Germany already has more than 2,000 troops in Kosovo which are part of the 16,000-plus NATO-led KFOR security force.

ISG meeting

Again with Russia's backing, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica, meanwhile, has been railing against the establishment of the International Steering Group, meeting in the Austrian capital Vienna on Thursday for the first time, to monitor Kosovo's progress after its declaration of independence.

"The illegal setting-up of an international steering group ... represents a most brutal violation of international law," Kostunica said in a statement.

He called on UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to "produce the precise legal documentary basis" upon which the decision to form the group had been taken.

The primary task of the ISG will be to monitor the plan presented by UN Kosovo negotiator Martti Ahtisaari by the authorities of the newly independent former Serbian province.

Ahtisaari envisaged the formation of the ISG in his status proposal, which foresaw internationally monitored independence for Kosovo with special protection mechanisms for the Serbian minority population and Serbian cultural heritage.

The former Finnish president's plan met with strong opposition from Belgrade and was subsequently rejected by Russia in the UN Security Council.

The steering group is made up of Austria, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United States.

NATO to protect all Kosovo's citizens
B92
March 1, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Jaap de Hoop Scheffer says that the NATO presence in Kosovo is intended to protect all the citizens that live there.

After yesterday’s meeting with U.S. President George Bush in Washington, the NATO secretary-general broached the theme of Kosovo, which, he said, would be discussed at the organization’s summit in Bucharest from April 2 to 4.

“The second biggest NATO contingent, 60,000 troops, is there to protect all Kosovo’s citizens, the majority, the minority, Albanians and Serbs, so that Kosovo also has a future,” said Scheffer, according to the transcript of an address to a press conference published on the White House website.

The meeting between Bush and Scheffer lasted 45 minutes, and the main theme was the NATO presence in Afghanistan.

There was also talk of NATO expansion ahead of the Bucharest summit, as well as U.S. plans for deploying a rocket shield in Europe.

NATO candidates Albania, Croatia and Macedonia hope that they will be invited to join the Alliance, while Georgia and Ukraine have also applied for membership.

Moscow actively opposes the accession of the two ex-Soviet republics to NATO as well as the deployment of the missile shield in the Czech Republic or Poland.

The Shock of Recognition
Washington Post.Com
By Mark Kramer
March 2, 2008

Kosovo's decision to declare independence was a bad idea. The U.S. decision to recognize it was worse -- and not because it prompted a crowd of angry Serbs to torch the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade.

Even if the pint-size chunk of the Balkans does not degenerate into failed statehood like Sudan or Somalia, it almost certainly will remain in its current perilous condition and become a European bastion of criminality and human trafficking. Recognizing Kosovo also sends a bizarre message to separatist movements around the world: If you resort to violence, the West might support you; if you're peaceful, you haven't got a prayer.

That was certainly the message to Ibrahim Rugova and his Democratic League of Kosovo.

Rugova, a former professor of literature who used to hand out stones from his rock collection to visiting dignitaries (the more he liked you, the better the rock), formed his movement in late 1989 to offer peaceful resistance to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic had rescinded Kosovo's autonomy and clamped down on its majority Albanian population as part of his murderous plan to carve a "Greater Serbia" from the ashes of the former Yugoslavia. But for nearly a decade, Rugova received no support from Western countries, which largely ignored the region. The Dayton Agreement of 1995, ending the bloody war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, made no mention of Kosovo.

Not until the Albanian-run Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) came on the scene in 1997 with a guerrilla campaign against Serbian troops and terrorist attacks on civilians did the Clinton administration begin to pay attention to Kosovo, inadvertently rewarding the KLA and its terrorist violence. The KLA deliberately sought to provoke Serbian reprisals, and Milosevic, with his usual obtuse brutality, readily obliged.

As the fighting escalated, the United States and other NATO countries agreed to take military action to halt Milosevic's campaign of ethnic cleansing. But instead of dispatching ground troops, President Bill Clinton decided to rely solely on air power. The KLA in effect became NATO's boots on the ground.

So when Milosevic agreed in June 1999 to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo, the KLA, empowered by NATO's pixie dust, filled the vacuum. For the next 15 months, the KLA-led government alienated most of the 2.5 million people in Kosovo -- Albanians and Serbs alike -- by engaging in violence, extortion and other abuses, including by all accounts widespread drug and gun running.

In October 2000, the situation finally seemed to improve when protesters across Serbia overthrew Milosevic, and Rugova's party won overwhelmingly in Kosovo's parliamentary elections, far eclipsing the KLA and paving the way for Rugova's emergence as president. Rugova sought close ties with the United States, and for a while U.S. officials provided him with valuable economic and diplomatic support.

But the KLA refused to disappear and sought to weaken Rugova's position by provoking violence against the region's Serb minority, roughly 10 percent of the population. The United States, preoccupied with Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly stood by and allowed the KLA to reemerge through intimidation and force.

Then in January 2006, Rugova died of lung cancer. And in elections last November, the KLA regained power, seeming just as intolerant as ever. The new prime minister, Hashim Thaci, who hid out in the woods with Albanian guerrillas in the late 1990s, not only was involved in terrorist acts as a KLA leader but is also known for his ruthlessness.

So why, out of all the groups in the world that are seeking independence (the Tibetans, the Kurds, the Tamils and others), do the Albanian Kosovars deserve to be singled out and accorded this prize?

Apparently, in the wake of last year's elections, many Western leaders feared that violence might erupt in Kosovo unless independence was granted soon. As such, Washington's recognition of the newly named Kosova once again gives the impression that the Kosovars are being rewarded solely because they might otherwise turn violent. Other independence-minded minorities will realize that if they rely on peaceful tactics, they will risk being ignored.

The poisonous impact of this whole episode on Serbian politics was underscored by the embassy attack in Belgrade. Although moderate Serb politicians, including President Boris Tadic, swiftly condemned the violence, even they now feel compelled to emphasize nationalist themes. Those who spearheaded the peaceful overthrow of Milosevic's murderous regime are now in danger of being accused of facilitating the country's dismemberment. And resentment over the forced relinquishment of Kosovo is bound to simmer for many years and stoke regional tension.

Another risk is that Kosova, the poorest region in Europe, will become a failed state and possibly a terrorist haven. Its economy would have stopped functioning long ago without life support from the Unted Nations, the European Union and the United States. Even if Kosovar officials were economic wizards, they would have a hard time meeting popular expectations, which have soared with independence. Moreover, the ethnic divide will likely intensify. The prospect of further violent clashes between Serbs and Albanians seems all too real, and Thaci's government may respond with ethnic cleansing.

Having recognized Kosova's independence with almost no public debate, Washington and its friends in Western Europe should be on their guard. Be careful what you wish for.

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The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Official Website

Idhan Sipic sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment
Court of BiH
February 22, 2008

After consideration and acceptance of a plea agreement, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Friday delivered the first-instance verdict in the Idhan Sipic case, by which the accused Sipic was found guilty of War Crimes against Civilians and sentenced to eight (8) years of imprisonment. The Idhan Sipic case is the first Section I case completed by the acceptance of a plea agreement.

By the Trial Panel’s verdict, the accused Idhan Sipic was found guilty because on an undetermined date in mid September 1995, in late afternoon, in the village of Korjenovo brdo, near the village of Sanica, Kljuc Municipality, together with a person he knew, he entered the house of an unknown elderly woman of Serb ethnicity. The accused Sipic started attacking her immediately, intending to slit her throat, while she was crying and telling him that she has two sons in the Serb Army. After this, knowing that she is a civilian and having an intention of killing her, the accused took out a military bayonet, stubbed her in the neck and thus deprived her of life.

The time the accused Sipic spent in custody since 21 November 2007 shall be credited towards the imposed sentence.

ICTY: Zelenovic Transferred to Belgium
BIRN
February 27, 2008

Dragan Zelenovic has been transferred to Belgium, where he shall serve his 15-year sentence for crimes committed in Foca.

After the Appellate Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) confirmed the first instance verdict against Dragan Zelenovic in October last year, the former deputy commander of the Bosnian Serbs' military police forces has been transferred to Belgium where he will serve his 15-year prison term. The time he has spent in custody, from August 2005 up to date, will be calculated towards his sentence.

In January 2007, Zelenovic admitted guilt for seven rapes, including gang rapes, and the torture of women and girls committed in Foca in 1992. The youngest victim was 15 years old. The indictment alleged that Serbian forces took women and girls away and detained them in camps, where they were held in inhumane conditions and were brutally beaten and sexually abused. Apart from the detention camps, some women were also taken to private houses and apartments, where they were raped. Admitting guilt, Zelenovic said he regretted what he had done and expressed sympathy for the victims whom he had harmed. His regrets and admission of guilt were taken into consideration as a mitigating circumstance when the first instance verdict was pronounced in April 2007. Although Zelenovic appealed the pronounced sentence, claiming that the judges did not fully consider the mitigating circumstances and his readiness to cooperate with the Prosecution, the Appellate Chamber rejected his appeal and confirmed the verdict.

The Court of BiH sentenced Gojko Jankovic to 34 years and Radovan Stankovic to 20 years in prison for mass rapes of women and girls in Foca. In May last year, Stankovic managed to flee from the Correctional Facility in Foca.

Radic et al: Psychiatric Findings
BIRN Justice Report
February 28, 2008

An expert psychiatrist has determined that inductee Damir Brekalo is fit to stand trial and appear at court for four hours or up to seven and eight hours with breaks. Psychiatrist Senadin Ljubovic, court expert deployed by the Trial Chamber sitting in the case of four former members of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), ruled that Brekalo "can participate in the court proceedings" but his "strength is reduced in comparison to other individuals who do not have any injuries." "Brekalo can participate at the trial for four hours per day, with no breaks. Irrespective of that, there is a possibility of emotional outbursts, in which case he should be allowed to take a one-hour break in order to calm down and re-establish control," Ljubovic said, adding that the report was formulated on the basis of the medical documentation supplied by the Trial Chamber.

According to the medical reports, Brekalo was shot in his head in April 1995. He was then operated on in Split. The court expert indicated that he was hurt on the front right of his head. The State Prosecution charges Brekalo, Marko Radic, Dragan Sunjic and Mirko Vracevic with responsibility for crimes committed at Vojno detention camp near Mostar, where men, women and children were detained, during 1993 and 1994. The indictment alleges that the detainees were tortured, mistreated, raped and forced to perform hard labor, and some were killed in Vojno. Brekalo's Defense asked the court expert if his client needed a new operation on his head. The court expert said that an operation was "needed", but he "does not know if it is needed urgently" as he was not a neurosurgeon. Neuropsychiatrist Alma Bravo-Mehmedbasic also presented her findings at the hearing. The State Prosecution asked her to assess the mental capability of protected witness AG, who was due to testify at the trial. "At this moment witness AG is not capable of appearing at the court, as her testimony would deteriorate her condition cause by post-traumatic stress disorder. Witness AG survived a catastrophic experience. She was raped a number of times," Bravo-Mehmedbasic said, adding that witness AG told her that in the three months of her detention there were only five days when she was not raped. Mehmedbasic said that witness AG is "capable of answering questions which do not go deep into her trauma," but when you started talking about that she "becomes distracted, starts crying and shaking."

The State Prosecution also presented, as material evidence not mentioned in the indictment, an extract from the necrology, by which the Prosecution "proves that people were killed in the detention camp", as well as a list of soldiers of the First HVO Battalion who said that Radic was their commander. The Defense objected but the Trial Chamber decided to admit the documents. The trial is due to continue on March 6, when witness AG's statement will be read in the courtroom.

Bosnian Serb guards jailed for prison camp abuse
Reuters
By Maja Zuvela
February 28, 2008

SARAJEVO, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Bosnia's war crimes court on Thursday jailed two Bosnian Serbs for persecuting non-Serbs in a prison camp in the eastern town of Foca during the 1992-95 war.

Savo Todovic, 55, and Mitar Rasevic, 58, were jailed for 12-1/2 and 8-1/2 years respectively after being convicted of a joint criminal enterprise to imprison non-Serbs and keep them in inhuman conditions.

"They participated in a widespread and systematic attack of the Serb Republic army, police and paramilitary units aimed at the non-Serb population in Foca," the judicial council said.

Foca was the scene of some of the worst atrocities in the war that claimed more than 100,000 lives. Todovic was deputy warden of the prison, which was used as a camp, and Rasevic supervised at least 37 guards there, the indictment said.

The two men were transferred from the United Nations war crimes tribunal in 2006 to stand trial at the state court which was set up the year before to try lower- and mid-level cases.

The U.N. court in The Hague has so far transferred 10 suspects to the Bosnian court as part of its strategy to focus on the remaining top Balkan suspects before it closes in 2010.

BiH Court: It is necessary to build state prison
BIRN Justice Report
February 29, 2008

The President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has reminded the public that it is necessary to build a state prison as soon as possible and complete the war crimes processing strategy. Meddzida Kreso, President of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, believes the building of the state prison is paramount in order to make the Court fully efficient. "It is absolutely necessary to build the state prison, otherwise our work will be questioned.

The existing prison system is not good enough and we cannot send the convicts to prison since there is not enough room for them," Kreso said. During her meeting with journalists in Sarajevo on February 29, the Court President said that she did not have any new pieces of information regarding the escape of convict Radovan Stankovic. The Court sentenced Stankovic to 20 years imprisonment for war crimes committed in Foca municipality. He was sentenced, among other things, for having raped girls and young women detained in the so-called "Karaman kuca", which Republika Srpska Army soldiers used to call a brothel. Originally, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia at The Hague filed an indictment against Stankovic, but he was then referred to Sarajevo so he could be tried there. He has been on the run since his escape from Foca prison in late May 2007. "The Hague Tribunal asked us a short time ago if we had any new pieces of information concerning Stankovic and I am afraid that this is what I am going to say in response," Kreso said.

The State Court President expressed concern over the slowness of preparing and processing war crimes investigations. "The State Prosecution leads the process of preparation of this strategy. In order to design the strategy, we must have accurate figures concerning the number of potential suspects who will be processed. The public speculates with various figures, ranging from 13,000 to 16,000, but it is not clear whether these figures refer to the number of cases or suspects. This has to be clearly determined," she said.

Kreso further elaborated on her frustration with preparing the state strategy, which has already been underway for almost two years. During this year, the Court expects an increased number of war crime cases and cases which will be processed by appellate chambers. New judges have therefore been appointed. Currently there are 36 local and 17 international judges employed with this institution. According to the plans, by the end of 2009, all staff employed with the Court of Bosnia should be local. However, the Court President said that she and other competent staff followed "the local political situation" over whether there may be a need to extend the mandate of international personnel.

Mitar Raševic and Savo Todovic found guilty of Crimes against Humanity
Court of BiH
February 29, 2008

On 28 February 2008, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina pronounced the first-instance verdict in the case against Mitar Raševic and another, by which Mitar Raševic and Savo Todovic were found guilty of the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity. Mitar Raševic was sentenced to eight (8) years and six (6) months of imprisonment while Savo Todovic was sentenced to twelve (12) years and six (6) months of imprisonment.

The operative part of the Verdict, among other things, reads as follows: Mitar Raševic, as the guards commander, in charge of supervising at least thirty-seven (37) prison guards, and Savo Todovic, as the deputy warden of the Foca KP Dom, during the period from April 1992 to October 1994, participated in establishing and maintaining a system of punishment and mistreatment of detainees. In early July 1993, Savo Todovic and other guards mistreated and beat one prisoner on his arms using a chain. Further, the operative part of the verdict holds that the guards under the command of Mitar Raševic and civil and military policemen entered the KP Dom and beat the detainees with batons, axe-handles and fists, asking them if they had hidden weapons. During the period from April 1992 to October 1994, Mitar Raševic and Savo Todovic contributed to establishing and maintaining poor living conditions in the camp. Savo Todovic threatened prisoners with serious bodily harm if they violated prison rules, attempted to escape or refused to work. All the time, the detainees were locked in the cells, except when they were lined up and taken to the canteen to eat or to work duties. Solitary confinement cells were used as a means of intimidation and threats. Due to such conditions, the health of many detainees was seriously deteriorated so in April or May 1992, two (2) detainees died, one (1) succumbed to the consequences of beating and one (1) committed suicide by hanging.

Mitar Raševic and Savo Todovic, during the period from May 1992 to October 1994, participated in the establishment of a system of forced labor. Mitar Raševic monitored their assignments inside and outside the KP Dom and assigned guards that would take them to work, while Savo Todovic made lists of which detainees would be working where and personally assigned tasks to detainees. During the period from July 1993 to October 1994, around eighty (80) detainees were transported from the Foca KP Dom to the detention facilities in Kalinovik, Rudo and “Kula”, so that no detainee remained at the Foca KP Dom, because on 4 or 5 October 1994, Mitar Raševic personally transported around sixty (60) detainees to the “Kula” detention facility. On or about 17 September 1992, between thirty-five (35) and sixty (60) detainees were taken out of the KP Dom compound for the alleged purpose of picking plums but were actually taken in an unknown direction. During the period from June 1992 to March 1993, at least two hundred (200) Muslim and other non-Serb detainees were deported and transferred to unknown places.

The accused are acquitted of charges that, during the period from April 1992 to October 1994, they participated in establishing and maintaining a system of punishment and mistreatment of detainees committed by the guards and the civil and military police and the military. During April and May 1992, after military policemen arrested and brought in three (3) civilians to the Foca KP Dom, they interrogated and beat them to force them to confess that they were members of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA). The beatings caused one (1) of civilians to faint twice. On at least two occasions, the guards and military policemen tortured and beat one (1) detainee, as a result of which he suffered three broken ribs. Further, the guards and military policemen abused seven (7) other detainees, one of whom suffered a broken jaw, and confined to the solitary cell.

The time that the accused spent in custody, pursuant to the Decision of the ICTY and the Decision of the Court of BiH, will be credited towards the sentence, namely for Mitar Raševic as of 15 August 2003 until the referral to serve the sentence, and for Savo Todovic as of 15 January 2005 until the referral to serve the sentence.

Pursuant to the Decision of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of 4 September 2006, this case was referred to the authorities of BiH for further procedure. On 3 October 2006, the accused were transferred to the territory of BiH.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Genocide Victims Over 1.7 Million - New Figures Show
Rwanda News Agency/Agence Rwandaise d'Information (Kigali)
February 29, 2008

During the 100-day killing frenzy in 1994, over 1,740,000 persons were massacred in horifying conditions as an indifferent international community stood by and watched, figures in a new book indicate.

The figures are contained in the just published book 'HOTEL RWANDA OR THE TUTSI GENOCIDE AS SEEN BY HOLLYWOOD' by Senior Presidential Aide Dr. Alfred Ndahiro and Mr. Privat Rutazibwa - a reknowned local Researcher.

For 14 years now, both local and international media, and numerous authors that have written on the Genocide, report victims as "about 800.000" or "over 500.000", based commonly on estimates by the United Nations.

Mr. Rutazibwa told RNA on Friday that their findings are from a Rwanda Ministry of Local Government (MINALOC) research done in the year 2000 but has yet to be made public.

"I was not part of the research team but considering the approach and diversity of the team that was used to collect information from across the country, I believe the MINALOC findings are more credible", said Rutazibwa.

The Ministry of Local Government research findings were also at the centre of a workshop this week organised by a local think-tank the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP). Delegates were of the view that the research should be made public to end the use of unfounded estimates being thrown around.

The 103-page new book, in both french and English pokes at Hollywood acclaimed figure Rwandan Mr. Paul Rusesabagina, whose story was based on to shoot the film 'Hotel Rwanda' in South Africa by HBO Studios.

The story goes that as the Genocide militias rampaged in Kigali beginning April 1994, Mr. Rusesabagina, as Manager of the up-scale Hotel des Mille Colline, invited and protected over 1200 people from death.

After the film hit the box-office in 2000, it put the spotlight onto a man who had been a taxi driver in Belgium since he fled Rwanda. 'Hotel Rwanda' received numerous nominations of prestgious awards but got none. Mr. Rusesabagina is also a proud reciepient of top U.S. government honors.

The film brought Mr. Rusesabagina fame and money that he has used to establish a foundation that he claims is supporting orphans and widows of the Genocide, a suggestion bitterly contested by the new book.

In a recent interview with BBC Great Lakes Service, Mr. Rusesabagina himself could not name or even give any numbers of the beneficiaries from his foundation's support. The book suggests the huge sums of dollars from generous donors are instead channeled to fund rebel activities to topple the establishment in Kigali

The international spotlight, according to some commentators has framed Mr. Rusesabagina to believe he can be a formidable political force back home. He is also believed to be behind PDR-IHUMURE group of exiled politicians.

Researchers Dr. Alfred Ndahiro and Mr. Privat Rutazibwa say Mr. Rusesabagina has claimed false credit for saving people - most of who dispute he did anything to help them. Mr. Rusesabagina has said on various fora that he housed and fed all the people freely, but survivors from the Hotel report in the book that they paid for their up-keep even when the food was provided by the Red Cross.

ICTR transfers Ruggiu to Italy
The New Times
February 29, 2008

Georges Omar Ruggiu, the only non-Rwandan convicted and sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), has been transferred to Italy to serve the remainder of his sentence, the tribunal has said.

The UN-backed court said in a statement yesterday that the transfer came after Ruggiu, 51, "surrendered to a high level delegation of the International Police Cooperation Service of the Italian Ministry of Interior."

The transfer follows an agreement on enforcement of sentences signed between the Government of Italy and the United Nations on 17 March 2004 and a recent decision of the fourth Criminal Section of the Appeals Court of Rome recognizing the ICTR sentence and authorizing its enforcement in Italy, the Tanzania-based court said.

A Belgian national, Ruggiu, worked with Radio Television Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) from January, 1994 to July, 1994, at the time of Genocide.

RTLM was a hate radio that propagated genocide ideology.

He was arrested during the ICTR Prosecutor’s operation codenamed NAKI (Nairobi-Kenya) on July 23, 1997 in Mombasa, Kenya, by Kenyan authorities, after which he was immediately transferred to the tribunal’s detention facility in Arusha, Tanzania. Ruggiu was the eighth accused person to be convicted by the tribunal and the third to plead guilty to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Rwanda in 1994.

Ruggiu pleaded guilty to counts of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity. He was on June 1, 2000 sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Country Adopts Genocide Bill
The Monitor (Kampala)
By Robert Mukombozi
February 24, 2008

THE Rwandan government has adopted a new Bill on genocide aiming to pave way for the quick trial of a bulk of genocide related cases throughout the country.

The Chamber of Deputies (Lower House) on Thursday unanimously voted for the Bill arguing it would enable the country deal with the more pressing issue of providing justice to genocide victims, while bringing the culprits to book in normal judicial systems.

"The primary motive of bringing this Bill forward is to ensure that the mandate as well as jurisdiction of traditional Gacaca courts is extended to enable us deal with the bulk of genocide cases that still remain unresolved until now," Rwanda's Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama told legislators while presenting the Bill.

Mr Karugarama says while Gacaca courts have managed to handle about a million cases since their establishment more than 7,000 genocide related cases in category one remain have not been heard.

Such delays, he said are a challenge in a country like Rwanda that is still building her judiciary that was ravaged by the 1994 genocide that claimed close to a million people.

"If this bill gets your consent we shall then be able to ensure that all genocide victims receive justice, while those who committed the atrocities are brought to book as prompt as possible," Mr Karugarama said.

Among the primary proposals highlighted in the Bill include the division of mandate as well as empowerment of the Gacaca courts.

Path to justice

Ordinary courts must deal with cases involving planners of the genocide at both national and provincial levels, while Gacaca handles executors, says Mr Karugarama.

In this regard, the Justice Minister said it will, in the process, be easier for the two courts to handle the remaining bulk of genocide related cases, which if only handled by ordinary courts would take over four years.

And where ordinary people can't get evidence to pin planners of the genocide, government will be having the capacity under classical courts to institute investigations and source evidence against the culprits.

He explained that the same Bill if enacted would facilitate easy handling of genocide cases that will be emerging from across the globe after the closure of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and Gacaca courts.

At the same time rape victims among other cases of sexual violence will be heard in camera.

However, legislators expressed concern over the increasing insecurity of genocide survivors, and also asked the justice ministry to consider educating Gacaca court leaders in a bid to empower them with capacity to handle category one genocide cases.

The ICTR is the most prominent aspect of transitional justice in Rwanda, but Rwanda wants to use her institutions to address the consequences and legacy of the genocide.

The Rwandan government originally took a purely retributive attitude toward transitional justice, focusing entirely on criminal prosecutions of alleged participants in the genocide.

But the country's criminal justice system was so badly damaged by the genocide, and the number of accused participants so great, that criminal trials of the more than 130,000 persons imprisoned would have taken roughly 113 years by one estimate.

Meanwhile Bill has been forwarded to the parliamentary commission charged with genocide ideology for scrutiny.

Paris Approves Transfer of Ntwaukuriryayo to ICTR
Hirondelle News Agency
February 21, 2008

Paris, 21 February 2008 (FH) - The lawyers for genocide suspect, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, announced Wednesday their intention to file to the Court of Appeal against the decision of a lower court's order to transfer the accused to the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), trying key suspects of the 1994 slaughter.

Ntawukuriryayo, a former sub-prefect of Gisagara during the 1994 genocide, has been in detention in France since 16 October following a warrant of arrest issued by the ICTR on 21 September, 2007. He was arrested in southern French town of Carcassonne.

His indictment says he co-ordinated the killing of up to 25,000 Tutsis at Kabuye Hill near Gisagara over a five-day period in April 1994.

The court of appeal of Paris on 14 November 2007 ordered his transfer but the decision was quashed by the final court of appeal. The case was then filed in another court.

Meanwhile, the investigation chamber has scheduled for 21 May examination of the extradition request of Isaac Kamali, filed by the Rwandan government.

The French magistrates have requested from the Rwandan authorities more precise details of charges against Mr Kamali, who has obtained French citizenship since his arrival in France.

Kigali accuses him of genocide and of crimes against humanity in Gitarama. He was sentenced to death in absentia by a Rwandan court, but the death penalty has now been abolished.

It has been reliably learnt that France also seeks to know if Mr Kamali will be tried by a criminal court or the traditional Gacaca, which are presided not by professional judges, but by people who are of high integrity in the community.

The French magistrates will also have to verify if Mr Kamali still benefits from his refugee status after obtaining a French citizenship.

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Iraqi High Tribunal

Official Website of the Iraqi High Tribunal
Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog

Iraq's "Chemical Ali" to hang within days-officials
Reuters
By Ahmed Rasheed and Mariam Karouny
February 29, 2008

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "Chemical Ali", Saddam Hussein's cousin convicted for his role in killing up to 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s, will hang within days after Iraq's presidency council approved his execution, officials said on Friday.

The council, made up of President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two vice-presidents, gave the green light for Ali Hassan al-Majeed to be hanged.

He was convicted of directing the Anfal military campaign against ethnic Kurds in 1988 and acquired his nickname because of the poison gas used to kill many of them.

Along with Saddam's former defense minister, Sultan Hashem, and a former army commander, Hussein Rashid Muhammed, Majeed was sentenced to death last June, but legal wrangling held up his execution.

His hanging has long been sought by Kurds.

"They approved it two days ago," a source at the presidency council told Reuters, without explaining why the decision had been kept secret.

Majeed's reputation for ruthless use of force to crush opponents won him widespread notoriety during Saddam's rule and led many Iraqis to fear him more than the Iraqi leader himself.

Asked when Majeed would be hanged, an adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said: "It will be a matter of days."

The two officials said it would be up to Maliki's government to set a date for the execution.

The U.S. military, which has custody of Majeed and other former members of Saddam's government, said it had not received a request to hand him over to the Iraqi authorities, which would signal that his execution was imminent.

Saddam and three members of his government have already been executed.

Saddam's execution in December 2006 sparked anger among Sunni Arabs, who were outraged by a video showing the ousted leader being hanged to sectarian taunts from official observers.

His half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was executed two weeks later in a botched hanging in which he was decapitated.

AT ODDS WITH MALIKI

Majeed's death sentence last June was widely cheered by Iraqis, but Talabani and Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, opposed the execution of his co-accused, arguing military men should not suffer such a punishment for following orders from their political masters.

That put them at odds with Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist whose fellow Shi'ites suffered terribly under Saddam's minority Sunni Arab rule. He wanted the executions to be swiftly carried out.

Government officials argued the presidency council's approval was not even required, but U.S. forces refused to hand over the prisoners until the dispute was resolved.

"Our position remains that we will comply with a request to transfer custody once the government of Iraq has arrived at a consensus as to the legal process that must be followed with regard to these executions, and then follows that process," White House National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said on Friday.

"We have not yet received a government of Iraq request in this regard," Johndroe said.

The legal wrangle held up the execution of the three, who were due to have gone to the gallows within days of an Iraqi appeals court upholding their death sentences last September.

But a compromise solution now appears to have been worked out to go ahead with the execution of Majeed while the dispute over his two co-accused is left to another day to be settled.

"Today, there are no words to describe my pleasure. All I can do is feel this happiness inside because I have no one to share it with," said Nuri Abdul-Rahman, 65, who lost five of his sons and a grandson during the Anfal campaign.

(Additional reporting by Shamal Aqrawi; Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Iraq Approves Execution of ‘Chemical Ali’
The New York Times
By Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Ahmed Fadam
March 1, 2008

BAGHDAD — Iraqi leaders say they have found a way to execute Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as Chemical Ali and one of Saddam Hussein’s most notorious henchmen.

Mr. Majid was sentenced to death last June, and the approval of his execution follows months of struggling with a legal quandary that seemed to mean his hanging would also send to the gallows a respected former general whose execution was opposed by several top Iraqi leaders and American commanders.

Officials from Iraq’s three-member Presidency Council said Friday that Mr. Majid would be turned over by his American jailers and executed shortly.

“The presidential council decree to execute Ali Hassan al-Majid was approved,” said Laith Shubbar, an official in the office of Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi. An American military spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Presidency Council, which previously blocked the execution, consists of Mr. Mahdi, who is Shiite; Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, who is Sunni, and President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd.

The Web site of Mr. Talabani’s political party, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, also reported that the execution had been approved and would be carried out within 30 days.

No one within the senior ranks of either the Iraqi or American governments had ever objected to the execution, specifically, of Mr. Majid.

He was sentenced to death last summer after an Iraqi tribunal found him guilty of leading the so-called Anfal operation in the late 1980s that killed as many as 180,000 Kurds.

The problem was that his case, and his fate, was tied to that of the former general, Sultan Hashem Ahmed al-Jabouri al-Tai, a Sunni and former defense minister, who was a military leader in the Anfal operation. He was sentenced to death at the same time as Mr. Majid.

Mr. Talabani and Mr. Hashemi have both so far refused to ratify the death sentence of Mr. Hashem, who they have said was a professional military commander, and many Sunni leaders say he was simply a soldier following the orders of Mr. Mr. Majid.

Senior American commanders also worried about how executing Mr. Hashem would affect efforts to persuade the nation’s Sunni population to reconcile with an Iraqi government now dominated by Shiites.

It remains unclear what will happen to Mr. Hashem, who continues to be held by the American military.

Powerful Shiite political leaders, including allies of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, still want him executed.

As long as the Presidency Council objects to putting him to death, American officials are likely to continue to resist turning Mr. Hashem over to Iraqi custody, a move that would almost certainly mean an immediate execution.

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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
Official Website of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Liberia

Press Release - Appeals Chamber Upholds Sentences of Convicted AFRC Leaders
Special Court for Sierra Leone
February 22, 2008

Appeals Chamber Upholds Sentences of Convicted AFRC Leaders

The Special Court’s Appeals Chamber today upheld long sentences for three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC). Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara, and Santigie Borbor Kanu were each convicted last June on 11 of 14 counts for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other serious violations of international humanitarian law. Brima and Kanu each received sentences of 50 years, while Kamara received a 45 year sentence.

All three defendants appealed their convictions, with Brima appealing on 12 grounds, Kamara on 13, and Kanu on 19. In a Appeal Judgment summary read out in Court by Presiding Judge Justice George Gelaga King, the Court dismissed all of the Defendants’ appeals.

The Prosecution also entered nine grounds of appeal against the Trial Court judgment, including appeals against the Trial Chamber’s dismissal of the count of forced marriage and the Prosecution’s pleading of Joint Criminal Enterprise in the indictment.

In its judgment, the Trial Chamber dismissed the count of forced marriage as an “other inhumane act”, ruling by a majority that it was not significantly different from other counts of rape and sexual slavery. The Appeals Chamber upheld the Prosecution’s appeal in part.

The Appeals Chamber found that acts of forced marriage amount to a separate crime under international law. This is the first such finding by any international court. The Appeals Chamber, however, declined to enter new convictions.

The Appeals Chamber also reversed a Trial Chamber decision that the Prosecution had not properly pleaded the issue of Joint Criminal Enterprise. The Appeals Chamber found that the common criminal purpose of the Joint Criminal Enterprise was properly pleaded in the indictment, but it did not enter additional convictions.

The Appeals Chamber rejected an appeal by the appellants for a reduction in their sentences. Justice Gelaga King read from the Trial Chamber record a list of crimes found to have been committed by the accused to underscore the gravity of the offences.

“The Trial Chamber found Brima, Kamara and Kanu responsible ‘for some of the most heinous, brutal and atrocious crimes ever recorded in human history. Innocent civilians – babies, children, men and women of all ages – were murdered by being shot, hacked to death, burned alive, beaten to death. Women and young girls were gang raped to death...Hacking off the limbs of innocent civilians was commonplace. The victims were babies, young children and men and women of all ages...Children were forcibly taken
away from their families, often drugged and used as child soldiers who were trained to kill and commit other brutal crimes against the civilian population’.”

“The Appeals Chamber is, therefore, satisfied that having regard to that finding the Trial Chamber was justified in imposing a prison sentence of 50 years on the Appellant Alex Tamba Brima, 45 years on the Appellant Brima Bazzy Kamara, and 50 years on Santigie Borbor Kanu,” Justice Gelaga King said.

“The Appeal Chamber therefore finds no reason to interfere with the quanta of the sentences of imprisonment passed on the appellants.”

Africa's test for international justice
BBC News
by Olenka Frenkiel
February 26, 2008

Charles Taylor's trial for alleged war crimes at the Hague is a test for international justice. Will it bring accountability to the continent of Africa or will it be seen as a new colonialism in what some Africans regard as "a white man's court"?

"A small unit of boy soldiers brought another small boy, crying and screaming. They put his right arm on a log, took a machete, and amputated it at the wrist," says the man in the witness box.

"The boy was shouting: 'What have I done that you are doing this to me?'

"They took the left arm again and put it on the same log and sliced it off. He was still screaming and shouting. They took the left leg and put it on the same log and cut it off at the ankle.

"At last they took the right leg and put it on the same log and cut it off with the machete. They were swinging the boy. They threw him into a toilet pit. I was there. I saw it myself."

Pastor Teh, a small man with broken teeth is describing his capture by RUF rebels during the war in Sierra Leone.

He speaks in Creole while, from a booth, an invisible voice translates.

He is one of hundreds of witnesses being flown to the Hague to testify in the Charles Taylor trial.

The defendant, quiet and dapper in a dark suit, sits in the dock day after day, taking notes.

Diamonds

The former president of Liberia is charged with war crimes, though not for what he did in his own country, which is another story.

No-one here claims that he carried out the atrocities in Sierra Leone himself. The prosecution's case is that Charles Taylor armed the rebels in Sierra Leone to terrorise the population and win control of the country's diamonds.

The fact that he did this from a distance does not, the prosecution argue, mitigate his crimes. It does, however, make them harder to prove.

The case, according to the court's Chief Prosecutor, Stephen Rapp, rests on linkage.

"We have to show the connection to Taylor, that he knew the RUF was targeting civilians for murder, for mutilations, for rape, and sexual slavery. That they were recruiting children under 15 to commit horrible acts. If he knew that, and he nonetheless aided them, then he is guilty of the crime."

A lot to prove

But Mr Taylor's lawyer, Courtenay Griffiths QC, says backing rebels in a foreign country is not a war crime.

"Or else George Bush and Tony Blair would also be on trial. My case is he should not be on trial at all. He is being tried for his foreign policy. There is nothing to distinguish between what he has done and what other leaders in the West have done historically.

"Why start with an African? Why has it got to be a black man? Why not start with the Americans who have been misbehaving in other people's countries for decades?"

Moral equivalence - invoking Iraq or colonialism or Cold War dirty tricks - may feel like a weak defence but it carries weight in a world where international justice still has a lot to prove.

If Mr Taylor goes down, the prosecution argues, it will be an important signal to Africa's leaders - not just a step towards the noble goals of "good governance" and "accountability" - but a genuine result for the injured civilians, the amputees, and their children, for potential future victims, those for whom the idea of international justice and "never again" was conceived.

But it is for Africa that there is most at stake in this trial and all those watching from the wings.

"If Taylor's convicted, there will be an expectation of justice. That leaders will be held to account," says Stephen Rapp.

But will it be transparent, fair, and just - not only in the eyes of the world but for the country from which he comes?

'Not justice'

In Liberia, Charles Taylor still has supporters who see him as a pan-African hero maligned by the superpowers in a neo-colonialist masquerade of justice.

He won a presidential election by a landslide in 1997 and many believe he could do it again.

In 2003, he stood down and took refuge in Nigeria, only to be handed over in handcuffs to the special court of Sierra Leone who flew him far away from his peers and countrymen to be tried in what some Africans regard as a "white man's court".

In The Hague there was some interest on the first day of his trial. But since the press moved on there have been weeks of unreported "closed sessions" where unnamed witnesses have given testimony in camera without press or public, or transcripts for the outside world to view.

Even his defence lawyer is forbidden from revealing the evidence which may convict his client for war crimes, evidence which may well send him to live out his days in a British jail.

"It is not justice," says Mr Griffiths. "But politics".

"If he is convicted then I think it is a sad day for Africa.

"It is meant to set a precedent that in future the West will say to African leaders they don't like, such as Robert Mugabe, 'This is what is going to happen to you if you step out of line.'

"And if you don't do as you are told, as leader of a vassal third-world state like Liberia, we will arrest you, transport you to the Hague, and put you on trial in the ICC."

Mr Taylor may be a very bad man indeed, but Mr Griffiths is entitled to use any weakness he can find in the prosecution case. And when the good guys lose their moral authority it spoils it for everyone, except perhaps Mr Taylor.

International justice can only work if it is seen to be blind and fair, with each man equal under the law.

Would we accept the terms of this trial if it were Mr Rumsfeld, Mr Bush, or Mr Blair in the dock?

Taylor trail witness in hiding: SCSL chief prosecutor
Jurist
by Katerina Ossenova
February 28, 2008

A key witness in the war crimes trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor has been moved into hiding after being threatened for testifying before the Special Court for Sierra Leone, chief prosecutor Stephen Rapp said Thursday. Varmuyan Sherif, one of Taylor's former bodyguards, testified in January that Taylor had supplied weapons, cash and gear to militia involved in Sierra Leone's 10-year civil war [BBC backgrounder], which ended in 2002. Other potential witnesses have also received threats, while still others have testified in closed door sessions for fear of retaliation from Taylor's supporters. AP has more .

Also Thursday, Rapp said in an AFP interview that he was close to seizing $600 million of Taylor's assets, thought to have been stolen from the Liberian treasury or obtained from trafficking in blood diamonds. Rapp said he is working with a special team from the British government to ensure that the assets are distributed to victims in Sierra Leone and Liberia. In July 2007, the Liberian government submitted a draft bill [JURIST report] to the country's legislature to authorize the government to seek foreign assistance to track, freeze and confiscate Taylor's funds, properties and assets. Taylor faces eleven charges , including murder, rape, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers during the bloody civil war in Sierra Leone .

War crimes trial help up so Charles Taylor can rest
Reuters Africa
February 28, 2008

AMSTERDAM, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Charles Taylor's war crimes trial was adjourned on Thursday until Monday so the former Liberian President can rest on doctor's advice, a spokesman for the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone said. "He wasn't feeling well a few days back," the spokesman said on Thursday.

"The doctor said it wasn't serious but he needed some rest. He came to court yesterday and today but the defence counsel asked for an adjournment so he could rest on doctor's advice."

Taylor, once one of Africa's most feared warlords, faces charges of rape, murder, mutilation and recruitment of child soldiers at the court, set up to try those most responsible for the 1991-2002 conflict.

The trial is being held in The Hague because of fears it could spur instability if held in Sierra Leone.

The 60-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all charges. His trial was delayed for six months after opening in June 2007 after he appealed for more resources to fund his defence.

The court had hoped for a rapid trial, after seeing previous international war crimes trials dogged by lengthy legal arguments or posturing by the accused, notably the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

Milosevic died in jail before a verdict was reached in his marathon trial, prompting a storm of criticism about the fact his case was allowed to drag on for more than four years. (Reporting by Catherine Hornby; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

War crimes prosecutor has Taylor blood-diamond haul in sights
Agence France Presse
February 28, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — The prosecutor in the Charles Taylor war crimes trial said Thursday he was closing in on a 600 million dollar (400 million euros) blood-diamond haul amassed by the former Liberia president.

"We're working on the Taylor assets with a special team from the British government (to) make them available to victims both in Sierra Leone and Liberia," Stephen Rapp said in an interview with AFP in The Hague.

"We believe there are some assets that are still there, they are not in his name but there is the ability to (...) bring them back," Rapp said.

Since his trial opened on January 7, a total of 18 witnesses have testified to Taylor's role during neighbouring Sierra Leone's bloody 1991-2001 civil war, and Rapp said they had helped him to build a "strong and compelling case."

The Special Court for Sierra Leone is pursuing Taylor on 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Taylor, 59, is specifically accused of controlling rebel forces in Sierra Leone who went on a blood diamond-funded rampage of killing, mutilation and rape during the civil war. He denies the charges.

"If the judges convict him for pillage, in part for pillaging the diamonds in Sierra Leone, we can then go back to the court after that judgement and say 'these diamonds were worth X amount of money, so we want a judgement for X million dollars'," Rapp said.

"We can then enforce that judgement against his assets and ask an order for restitution to the victims and the Sierra Leone government."

Rapp said the sums amounted to "600 million dollars" which were "stolen from the Liberian treasury" and largely composed of diamonds taken from Sierra Leone during the war.

He added that countries with banking secrecy laws are "increasingly willing to cooperate (...) particularly when talking about individuals involved in war crimes, in a brutal civil war."

Taylor's defence team have mounted stern cross-examination of the witnesses brought to testify against him, with Rapp adding that persistent intimidation has meant an extensive witness protection programme being implemented.

"We offer temporary relocation while (the witness's) situation is evaluated. At the end of the day some of them may have to be relocated to another country or continent.

"Generally they're not going back home immediately after their testimony. There have been threats, they are being investigated and pursued.

"Whatever the situation, we will seek the strongest protective measures to make sure the witness is not at risk," Rapp said.

He said eight crucial insiders were able to testify to links "between Taylor and the people who physically perpetrated the crimes", the "totality" of their testimonies shaping "a strong and compelling case."

"We'll show that it's possible to hold a chief of state responsible for these massive crimes," Rapp added.

Sierra Leone 's civil war left some 120,000 people dead and thousands more mutilated.

[back to contents]

UN Reports

Ex-Minister in Rwanda Arrested and Brought Before UN Genocide Tribunal
UN News Service
February 19, 2008

A former Rwandan government official has been arrested and handed over to the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the genocide to face trial over his alleged role in the mass killings that engulfed the small African country in 1994.

Callixte Nzabonimana, who served as minister of youth and sports in Rwanda’s interim government in 1994, was arrested yesterday in the Tanzanian town of Kigoma and transferred today to Arusha, site of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). He is soon expected to make an initial appearance before a judge at the ICTR.

Mr. Nzabonimana, 55, is facing six charges, including counts of genocide, making direct and public incitements to commit genocide, and conspiracy to commit genocide.

The indictment against the former minister said he conspired with others to devise a plan to exterminate Rwanda’s civilian Tutsi population and eliminate members of the political opposition.

Mr. Nzabonimana, a former member of the Mouvement Républicain National pour le Développement et la Démocratie (MNRD), is jointly charged with six others: Augustin Bizimana, Edouard Karemera, Andre Rwamakuba, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, Joseph Nzirorera and Felicien Kabuga.

The Security Council set up the ICTR in 1994 in the wake of that year’s genocide, during which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered – mostly by machete or club – in just 100 days starting in early April.

Former Bosnian Croat Leaders Granted Temporary Leave by UN War Crimes Tribunal
UN News Service
February 20, 2008

Five former senior Bosnian Croat figures facing trial over their actions during the Balkan wars of the 1990s have been granted temporary release by the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the worst crimes of that era.

Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague, ordered today that the five men be released from tomorrow until 4 May, a day before the defence case in their collective trial – known as the Prlic and others case – is scheduled to begin.

Under the conditions of the release, the accused will reside in Croatia and the authorities in that country will provide all necessary security measures and ensure the return of the men to the ICTY’s custody. All five are also expected to appear before the Tribunal for hearings on 17 and 26 March and a pre-defence conference on 21 April.

The men being released are Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic and Valentin Coric, while the other man facing trial in the case is Berislav Pušic. All six have previously been granted temporarily release from ICTY detention during earlier court recesses.

The accused, former high-level leaders in the Bosnian Croat wartime entity known as Herceg-Bosna, stand accused of war crimes committed in 1992 and 1993 against Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats in south-western and central Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially the municipalities of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuški, Stolac, Capljina and Vareš.

The many charges include murder, rape, unlawful deportation, imprisonment, cruel treatment, unlawful labour, the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, and persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds.

Rwandan Ex-Minister Pleads Not Guilty to 11 Charges Before UN Genocide Tribunal
UN News Service
February 21, 2008

A former Rwandan government minister has pleaded not guilty to 11 charges during his first appearance before the United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the 1994 genocide in the small country.

Callixte Nzabonimana, 55, who served as minister of youth and sports in Rwanda’s interim government in 1994, made the plea yesterday before Judge Dennis Byron of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is based in Arusha, Tanzania.

The charges against Mr. Nzabonimana include genocide, making direct and public incitements to commit genocide, and violations of the Geneva Conventions.

The indictment states that the ex-minister conspired with others to devise a plan to exterminate Rwanda’s civilian Tutsi population and eliminate members of the political opposition.

A former member of the Mouvement Républicain National pour le Développement et la Démocratie (MNRD), Mr. Nzabonimana is jointly charged with six others: Augustin Bizimana, Edouard Karemera, Andre Rwamakuba, Mathieu Ngirumpatse, Joseph Nzirorera and Felicien Kabuga.

He was arrested on Monday in the Tanzanian town of Kigoma and transferred the same day to the UN detention facility in Arusha.

Secretary-General Appoints Special Adviser to Focus on Responsibility to Protect
UN News Service
February 21, 2008

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Edward Luck of the United States as a Special Adviser who will focus on the responsibility to protect populations from genocide, ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Currently Vice President and Director of Studies of the International Peace Academy and Director of Columbia University’s Center on International Organizations, Mr. Luck will serve at the Assistant Secretary-General level on a part-time basis.

Agreed to by world leaders in 2005, the responsibility to protect holds States responsible for shielding their own populations from genocide and other major human rights abuses and requires the international community to step in if this obligation is not met.

“Mr. Luck’s primary role will be conceptual development and consensus building, to assist the General Assembly to continue consideration of this crucial issue,” UN Spokesperson Michele Montas said at a press briefing in New York.

Towards this end, the Secretary-General has asked Mr. Luck to help him develop proposals, through a broad consultative process, to be considered by the UN membership.

In his new role, Mr. Luck will be working closely with Mr. Ban’s Special Adviser for Prevention of Genocide, Francis Deng, given the complementary nature of their work.

Before joining Columbia University, Mr. Luck was Founder and Executive Director of the Center for the Study of International Organization, a research centre jointly established by New York University and Princeton University.

He has also played a key role in the UN reform process and served as head of the UN Association of the USA.

UN Tribunal Stays Order Temporarily Releasing Five Former Bosnian Croat Leaders
UN News Service
February 22, 2008

The United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s today stayed its decision earlier this week to grant provisional release to five former senior Bosnian Croat figures who are currently on trial.

The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague stayed the release order issued by the trial chamber on Tuesday after prosecutors filed leave to appeal, voicing concern that the men could be flight risks.

Jadranko Prli?, Bruno Stoji?, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovi? and Valentin Cori? – all on trial in what is known as the ‘Prli? and others’ case – had been granted conditional release for varying periods of time until the scheduled beginning of the defence case on 5 May.

But the five accused will now remain in the custody of the ICTY’s detention until the appeals chamber issues its ruling on the merits of the prosecution appeal into Tuesday’s order. Their other co-accused, Berislav Pušic, was not involved in the order for temporary release.

Sierra Leone: UN-Backed Court Upholds Jail Sentences for Rebel Leaders
UN News Service
February 22, 2008

The United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) today upheld the long jail sentences it handed down last year to three former rebel leaders convicted of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the country’s brutal civil war in the 1990s.

Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu are each serving 50-year prison terms and Brima Bazzy Kamara is serving 45 years after each being found guilty of 11 charges, including committing acts of terrorism, murder, rape and enslavement and conscripting children under the age of 15 into armed groups.

The three men, former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), a group of Sierra Leonean soldiers who allied themselves with the notorious rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF) during the civil war, had each appealed against their convictions and the length of their sentences.

The prosecution, in addition, appealed against the men’s acquittal at the trial on several other charges.

The appeals chamber upheld the prosecution’s appeal in part on questions concerning the criminality of the act of forced marriage and the issue of joint criminal enterprise, but declined to enter new convictions for the men.

After today’s judgment, SCSL Prosecutor Stephen Rapp issued a statement welcoming the ruling.

“This final decision closes a violent chapter in the history of Sierra Leone. It establishes forever that ‘some of the most heinous, vicious and brutal crimes in human history’ were committed,” he said, quoting from the appeal ruling.

Mr. Rapp paid tribute to the people of Sierra Leone who came forward at the trial as witnesses to tell their stories, describing them as “nothing short of heroic. These men, women and even children took great risks so that the world would know the horrors that the people of this country suffered. Their bravery has ensured that the men responsible for these atrocious crimes would not escape justice.”

The SCSL, the second international war crimes tribunal set up in Africa, is mandated to try thosebearing the greatest responsibility for serious violations of international humanitarian and SierraLeonean law within the country’s borders since 30 November 1996.

Bosnian Serb Soldier Convicted by UN Tribunal to Serve Jail Term in Belgium
UN News Service
February 27, 2008

A former Bosnian Serb soldier and military policeman convicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal of torturing and raping Muslim women and girls during the Balkan wars of the 1990s will serve the remainder of his 15-year jail term in Belgium.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which sits in The Hague in the Netherlands, announced today that Dragan Zelenovi ? has been transferred to detention in Belgium.

Mr. Zelenovi ? pleaded guilty last year before the ICTY to seven counts of rape – including gang rape – and torture for his actions in the town of Foca in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.

After Bosnian Serb forces took over Foca municipality in April 1992, they took local women and girls to detention facilities, where they were interrogated and subject to brutal beatings, sexual assaults and humiliating and degrading conditions. Other women were detained in houses and apartments used as brothels by the mainly paramilitary soldiers.

In his statement of guilt to the Tribunal, Mr. Zelenovi ? said: “I feel sorry for all the victims who were victimized by anything that I did, and that is why I express from this forum my deepest remorse and regret.”

In October last year the ICTY’s appeals chamber rejected Mr. Zelenovi ?’s appeal against the length of his prison sentence.

Belgium is one of 14 European countries that have signed an agreement with the ICTY to enforce sentences imposed by the Tribunal on convicted individuals, and nearly 40 people either have served or are currently serving their sentence in one of those countries.

Journalist Convicted by UN's Rwandan Genocide Tribunal to End Jail Term in Italy
UN News Service
February 28, 2008

A journalist and presenter convicted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal for his work with a notorious Rwandan radio station that called for the killing of Tutsis during the country’s 1994 genocide will serve the remainder of his jail sentence in Italy.

Georges Omar Ruggiu, the only non-Rwandan to be convicted and sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) so far, was today transferred by military aircraft from the Tribunal’s custody in Arusha, Tanzania, to detention in Italy.

The 50-year-old, who holds Belgian and Italian nationality, pleaded guilty at the ICTR to two counts of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in June 2000. He had been in custody since July 1997.

Mr. Ruggiu had worked from January to July 1994 with Radio Television Libre des Milles Collines (RTLM), whose broadcasts had been used by Hutu extremists to whip up hatred against Tutsis and identify individuals for subsequent killing.

His transfer to Italy is the result of an agreement signed by the Government of the European country and the UN in March 2004 to enforce ICTR prison sentences.

The Security Council set up the ICTR in 1994 in response to that year’s genocide, during which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered – often by machete or club – in just 100 days starting in early April.

Bosnian Courts Jails Two Former Guards After Referral from UN War Crime Tribunal
UN News Service
February 29, 2008

Two Bosnian Serb guards who persecuted non-Serbs at a prison camp during the Balkan wars of the 1990s have been convicted and sentenced to jail by a national court in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the case was transferred from the jurisdiction of a United Nations war crimes tribunal.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina yesterday sentenced Mitar Raševi? to eight and a half years in prison and Savo Todovi? to 12 and a half years after finding them guilty of crimes and humanity.

Mr. Raševi? was the guards’ commander and Mr. Todovi? was the deputy warden at a detention centre in Foca in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina that operated between April 1992 and October 1994. The court found that both men participating in setting up and maintaining a system of punishment and mistreatment of detainees, including the use of forced labour.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is based in The Hague, indicted the two men in 1997, but the Tribunal ruled in September 2006 that it would refer the case to the court system of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Referring cases is part of the ICTY’s efforts to try to strengthen the rule of law across the region and enhance its partnership with judiciaries in the former Yugoslavia. Although the ICTY still tries the cases involving the most senior figures from the war, some intermediate and lower-rank accused have been referred to national courts.

So far, the Tribunal has referred six cases involving 10 accused to the courts of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[back to contents]

NGO Reports

Uganda: New Accord Provides for War Crimes Trials
Human Rights Watch
February 19, 2008

(New York, February 19, 2008) – The agreement announced today between the Ugandan government and the Lord’s Resistance Army is a major step, but provisions on war crimes trials must be effectively put into practice for sustainable peace and justice in northern Uganda, Human Rights Watch said today.

The agreement, which was signed as part of peace talks that began in July 2006, provides for a special division of Uganda’s High Court to prosecute those who planned or carried out war crimes or other widespread or systematic attacks on civilians.

“Today’s agreement could be a major step toward peace and justice for northern Uganda, but the true test lies in how the agreement is put into practice,” said Richard Dicker, International Justice Program director at Human Rights Watch. “What is significant is that the parties agreed to a specific plan to try the most serious crimes.”

In addition to the special High Court division, the agreement provides for other aspects of domestic prosecution, including a multidisciplinary investigations and prosecutions unit, attention to the needs of victims and witnesses, and recruitment of relevant experts. There are also provisions for a truth commission, reparations to victims, and traditional justice practices. However, the agreement does not have explicit provisions on other important matters like measures to ensure respect for international fair trial standards and adequate penalties.

Interest in domestic trials for serious crimes committed in northern Uganda gained momentum during the peace talks as a substitute for prosecutions of LRA leaders by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The ICC had issued arrest warrants for LRA leaders for crimes against humanity and war crimes in 2005.

The ICC statute favors national trials where possible. However, under the court’s statute and other international standards, trials should be credible, independent, and impartial. They should adhere to international fair trial standards, and impose penalties that are appropriate given the gravity of the crime, namely imprisonment.

“There must be fair, credible prosecutions of the most serious crimes committed by both sides and sufficient penalties for those convicted,” said Dicker. “The agreement does not fully speak to this, and we look to the parties and international partners to ensure that they are properly addressed.”

While LRA leaders have sought to portray the ICC as an obstacle to achieving peace, the ICC warrants are widely credited with helping to move the parties to the negotiating table and contributing to a focus on accountability at the peace talks. Justice is a critical element to achieving a peace that is sustainable, Human Rights Watch said.

Given the ICC’s jurisdiction over crimes in northern Uganda and Uganda’s obligations as a party to the ICC, the ICC will determine whether a domestic trial is an adequate alternative to prosecution by the ICC itself. The ICC can retake a case if necessary.

“It is the ICC judges who decide if a national trial will be sufficient for their cases,” Dicker said. “National trials are not a route to impunity.”

Measures to ensure comprehensive witness protection and support, security, and outreach to the affected communities are other important components to national trials for serious crimes, Human Rights Watch said. According to research done by Human Rights Watch in August 2007, Ugandan law and practice will need strengthening in these areas.

“Improvements in the Ugandan justice system will undoubtedly be needed to make national trials viable,” said Dicker. “We are talking about holding highly sensitive trials in a country with a history of attempted interference with the judiciary and no real witness-protection program.”

For Human Rights Watch's more detailed analysis of the agreement, please see:
http://hrw.org/backgrounder/ij/uganda0208/.

Human Rights Watch’s previous memoranda on justice issues and the Juba talks are available at:

• “Benchmarks for Assessing Possible National Alternatives to International Criminal Court Cases Against LRA Leaders,” May 2007: http://hrw.org/backgrounder/ij/icc0507/
• “The June 29 Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation and the Need for Adequate Penalties for the Most Serious Crimes,” July 2007: http://hrw.org/backgrounder/ij/uganda0707/
• “Particular challenges for Uganda in conducting national trials for serious crimes,” September 2007: http://hrw.org/eca/ugandamemo0907/

Background

The conflict in northern Uganda, which began in 1986, has been characterized by serious crimes under international law and other human rights abuses by the Lord’s Resistance Army and, to a lesser extent, by government forces. The LRA has been responsible for numerous willful killings, beatings, large-scale abductions, forced recruitment of adults and children, rape against girls whom it assigns as “wives” or sex slaves to commanders, and large-scale looting and destruction of civilian property. Abuses by the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) have included extrajudicial executions, rape, torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, arbitrary detention, and forced displacement.

In December 2003, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni asked the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes committed by the LRA. Once the ICC exercises jurisdiction over crimes, as it has done in northern Uganda, the court has the authority to prosecute crimes by any individual, regardless of affiliation. Under its statute, the ICC has jurisdiction to prosecute only crimes committed after 2002.

In July 2005, the court issued warrants for the arrest of the top five LRA leaders: Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo, Raska Lukwiya, and Dominic Ongwen. Lukwiya was killed in 2006, and Otti was reportedly killed in 2007. The ICC has not issued warrants for any UPDF commanders or Ugandan government officials.

Political Agreement to Try Perpetrators ofthe Most Serious Crimes in Uganda
International Federation for Human Rights
February 25, 2008

On 19 February 2008, the Government of the Republic of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) adopted an appendix (« Agreement ») to the Agreement on Accountability and Reconciliation (« Principal Agreement ») signed on 29 June 2007, that sets out the modalities of implementation of the Principal Agreement as regards truth, justice and reparation for the crimes committed during the 20-year-conflict in northern Uganda.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and its member organisation in Uganda, the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), regard with great concern the lack of clarity regarding the implementation of this agreement, and in particular how the national criminal system, the traditional and the international justice mechanisms will be articulated, so as to respect the international obligations of Uganda [1 ].

“The Agreement to try the perpetrators of the most serious crimes is a big step, provided that Uganda can demonstrate that it has the capacity to deal effectively and decisively with the perpetrators of heinous crimes and bring them to book, so that justice is done and seen to be done”, said Livingstone Sewanyana, President of FHRI.

FIDH and FHRI promote national trials to put effectively an end to impunity for the most horrific crimes, when national authorities have the will and capacity to undertake such trials. However, the International Criminal Court has found that this is not the case in Uganda and, therefore, has opened an investigation over the crimes committed in Northern Uganda since July 2004 and has issued 5 arrests warrants against the 5 leaders of the LRA, in 2005 [2 ]. Uganda is thus currently under the absolute obligation to cooperate with the ICC, and in particular, to hand over the LRA leaders for whom arrest warrant have been outstanding for over two and a half years.

“Read against this background and in connection with the peace negotiations that have been on-going for over a year between the Ugandan Government and the LRA, the Agreement’s lack of accuracy makes us fear that the government is seeking to evade the ICC”, said Souhayr Belhassen, FIDH President.

The Agreement provides for a special division of Uganda’s High Court to prosecute individuals who are alleged to have committed serious crimes during the conflict in northern Uganda (§7-9 of the Agreement). The government of Uganda commits itself to establish a unit to carry out investigations and prosecutions (§10-14). The Agreement also encompasses the establishment of a body responsible for inquiring the past and truth around the conflict (§4-6), as well as traditional justice mechanisms, including Mato Oput and communal dispute settlement institutions, seen as “central part of the alternative justice and reconciliation framework” (§19-22). Specific provisions also call for special arrangements to facilitate protection and participation of witnesses, victims, women and children, as well as for making reparations to victims of the conflict.

FIDH and FHRI strongly remind that these provisions must be implemented in an effective and meaningful manner, in conformity with international law standards on fair trials, proportional penalty, respect of the rights of all victims. The ICC Pre-trial Chamber II is the only authority to decide whether Ugandan courts are now able and willing to genuinely investigate and prosecute any perpetrator of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC.

UN: Shameful Silence on Civilian Killings in Darfur
Human Rights Watch
February 27, 2008

(New York, February 27, 2008) – The UN Security Council should strongly denounce the Sudanese government’s recent bombardment of civilian villages in West Darfur and impose targeted sanctions on those responsible, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today.

Human Rights Watch warned that the Council’s inaction has given Sudan a green light to continue attacking civilian targets, flouting international law and Security Council resolutions.

“The Sudanese government’s recent attacks take us back to the very darkest days of the conflict,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The Security Council shouldn’t stand by as though this is ‘business as usual.’”

Since February 8, 2008, Sudanese government troops and “Janjaweed” militia backed by Antonov bombers and helicopter gunships have carried out a series of attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the ongoing bombardments, which are also preventing life-saving humanitarian assistance from reaching some of the worst-affected areas.

The attacks are only the latest manifestation of Sudan’s disregard for Security Council resolutions and its obligations under international law, none of which have provoked a strong response from the Security Council. These include Sudan’s repeated flouting of the UN arms embargo, failure to implement UN sanctions, and obstruction of the UN-mandated peacekeeping force.

“These horrific attacks on civilians show Khartoum’s confidence that there will be no real consequences for its actions,” Gagnon said. “It’s time for the Security Council to prove them wrong.”

Human Rights Watch called on the Security Council to issue a presidential statement condemning Sudan’s violations of international humanitarian law in West Darfur, the appointment of Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal as a ‘presidential advisor,’ and its refusal to cooperate with the International Criminal Court. The Council should also order the UN Panel of Experts to immediately investigate the attacks in West Darfur, and should impose targeted sanctions on those responsible.

Ms Silvana Arbia Newly Elected Registrar for the International Criminal Court
AMICC
February 29, 2008

On Thursday 28 February 2008, the judges meeting in plenary session elected by an absolute majority, in accordance with the procedure laid down in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, Ms Silvana Arbia of Italy as Registrar of the International Criminal Court for a five-year term. She will take up her functions at a date to be determined shortly.
Ms Arbia has extensive experience in international law, criminal law, and the judicial management aspects of international criminal law. She is currently Chief of Prosecutions at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), where she was previously a Senior Trial Attorney and Acting Chief of Prosecutions in the Office of the Prosecutor, and led the prosecution of important cases before the ICTR.

Furthermore, Ms Arbia participated in the drafting of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court as a member of Italian delegation at the 1998 Diplomatic Conference in Rome.

Ms Arbia holds a Laurea in Law from Padova University, Italy, and was a professional judge in Italy. She has published several essays and books on human rights and children’s rights.

Ms Silvana Arbia succeeds Mr Bruno Cathala of France, who was elected on 24 June 2003 as the first Registrar of the Court for a five-year term.

The Registrar, as head of the Registry, is the principal administrative officer of the Court and exercises his or her functions under the authority of the President.

The core function of the Registry is to provide administrative and operational support to all organs of the Court. It develops effective mechanisms to assist victims, witnesses and the Defence in order to safeguard their rights under the Rome Statute and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. Furthermore, the Registry plays a key role in ensuring proceedings are public, and is also responsible for the establishment and development of Court’s field operations.

Gaza Strip/Israel: Civilians Bear Brunt of Attacks
Human Rights Watch
February 29, 2008

(New York, February 29, 2008) – Indiscriminate rocket attacks by the Palestinian group Hamas against civilian areas in Israel, including one that killed an Israeli man on February 27, are serious violations of international humanitarian law, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch also said the high number of Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza indicates the need for independent investigations to determine whether Israel has taken all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians, as required by the laws of war.

Hamas said it fired 55 locally made rockets from Gaza into Israel on Wednesday, February 27, one of which killed Roni Yichia, age 47, near Sapir College on the outskirts of the Israeli border city Sderot. Israeli authorities said that at least 30 rockets had landed in and around Sderot, resulting in shrapnel wounds to several people. One rocket hit a home and another a factory lunchroom. Another rocket reportedly landed near Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon, a larger city farther from Israel’s border with Gaza.

“Attacking civilian areas with indiscriminate weapons violates the core humanitarian principle of civilian immunity,” said Joe Stork, director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division. “Hamas leaders have an obligation to stop such indiscriminate attacks immediately.”

Hamas said it fired the rockets in retaliation for an Israeli airstrike earlier in the day that killed five members of Hamas’s armed wing riding in a minivan. Other Israeli airstrikes and ground attacks in recent days have killed Palestinian civilians as well as persons whom Israel claims were engaged in armed activity.

Following the Hamas rocket barrage, an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza on Wednesday evening killed three Palestinian children. Hospital officials told Human Rights Watch the victims were Anas al-Mana’ma (age 10), Muhammad Khalil Hamada (age 12), and Bilal Hijazi (age 10). The Israeli military said the victims were preparing to launch a rocket attack. Palestinian media reported that they were playing near an abandoned portable rocket launcher in the al-Taw’am neighborhood between Beit Lahiya and Gaza City. The attack also wounded 17 persons playing in a sports field nearby, including six children. According to Palestinian media reports, Israeli attacks in Gaza in the 24 hours following Wednesday’s rocket barrage into Israel killed at least 23 persons, eight of them children.

On February 23, an Israeli ground-launched shell killed three young Palestinian men near Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza. Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that the men were not armed, and that they had seen no armed activity in the vicinity.

The Israeli man killed yesterday near Sderot was the first person killed by rocket attacks from Gaza since May 2007, and the fourteenth overall since the resumption of Israeli-Palestinian armed clashes in September 2000, according to the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem. In the same period, B’Tselem reported that 1,259 of the 2,679 Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces in the Gaza Strip were not participating in hostilities when they were killed, and 567 were minors.

The use of rockets that cannot discriminate between civilians and military targets, such as the locally made rockets fired by Hamas, violate the laws of war when fired toward populated areas. “Combatants must take all feasible precautions to avoid harming civilians, regardless of actions taken by the other side,” Stork said. “Deliberate or indiscriminate attacks against civilians are always prohibited; who did what first is irrelevant.”

As for civilian casualties from Israeli attacks, an investigation is required in many cases to determine whether Israel did everything feasible in its weapons and targeting choices to minimize civilian harm, as required by the laws of war. Recent attacks that killed civilians raise questions about whether Israel is taking all feasible precautions in its targeting decisions. In a report published in July 2007, Human Rights Watch showed that Israel had not monitored civilian casualties in Gaza and had not investigated harm to civilians associated with its attacks in or near civilian-populated areas. Human Rights Watch said that, given the continuing civilian casualties in Gaza, Israel should do more to examine its targeting behavior and to implement measures that better protect civilians.

On February 26, Israel’s military advocate general announced that he would not pursue an investigation to determine possible wrongdoing in a November 2006 artillery attack in Gaza that killed 21 Palestinian civilians, saying that the deaths had been the result of a “rare and severe” technical malfunction.

The Israeli military had at first said the November 2006 attack was aimed at a site from where Palestinians had fired rockets, but had accidentally hit civilian homes some 500 meters away. The military later said the decision to shoot was based on reliable intelligence that additional rockets would be fired from the site.

“Israel has an obligation during military operations to minimize civilian deaths, and to conduct impartial investigations into cases that may be the result of wrongdoing or negligence on the part of Israeli forces,” Stork said. “The continuing high civilian casualty rates in Gaza suggest that this obligation is not being met.”

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