War Crimes Prosecution Watch
is a bi-weekly e-newsletter that compiles official documents and
articles from major news sources detailing and analyzing salient issues
pertaining to the investigation and prosecution of war crimes
throughout the world. To subscribe, please email warcrimeswatch@pilpg.org and type "subscribe" in the subject line.
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber
Official Website
Verdict pronounced in the Mirko Todorovic and Another case
State Court of BiH
April 29, 2008
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found the defendants Mirko Todorovic and Miloš Radic guilty of the criminal offence of Crime against Humanity and sentenced each of the defendants to 17 years of imprisonment.
Mirko Todorovic and Miloš Radic were found guilty because: as the members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), on 20 May 1992, in the village of Borkovac near Bratunac, together with four other members of the VRS, they took part in the apprehension of 14 Bosniak civilians who were hiding in an abandoned quarry near the village. This group of the VRS soldiers took the apprehended civilians in a column towards the village. On the way to the village, one of the VRS soldiers shot one civilian from a firearm, after which all of the soldiers, excluding the defendants, started torturing the apprehended civilians and seizing money and valuables from them. Then, this group of soldiers took the civilians to a near-by creek, where 7 civilians were killed.
Verdict pronounced in the case of Paško Ljubicic
State Court of BiH
April 29, 2008
Following the consideration and acceptance of the Plea Agreement entered into by the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH and the Accused Ljubicic, the Court of BiH pronounced a verdict finding Paško Ljubicic guilty of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Civilians and sentenced him to imprisonment for a term of 10 years.
The Accused Ljubičić
was found guilty because on 15 and 16 April 1993, as a commander of the 4th Military Police Battalion of the Croat Defense Council (HVO), which
functioned in the Central Bosnia Operative Zone, he conveyed the order he
received from his superior officer Tihomir Blaškić to his
subordinates to attack the village of Ahmići. In doing so, the Accused
Ljubičić, aware that by conveying such orders to members of his
subordinate unit he could cause death of a number of persons, physical and
mental suffering of a large number of persons and destruction of property on a
larger scale, to which he consented, he added and abetted the planning and
execution of this attack. Bosniak civilians were expelled from the village of
Ahmići during the attack, numerous suffered serious mental and physical
injuries and two mosques were destroyed.
The Accused Ljubičić is
also responsible by virtue of his position as a superior for the offences
perpetrated by his subordinates, over whom he had effective control, and the
fact that he acted upon the order of his superior commander Tihomir
Blaškić does not relieve him of criminal responsibility.
The Court of BiH has issued a
decision terminating custody of the Accused Ljubičić upon which the
Accused is to be released forthwith. This case was referred to the authorities
of BiH for further processing pursuant to a decision of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia of 4 July 2006. The Accused
was transferred to BiH on 22 September 2006.
Sentence pronounced in the case against Suad Kapic
State Court of BiH
April 29, 2008
The Court of BiH pronounced the verdict acquitting the Accused, Suad Kapic, of charges of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Prisoners of War.
Suad Kapic is acquitted of the charges that on 18 September 1995, along with other soldiers of the Army of RBiH, he participated in capturing of six members of the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS) in the area of the village of Dabar, the Municipality of Sanski Most. The Court found that it was not proven beyond reasonable doubt that Accused Kapic, after the prisoners had been captured and hand-tied, fired a firearm thus depriving three prisoners of their lives and severely wounding the fourth one. Further, the Accused is acquitted of charges of having ordered an unidentified soldier of the Army of RBiH to finish off the wounded prisoner.
Furthermore, the Court issued the Decision terminating the prohibiting measures that had been previously ordered.
Verdict pronounced in the Zijad Kurtovic case
State Court of BiH
April 30, 2008
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found the defendant Zijad Kurtovic guilty of the criminal offences of War Crimes against Civilians, War Crimes against Prisoners of War, and Violation of Laws and Practices of Warfare and imposed on him a compound sentence of imprisonment for a term of 11 years.
Zijad Kurtović was found guilty because, in the second half of
1993, as member of protection unit within the Independent Drežnica
Battalion of the 4th Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina Corps, in
Donja Drežnica, Mostar Municipality, Zijad Kurtović acted contrary to
the provisions of the Geneva Conventions. Zijad Kurtović, inter
alia, was found guilty because on several occasions during October 1993, the
Accused physically and mentally tortured detained Croatian civilians and
prisoners of war in the Roman Catholic Church of All Saints in Donja
Drežnica.
Rade Veselinovic pleaded not guilty
State Court of BiH
May 8, 2008
At the plea hearing before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Accused Rade Veselinovic pleaded not guilty. Rade Veselinovic is charged with the criminal offence of Crimes against Humanity.
As alleged in the Indictment, during the period from May
to September 1992, as a member of the Military Police of the Republika Srpska
Army (VRS) in Hadžići, together with other members of the VRS, the
Accused Rade Veselinović participated in unlawful arrests of non Serb
population in the Municipality of Hadžići, their taking to the camp
in the hall of the Cultural, Sports and Recreational Center in
Hadžići. Civilians captured in this camp, were allegedly beaten,
taken to the front lines where they dug trenches, and men were forced to lewd
acts with each other.
Allegedly on 16 May 1992, in a street, for no reason,
during the taking of the unlawfully captured persons, the Accused fired from
automatic weapon at one person who got injured. Further, the Indictment alleges
that on an undetermined day in June 1992, together with a group of unidentified
members of the VRS in Donji Hadžići, the Accused deprived one civilian
of his life. The Accused is also charged that at the beginning of July 1992,
together with Military Police members he took one person out of the building to
unknown direction and that person has been unaccounted forever since.
Commencement of trial in the Ivica Vrdoljak case
State Court of BiH
May 8, 2008
A commencement of trial before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has been scheduled for 6 May 2008, starting at 9:00a.m. in courtroom 3. Ivica Vrdoljak is charged with War Crimes against Civilians.
The indictment alleges, that the accused Vrdoljak in late June 1992, in
the building Silos in Polje, Derventa Municipality, as a member of Croatian
Defense Council (HVO) inhumanely treated detained Serb civilians. As alleged in
the indictment, on an undetermined date in June 1992, the accused took out four
(4) civilians and together with other persons bashed them with his hands and
kicked them with his feet. As further alleged in the indictment, the accused
Vrdoljak together with other persons, in the evening hours in July 1992, in the
warehouse of Department Store „Beograd“ in the neighborhood of Tulek in
Bosanski Brod, repeatedly took the detainees into a dark room and beat them.
Vrdoljak: Detainees' cries
BIRN Justice Report
May 6, 2008
At the start of the trial of Ivica Vrdoljak, the first Prosecution witness speaks about the indictee's participation in the crimes in the Derventa and Bosanski Brod areas.
The first Prosecution witness Cedo Prodic described how inductee
Ivica Vrdoljak tortured him during his detention in Bosanski Brod in July 1992.
For this reason, he allegedly still has wounds. In its introductory arguments
the Prosecution said it had "solid evidence" concerning the
indictee's participation in the crimes against Serbs, while the Defense denied
that Vrdoljak was even present at the crime scenes.
The State Prosecution charges Ivica Vrdoljak, also known as
Geza, as member of the 103rd Derventa Brigade with the Croatian
Defense Council (HVO), with having abused and beaten Serbian detainees, who
were held in "Silos" building in Polje village, Derventa
municipality, and "Beograd" store warehouse in Bosanski Brod in June
and July 1992.
Prodic said that, on April 26, 1992 HVO members captured him and
"about thirty" other residents of Derventa and took them to the
Yugoslav National Army (JNA) Center located in that municipality. As indicated
by the witness, he was transferred to a military warehouse in Rabid village two
days later.
"We were naked when they brought us there. They gave us JNA
uniforms and told us to put them on. While they were recording us, they said
that we were Chetniks, whom they had captured," said Prodic, adding that
there were about 160 prisoners at the time. According to him, the soldiers
transferred the captives to "Silos" building in Polje village in late
June. This is where he saw Ivica Vrdoljak for the first time.
"We were not allowed to go out, except for when they took
us out to beat us. This is when I saw Ivica Vrdoljak, whose name I found out
later, taking a few prisoners out. After that we heard crying. They played some
loud music all the time and we had to sing insurrectionist's songs and kiss
Ante Pavelic's picture," said the witness, but he added that the inductee
did not beat him at that time.
After having been detained in "Silos", Prodic claims
to have been brought to "Beograd" store warehouse in Bosanski Brod,
where he stayed until the exchange, which took place on July 12, 1992.
"We had a hard time there. We were taken out to be tortured
every day. I still have some scars from Vrdoljak. He cut my ear with pliers.
Geza told me that I would not leave that place alive," the first
Prosecution witness recalled, adding that detainee Luka Patkovic, who had known
the inductee from before, told him his name and nickname.
In his introductory arguments Prosecutor Mirsad Strika said that
the witness' statements concerning the indictee's participation in the abuse of
detainees was "very persuasive."
Defense attorney Kresimir Zubak said that the "Defense is
based" on the fact that Vrdoljak was not present at the crime location at
that time.
The trial is due to continue on May 12, 2008, when two more
Prosecution witnesses will be examined.
Kravica: Krstic refuses to testify
BIRN Justice Report
May 7, 2008
ICTY convict Radislav Krstic does not want to communicate with the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina or testify in favor of the eleven inductees, who are charged with the genocide in Srebrenica.
Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced by the Hague Tribunal to
35 years imprisonment for having "abetted and supported the genocide"
in Srebrenica, refused to testify in favor of the eleven inductees, who are
tried before the Court of BiH for the genocide committed in eastern Bosnia in
July 1995.
Krstic, former commander of Drina Corps with the Republika
Srpska Army (VRS), who is currently serving his sentence in Great Britain,
refused to appear in the conference room, from which he was supposed to testify
via video link. Therefore he did not explain the reasons for which he does not
want to testify.
"It seems that the witness refuses to testify and to
appear in this room. He does not want to communicate with us via video link. He
will submit a written note explaining why he does not want to testify,"
said Trial Chamber Chairman Hilmo Vucinic.
The Court managed to establish the link with the British
police, who said that Krstic "wanted to talk to his legal advisor."
The Defense for Milos Stupar, Milenko Trifunovic, Petar
Mitrovic, Brane Dzinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Miladin
Stevanovic, Velibor Maksimovic, Dragisa Zivanovic, Branislav Medan and Milovan
Matic invited Krstic to testify as a Defense witness.
The indictment alleges that ten of them were members of the
Second Special Police Squad and Matic was a member of the VRS. They are all
charged with having participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 captured
Srebrenica residents in Kravica village on July 13, 1995.
At this hearing the parties discussed the evidence proposed
by some Defense teams in order to deny the Prosecution's additional evidence.
The next hearing is scheduled for May 15, when two witnesses
from Brane Dzinic's Defense will be examined, as well as two witnesses from
Milos Stupar's Defense.
Klickovic et al: A minor consequence of a great cause
BIRN Justice Report
May 8, 2008
The trial begins of senior officials who are charged with crimes in Bosanska Krupa.
At the beginning of the trial of Gojko Klickovic, Jovan
Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca the Prosecution said that the crimes committed in
the Bosanska Krupa area were done in a planned way, with the indictees'
support. Klickovic's Defense said that the indictment was "a farce."
The indictments against Klickovic, Ostojic and Drljaca were
merged, as per a motion filed by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina,
BiH, in April 2008. After Prosecutor Philip Alcock had read the three
indictments, inductee Gojko Klickovic said he did not understand his
indictment.
“Should you include genocide and apartheid in it, the
indictment would become an indictment against all Serbs. I do not think that
its authors understand it either. Nobody can understand this farce," said
Klickovic, while Ostojic and Drljaca confirmed they understood the indictment.
The Prosecution charges Klickovic, former senior official of
the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) and commander of the Crisis Committee in
Bosanska Krupa, Ostojic, former commander of the 11th Krupa Light
Infantry Brigade with the Serbian Republic of BiH Army, and Drljaca, former
member of the SDS municipal board and member of the Crisis Committee, with
having participated in the persecution, murder and torture of non-Serbian
civilians on the territory of this municipality.
In the Prosecution's
introductory arguments, Alcock spoke about the situation in Bosanska Krupa in
the course of 1991 and 1992, where "the violence was obvious, frequent and
clear to the three indictees." He also said that there were "two
joint criminal enterprises" in this municipality - "one was conducted
with Gojko Klickovic's colleagues at the local level, while the other one was
conducted at the state level."
"Imagine the amazing arrogance of the plans to join the
municipalities and to clear them of all their former residents. The Serbian
municipality of Bosanska Krupa was indeed cleared of all Bosniaks, step by
step, going from one stage to another – by conducting murders, detentions
and torture," said Alcock, adding that the civilians, who were deported
from Bosanska Krupa, were helpless and they did not represent any kind of a
threat.
The Prosecutor also said that the indictees must have been
aware of "the stage," where all these abuses happened in the
municipality.
"How could they not know about the murders in the
prisons, if there were more people who entered those prisons than the ones who
left them. How could you not hear the screams of non-swimmers, who were forced,
by the guards, to jump into the water.
The SDS conducted all events, and Gojko Klickovic was in the
centre of the events. At the same time, he was just a string puppet, who
executed orders. Although he initially said that he would not present his
introductory arguments, Klickovic's Defense attorney Dusan Tomic addressed the
Court by saying that the fewest crimes were committed in Bosanska Krupa and
that the Serbs became "the biggest losers of the tragedy that happened
there." He also informed the Court that the inductee decided to
participate in his defense.
"We agreed that, from now on, Gojko Klickovic must be
present in this courtroom in order to reveal the great truth and to avoid being
found guilty of all the happenings in Bosanska Krupa. Klickovic is just a minor
consequence of a great cause. Radovan Karadzic, a great evil magician, is still
at large. Had this not been the case, this indictment would have never been
filed. Now, Klickovic is going to be tried for the crimes committed by that
man," Tomic said.
Inductee Klickovic addressed the Trial Chamber, by saying
that he was a puppet of his people, while the Prosecutor was "a puppet of
some dirty games."
The Defense of Jovan Ostojic considers that the inductee was
just "collateral damage," because they needed "someone who was
in the military structure". He also said that he hoped the Prosecution
would give up on the indictment in the course of the process.
The examination
of the first two Prosecution witnesses is planned for May 13.
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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)
UN Insists Tribunal Strengthen Management
VOA Khmer
April 25, 2008
The UNDP called on Khmer Rouge tribunal administrators Friday to improve some of their operations in order for the courts to continue to meet international standards, but said a recent review had found some improvements.
A UNDP-sponsored review in February made “positive
findings,” said Cambodia’s UNDP director, Jo Scheuer, said at a Press
conference Friday. “The special review team noted significant improvement in
all of these areas and there is no recent allegation of mismanagement in the
ECCC.”
But that did not mean the management system of the courts
was now perfect, he said.
The independent Open Society Justice Initiative said in 2006
the courts were facing allegations of corruption.
The corruption allegations and previous findings of poor
management practices are important because donor countries like the US say the
tribunal, known officially as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of
Cambodia, must meet international standards before more money is promised.
“There is a need for continued capacity development support
to the ECCC, [so that] systems are further strengthened in order to continue to
meet international standards,” Scheuer, said Friday, referring to the tribunal
by its official acronym.
“The report also identifies some areas that need to be
further strengthened, such as in goal setting and performance evaluation, in
the conduct of job interviews, job classification and the definition of
appropriate minimum qualifications for recruited positions,” he said.
The tribunal’s administrative director, Sean Visoth, said at
the press conference the tribunal was “capable and committed.”
“I am not satisfied with the results of this review,” he
said. “But I was always confident to say [the courts were] maybe not perfect,
maybe not the best possible, but capable and committed.”
As administrative director, he had never “resisted nor
rejected” proposals to address shortcomings in the courts.
“The ECCC has suffered considerable damage, including to the
morale of the staff, on this issue, over the past eighteen months, following
certain broad-brush allegations that were raised in late 2006 and early 2007,”
he said. “These included recruitment of unqualified staff, excessive salaries
and supposed kickback by judges and other officials for appointment at the
ECCC.”
Cambodian judges have strongly denied they pay kickbacks in
order to sit in the courts.
Khmer Rouge trial will be bankrupt by September, officials say
Monsters & Critics
April 25, 2008
The tribunal set up to try surviving leaders of Cambodia's
disastrous Khmer Rouge reign will be bankrupt by September without a new cash
injection, officials said Friday.
Up to 2 million Cambodians perished under the 1975-79 regime
and victims have waited nearly 30 years for justice up to an international
standard, but although five former leaders have been arrested by the court,
hearings are yet to commence.
Originally budgeted at 56 million dollars, UN and Cambodian
representatives of the joint UN-Cambodia tribunal told a press conference
Friday that it needed at least 117 million dollars more to continue past
September.
'We hope and believe the international community will help,'
government tribunal coordinator Sean Visoth said at a Friday press conference.
It was unclear what would happen to the elderly defendants
currently in jail awaiting trial if the money does not appear, but they also
face civil cases over their alleged crimes.
Due a post-war baby boom, most Cambodians were born after
the Khmer Rouge era and allegations of graft, corruption and money problems
within the court have shaken local confidence in the legal proceedings.
Due to Cold War politics, the United Nations recognized many
of the five currently detained as legitimate leaders of the country until the
end of the 1980s rather than the Vietnamese-backed government which overthrew
them, further undermining local confidence in the process in some quarters.
France pledges extra US$1 mil. to Cambodian genocide court
AFP via The China Post
April 26, 2008
France will donate another million dollars to Cambodia's cash-strapped genocide tribunal, helping ease fears that money troubles could further delay proceedings, French Human Rights Minister Rama Yade said Friday.
Yade visited the
U.N.-backed tribunal and met with officials on Thursday to be updated on its
progress and reaffirm French support for the court set up to try former Khmer
Rouge leaders for atrocities committed during their 1975-1979 rule.
"One of the priorities
for French diplomatic action abroad is international justice" and the
"fight against impunity," Yade told a press briefing at the French
embassy here at the end of her three-day visit to Cambodia.
"Human rights should
not just be words," she said.
After Japan, France is the
second largest donor to the court which has charged five former Khmer Rouge
leaders with crimes against humanity and war crimes. It contributed US$5
million to the first appeal for funding.
The court said Thursday it
hoped the trial of former Khmer Rouge jailer Duch, whose real name is Kaing
Guek Eav, "could commence at the beginning of the last quarter of
2008."
Originally budgeted at
US$56.3 million over three years, the tribunal, which opened in 2006 after
nearly a decade of wrangling between the U.N. and Cambodia, has significantly
raised its cost estimates to US$170 million.
Up to two million people
died of starvation and overwork, or were executed as the communist Khmer Rouge
dismantled modern Cambodian society in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia during
its 1975-1979 rule.
Five former regime leaders
have been detained by the tribunal for their alleged role in one of the 20th
century's worst atrocities, the trials expected to begin later this year.
Ieng Sary Appeal Suspension Denied
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
May 2, 2008
Tribunal judges said Friday they were denying a request by Ieng Sary to have an appeals hearing suspended, while lawyers for the former foreign affairs minister say he should receive in-house detention.
Lawyers had requested a suspension of the appeal in order
for Ieng Sary to recover in the hospital before proceedings against him
proceed.
The courts posted an April 30 ruling on the tribunal Web
site Friday, denying any suspension, but they have not yet ruled on house
arrest for Ieng Sary, who suffers from heart problems and was hospitalized in
March for urinating blood.
Lawyer Ang Udom said he was disappointed in the decision.
Duch To Be Tried in Early 2009: Tribunal Judge
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
May 5, 2008
Jailed Khmer Rouge prison director Kaing Khek Iev, known to many by his nom de guerre, Duch, will be the first regime cadre to be tried, some time early next year, a tribunal judge said Monday.
You Bunleng, an investigating
judge for the tribunal, said the investigation of Duch’s case will be finished
this month, after which responses from lawyers will be considered before the
case is submitted for trial.
If all goes smoothly, the first
case against Duch can be submitted by July or August, meaning a trial could
start by the end of 2008 or beginning of 2009, he said.
Duch was arrested in 1999 and held
by the military courts until his transfer to tribunal detention last year.
He faces charges of crimes against
humanity for his role as director of S-21, or Tuol Sleng, a prison where as
many as 16,000 Cambodians were tortured and later executed in “killing fields”
on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Less than 10 survived.
“The case related to Tuol Sleng’s
history is easier than others, and there is clear evidence,” said Sok Samoeun,
director of the Cambodian Defenders Project. You Bunleng said Monday elements
of Duch’s trial will be used in subsequent trials.
Ieng Sary Detention Hearing Set for June
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
May 8, 2008
Jailed former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary will have a June 30 hearing to determine the status of his detention, tribunal officials said Thursday.
Plagued by a number of health problems, Ieng Sary has sought
in-house arrest, and his lawyers are asking that his hearing be limited in
time.
The June 30 hearing will determine whether Ieng Sary is
detained ahead of his trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It will
also address the question of whether a 1996 amnesty is valid, tribunal
spokesman Reach Sambath said.
“Ieng Sary will be the last charged person in hearings among
five suspects,” Reach Sambath.
Ieng Sary is currently under tribunal detention, along with
his wife, Ieng Thirith, ideologue Nuon Chea, former nominal head Khieu Samphan,
and former prison chief Kaing Khek Iev.
Ieng Sary has been hospitalized multiple times since his
November 2007 arrest.
“I will propose to the court a limit to the hearing
for a duration of only one hour and a half, cannot sit more than one hour and a
half,” said lawyer Ang Udom. “He cannot sit for over one hour and a half.”
Ieng Sary had also lost weight while in detention, Ang Udom
said.
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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)
Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Darfur, Sudan
Sudan says ICC demand of arrest is political blackmail
Sudan Tribune
April 28, 2008
Khartoum
A Sudanese official reiterated the refusal of his government to hand over Darfur war crime suspects wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), describing the demand of extradition as "blatant political blackmail that we will not respond to him."
The judges of the ICC issued
their first arrest warrants for suspects accused of war crimes in Sudan’s
Darfur region in early May.
The warrants were issued for
Ahmed Haroun, state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia commander
Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far
rejected handing over the two suspects.
Al Sahafa daily newspaper today
quoted a presidential official without giving his name as saying that his
government believes that the Prosecutor of the ICC, Luis Moreno Ocampo, emerged
from the scope of his legal framework and playing a political role which is not
in the jurisdiction of the ICC.
He further said that he believes
that non-governmental organizations implement a political agenda of some
countries with hostile attitudes toward Khartoum.
In a letter to the Security
Council, part of a campaign called Justice for Darfur, 29 rights groups,
including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International urged it "to take
immediate steps to ensure the prompt arrest and surrender to the ICC of these
two suspects."
Friday’s appeal is likely to have
little effect in Sudan, which does not recognize the International Criminal
Court and has repeatedly refused to turn over Harun or Kushayb.
The Sudanese official stressed
that his government sticks with its position of non-cooperation with the ICC as
it does not have jurisdiction over his country, which has not ratified the
charter. He added that Sudan is committed to prosecute any person accused of
committing crimes in Darfur before the national judiciary.
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.
The EU threatened on April 5 to
take certain measures if Sudanese officials continue to block attempts to
extradite Haroun and Kushayb.
“In the event of continued
non-compliance with the terms of UNSC Resolution 1593, the EU will support
appropriate further measures against those who bear responsibility for Sudan’s
failure to cooperate with the ICC” the EU said.
The prosecutor of the ICC Luis
Moreno-Ocampo will brief the UNSC next June on the status of investigations and
Sudan’s cooperation. He has already informed the council of Sudan’s
non-compliance last December.
Ocampo threatened to present
evidence against new suspects to ICC judges before the end of the year if
Khartoum does not hand over two suspects by the time he reports to the U.N.
Security Council on June 5.
More than 2 million Darfuris have
fled their homes since a revolt in 2003 by mostly non-Arab rebels which
government forces and allied militias have tried to crush in a conflict that
international experts say has claimed as many as 300,000 lives.
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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
DR Congo: The Special Representative is visiting the International Criminal Court after the submission of an 'amicus curiae' on the Lubanga's case
ReliefWeb
April 28, 2008
Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, is visiting the International Criminal Court after the official submission of an 'amicus curiae' with regard to the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. Lubanga is the founder and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and will be tried before the ICC for the conscription and enlistment of children under the age of 15 and the use of children for active participation in hostilities.
The Amicus Curiae is a legal brief
containing observations on the definition of 'conscripting and enlisting'
children and on the interpretation of the term 'participation in hostilities'.
The office of the Special Representative is urging a case by case method with a
broad interpretation of the terms so as to capture the true reality of the DRC.
The submission of the document follows the decision of Trial Chamber I of the
ICC inviting Observations from the Office of the Special Representative for
Children and Armed Conflict.
'We believe that the Lubanga's
trial represents a crucial step in the fight against impunity – Ms.
Coomaraswamy said – and will have a decisive deterrent effect against
perpetrators of this outrageous crime against humanity.
In the Hague, the Special
Representative has met the Registrar and the Deputy Prosecutor of the
International Criminal Court.
Global court delays hearing for ex-Congo warlords<
Reuters Africa
By Alexandra Hudson
April 28, 2008
The International Criminal Court said it had postponed a confirmation of charges hearing for former Congolese warlords Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo until June 27 so parties have enough time to prepare.
The ICC, the world's first
permanent war crimes court, said in a statement on Monday it had delayed the
hearing from May 21 at the request of Ngudjolo's defence, adding there were
other issues that needed to be decided before matters could proceed.
Both Katanga and Ngudjolo face
prosecution on charges of murder, sexual slavery and using child soldiers.
Ngudjolo was transferred to the court in February, while Katanga has been in
detention in The Hague since October 2007.
The confirmation hearing is one
stage of the criminal procedure at the court which seeks to ensure that no case
goes to trial unless there is sufficient evidence to believe the suspects
committed the crime.
Ngudjolo was the head of the Front
of Nationalists and Integrationists (FPI) militia during a conflict in
northeast Ituri Province that grew out of Congo's 1998-2003 war.
Katanga led the Patriotic Forces
of Resistance of Ituri (FRPI) militia.
The ICC is due to begin its first
trial, also of a Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga, on June 23. His case has
been similarly subject to delays.
Experts estimate that a decade of
violence in Congo has killed 5.4 million people, mainly through hunger and
disease.
Confirmation of charges hearing postponed in the case against Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
International Criminal Court Press Release
April 28, 2008
Situation: Democratic Republic of Congo
Case: The Prosecutor vs. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
Pre-Trial Chamber I has decided to postpone the commencement date of the confirmation hearing in the case The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui to 27 June 2008, previously scheduled to commence on 21 May.
The judges considered the request
of the Defence for Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui to postpone the date of this hearing,
and decided to allow the parties sufficient time to properly prepare. There are
also various issues pending before the Appeals Chamber that need to be ruled on
before the start of the confirmation hearing.
The confirmation hearing is one
stage of the criminal procedure before the Court which aims at ensuring that no
case goes to trial unless there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial
grounds to believe that the person committed the crime with which he or she has
been charged.
Germain Katanga and Mathieu
Ngudjolo Chui are both being prosecuted for their alleged co-responsibility for
the crimes allegedly committed during and in the aftermath of the joint attack
on the village of Bogoro, Ituri, by the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri
(FRPI) and the National Integrationist Front (FNI), on 24 February 2003.
ICC Warrant of Arrest unsealed against Bosco NTAGANDA
International Criminal Court Press Release
April 29, 2008
Situation: Democratic Republic of the Congo
Case: The Prosecutor v. Bosco NTAGANDA
On 28 April 2008, upon request of the Prosecutor, Pre-Trial Chamber I unsealed the warrant of arrest against Mr. Bosco NTAGANDA, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), and current alleged Chief of Staff of the Congrčs national pour la défense du people (CNDP) armed group, active in North Kivu in the DRC.
“Bosco NTAGANDA is a former
associate of Thomas LUBANGA DYILO. Today, he is active in the Kivus. We count
on all concerned States authorities and actors to contribute to his arrest and
surrender him to the Court” said the Prosecutor.
The sealed warrant was first
issued on 22 August 2006 by Pre-Trial Chamber I. The Chamber concluded that
there were reasonable grounds to believe that from July 2002 to end of December
2003, Mr. NTAGANDA had played an essential role in enlisting and conscripting
children under the age of fifteen years into the FPLC and using them to
participate actively in hostilities.
Mr. NTAGANDA is the second person
charged in connection with the OTP investigation into crimes allegedly
committed by leaders of the FPLC armed group in the District of Ituri. The
first suspect in this investigation, Mr. Thomas LUBANGA DYILO, President of the
UPC (“Union des Patriotes Congolais”) and former Commander-in-chief of its
military wing, the FPLC, was surrendered to the Court on 17 March 2006. He will
be the first person to stand trial at the ICC, which is scheduled to start on
23 June 2008.
Bosco NTAGANDA is at large and allegedly
continues to be implicated in the commission of crimes in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo. He is reported to have moved from the District of Ituri
to the Province of North Kivu, into the Masisi area, where he has reportedly
taken the position of Chief of Staff within the political-military group CNDP.
The CNDP is a group under the command of Laurent NKUNDA.
The CNDP is one of the groups
against which there are credible reports of serious crimes committed in the two
Kivu provinces- including sexual crimes of unspeakable cruelty - as well as the
FDLR forces, local armed groups and individual members of the regular army.
The Office of the Prosecutor is in
the process of moving on to its third case in the DRC, with other applications
for arrest warrants to follow in the coming months and years. In particular, we
are collecting information about crimes committed in the North and South Kivu.
We are also considering the role of those who organized and financed the
militia.
“Bosco NTAGANDA committed crimes
in Ituri; he is today in the Kivus. He must be arrested. Like all the other
indicted criminals in Uganda and in the Sudan, he must be stopped if we want to
break the system of violence. For such criminals, there must be no escape. Then
peace will have a chance. Then victims will have hope” said the Prosecutor.
Today, it is for the relevant
authorities in the DRC, and other countries as appropriate, with the support of
the international community, to arrest him and facilitate his surrender to the
ICC.
International Criminal Court Calls for Arrest of Militia Leader
UN News Service AllAfrica.com
30, 2008
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has called for the arrest of a militia leader accused of forcibly enlisting children as soldiers to fight in the volatile, resource-rich Ituri district in the far east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from July 2002 until the end of 2003.
The ICC's pre-trial chamber
yesterday published an arrest warrant for Bosco Ntaganda, currently alleged to
be chief of staff of the militia known as the National Congress for the Defence
of the People (CNDP), which has been active in Ituri and other parts of North
Kivu province in the DRC. The warrant was first issued in August 2006, but
remained secret until prosecutors this week asked the pre-trial chamber to
unseal it.
Prosecutors said Mr. Ntaganda is a
former associate of the militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who in June is
scheduled to become the first person to go on trial at the ICC, the world's
first permanent war crimes court.
"Today, he [Mr. Ntaganda] is
active in the Kivus," prosecutors said in a statement to the media
released today. "We count on all concerned States authorities and actors
to contribute to his arrest and surrender him to the Court."
Mr. Ntaganda is accused of playing
a central role in enlisting and conscripting children aged below 15 into the
Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (FPLC), another militia group,
and of using those children in active hostilities in 2002-03.
Prosecutors said Mr. Ntaganda
remains at large in the Kivus and continues to be implicated in crimes
committed in the DRC.
"He must be arrested. Like
all the other indicted criminals in Uganda and the Sudan, he must be stopped if
we want to break the system of violence. For such criminals, there must be no
escape. Then peace will have a chance. Then victims will have hope."
The CNDP, a political-military
group under the command of Laurent Nkunda, a former general with the Congolese
national forces, is one of several groups facing "credible reports,"
prosecutors say, of serious crimes, "including sexual crimes of
unspeakable cruelty."
Deadly violence involving militias
and Government forces has continued to plague North Kivu and South Kivu
provinces, which are rich in resources and border Rwanda and Uganda, despite
the official end to the DRC civil war in 2003.
[back to contents]
Uganda (ICC)
Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Uganda
Arrest Kony and get peace, says ICC
The Monitor
By Hudson Apunyo
April 30, 2008
The chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court has said it’s bad that enough has not been done to arrest Joseph Kony, yet if arrested there will be peace tomorrow.
He
renewed his call for the arrest of fugitives from Uganda and Sudan wanted for
war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Quoted
by the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, IWPR, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo
lamented that it was sad that Kony was still free
“It is very bad [that] we are not doing enough to arrest Kony,” Mr
Moreno-Ocampo said during a conference in Chicago last weekend.
He said the UN troops deployed in the eastern regions of the DRC be provided
with Special Forces that could move against Kony and arrest him. He reportedly
said it was a mistake to halt operations to capture Kony when peace talks
began.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Talks Tough
IWPR
By Peter Eichstaedt
April 28, 2008
Luis Moreno-Ocampo pushes for arrest of Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony as well as Sudanese suspects wanted by court.
The chief prosecutor for the
International Criminal Court, ICC, has renewed his call for the arrest of
fugitives from Uganda and Sudan wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“The responsibility for this is
with the [member] states,” Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said during a
conference in Chicago at the weekend, held to mark the tenth anniversary of the
ICC’s founding treaty, the Rome Statute.
Moreno-Ocampo lamented that Joseph
Kony, the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, which has fought a 20-year
war in northern Uganda, was still free.
“It is very bad [that] we are not
doing enough to arrest Kony,” said Moreno-Ocampo, adding that if Kony is
arrested, “we will have peace tomorrow”.
Kony and two others under his
command are wanted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes
committed during the insurgency.
Moreno-Ocampo described the LRA as
“a small militia”, but one that had a big impact in central Africa.
“Massive crimes affect world
security across borders and effect different regions of the world,” he said.
In a special report, IWPR
confirmed last week that the LRA had resumed violence, looting and abducting
civilians, and was operating in the Central African Republic, CAR, and Sudan as
well as the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it has spent more than two
years in the remote Garamba National Park. (See LRA Prepares for
War, not Peace, AR No. 168, 24-Apr-08.)
Kony failed to make an appearance
on April 10 to sign a peace agreement after nearly two years of talks.
Subsequently, it transpired that the leader had not communicated with his peace
negotiations team for months.
Moreno-Ocampo, meanwhile,
suggested to IWPR that United Nations troops deployed in the eastern regions of
DRC could “be provided with special forces” that could move against Kony and
arrest him.
The chief prosecutor said efforts
to capture Kony had been suspended as a result of the peace negotiations. One
operation from two years ago ended in the death of eight Guatemalan soldiers
serving with the UN peacekeepers in DRC.
In retrospect, he said, it had
been a mistake to halt operations to capture the LRA leader when peace talks
began.
“[The] effort was stopped before,
but all negotiations did was lead to impunity,” Moreno-Ocampo told IWPR. “It
allowed Kony to rebuild.”
While the chief prosecutor
acknowledged there was a need for negotiations, he said that “never again”
would he acquiesce to suspending international efforts to capture individuals
against whom there were pending arrest warrants issued by the court.
According to former Ugandan peace
negotiator Betty Bigombe, the LRA may be defeated and in a weak state, but it
continues to be a regional problem.
Kony may meet mediators on May 10,
apparently to resume peace talks, she said. Yet she admitted she was frustrated
that the LRA leader had failed to sign the peace deal earlier this month, and
had apparently resumed abductions.
Many people are doubtful that
further meetings with Kony will be useful, she said. The rebel leader clearly
only acts at his own time and convenience, she added.
Bigombe, who was Uganda’s primary
contact with Kony for the Ugandan government from 1994 to 2004, said she feared
a military attempt to capture Kony would be bloody.
Such a move, she said, “will come
at some cost of lives.”
Bigombe would like to see a
special police force set up for the ICC to enable it to detain its own
suspects.
“Why can’t the ICC have its own
forces to effect an arrest?” she asked. Such a force would mean the court did
not have to rely on the cooperation of member countries, because “governments
do not have the capacity to do so”.
“Today, we are frustrated and
humiliated,” she said. “At the moment, [Kony] is holding the whole world
hostage. We are all waiting to see what happens.”
Moreno-Ocampo said the international
community also had to get tougher with Sudan, and push for the arrest of two
individuals wanted by the court for crimes in connection with the ongoing war
in the western region of Darfur.
The ICC has released warrants for
Ahmed Haroun, a former interior minister who is now in charge of humanitarian
affairs, and “janjaweed” militia commander Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also
known as Ali Kushayb.
The janjaweed are
government-backed Arab militias which are implicated in widespread abuses in
Darfur.
The two suspects are accused of
inciting murder, rape, and torture, as well as the forced displacement of
villagers in Darfur. Some two million people have been driven from the region
and an estimated 200,000 have been killed or have died of war-related causes.
“Arresting Haroun today will break
the criminal system in Darfur,” Moreno-Ocampo said.
However, he would not support
military intervention to accomplish this. “Arresting a minister is not a
military operation,” he said, “but a political one.”
Obtaining cooperation from the
Sudanese government is unlikely to be successful since the country has refused
to work with the ICC and does not recognise its legitimacy.
Moreno-Ocampo said he discussed
the arrest warrants with Sudanese officials for two years before the documents
were issued, and was told by Khartoum that “we cannot allow you to do a case in
Darfur”.
The Argentine lawyer said he told
Khartoum that he was going to act with or without their cooperation. The court,
he said, has vast amounts of information against both Haroun and Kushayb,
including eyewitnesses willing to testify against both men.
However, he has been frustrated by
the lack of action to arrest either suspect.
“A soft approach is not working,”
said Moreno-Ocampo. “We are not winning something by ignoring reality.”
At the Chicago conference,
Moreno-Ocampo also discussed the third situation at the ICC, relating to DRC.
He said the court’s recent decision not to hold portions of the upcoming trials
of Congolese militia leaders in the DRC was due to security concerns.
In DRC, “protection of witnesses
is the biggest problem today,” Moreno-Ocampo said, in reference to the upcoming
trial of militia leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo which is due to begin in The Hague
on June 23.
Rebel leaders Germain Katanga and
Mathieu Ngudjolo are also in detention in The Hague, after being transferred by
the DRC authorities.
Although the militia leaders were
in ICC custody, Moreno-Ocampo said, their armed forces still operate on the
ground and witnesses are in danger.
“They know our witnesses and are
looking for them,” he said.
Moreno-Ocampo said he was
optimistic that the ICC has had an impact in DRC and will continue to do so.
“One ruling will have an impact in
the world,” he said.
The prosecutor’s increasingly
aggressive posture may have been spurred by comments from the United States
that it is willing to help arrest the Sudanese fugitives.
Also speaking in Chicago, John
Bellinger, the chief legal advisor to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice,
said his government might be willing to do more than it has in the past to
secure the Sudanese arrests.
“If there were something we were
asked to do in addition to diplomatic activity,” Bellinger told IWPR, then the
US would consider it.
When asked if that included
military action, Bellinger told IWPR that he couldn’t say. However, he added
that action “within the bounds of the law” was possible.
Bellinger said US involvement in
Sudan was limited by laws that preclude American armed forces from being
involved in situations that might result in them being prosecuted by
international courts.
His comments signaled an apparent
softening of US policy towards the ICC, which has been decidedly hostile in the
past. Not only has Washington refused to sign the Rome Statute, it has secured
approximately 70 agreements from ICC signatory countries that they will not
hand over US citizens to the court.
Bellinger said the US wanted to
help the ICC with Darfur because there was “no other way to achieve
accountability” in Sudan for what Congress has called a genocide.
This stance was further endorsed
by Richard Williamson, the US special envoy to Sudan.
“We have taken no robust action to
stop a genocide in slow motion. We have failed our humanity in Darfur,” he
said.
Williamson, who recently met
Sudanese officials, said it was difficult to negotiate “with those who have
blood on their hands”.
[back to contents]
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
Official Website of the ICTY
Reports on location of ICTY archives sparks discussion in leading international justice forum.
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Merdijana Sadovic
April 25, 2008
A series of reports on the future of the Hague tribunal archive, sparked debate in the legal community and prompted a written response from a Bosnian official.
The future of the archive of the International Criminal Court for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, is a hot topic. There are many different opinions on where this immensely important archive – much of which is top secret – should be stored once the tribunal closes its doors in 2010.
However, in ICTY Archive Must be Open to All, which was published in Tribunal Update, University of Michigan history professor Robert Donia and Sarajevo-based commentator Edina Becirevic suggested that its future location is less important than ensuring that the public had sufficient access to it.
The piece prompted Bosnian liaison officer with the tribunal Amir Ahmic to write to the project, underlining the importance of the archive’s future location to those in the region.
In his letter, the official said he believed it important that the archive remained under United Nations protection.
"I believe that Bosnia should officially take over the tribunal’s archive, but only after a strict agreement is signed with the UN, which would ensure that the archive would be under UN jurisdiction and control," he said.
"The UN would be obliged to help Bosnia and Herzegovina in establishing and building the centre where the archive would be stored and would also educate the local staff, while Bosnia would help in providing proper location, necessary permits and legal aid."
Ahmic also agreed with Donia and Becirevic’s argument that the archive should be open to all.
"All necessary steps must be taken before the ICTY closes down to ensure that the archive is available in full [hard copies and electronic files] not only to investigators, prosecutors and judges in the region, but to the victims as well, so that they can use the documents to initiate civil procedures in order to get compensation for their sufferings during the wars in the Nineties," said Ahmic.
However, he said there was only one suitable choice of location for its future home, "It is important that the original ICTY archive is placed in Sarajevo."
On March 28, the project’s Belgrade-based IWPR-trained contributor Aleksandar Roknic wrote another article about a conference held the week before in Serbia’s capital, at which the future of the tribunal archive was debated.
The Belgrade Humanitarian Law Fund, FHP, which organised the event, said the only solution was to send copies of the archive – excluding protected documents – to all the former Yugoslav states.
Roknic’s piece, Future of Hague Archive Debated, prompted various reactions.
Those who commented on the article in the International Justice Watch Discussion List had their own suggestions on where these documents should be stored. The list is an online forum on the work of international war crimes courts and international humanitarian law, in which legal scholars and experts take part.
One forum participant said that "the archive should be transferred to Vienna, because the UN has a huge facility there". He also pointed out that "access would still be quite easy from the region".
Another believed that "whatever the archive's future location may be, an effort should be made to make it readily available over the internet".
Another important development last month was the start of a cooperation arrangement with the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, which is republishing Tribunal Update reports in its online weekly publication.
They’ve expressed a particular interest in the project’s analytical reports as well as its coverage of the Hague trial of Serbian ultranationalist leader Vojislav Seselj.
This republication means that project output will now reach a wider audience in Serbia.
Serb ex-security chiefs enabled murder, court hears
Reuters
By Alexandra Hudson
April 28, 2008
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Two former Serbian intelligence chiefs gave their forces a "license to commit murder" and enabled some of the most grievous crimes of the Balkans war, prosecutors at the Hague Tribunal said on Monday.
Jovica Stanisic, head of the secret service of late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and Franko Simatovic, a commander of elite Serb forces, are accused of arming and training militias who committed atrocities against non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.
"Mr Simatovic and Mr Stanisic were willing members in a core group of persons who showed the intent to remove large populations of non-Serbs by force ... by perpetrating the crimes of murder and persecution," Prosecutor Dermot Groome said in his opening statement.
"Milosevic was the central driving force behind this criminal enterprise," he said, adding Simatovic and Stanisic had a close working relationship with the former leader who died of a heart attack in 2006 before a verdict in his trial.
Both accused have pleaded not guilty.
The start of the trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal had been delayed four times over concerns relating to Stanisic's health, but a doctor advised he was fit to stand trial if he followed proceedings from a video link in his detention centre.
He has been suffering from kidney stones and depression.
It is hoped their trial will shed more light on Serbia's involvement in the fighting in Bosnia and Croatia during the wars that tore apart the former Yugoslavia from 1991 to 1995.
The two men are charged with directing some of the most notorious militias of the wars including the Scorpions, the Red Berets and Arkan's Tigers. The indictment lists hundreds of execution-style murders.
SCORPIONS' KILLINGS
Groome showed a brief clip from a notorious video first shown at Milosevic's trial of the murder of six Muslims by the Scorpions after the fall of the Srebrenica enclave in Bosnia.
"The perpetrators of these crimes were not paramilitaries, not a band of common criminals. No, the perpetrators of these crimes ... were a well-organized and equipped group, part of the units of the State Security Service of the Republic of Serbia," Groome said.
This had left many Serbs wondering how it was possible that some of the most grievous crimes committed during the war were committed in their name by men paid by the government, he added.
Declarations of independence by Croatia and Bosnia led Milosevic to require a paramilitary force that could ethnically cleanse parts of these countries to create "pure areas" for Serbs.
"If the state is going to engage in criminal conduct it will use its secret service to engage in that conduct," Groome said.
Stanisic, 57, and Simatovic, 58, were arrested by Serb police in 2003 for suspected links with organized crime in a sweep following the assassination of reformist prime minister Zoran Djindjic, who had infuriated ultranationalists by sending Milosevic to The Hague.
They were indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal soon after that and transferred to the court.
(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson, edited by Richard Meares)
ICTY prosecution appeals Haradinaj's acquittal
Southeast European Times
May 2, 2008
Appealing parts of the acquittal of three former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, including former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, UN prosecutors called Friday for their retrial on six war crimes charges.
UN prosecutors appealed Friday (May 2nd) parts of the acquittal of former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and two other former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
A month after the trial, they urged judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to reopen the case on six of the 37 counts of war crimes they faced. Prosecutors, who had sought 25-year jail sentences for each of the accused -- Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj -- cited witness intimidation as a factor in the trial.
"Within the next 75 days, a more extensive document will follow; it will speak in detail about all the arguments the prosecution will use," Belgrade-based B92 quoted chief UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz's spokeswoman, Olga Kavran, as saying Friday.
On April 3rd, a three-member panel acquitted Haradinaj and Balaj of all charges, while Brahimaj received a six-year sentence for torture and cruelty.
Prosecutors accused the three of participation between March and September 1998 in a joint criminal enterprise, whose aim was to ensure the KLA's total control over the Dukagjin operative zone. They also alleged that, to achieve that goal, Haradinaj and his associates committed a host of war crimes, including murder, unlawful removal, torture and rape of ethnic Serb and Roma civilians, as well as of Kosovo Albanians suspected of collaborating with Serbian forces.
Haradinaj, the overall commander of KLA forces in the Dukagjin area at that time, was prime minister of Kosovo in March 2005, when the ICTY unsealed his indictment. He resigned immediately and surrendered voluntarily to The Hague.
At the end of the trial last month, presiding Judge Alphons Orie alleged witness intimidation throughout the process. Some witnesses refused to testify. Of the 81 people who gave evidence, 34 had protected status.
Evidence presented by the prosecution "did not always allow the chamber to conclude whether a crime was committed or whether the KLA was involved as alleged," the judges said.
The verdict took severe criticism from Belgrade, with Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica describing it as a "mockery of justice".
When Brammertz visited Belgrade after replacing Carla del Ponte, Serbian President Boris Tadic voiced hope that the UN prosecution would appeal the verdict.
"My office is currently studying the 300-page judgment to assess possible grounds to appeal," the Belgian lawyer said.
UN prosecutors, Brammertz noted, expressed discontent with the judges' ruling. They could not present all of their evidence, as several witnesses refused to show up in court. Kavran said Friday that appeals had no deadline but that the decision process "could take months or over a year".
War Crimes fugitives in Serbia’s reach – prosecutor
Reuters
By Ellie Tzortzi
May 4, 2008
BELGRADE, May 4 (Reuters) - Serbia could arrest four war crimes fugitives still on the run from the Hague tribunal, including top suspect Ratko Mladic who is likely in the country, the U.N. chief prosecutor was quoted on Sunday as saying.
The arrests are key to Serbia's progress towards European Union membership. A pact on closer ties, signed between Belgrade and the bloc last week, is due to go into effect only when all, and especially Mladic, are brought to trial.
Hague chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz, the arbiter of whether Serbia is doing its best to capture the four men, told Serbian daily Vecernje Novosti "there is no reason to believe Mladic is not in Serbia."
"His support network is (in Serbia), his family is in Serbia, and that is where he was last seen," Brammertz said.
Along with his political boss Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian wartime commander Mladic is indicted on two counts of genocide, for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 Bosnia war.
Commenting on the other fugitives -- Karadzic, Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic -- Brammertz told the paper the tribunal believes that "Serbia can get to all three".
"During meetings in Belgrade we received detailed information about a recent raid confirming Zupljanin was in Serbia," he said.
The fugitives' families and support networks were in Serbia, he added, so there was no reason to believe they were far away.
Brammertz, a Belgian, took over the Hague post in January and is due to make his first formal report on Serbia's cooperation to the U.N. Security Council in the coming weeks.
He replaced Switzerland's fiery Carla del Ponte, who for eight years put relentless pressure on Belgrade to deliver the fugitives. Many Serb nationalists consider Mladic and Karadzic heroes for their role in the Yugoslav wars. (Writing by Ellie Tzortzi; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Rights group: New information warrants investigation into claims Serbs were killed for organs
International Herald Tribune
May 5, 2008
PRISTINA, Kosovo: A human rights watchdog said Monday that new evidence has emerged to warrant an investigation into claims that ethnic Albanian guerrillas in Kosovo killed Serbs and sold their organs at the end of the war in Kosovo.
Human Rights Watch said it had information that bolsters allegations of abductions and cross-border transfers from Kosovo to Albania in June 1999.
At the time, NATO and the U.N. were moving in to Kosovo at the end of the war between separatist rebels and Serbian forces.
The claims first appeared in a book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who wrote that she had been told by "credible journalists" of such an organ trafficking scheme.
Del Ponte wrote that, according to the sources, Kosovo Albanians transported between 100 and 300 people — most of them Serb civilians — by truck from Kosovo to a house near the Albanian town of Burrel, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) north of the capital, Tirana.
At the house, "doctors extracted the captives' internal organs," Del Ponte said in the recently published book, "The Hunt: War Criminals and Me," according to the rights group.
Human Rights Watch said it had reviewed the inquiries conducted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the U.N.-run justice department in Kosovo and concluded that the claims should be fully investigated.
"Serious and credible allegations have emerged about horrible abuses in Kosovo and Albania after the war," Fred Abrahams, a senior researcher with the New York-based rights watchdog, said in a statement.
He said the governments in both Pristina and Tirana need to "show their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting proper investigations."
Human Rights Watch sent a letter in April to the prime ministers of Kosovo and Albania urging them to examine the claims, but said it received no response.
The group said it viewed information obtained by the tribunal from the journalists, including statements from seven ethnic Albanians guerrillas who "gave details about participating in or witnessing the transfer of abducted Serbs and others prisoners."
It also said it obtained a report by U.N. investigators in Kosovo who found an empty intravenous bag, syringes and empty bottles of medicine in a stream bed next to the house.
The U.N. investigators who inspected the house in 2002-2003 also found traces of blood, but were unable to determine if the blood was human and concluded the evidence was not substantial enough to support the claims.
Tribunal spokeswoman Olga Kavran said Monday that the court had no additional comment to make beyond a statement it released April 16 to say that it had looked into the allegations but found no substantial evidence to support them.
However, she said Monday that the tribunal has received requests for assistance or information from Serbian authorities and from the United Nations mission in Kosovo.
The U.N. in Kosovo was not immediately available to confirm whether it is investigating the claims.
The rights group insisted there was enough evidence to back the allegations.
"Collecting reliable evidence to launch a criminal prosecution and collecting evidence that adds weight to assertions are two different things," Abrahams said. "The evidence found near Burrel clearly adds weight to the assertions."
Kosovo's assembly said it would convene in the coming weeks to consider whether to sue Del Ponte for allegedly "tarnishing the image" of the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, according to Kosovo legislators.
On Monday, Kosovo's deputy prime minister, Hajredin Kuqi, said it was up to prosecutors to investigate the allegations, not the government.
"We are not giving the chance to somebody to put some bad image on Kosovo's future, on Kosovo's policies or Kosovo's past," Kuqi said. "We have no facts, we have no data and we are not moving just because of speculation."
Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha has called the allegations "inventions and absurdities," but the rights group claimed Albania's top diplomat was withholding evidence.
It said Basha "personally investigated reports of detention facilities in northern Albania," at a time when he worked for the U.N.-run justice department in Kosovo, before beginning a political career.
Hundreds of Serbs and ethnic Albanians are still missing from Kosovo's 1998-99 war.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia on Feb. 17. Its split has been recognized by the United States and the bulk of nations in the European Union. Serbia and its ally Russia oppose Kosovo's statehood.
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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
Official Website of the ICTR
Former Rwandan Mayor Arrested in Germany
Hirondelle News Agency
April 28, 2008
Onesphore Rwabukombe, former Mayor of Muvumba commune, eastern Rwanda, was arrested in Germany last Thursday, according to Rwandan state radio.
The former official had been in the Rwandan government’s wanted list, accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between 1 October 1990 and 31 December 1994.
The radio quoted Jean Bosco Mutangana, spokesperson for prosecution, for the arrest.
Mr Rwabukombe was also accused of complicity with Jean Baptist Gatete, former Mayor of Murambi, in the massacres of ethnic Tutsis in Murambi and in the Parish of Nyarubuye.
Gatete has been indicted by the Arusha-based International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Prosecutor has already filed a motion to request his transfer to Kigali to stand a trial. The motion was yet to be heard by the Chamber.
However, According to a member of Gatete’s defence team questioned Monday in Arusha, Rwabukombe has not been mentioned in the indictment against Gatete.
Germany has no extradition agreement with Rwanda. However Mr Mutangana said that Germany had an obligation to either try him or extradite the accused because it has signed the international convention against genocide.
If Mr Rwabukombe was to be extradited to Rwanda, he would be tried by a Gacaca court, because according to the new law being revised, his status as a communal official places him in the second category of offenders.
The arrest comes just a week after the visit of the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, to Germany.
During a press conference in Berlin, President Kagame, according to AFP, also denounced the presence on German territory of Ignace Murwanashyaka, leader of FDLR, an armed rebel group based in the Democratic Republic of Congo, accused of being composed of former members of the Rwandan army and interahamwe militiamen.
Wanted for crimes of genocide, Muwanashyaka was arrested on 7 April 2006, then released after being briefly detained in Mannheim.
Chancellor Angela Merkel responded that Germany was following the situation very closely in connection with Muwanashyaka. The latter, reported AFP, claimed was a student in Germany during the 1994 genocide.
ICTR Could Face Many Requests for Review
Hirondelle News Agency
May 2, 2008
Eight months before the end of its mandate, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) could be confronted with an abrupt increase in the requests for review following the many revelations of false testimony that have occurred in several trials.
Theoretically a request for review can only be based on a "new fact"; but this concept can be flexible, as it was demonstrated in the review of the decision concerning Jean-Bosco Barayagwiza, founding member of the RTLM.
ICTR has only known this case of judgment review. But considering the increasing number of witnesses affirming today to have lied in their testimonies, persons who were convicted might be tempted to have recourse to this procedure.
It is of a particular importance because it calls into question the fundamental principle in criminal law of res judicata. This principle prevents the same case from being tried again.
The judgment brings "into force res judicata" when the recourses for appeal are exhausted. The review of such a judgment is authorized by the Statute of the Tribunal, as well as by the Rules of Procedure and Evidence in exceptional cases and in particular with the aim of repairing an injustice.
The conditions of review are framed by Articles 25 of the Statute and 120 to 123 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal.
Barayagwiza, tried afterwards in the so called "Media Trial", had been acquitted in November 1999 by the Appeals Chamber which had answered favourably to the prejudicial exception by which he disputed the legality of his arrest in Cameroon and his detention. In front of the outrage in Kigali provoked by this decision, and the protests which were multiplying in Rwanda, the Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, asked for a review of this decision.
On 30 March 2000, the Appeals Chamber revised its ruling and, thus, quashed the acquittal of Barayagwiza. The new fact that was brought forth has not really remained memorable.
In this decision, the Appeals Chamber took care to point out all the criteria required for the examination of such a request. Four, enumerated by Article 120 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence of the Tribunal, must come together:
"Where a new fact has been discovered; this new fact must not have been known by the moving party at the time of the proceedings before a Trial Chamber; the new fact could not have been discovered through the exercise of due diligence by the moving party, and, moreover, the moving party must prove that the new fact could have been a decisive element in the decision taken by the Trial Chamber".
The Chamber with the jurisdiction to examine a request for review is that which gave the final judgment targeted by the request. The Appeals Chamber reminded that only a final judgment, meaning "a decision which puts an end to the procedure", is allegeable for review. Barayagwiza, thus, saw the review of his ruling be rejected.
If the Chamber decides to revise the judgment, it thus renders another one. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence also envision that if it is the Trial Chamber judgment which was re-examined, then the new decision is allegeable for appeal.
Although regularly accused of hearing false testimonies, the ICTR has tried its first case, late last year, in case of Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, former Minister for Culture and Education (who has been sentenced to imprisonment for remainder of his life). The case had been tried in appeal and the judges had taken the precaution to reject the concerned testimony. But since then, and in several cases, witnesses have been going back on their testimonies. Also, this procedure should not be long in interesting the defendants convicted on the basis of these testimonies that have been called into question.
The facts at the origin of the request for review must be "authentically new" and not "complementary elements of evidence that is presented to corroborate a fact" (Barayagwiza, § 42). Thus, the simple discovery after the fact of the evidence of a fact known at the time of the trial does not constitute in itself a new fact within the meaning of Article 119 of the Rules.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has had several requests for review, but none have been granted. In the Blaskic case, the Appeals Chamber summarizes existing jurisprudence on the qualification of the new facts in these terms: "A new fact is comprised of all new elements of information tending to prove a fact which was not raised at the time of the procedure in first instance or appeal ". The fact in question "should not form part of the elements which the Chamber that rendered the decision could have held into account to form its judgment". In other words, "[what] is important to determine, is if the Chamber which rendered the decision [was] aware of this fact or not" (Blaskic, Decision on Prosecutor's Request for Review or Reconsideration, ICTY, 23 November, 2006).
In this case, the Chamber considered that the facts presented were not new because they had been already debated.
The referred Chamber must then "decide if the new fact, if it was thus decided, could have constituted a decisive element". If this is the case, it could then revise its judgment. All the demands for review which were rejected were done so because the motive fact could not be regarded as new. While persons convicted can ask for the review of their final judgment without a temporal condition, the prosecutor must do so within a year of the judgment.
Still it is necessary that he can do so. The ICTR registry recently announced to persons that have been convicted that they did not have the right to a lawyer after their final judgment.
Rwanda: Gov't Welcomes French Court Ruling to Transfer Key Fugitive
The New Times
By Felly Kimenyi
May 9, 2008
The Justice Minister has lauded the decision by the Court of Appeal of Paris to transfer former Sous-prefect of Gisagara in the Southern Province, Dominique Ntawukuriryayo, to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for trial. Ntawukuriryayo lost an appeal in France's highest court, meaning that the ruling marks the end of his legal efforts to thwart the extradition.
"It is a good decision. He had his chance to plead his case right from the Court of First Instance," said Tharcisse Karugarama who is also the Attorney General.
He said that the decision showcases a good sign of judicial cooperation between the ICTR and the French authorities.
He urged the French judiciary to take a bold step and transfer some of the suspects who are staying in France to Rwanda for trial.
"This should only be the beginning to show further cooperation, it should not only stop with the ICTR. We are waiting for the day when they will decide to transfer suspects to Rwanda," added the minister.
Ntawukuriryayo was arrested on October 16 in Carcassonne, south-west France, under an arrest warrant issued by ICTR in September last year.
His arrest followed those of former parish priest of St Famille church, Wenceslas Munyeshyaka and the former Prefet (Governor) of the former Gikongoro, Laurent Bucyibaruta.
The UN tribunal has however requested that Munyeshyaka, who was tried and convicted in absentia by the Rwanda Military Tribunal, be tried by French courts.
Munyeshyaka was convicted together with Maj. Gen Laurent Munyakazi over their responsibility in the killing of thousands who had sought refuge at the St Famille church during the Genocide.
Bucyibaruta is indicted for the massacre of over 25,000 Tutsi who had camped at Kabuye Hill, Southern Province, between 21 and 25 April 1994.
The ICTR which was established by the United Nations Security Council to try key architects of the Genocide, has until December this year before its mandate expires and it still has trials that have not yet began.
Apart from the three, France also has in its custody two other key Genocide suspects who were arrested on warrants issued by Rwanda's Office of the Prosecutor General.
They are former businessman Claver Kamana and Lt Col Marcel Bivugabagabo, a senior member of the former Rwandan army (Ex-FAR).
Last month, a French court ruled that Kamana be extradited to Rwanda but he has since appealed against this verdict in a higher court.
The Office of the Prosecutor, through the recently established Genocide Fugitives Tracking Team, has issued several arrest warrants against various fugitives most of are believed to be in European countries.
Rwanda: Fugitive Kabuga Still Makes Merry
The East African Standard
By Partick Wachira
May 10, 2008
(Nairobi) Wanted for genocide in his country, fugitive Felicien Kabuga has been said to be in Kenya on several occassions. Last week, it emerged that he has business ventures here. How the whole world could be after him without success.
That wanted Rwanda genocide fugitive Felicien Kabuga has business interests in Kenya must be disturbing to many.
It has emerged that the genocide suspect has been collecting a cool Sh50 million in rent from apartments he is said to own in the posh Kilimani area of Nairobi, and other business ventures.
The apartment owned by Rwandan genocide suspect Felicien Kabuga and his wife Mukazitoni Josephine in Kilimani, Nairobi.
This means that claims that he may be in Kenya may be true, much as the authorities consistently deny.
The last time Kabuga appeared in the news, six months ago, was when the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) said the fugitive might have resided in Kenya "at some point in time."
ICTR Spokesman, Mr Roland Amoussouga, told the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (Chogm) in Kampala, Uganda, that there was "credible information" that Kabuga lived in Kenya at some stage in his long years of hiding.
Kabuga has a $5 million bounty on his head and is wanted for genocide crimes in his country, where close to one million people were killed.
It is not clear if the search for the man has been ongoing and in what countries, but Amoussouga said Kabuga's son-in-law was arrested in Germany early this year, giving some hope to the ICTR.
On Wednesday, Attorney-General, Mr Amos Wako, successfully sought court orders to freeze Kabuga's assets and proceeds from his apartments, managed by the Kenya FinanceTrust Company.
Curiously, the company has no physical address, but has been collecting some Sh290,000 every three months. The money is then banked into Commercial Bank of Africa and wired to an account in Belgium, according to the court proceedings.
The big question, therefore, is could Kabuga and his wife, Josephine Mukazitoni, be enjoying a luxurious life here, while the whole world is looking for them?
If that is the case, is the world really looking for him and where?
Kabuga reportedly bought the machetes used in the Rwanda genocide, which makes his participation as culpable as can be under the law. Amoussouga said Kabuga was still being "actively sought."
His snapshot, showing his greying hair at the temples, was widely circulated in police networks at the height of his search. But more than 14 years after the genocide, the search has yielded nothing.
That Kabuga may have been in Kenya, captured the national imagination in 2002-2003, but the Government did little to either probe the issue or placate the rumours.
Denial
The Government steadfastly denied that the genociduer was on Kenyan soil. The denial sort of aided the speculation, making it look like a Hollywood movie scene, rife with suspense, drama and intrigue.
The matter would have ended there, but a Kenyan journalist, William Gichuki Munuhe, was found murdered in his Karen house in February 2003.
It emerged that Munuhe had hatched a high profile plot to lure Kabuga out of his hideout and deliver the fugitive to the law. As anyone could guess, Munuhe would have pocketed over Sh300 million.
But something went tragically wrong. The hunted man apparently sensed danger and went after his pursuers.
Munuhe was found dead in his apartment, with a charcoal stove in the same room. Apparently, his killers wanted it to look like he died from carbon monoxide fumes.
But his relatives insisted Munuhe never had such a stove, nor did he use any such apparatus to cook.
Days later, it emerged that just before Kabuga could be ensnarled, Munuhe lost contact with his collaborators and calls to his cell phone went unanswered.
The police sensed something was terribly amiss and they went to his house, where they found that he had been dead for hours.
Since Munuhe was said to have been working alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations, it did not make sense that the scheme could have been bungled so easily.
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Iraqi High Tribunal
Official Website of the Iraqi High Tribunal
Grotian Moment: The Saddam Hussein Trial Blog
Iraq opens trial against Aziz, others over merchant slayings
Associated Press via Washington Post
By Sameer N. Yacoub
April 29, 2008
BAGHDAD -- An Iraqi court on Tuesday opened the trial of Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein's best-known lieutenants, and seven other defendants facing charges in the 1992 execution of dozens of merchants.
But the court quickly adjourned because a co-defendant, Saddam's cousin known as "Chemical Ali," was too ill to attend. The trial was scheduled to resume May 20.
Aziz, the international face of Saddam's regime for more than a decade as foreign minister and other posts, entered the court room leaning on a walking stick.
Aziz, 72, and the other defendants present, including Saddam's half brother Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, were placed in a wooden pen and stood as the judge read their names and discussed legal issues.
No formal charges were read. Aziz and the others are facing charges stemming from the 1992 executions of 42 merchants accused by Saddam's government of being behind a sharp increase in food prices when the country was under strict U.N. sanctions.
If convicted, the defendants could face a sentence of death by hanging.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, who gained the nickname Chemical Ali for ordering chemical attacks on Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s, is already under a death sentence.
The presiding judge, Raouf Abdul-Rahman, said doctors had signed a medical report saying al-Majid was in critical condition and needed some three weeks to recover. Under Iraqi law, all defendants are supposed to attend the first session of a trial.
The U.S. military said Monday that al-Majid is under medical care at an American detention facility after suffering a heart attack during a hunger strike earlier this month.
Aziz's Italian lawyer, Giovanni Di Stefano, said his client has denied the accusations.
Di Stefano was one of several non-Arab attorneys who took part in the legal defense of Saddam, who was hanged on the last day of 2006.
Di Stefano said in a statement posted on his Web site that Aziz's lawyers have not received any notification of court hearings.
Human Rights Watch urged Iraq to hold a fair trial, saying the Iraqi High Tribunal in the past has "squandered" the opportunity to build a system of impartial justice.
"To achieve justice for the immense crimes committed by Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, the Iraqi High Tribunal has an obligation to act fairly, independently and credibly," said Sara Darehshori, senior counsel in Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program.
Controversy over tribunal's justice
BBC News
By Rob Watson
April 29, 2008
To many outside Iraq, Tariq Aziz was the face and voice of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Fluent in English, he was the man sent to defend Iraq at the UN and around the world.
Now he stands accused of being part of the murder of 42 merchants in 1992 after they were blamed for raising food prices.
Though his detractors say he was clearly implicated in the crimes of the regime, others argue he was far more of a figurehead and never really part of Saddam's inner circle.
His trial, the fourth to be held by the Iraqi High Tribunal, may well be the last of well-known figures from the Saddam era.
Controversial justice
The tribunal has already handed down death sentences to several key figures including Saddam Hussein himself, who was executed along with two of his aides in 2006.
Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali", has also been sentenced to death for his role in the gassing of Kurds in 1998.
But controversy continues to surround the meting out of justice to former regime members.
Chemical Ali has yet to be executed in part because of a dispute surrounding the fate of two Sunni generals sentenced alongside him, including the former defence minister, Sultan Hashem Ahmad.
'Pack of cards'
The generals are popular among some Sunnis, who are anxious not to see them executed.
The Americans are also reluctant, having promised Gen Hashem he would be well treated when he surrendered to US forces after the invasion.
Both Sunni politicians and the Americans are pressing their cases with the Shia-dominated government in a dilemma that goes to the heart of modern-day Iraq.
More broadly, the tribunals have been criticised by international human rights and legal groups who have argued variously that either international lawyers should have been present or that the trials should have been conducted by the UN without the possible penalty of death.
The Americans and the Iraqis have countered, however, that it is a central principle of international law that trials should be conducted at a national level wherever possible.
As to the rest of the Pentagon's famous "pack of cards" of the most wanted regime members, nine are still unaccounted for, including Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, the "King of Clubs".
Five are dead, including Saddam Hussein's two sons Uday and Qusay, and most of the others remain in custody.
Official: Saddam cousin Chemical Ali too sick for new trial
Associated Press via Google
By Sameer N. Yacoub
April 29, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — An Iraqi government official says Saddam Hussein's cousin known as "Chemical Ali" is too sick to attend a trial to face new charges in the 1992 execution of 42 merchants.
Ali Hassan al-Majid faces charges with former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and six other defendants. The trial is to begin Tuesday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information, says al-Majid is suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure.
Al-Majid's defense team also says he's too ill to stand trial. He has been sentenced to hang for his role in separate case.
The U.S. military says al-Majid is under medical care at an American detention facility after suffering a heart attack earlier this month.
The Big Question: As Tariq Aziz goes on trial, who is left from Saddam Hussein's regime?
The Independent
By Patrick Cockburn
April 30, 2008
Why are we asking this now?
Tariq Aziz, the most articulate spokesman for Saddam Hussein's regime, went on trial in Baghdad yesterday. The 72-year-old is accused of being responsible for the execution in 1992 of 42 merchants, who allegedly raised food prices for no reason at a time when Iraq was under international sanctions. Aziz is on trial with eight others, including Saddam Hussein's half-brother, Watban Ibrahim al-Hassan, and Ali Hassan al-Majid – also known as "Chemical Ali". Al-Majid is already on death row, having been convicted last year of leading a campaign in which tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds were massacred in the late 1980s. He is too ill to attend court because he has high blood pressure and diabetes.
Aziz, who was not a key decision-maker in Saddam's regime, is accused of signing the execution orders as a member of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council – but he would have had no choice but to do so. It is unlikely he would have been directly responsible for ordering the executions. Indeed, it was one of the few mass killings for which Saddam was mildly apologetic. His victims were later referred to as "martyrs of the moment of rage".
What is the significance of these trials?
They are important because they underline the determination of the Shia-Kurdish government to bring to justice the Baathist leaders who persecuted them for so long. Iraq's new rulers see all of Saddam's ruling Baathist elite as being guilty of hideous crimes. But the trials also emphasise the depth of the divisions between Sunni and Shia Arabs in Iraq.
In Saddam's birthplace, Awaja, schoolgirls threw flowers on his grave and sang songs in praise of him this week. But for all of the Kurds, and most of the Shias, Saddam and his lieutenants were the equivalent of Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler. Many Sunnis see these trials, particularly of those leaders not directly involved in security, as a sign that none of their community has a place in the new Iraq.
What is left of Saddam's regime?
The Baathist regime which held power from 1968 to 2003 was destroyed by the US-led invasion of 2003. In the final war, even its most elite military detachments did not fight and went home. It was very much a family government, whose inner core consisted of Saddam (executed at the end of 2006) and his sons Uday and Qusay, who were trapped in a house in Mosul in 2003 and killed in a gun battle. Other top members of Saddam's government were his three half-brothers and more distant cousins such as Ali Hassan al-Majid. The important survivors of the regime who still matter did not feature in the pack of "most wanted" cards issued to US troops (though the former vice-president, Izzat Ibrahim al-Douri, is still on the run) but younger men. These are the majors and colonels from Saddam's security services who have been at the heart of the resistance to the occupation.
What was the long-term outcome of Saddam's trial and execution?
The gruesome execution of Saddam and the jeers of his executioners in December 2006 excited sympathy among the Iraqi Sunnis and abroad. Iraqis have become so used to appalling violence that they were probably less shocked by the hanging than many foreigners. They also spend most of their time worrying about the violence that threatens them and their families and not that done to the old dictator.
Many Iraqis say their lives were safer under Saddam but this does not mean they want him back. They know he ruined their country. The Americans orchestrated Saddam's trial, although they wanted it to have an Iraqi face. These days, the US has less enthusiasm for trying and executing former Iraqi leaders because its policy is to conciliate the Sunnis, including former insurgents who have denounced violence and allied themselves with the Americans.
Will Tariq Aziz be given a fair trial?
Iraq is still engulfed in war and no trial will be regarded as fair by all of the population. Evidence is difficult to collect. Saddam seldom gave a direct order for mass killings, although it is known that atrocities such as the murders of 150,000 Shias after the uprising of 1991, would not have taken place without his instructions.
There was more evidence against Chemical Ali, who gassed 180,000 Kurds in 1988-89, because government archives were captured during the Kurdish uprising of 1991. Those giving evidence know that they and their families might be killed. The trials are not fair but then neither was Nuremburg.
Should the trials be stopped because they inflame hatreds?
No. The problem for the US and Iraqi governments is that instead of pursuing the 5,000 leading henchmen of Saddam's regime in 2003, they targeted the whole Sunni community of six million people. The army and security services were dissolved and former officers reduced to selling their furniture in order to feed their families. Not surprisingly, they joined the resistance.
The Americans are now pressing the Iraqi government to re-employ many of these former Baathists but it is doubtful this will happen. Here, the trials are more a symptom than a cause. Most former Baathist officers do not fear a formal trial as much as being shot dead on their doorsteps – as has happened to thousands of them. But there are very real criminals who killed and tortured at Saddam's command who should be brought to justice.
How will history judge Saddam and his lieutenants?
Saddam Hussein was a monster. He seized power in a country with enormous oil reserves, a well-educated population and an efficient administration – and then ruined it. There was no need for him to crush any sign of dissent as if it was an attempted coup. His regime prided itself on its violence. It recorded its most vicious crimes on video tape.
Saddam was in some ways like Stalin, but there was also an element of Inspector Clouseau about him: he launched disastrous wars and described humiliating defeats as victories. But many Iraqis find it difficult to believe the revulsion expressed by the British and US governments at Saddam's crimes against humanity following the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, when the West had said so little about them previously. For instance, George Bush laments Saddam's use of poison gas at Halabja, which killed 5,000 civilian Kurds in 1988. But the US and Britain said so little to condemn Iraq's use of poison gas against Iranian soldiers and civilians during the Iran-Iraq war that, in practice, they were complicit in its use.
So does this trial bring the Saddam chapter to a close?
Yes...
* It shows that Saddam Hussein's regime really did lose the war and is not coming back.
* If the executions go ahead, there will soon be few of the old leadership left alive.
* The trials send out a clear message about the strength of the present Iraqi government.
No...
* The legacy of Saddam Hussein and of the events that took place during his rule still affects every aspect of Iraqi life.
* Most Sunni and many Shia Muslims see the trials as victors' justice, so they cannot be regarded as fair.
* Many of Saddam's supporters will never accept the present government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
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