War Crimes Prosecution Watch

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Ivica Vrdoljak found guilty
State Court of BiH
July 10, 2008

The Court of BiH handed down the first-instance Verdict in the Ivica Vrdoljak Case, finding the accused guilty of the criminal offence of War Crimes against Civilians, and sentenced him to five (5) years of imprisonment

The accused Vrdoljak was found guilty in as much as he, during the period from late June to late July 1992, as a member of the 103rd Derventa Brigade of the Croat Defense Council (HVO), treated inhumanly the Serb detainees held in the Silos facility located in Polje, Derventa municipality, and in the storage depot of the Beograd Department Store located in the Tulek settlement, Bosanski Brod.

The operative part reads, inter alia, that the accused Vrdoljak, on an undetermined date in June 1992, took four civilians out of the Silos facility, after which, together with other persons, he hit them with truncheons, punched and kicked them with his military boots on. The operative part further reads that the accused Vrdoljak, in the storage depot of the Beograd Department Store located in Tulek, Bosanski Brod municipality, during July 1992, in the evening hours, on several occasions, took the detainees into a poorly lit room, where they were beaten by him and other persons.

The time that the accused Vrdoljak spent in custody, starting from 29 November 2007 onwards, that is, pending his potential committal to a penitentiary to serve the sentence shall be credited towards his sentence.

Zrinko Pinčić pleaded not guilty
State Court of BiH
July 11, 2008

At the plea hearing before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Accused Zrinko Pinčić pleaded not guilty. Zrinko Pinčić is charged with the criminal offense of War crimes against civilians.

As alleged in the Indictment, the Accused Pinčić, as a member of the HVO /Croat Defense Council/, during the period from November 1992 until March 1993, in the village of Donje Selo, Konjic Municipality, used to come armed, during night time, to a house where Serb civilians were detained, women and children. The suspect Pinčić, as alleged in the Prosecutor's motion, repeatedly took one female person from the room where other civilians were detained, and forced her to sexual intercourse, holding his rifle by the bed and threatening her that he would bring 15 soldiers and that she would see what would then happen to all of them.

Hodzic: Trial postponed
BIRN Justice Report
July 14, 2008

Due to the indictee's bad health it is still not know when the trial for Rovasi hamlet crimes will continue.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina postponed the trial of Ferid Hodzic to August 18. By this date, a team of medical doctors is expected to prepare its findings concerning the indictee's capability to attend and follow the trial.

As announced earlier Hodzic had a heart attack on June 8, 2008. After that, he was admitted to a hospital in Tuzla.

The State Prosecution charges him, as commander of the Territorial Defense in Vlasenica, with having participated in the detention and physical and mental abuse of civilians and prisoners of war in "Stala" ("Stable") prison in Rovasi hamlet in 1992 and 1993.

"We have been informed that the indictee should avoid stressful situations, but, in order to check to what extent such situations might affect the indictee, we have asked a team of medical experts to provide their findings and opinion," Trial Chamber Chairman Tihomir Lukes said.

Attorney Asim Crnalic said that, when he spoke to his client, he "noticed" he was very ill.

"The inductee has been hospitalized twice since the last hearing, held on June 23. His speech has been affected, he has breathing problems and I do not believe that he will be capable of attending the trial," Crnalic said.

At the hearing on May 23 Hodzic left the courtroom, after having told the Trial Chamber that he did not feel well.

The trial commenced on March 12. Evidence presentation by the Defense is underway.

Kravica: Victim of a great delusion
BIRN Justice Report
July 15, 2008

The Defense considers that the Prosecution has not managed to prove that Brano Dzinic participated in the genocide in Srebrenica.

Brano Dzinic, one of the 11 persons charged with genocide, and his Defence attorney called upon the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina "to evaluate the evidence in a correct manner" and acquit the inductee of all charges.

Dzinic, former member of the Second Special Police Squad from Sekovici, is charged, together with nine other members of the same Squad and one member of the Republika Srpska Army, with the shooting of about 1,000 Bosniaks after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.

The indictment alleges that, on July 13, 1995 Dzinic participated in the murder of Bosniaks in a warehouse in Kravica village by throwing bombs, while others were shooting at those people.

"As a human, I feel sorry for the victims, but they will not be satisfied if I am convicted, because I am not the person who did it. In some way I am a victim of the Ministry of Interior of the Republika Srpska. I am also a victim of a great delusion, which was carried by the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A man, who is charged by an indictment like this one, cannot be a normal person. I am a normal man. I sleep well as my conscience is clear. I hereby claim, and I can be held responsible for that, that I was mixed up with somebody else. I am not a murderer and I can never be one! I am a completely normal person," Brano Dzinic said.

In his closing arguments, his Defence attorney Borisa Ilic focused on the allegations that the indictee was wrongly accused, only on the basis of a nickname of "Cupo" which was "attributed to him by the Prosecutor." The attorney said that this was not the inductee's nickname.

During the course of the trial, some witnesses said that a person, known as "Cupo" allegedly threw bombs among the detainees, who were held in the warehouse in Kravica.

"The Prosecutor's persistence in trying to prove the existence of that nickname implies that this is a huge mistake. You cannot conceal a nickname. People are often more known by their nicknames than by their first names. Prosecution witnesses, who knew Brane Dzinic, said that his nickname was Dzine or Dzin, while some said that he did not have a nickname at all. The nickname was supposed to link the person, who had thrown bombs, with my client," Ilic said.

The allegations about the nickname were used to "turn this young man into an executioner," the Defence attorney said. "Brano Dzinic is not a monstrous criminal. From the very beginning he claimed that he was in Sandici, near Kravica, when the crime, charged upon him, was committed. We should repeat his words in this bright hall: 'I did not participate in the killing in Kravica and I was not even present there'," Ilic said, concluding his statement.

The Defence is due to continue presenting its closing arguments at the trial for genocide in Srebrenica on July 16.

Appellate panel confirmed the Verdict in the Jadranko Palija Case
State Court of BiH
July 15, 2008

The Panel of the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed the Verdict in the Jadranko Palija Case finding the Accused Palija guilty of War Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes against Civilians, and imposed on him a compound sentence of 28 years of long term imprisonment.

Under the Verdict handed down by the Trial Panel, Jadranko Palija was found guilty because on 31 May 1992, together with other soldiers of the VRS, he took part in an attack against the hamlet of Begići, village of Kljevci, on which occasion they rounded up all the civilians they found there in front of the house of a civilian, where they separated women and children from men and detained them in the house, while they took the men across the fields known as "Vinogradine". When they reached the slaughterhouse at the River Sanica, Jadranko Palija personally killed two civilians; he killed another civilian when arriving at the crossroads in Vrhpolje; he killed one more civilian on the main road leading to Sanski Most; he also killed a civilian on the Vrhpolje Bridge and together with other soldiers, he participated in the killing of fourteen civilians who were ordered to remove their clothes and jump off the bridge while being fired at as they were falling into the water; they did not succeed in killing one of the civilians on this occasion.

Bundalo et al: Voluntary detention
BIRN Justice Report
July 15, 2008

Former members of the police and army recall the guarding of buildings in which Bosniaks were detained, as well as about the three indictees' responsibilities.

As indicated by Prosecution witnesses, acting on orders issued by "commander Zeljaja" and "commander Bundalo", policemen from Kalinovik and members of the Republika Srpska Army guarded the school building and "Barutni magacin" ("Gunpowder Depot"), in which Bosniaks were detained, in the summer of 1992.

"Policemen, or sometimes soldiers, would capture Bosniaks but I did not do that. Commander Zeljaja distributed the policemen to their posts and wrote patrolling orders. Bosniaks were detained in the elementary school building but I heard that some were also detained in the police station," said Zeljko Mandic, who was member of the reserve police forces at the time. This witness said that Bosniaks "came voluntarily" to the school building, adding that they were not detained in there, as they could "move freely."

Ratko Bunalo, Nedjo Zeljaja and Djordjislav Askraba are charged with having participated in the murder, extermination, forced disappearances, detention, rape, pillaging of property and physical and mental abuse of Bosniaks in the course of 1992 and 1993.

The indictment alleges that the Bosniaks were detained in "Miladin Radojevic" school building, "Barutni magacin" detention camp and the police station in Kalinovik, "where they were abused every day."

"Those who were held in the school building could go to the town to buy supplies every day and they could go out to the courtyard. While I kept watch, there were no unusual events in the school," said Dusan Cerovina, former member of the reserve police forces from Kalinovik, who was "a guard in the elementary school building."

Protected Prosecution witness I claims to have been a guard in "Barutni magacin" detention camp. "Upon my arrival to 'Barutni magacin', I met some security staff and detainees. I do not know who was in charge, but I used to see Askraba, who acted as a guard from time to time," witness I said. In his earlier statement given to the State Prosecution, this witness said that Askraba was "manager of 'Barutni magacin'". When faced with this statement, the witness said that he was "no longer sure" that this statement was correct.

I said that, in early August 1992, "Pero Elez' and Zaga Kunarac's men" took some men out of "Barutni magacin" to shoot them. "Armed soldiers came and they stayed, brutally abusing the detainees. They loaded them onto three or four trucks and drove them away. After the first group had left, we heard shooting. Then they came back and drove the others away. A police vehicle, with a rotating light, escorted them," witness I said.

The indictment alleges that, on August 5, 1992 members of a paramilitary group led by Pero Elez, former commander of Miljevina Battalion who was killed in the war, drove the detainees in trucks to Foca, where they shot them.

The Hague Tribunal announced a second instance verdict against Dragomir Kunarac, known as Zaga, to 28 years imprisonment for having participated in the crimes in the Foca area.

The trial is due to continue on Friday, July 18 when witness I will be cross-examined.

Kravica: No genocide elements
BIRN Justice Report
July 16, 2008

The eleven Defense teams consider that the Prosecution has not proved that genocide was committed after the fall of Srebrenica or that their clients participated in it.

Presenting his closing arguments at the trial of the eleven persons, who are charged with genocide after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, Defense attorney Bosko Cegar said that the Prosecution has not been able to prove that members of the Special Police Unit committed the crime. Cegar represents Slobodan Jakovljevic, former member of the Second Special Police Squad from Sekovici, who is charged, together with ten other persons, with the capture and shooting of more than 1,000 Bosniaks in Kravica village, near Srebrenica, committed on July 13, 1995. "It is true that the men were killed in Srebrenica, but the rest of the population was evacuated. Therefore we can hardly say that there was an intention to destroy the entire Bosniak population. We could have said that genocide had been committed in Srebrenica had the women and children been killed as well. The Prosecution has not presented relevant evidence concerning an alleged execution plan. It focused on presumptions instead," Cegar said, adding that, "not even en approximate number" of victims, who were killed in Kravica, "has been determined," because the witnesses gave different statements concerning the numbers.

Cegar and Defense attorneys of Aleksandar Radovanovic, Velibor Maksimovic and Dragisa Zivanovic, who also presented their closing arguments at this hearing, said that the Prosecution had not managed to prove the indictees' guilt.

"Aleksandar Radovanovic is charged with having deliberately participated in a joint criminal enterprise. This presumption, made by the Prosecution, has proven to be as a mere fiction. He executed a common guarding task, as a policeman, on July 13, 1995. The indictment for genocide is absurd and it does not deserve your attention," attorney Dragan Gotovac said.

Danilo Mrkaljevic, who represents Velibor Maksimovic, considers that the evidence presented by the Prosecution and Defense proved that his client was not present in Kravica when the crime was committed.

The closing arguments, presented by Stanko Petrovic, Defense attorney of Dragisa Zivanovic, were based on the fact that the indictee had an alibi. He said that the Prosecution had not presented the Court with any "solid piece of evidence" related to the indictee's participation in the killing of civilians.

"During the course of the evidence presenting it has been determined that the indictee was in Skelani in the referenced period of time, where he organized a farewell party for his brother, who was going to start military service. Prosecution witnesses confirmed that not all members of one Squad had to go to the field at the same time," Petrovic said.

Indictee Dragisa Zivanovic then addressed the Trial Chamber by saying that he still could not believe that he was indicted for the crime, which was committed when he was "more than 60 kilometers away from Kravica."

Commencement of trial in the Rade Veselinović case scheduled
State Court of BiH
July 17, 2008

A commencement of trial before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in the Rade Veselinović case has been scheduled for 18 July 2008 starting at 12:30p.m. in courtroom 8. Rade Veselinović 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.

Kravica: Verdict due on July 29
BIRN Justice Report
July 17, 2008

After most Defense teams have presented their closing arguments, the Trial Chamber has announced that it will announce the first verdict for the Srebrenica genocide on July 29.

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina is due to announce its verdict against the 11 indictees, who are charged with the genocide in Srebrenica, on July 29.

The Trial Chamber has announced that it will need some more time to "discuss and conduct a comprehensive analysis of the evidence presented during the course of this complex case." It will therefore announce the verdict in late July only.

The State Prosecution charges ten former members of the Special Police Unit and one member of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 Bosniaks, who were detained in the Agricultural Cooperative premises in Kravica, near Srebrenica, on July 13, 1995.

Presenting his closing arguments, Borislav Jamina, Defense attorney of Branislav Medan, said that the Prosecution had not managed to prove the allegations contained in the indictment. He therefore considers that his client should be acquitted of all charges.

Jamina said that there was no evidence that there were "several thousand captured Bosniaks" in Srebrenica and its vicinity and that they were transported to Kravica in order to be executed.

"The incident, involving a prisoner who took a gun from a guard and killed him, generated vengeful and uncontrolled killing of the prisoners, who were held in the warehouse," the Defense attorney said, adding that a witness said that it was "normal for the soldiers to start shooting at the prisoners" after that incident.

As stated by Defense attorney Jamina, indictee Medan "was passive" when the crime was committed, adding that he was behind the warehouse. He quoted some witnesses, who said that no shooting came from that specific location.

"The fact that he came from his town Mostar to Skelani and the crime scene was just his bad luck. His passive behavior and the fact that he did not take any action cannot be qualified as a complicity in or support to the murder of those prisoners," Jamina said in conclusion.

Milos Peric, Defense attorney of Milovan Matic, said that his client was a civilians, "involved in humanitarian activities," during the course of the war. He claims that the Prosecution has not proved that he was present in Kravica and that he was linked to members of the Special Police Unit in any way.

The indictment alleges that Matic was member of the VRS, who "took away watches, money and jewelry" from the captured Bosniaks in Kravica and "recharged the ammunition boxes" during the course of the shooting.

"De facto and de jure, there is no evidence against Matic in this case. Nobody said that he recharged the ammunition boxes and nobody recognized him. The witnesses said that the person, who had taken away watches, was not the same person who had recharged the ammunition boxes. The description of those two persons does not match the indictee," Peric said, referring, among other things, to the testimony of protected witness S2, who was one of the two survivors.

Peric considers that "the only adequate verdict against Matic would be the one acquitting him of all charges." He said that only then could objective observers and the general public say that "justice was fulfilled."

The Defense of Petar Mitrovic and Miladin Stevanovic are due to present their closing arguments on July 18.

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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)

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: 'Killing Fields' Trials Set to Roll
IPS
By Andrew Nette
July 8, 2008

After a complicated and sometimes fraught process of establishment lasting over two years, the international tribunal into the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge may commence trials as early as September.

Kaing Guek Eav (also known as Duch), former head of the Khmer Rouge's most infamous torture and detention centre, Tuol Sleng, will be the first of the five senior leaders of the former Maoist group, currently in custody, to stand trial.

The consensus is that as day-to-day head of the Tuol Sleng facility Duch's culpability is clear, making his a fairly open-and-shut case.

Although tribunal staff caution it is hard to predict time frames, Duch's trial is expected to run through the remainder of 2008 and possibly into early 2009.

The tribunal will then try the remaining four: Noun Chea or 'Brother No 2' as he was known in the Khmer Rouge hierarchy, former Democratic Kampuchea head of state Khieu Samphan, former foreign minister leng Sary, and his wife leng Thirith, the regime's minister of social action.

"Although nothing has been decided it seems more likely they will be tried as a group," said tribunal public affairs chief Helen Jarvis. "They are being charged with policy level crimes they are all accused of being involved in."

All five are currently in detention on of charges war crimes and crimes against humanity for their alleged roles in the death by starvation, torture and murder of approximately 1.7 million Cambodians during their brief rule over the country between 1975 and early 1979.

The start of trials will go a long way to defusing ongoing criticisms particularly from Cambodians that the tribunal is too slow and unnecessarily bureaucratic.

Such criticisms have increased pressure on the tribunal to get the trials underway at the same time ensuring a fair and impartial process and being careful not to characterise the five defendants' exercise of their right to appeal as 'delays'.

The health of the five defendants is another pressure. All are old and many Cambodians fear they could die before they face justice.

"No one is ignoring it [the delays], but the problem is how to break through without losing the integrity of the judicial process," responded Jarvis.

"The lawyers talk about the international standard," said Youk Chhang, head of the Documentation Centre in Phnom Penh, a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) dedicated to studying and documenting the Khmer Rouge's three and a half year rule.

"You might apply this in Bosnia where there is hostility from the local population and difficulty in accessing the accused. But here it is different. There is support from local people. You have all the evidence."

"This is not about the UN's reputation. It is about the million of lives lost. It is about people wanting justice after 30 years."

"In comparison with other [war crimes] courts, by any measure we are making great progress," maintained Jarvis. "If anything, there is a certain picture of doom being painted from outside but I don't feel that from inside."

Many observers, local and international, agree the tribunal has made considerable progress given the challenge of holding trials of this size and complexity in Cambodia rather than in a third country, as was initially demanded by the UN as a condition for its assistance.

The tribunal is a special chamber within the Cambodian court system. It comprises local and international judges and mainly uses Cambodia's underdeveloped system of civil law.

"This is one reason everything takes so long," said Rupert Skilbeck, head of the tribunal's Defence Support Section. "There is no clear legal process in Cambodia even for relatively simple cases, let alone for complex ones [like this]."

Many hope situating the court in Cambodia will result in a flow-on effect in terms of improvements to Cambodia's legal process.

"We must have more objectives than just the trial of the Khmer Rouge leaders," said Sok Sam Ouen, head of the Cambodian Defenders Project, a legal aid NGO. "We need a model for a new court. Future leaders also need to be warned there is justice in Cambodia."

However, international human rights groups remain concerned the country's underdeveloped judiciary and endemic levels of corruption could negatively influence the proceedings.

The clearest example of this, these groups claim, were allegations of serious flaws in hiring and other personnel practices, including even senior staff having to kickback part of their salaries to unnamed individuals.

Although a UN audit of the tribunal found no "conclusive evidence" of kickbacks, the allegations continue to dog the tribunal and, until recently, have been a barrier to donor funding.

"It is not a matter of whether corruption is bad," said Sara Colm, a Phnom Penh based senior researcher with Human Rights Watch. "The possibility that there is corruption in the court opens the door to political manipulation for what should be a squeaky clean process."

"The allegations were unspecified, unsourced and unsubstantiated and they remain so nearly two years down the track," is Jarvis's response. "Some criticisms were made about aspects of the tribunal's management. We have embraced these unreservedly and have made changes.

Although staff maintain that everything is on track for a September trial, the tribunal faces other challenges, including a financial shortfall of nearly 44 million US dollars under a revised budget that nearly doubles the amount of money sought from donors and the Cambodian government.

The tribunal's administrators say they are confident of securing the funding.

The tribunal, held in Khmer, English and French, is struggling to deal with a major backlog of translation work.

"The problem is the sheer volume of information the prosecution has relied on that has not been translated," said Skilbeck. "If it is important enough to be used in the trial the defence lawyers should know what it says."

It is particularly acute in relation to material being translated from Khmer to French, a major issue for the Francophone legal teams representing Duch and Khieu Samphan.

"Only one per cent of the material they need has been translated into French," he said. "There is a real concern it could delay the trial."

Concerns have also been expressed about the tribunal's procedures for witness, which Colm maintains are "very faulty".

"The UN takes care of witnesses while they are in the compound," she said. "Outside, it is under the control of the ministry of interior judicial police who are rights abusers themselves."

"We have in place a Witness and Expert Support Unit and take this issue very seriously," said Jarvis,

"Although the nature of the work limits what we can say in public about this, we can say it is more than just physical protection. It includes financial and legal support and counselling."

Ieng Thirith to Remain in Detention: Tribunal
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
July 9, 2008

The pre-trial chamber of the Khmer Rouge tribunal ruled Wednesday it would not grant bail to Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister of the regime.

Her release could jeopardize evidence and lead to the threats of witnesses, Judge Prak Kimsan said in delivering the decision.

Ieng Thirith, 76, was arrested in November 2007 and charged by the tribunal with crimes against humanity.

"The decision of the co-investigating judge to detain the accused is valid," Prak Kimsan said. "The provisional detention is still necessary."

Co-investigating judges decided to keep Ieng Thirith in detention because they were worried that Ieng Thirith could intimidate victims or make compromises with former co-conspirators.

She was being held also to protect evidence, victims and her own security, and to guarantee she would be present during the trial, judges ruled.

As social affairs minister, Ieng Thirith held a position of high responsibility and conducted regular political meetings with high-ranking cadre, the five-judge panel ruled.

Phat Pouv Seang, co-defense for Ieng Thirith, told reporters after the hearing the decision was "unfair" and her healthcare was not adequate.

"The pre-trial chamber based [its decision] on the criminality of Ieng Thirith, but this kind of argument would be explained in the trial stage," he said.

Prak Kimsan said Wednesday the decision could not be appealed

Day in court
The Phnom Penh Post
By Cheang Sokha
July 9, 2008

Former Khmer Rouge "first lady" Ieng Thirith has lost her appeal against her pre-trial detention and will remain jailed by Cambodia's UN-backed genocide court awaiting trial for crimes against humanity.

The 76-year-old Thirith served as the regime's social affairs minister and is one of five former leaders likely to face prosecution for atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia. She was arrested in November 2007 with her husband, former regime foreign minister Ieng Sary.

"It is necessary to keep her in detention," said judge Prak Kimsang, who presided over the July 9 ruling announcement at the Extraordinary Chambers. Judges added that Thirith was a flight risk and could put pressure on witnesses if released.

Lawyers for Thirith, who was the Khmer Rouge regime's most powerful woman, said the ruling was unfair, arguing that their client was too infirm to try and flee the country.

"My client does not accept the decision made by judges at the pre-trial chamber," lawyer Phat
Pov Seang told reporters following the hearing.

"Based on medical examinations, she is elderly and always sick and could not escape to anywhere," he added.

Thirith, who had appeared before the court on May 21, has denied any wrongdoing under the Khmer Rouge, claiming that she only helped people and built hospitals during the regime.

She is the only female Khmer Rouge leader detained by the tribunal, which was convened in 2006 to find justice for victims of one of the 20th century's darkest chapters.

Some 1.7 million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed as the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge exiled Cambodia's population onto vast collective farms in its bid to forge an agrarian workers' utopia.

Among the other detainees are Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's top lieutenant, "Brother Number 2" Nuon Chea, former head of state Khieu Samphan and Kaing Guek Eav, the head of the regime's main prison Tuol Sleng who is better known by his revolutionary name Duch.

The first public trials are expected to start in September amid fears that some of the aging defendants could die before going to court. Pol Pot died in 1998, while another likely defendant, military commander Ta Mok, died in 2006.

Former Khmer Rouge leader healthy enough to stay in jail
AP via CBC News
July 10, 2008

The former Khmer Rouge head of state is in stable condition, despite his recent hospitalization for a stroke, and can remain in the custody of Cambodia's genocide tribunal, tribunal officials said Thursday.

Khieu Samphan, 77, is one of five former senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime who are awaiting trial for their alleged involvement in the atrocities that occurred when their ultra-communist movement ruled Cambodia from 1975-79. Some 1.7 million Cambodians died from starvation, disease and overwork or were executed during that time.

The tribunal has charged Khieu Samphan with crimes against humanity and war crimes, and has held him since November. His trial is expected to begin later this year.

"Every day they [doctors] continue to advise us that he's fine, stable and able to continue staying in detention," said Peter Foster, spokesman for the United Nations-assisted tribunal.

Many fear that he and other defendants, some in poor health, may not live long enough to stand trial. Khieu Samphan was hospitalized for two weeks — from May 21 to June 5 — after his stroke.

His defence team has requested that he be temporarily released to receive care from his family at home, according to a report on the tribunal's website. The report quoted the defence as warning that Khieu Samphan's "conditions may progressively decline until the point of no return."

Khieu Samphan's defence team was not available to provide comment on the report.

In addition to a request for temporary release, the former leader is also appealing his detention.

Germany pledges US$2.4 million for cash-strapped Cambodian genocide tribunal
AP via International Herald Tribune
July 11, 2008

The German government Friday pledged â‚¬1.5 million (US$2.4 million) to Cambodia's cash-strapped tribunal, which is charged with prosecuting former Khmer Rouge leaders with war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The main aim of the funds will be to allow victims of the communist dictatorship "to play a more prominent role in the proceedings" of the U.N.-assisted tribunal, the German Embassy said in a statement.

Some 1.7 million people died from starvation, disease and overwork or were executed during the Khmer Rouge's radical rule that turned Cambodian into a vast slave labor camp during the mid-1970s.

The tribunal, which has detained five former senior Khmer Rouge leaders on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, is seeking more money to carry out its goal of bringing the suspects to trial.

The embassy statement said Friday the money will be used to finance activities of the tribunal's victim support unit, which is designed to protect the rights of people who suffered under the regime.

"Up to now, victims have found it difficult to make their voices heard and, for that reason, the unit helps to inform the victims and to represent their interests," it said.

It said Germany had already given US$5.5 million to the tribunal since 2005.

In June, a revised budget estimated the cost of carrying out the tribunal's work through 2010 to be US$143 million. The tribunal is US$86.7 million short of that goal.

The US$56.3 million that was originally budgeted proved inadequate because the tribunal has had to recruit more staff and expand its work.

Lawyer Requests Contact Between Detainees
VOA Khmer
By Chun Sakada
July 16, 2008

The Cambodian defense lawyer for jailed Khmer Rouge leader Nuon Chea has requested the tribunal to review a policy that says five detainees cannot be in contact with each other.

In order to maintain the health of the detainees and a successful trial process, the five former leaders should be allowed to communicate with one another, defense attorney Son Arun said Wednesday.

Tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath confirmed receipt of the request and said judges will follow court procedures in considering it.

So far, former foreign affairs minister Ieng Sary and his wife, Ieng Thirith, have been allowed to talk to each other in detention.

Son Arun said his request follows international human rights standards and the Cambodian constitution.

The five detainees were in armed political struggle for decades, he said, "so they are like brother and sister."

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Central African Republic

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

LRA rebel threat haunts Central African Republic
Reuters
By Joe Bavier
July 8, 2008

Abducted, robbed and raped this year by raiding Ugandan rebels, Henriette and other villagers in this remote southeast corner of Central African Republic live in daily fear their attackers will return.

In February and March, several hundred fighters of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group entered the Central African Republic from their forest bases in north Democratic Republic of Congo, looting homes and abducting civilians.

The violent LRA incursion into one of the world's most inaccessible areas has aroused fears of a new front being opened up in a tangle of interlinked conflicts involving Sudan, Congo and Uganda whose borders converge at the heart of Africa.

United Nations officials fear a possible joint military offensive by these neighbours against the LRA, agreed last month as a strategy if the rebels do not commit to peace, could push the Ugandan insurgents into the Central African Republic.

"The southeast is vast and very sparsely populated, with an almost complete absence of state authorities," Toby Lanzer, U.N. humanitarian coordinator in the Central African Republic, said.

"If there were military operations against the LRA, it's highly likely they will seek safe haven in this country," he told Reuters.

The LRA fighters, who have waged one of Africa's longest guerrilla wars against the Kampala government, abducted about 150 people in 10 days in the February-March raid between Obo and Bambouti in the CAR, a poor former French colony.

Men among the captives were forced to carry looted supplies, but most were women and children who U.N. officials believe were taken to be used as sex slaves and child soldiers.

"They pushed us out of the house and tied a rope around my waist, there were already others attached in a line," said Henriette, 28, whose name has been changed for her protection.

She told Reuters that in Obo the LRA raiders also kidnapped her 14-year-old daughter. After walking across the bush through the night and into the next day, carrying booty looted from homes, the rebels and their prisoners finally stopped.

"That's when the rapes began," Henriette said. "I could hear the women crying and screaming all around ... it went on all night. One rebel would finish, rest, then come back. They all did ... I don't know how many raped me."

ALL-OUT OFFENSIVE

Released the next day with her daughter and a dozen others, she returned to her Central African Republic village but is now four months pregnant and awaiting the results of an HIV test.

The prospects of an all-out military offensive against the LRA have increased since the failure of talks to end two decades of rebellion. In April, the LRA's leader, self-proclaimed mystic Joseph Kony, failed to turn up to sign a peace deal.

However, the elusive Kony, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges, held out a hope of negotiations again earlier this month when he told U.N. envoy Joachim Chissano he wanted another peace meeting.

Lanzer said that, if the LRA invaded or was pushed by military force into the Central African Republic, the country's small army would be ill-prepared to deal with the threat.

At the time of the LRA raid, Central African Republic's army did not have a single soldier posted in the isolated southeast.

About 100 troops and paramilitary police have now been sent to bolster security in the Obo frontier area.

This has done little to reassure Henriette, who says she has nightmares about the marauders coming back. "In the morning I talk with my neighbours, and they all have the same nightmare," she said. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Editing by Ingrid Melander, Pascal Fletcher and Andrew Dobbie)

International Criminal Court / Registrar's first visit to the Central African Republic
African Press Organization
July 10, 2008

Today, the Registrar of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Silvana Arbia concluded her first visit to Bangui, in the Central African Republic (CAR) since being sworn in on 17 April 2008. It follows previous missions of the Registrar to the Democratic Republic and Uganda as part of Ms Arbia's commitment to bring the Court and its work closer to those communities affected by the events under ICC investigation.

This was the first opportunity for a senior Court official to explain the judicial developments related to the Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo case shortly after his surrender and transfer to the Court on 3rd July 2008.

During her one-day trip Ms Arbia met senior government officials including the Prime Minister, Faustin Archange Touadera and the Minister of Justice, Thierry Maleyombo. In these meetings the Registrar conveyed her appreciation to the Central African authorities for the co-operation provided to the Court.

Ms Arbia met also with the diplomatic corps and various international organisations accredited in the Central African Republic and provided them with an update on the Court's judicial work.

Further exchanges of views took place with representatives of local media and local civil society organisations and focused on the Registrar's responsibilities with respect to ensuring effective participation of victims and witness protection.

In view of the crimes committed in the CAR the Registrar underlined during the meetings "the necessity of ensuring the effective participation of victims" and underscored "the importance of witness protection".

The Registrar also commended the work done by the staff in the field office only 8 months after the opening.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

Soldier claims Sudanese leaders ordered killings: Former military commander links Khartoum to Darfur war crimes
Sunday Independent (Ireland)
By Nick Meo
July 13, 2008

A high-ranking commander who armed and led Janjaweed militiamen in attacks on hundreds of villages in Darfur has come forward to claim that he did so at the behest of the Sudanese government.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are now expected to take a significant step towards putting Sudan's leaders on trial by presenting evidence against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

As they pursue a case against Sudan's rulers in Khartoum, some of the most damning evidence yet that the killing was directed by the government has been provided by Arbab Idries, who was a key commander between 2003 and 2007.

An estimated 300,000 Africans died in ethnic massacres in Darfur at the hands of Arabic-speaking militias, in what the US has described as genocide.

Mr Idries described how he was instructed by a senior government figure to recruit Islamic Arabic speakers from the north of Sudan, then personally led 5,000 horsemen in a murderous campaign against black southerners who did not share their religion.

He admitted that troops under his command committed rapes and killed old people and children. "We were attacking villages where there were only the blacks," Mr Idries said.

The Khartoum government has always argued that the shocking massacres were the result of tribal disputes in a remote area in which it had no hand.

But the detailed account Mr Idries can provide about the campaign of slaughter could prove vital as a case is built against Sudan's rulers.

After falling out with the regime, he has fled abroad to a secret East African location and is now in hiding and trying to strike a deal with international prosecutors.

He said he had become repelled by the slaughter that he helped direct, but it is more likely that he feared falling victim to political manoeuvring within the regime.

Reports from Khartoum suggest that regime figures are increasingly fearful that international pressure to pursue war crime suspects will soon force them to offer up scapegoats.

Mr Idries's account, given during several hours of interviews, is both chilling and convincing in its detailed description of a murder campaign by ferocious horsemen who despised the Darfuris as racial inferiors.

It also outlines a clearly thought-out campaign of "ethnic cleansing".

He said: "When we entered a village we were to steal and loot whatever we could. As for the water wells, we put sand in and blocked them.

"We cut down trees and burnt villages. We wanted to force the population out of their areas and give them no chance to live there again.

"These instructions came from Khartoum."

ICC Prosecutor presents case against Sudanese President, Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur
International Criminal Court
July 14, 2008

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has presented evidence today showing that Sudanese President, Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.

Three years after the Security Council requested him to investigate in Darfur , and based on the evidence collected, the Prosecutor has concluded there are reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The Prosecution evidence shows that Al Bashir masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity. Members of the three groups, historically influential in Darfur , were challenging the marginalization of the province; they engaged in a rebellion. AL BASHIR failed to defeat the armed movements, so he went after the people. "His motives were largely political. His alibi was a 'counterinsurgency.' His intent was genocide. " The Prosecutor said.

For over 5 years, armed forces and the Militia/Janjaweed, on AL BASHIR orders, have attacked and destroyed villages. They then pursued the survivors in the desert. Those who reached the camps for the displaced people were subjected to conditions calculated to bring about their destruction. AL BASHIR obstructs international assistance. His forces surround the camps. One victim said: "When we see them, we run. Some of us succeed in getting away, and some are caught and taken to be raped -- gang-raped. Maybe around 20 men rape one woman. [â€¦] These things are normal for us here in Darfur . These things happen all the time. I have seen rapes too. It does not matter who sees them raping the women -- they don't care. They rape girls in front of their mothers and fathers".

For over 5 years, millions of civilians have been uprooted from lands they occupied for centuries, all their means of survival destroyed, their land spoliated and inhabited by new settlers. 'In the camps AL BASHIR's forces kill the men and rape the women. He wants to end the history of the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa people' said the Prosecutor. 'I don't have the luxury to look away. I have evidence'.

For over 5 years, AL BASHIR has denied the crimes. He says rape does not exist in the Sudan . This is a fabrication. "By preventing the truth about the crimes from being revealed; concealing his crimes under the guise of a 'counterinsurgency strategy', or 'inter tribal clashes', or the 'actions of lawless autonomous militia', AL BASHIR made possible the commission of further crimes. He promoted and provided impunity to his subordinates in order to secure their willingness to commit genocide" The Prosecutor said.

Al BASHIR's intent to commit genocide became clear with the well coordinated attacks on the 2.450.000 civilians who found a haven in the camps. "AL BASHIR organized the destitution, insecurity and harassment of the survivors. He did not need bullets. He used other weapons: rapes, hunger, and fear. As efficient, but silent." Said the Prosecutor.

Today, the evidence shows that AL BASHIR, instead of assisting the people of Darfur, has mobilised the entire state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system, to subject the 2.450.000 people living in IDP's camps, most of them members of the target group, to conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.

"AL BASHIR is the President. He is the Commander in Chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus, he used the army, he enrolled the Militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him, they all obey him. His control is absolute." added Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.

The Pre-Trial Chamber I will now review the evidence. If the judges determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the named individual committed the alleged crimes, they will decide on the best manner to ensure his appearance in court. The Prosecution has requested an arrest warrant.

UN Pulls Staff from Darfur After ICC Move
AFP via Google News
July 15, 2008

KHARTOUM (AFP) — The UN was pulling non-essential staff from Darfur as protesters rallied behind Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir on Tuesday over allegations he masterminded a campaign of genocide in the region.

Fears of a violent backlash have mounted since the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor on Monday sought an arrest warrant against Beshir on 10 counts including war crimes and the use of rape to commit genocide in Darfur .

The African Union-United Nations peacekeeping mission said it would be flying non-essential staff to Ethiopia and Uganda, despite pledges from Sudan to protect peacekeepers and aid workers in the country.

But more than six hours after the first two minibuses left UNAMID headquarters in El Fasher at around midday (0900 GMT) for the airport, 51 staff were still waiting for their plane -- delayed for technical reasons.

Another 38 people were flown out of Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, but the numbers were still way short of those officials initially said would leave.

"It's not an evacuation. We're temporarily relocating staff, some non-essential staff," said Josephine Guerrero, spokeswoman for the UN-led peacekeeping mission.

Another 60 to 65 relatives of agency employees have been leaving Khartoum.

The United Nations has stressed that "relocated" personnel may return to Darfur in less than a week and that it is business as usual elsewhere in Sudan.

"We are committed to our obligations to support peace in Sudan and carry out our mandates and tasks. We also point out that the safety and security of the UN, international and NGO staff is paramount," said UN spokesman Brian Kelly.

Sudan criticised the evacuations as "unfortunate."

Eight UNAMID peacekeepers died and more than 20 were wounded in an ambush by heavily armed militia in North Darfur on July 8, the deadliest in a series of attacks in the six months since the United Nations assumed command of peacekeeping in the region.

Khartoum braced for angry protests against the ICC move, although the number who took to the streets by Tuesday lunchtime numbered only a few hundred.

One rally led by an Islamic student movement marched from Khartoum University to the UN Development Programme office and British embassy.

Around 100 other demonstrators belonging to the ruling National Congress held a separate rally outside the presidential palace.

"The criminal Ocampo is playing with fire," read one banner.

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Monday that Beshir "personally instructed" his forces to annihilate three non-Arab ethnic groups in Darfur, accusing him of murder, torture, rape and pillaging.

He has requested a warrant on 10 counts, three of them for genocide, in what would be the first such move by the court against a sitting head of state.

ICC judges will examine the application to decide whether there are sufficient grounds for issuing a warrant, a process which could take several months.

Sudan, which is under a UN-imposed obligation to execute any such warrants, has refused to surrender two suspects named last year for war crimes in Darfur, one of them a sitting cabinet minister.

In his first public appearance since the ICC move, Beshir danced, punched the air in delight with his walking stick and shouted "God is Great" at a ceremony to ink a new electoral law.

Sudan is pressing for contacts with veto-wielding permanent members of the UN Security Council, especially China and Russia, over the possible ICC warrant.

The council has the power to intervene to defer any prosecution for a year, with Russia on Tuesday urging restraint from all parties.

China expressed concern over the ICC prosecutor's decision and warned that the move might upset peace hopes in Darfur.

The conflict broke out in 2003 when ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated regime in Khartoum and state-backed militias.

The United Nations has said 300,000 people have died and more than 2.2 million been displaced. Khartoum puts the number of dead at 10,000.

The African Union warned any indictment of Beshir would create a power vacuum that risked "military coups and widespread anarchy".

Mixed reaction to ICC ruling
Al Jazeera
July 17, 2008

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to charge Sudan's president with crimes against humanity and seek a warrant for his arrest has solicited mixed world reaction.

Omar al-Bashir has said the ICC prosecutor's attempts to charge him are politically motivated and carry no weight in his country as Sudan is not a member of the ICC and cannot come under its jurisdiction.

He has denied all claims in the charges and will seek regional and international support from allies such as fellow African nations, China and Russia.

But in Sudan, itself, reactions have been mixed, with ethnic minorities and rebel groups expressing support for the ICC charges.

Sherif Harir, a senior member of the Sudan Liberation Movement urged the UN to act in accordance with the ICC report and arrest of the Sudanese president.

Suleiman Sandal, deputy chief of staff of the Justice and Equality Movement in Sudan, has also expressed the necessity of such an arrest, calling it, according to the Reuters news agency, a "victory for humanity".

African Response

Jakaya Kikwete, the Tanzanian president and chairman of the African Union, said that arresting al-Bashir could cause a power vacuum in Sudan that "risks military coups and widespread anarchy reminiscent of what is happening in Iraq".

Bernard Membe, the Tanzanian foreign minister, speaking on behalf of Kikwete, said the AU was calling for "a deferment in indicting [al-Bashir] because there is a risk of anarchy in a proportion we have not seen in this continent".

"We would like ICC to suspend its decision to seek al-Bashir's arrest for a moment until we sort out the primary problems in Darfur and southern Sudan," Membe said.

Powerful Allies

China, an ally of Sudan which also has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, has said the removal of al-Bashir will create civil unrest and would be detrimental to Sudan.

"To the relevant moves of the ICC ... we express our concern. We hope the relevant moves are conducive to the stability of Sudan," Liu Jianchao, a foreign ministry spokesman, said.

The two countries have a significant trade relationship, with Sudan one of China's main exporters of oil. China, which is said to be a major arms provider to Sudan, is also keen to avoid controversial issues in the build up to the Olympics.

ICC support

Europe, though, has generally backed the ICC.

Gordon Brown, Britain's prime minister, expressed Britain's support of the ICC and urged Sudan to comply with the decisions of the ICC.

Bernard Kouchner, the French foreign minister, has said that the Sudanese President must obey the ICC's decision.

"It is a decision of the International Criminal Court and President Bashir must respect it," Kouchner said.

Meanwhile, the US, even though it has supported investigations in Darfur, is hesitant to allow the ICC's jurisprudence to preside over any heads of state.

Though the US has agreed war criminals must be exposed and brought to trial, it is itself not a part of the ICC.

The US has increased security in its embassy in Sudan in anticipation of possible civil unrest.

Arab Silence

Arab Foreign Ministers are to hold an emergency meeting on Saturday to discuss the genocide allegations and the ICC charges.

Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary-general, has expressed concerns on behalf of the Arab League, stating that the ICC charges may not have been "well considered".

But Arab media has largely been silent on the issue.

According to Lawrence Pintak, a journalist and Arab media expert, the reason is that Arabs usually see themselves as the victims and not aggressors, and in this case "Arabs here are good guys and bad guys".

Though Arab media has successfully portrayed the worlds' opinions on the matter, official comments coming from Arab leaders or diplomats are lacking.

One of the few commentaries came from Egyptian newspaper "Al-Gomhuria". The newspaper claimed that the ICC charges are a result of American intervention in the region, in an attempt to strengthen its control over the area.

The newspaper has also cited Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as saying that the ICC charges on al-Bashir are threatening the peace process in Darfur.

United Nations

Ban-Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, has distanced the UN from the ICC, noting that the court is not a part of the United Nations.

He has also expressed concerns of the potential ramifications if the Sudanese president were to be arrested, saying it could complicate the peacekeeping process in Darfur.

The UN has begun relocating some of its peacekeepers within Sudan to ensure their safety.

Rights groups

Human Rights Groups have generally been in favor of charging the Sudanese president.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has blamed the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people on al-Bashir and other senior Sudanese officials, has said his arrest will be a step towards ending conflict in Darfur.

"Charging President al-Bashir for the hideous crimes in Darfur shows that no one is above the law," Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's international justice programmes, said.

"The warrant request against President al-Bashir is one step towards ending the environment of total impunity that continues in Sudan today."

Amnesty International has also supported the ICC's decision to charge al-Bashir, calling the move "an important step towards ensuring accountability for human rights violations in Sudan".

ICC prosecutor to investigate Darfur rebels crimes
Sudan Tribune
uly 17, 2008

(UNITED NATIONS) – The already branded as public enemy in Khartoum, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said his third case will be against Darfur rebels who commit war crimes.

Speaking from New York where he attended the ceremonies marking the court's 10-year anniversary, Ocampo said Thursday he is investigating on violence against peacekeepers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region, including a Sept. 29 attack on the Haskanita military base that left 10 African Union soldiers dead and 1 missing.

"I am focusing my efforts in the third case with the rebels attacking Haskanita," he said. "We have information about the names of two commanders who were allegedly responsible for this."

The prosecutor cautioned Sudanese rebels against carrying out attacks like the one he suspects them of orchestrating on the strategically important AU base, which is about 12 miles (19 kilometers) from the boundary between Darfur and the neighboring region of Kordofan.

"We have to prove the case," he added. "I like to use this meeting to call on the rebels to provide evidence and ...stop any crime."

The Darfur rebels have been trying to link up with new rebel groups in Kordofan, where there are large fields of Sudan's proven oil reserves.

"The rebels cannot commit crimes. They have to control their people," Moreno-Ocampo said. "And they have to help the court ... to provide evidence against those who commit the attacks in Haskanita, and even arrest them. So I think it's the time now for the case of the rebels."

Vehicles marked with the initials of the rebel Justice and Equality Movement took part in the attack in which 12 peacekeepers were killed.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has accused Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of a campaign of genocide that killed 35,000 people outright, at least another 100,000 through a "slow death" and forced 2.5 million to flee their homes in Sudan's western Darfur region.

He asked the ICC on Monday to issue an arrest warrant for Bashir on suspicion of genocide and crimes against humanity. Sudan has dismissed Moreno-Ocampo's accusations as politically motivated.

ICC judges are expected to make a decision on whether to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest in October or November.

NO POLITICAL MOTIVATIONS

Moreno-Ocampo denied Khartoum's allegations that his request for the arrest of Sudan's president for genocide and crimes against humanity was politically motivated.

"My responsibility is to investigate cases, to present evidence to the judges," Moreno-Ocampo told reporters. "I have no political responsibility."

Several Western diplomats on the council have said Bashir could escape indictment if he ended what they see as impunity for two men the ICC charged last year over Darfur. Khartoum has not handed them to the court or started legal proceedings in Sudan to investigate the allegations.

Asked if this was the case, Moreno-Ocampo responded that would be up to the court's judges.

The prosecutor gave few clues about his evidence but said Bashir made what amounts to "a public confession" of orchestrating genocide last year when the Sudanese president said that "he would never hand over Harun, because Harun was following his instructions."

Speaking to reporters after Moreno-Ocampo's news conference, Abdalhaleem gave no details about how Khartoum might react if the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir but hinted that something big could happen.

"It's a recipe for disaster," he said. "It is a collective responsibility of the council to move together to halt it. Otherwise it is an invitation for a gate of fire on the country."

Africa fights Bashir war charges
The Australian
July 18, 2008

NEW YORK: African envoys are seeking support from Russia and China for ways to let Sudan's President dodge a global court prosecutor's Darfur war crimes charges.

"The search for justice should not jeopardise the other priorities in Sudan," South African ambassador Dumisani Kumalo said yesterday.

Gunmen in the troubled Sudanese region of Darfur killed another UN-African Union peacekeeper yesterday, just as the UN Security Council voted to condemn the killing of seven Darfur peacekeepers a week ago as a possible war crime.

The Nigerian company commander was shot dead in Forobaranga, West Darfur, while on patrol not far from a UN-AU peacekeeping camp.

Sudan, South Africa and China expressed concern that the charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir could further damage the peace process, diplomats said.

Western diplomats and UN officials said they feared an arrest warrant against Bashir could unleash reprisals against the Darfur peacekeeping mission, UNAMID.

But to many, that process already is withering.

"The peace process has been stalled for the last few months," said British ambassador John Sawers.

"There's an urgent need for renewed effort on the peace process side. And UNAMID can only ever deliver on its mission properly once there is a peace to keep."

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed 10 charges on Monday against Bashir over a campaign that killed 300,000 and drove 2.5million people from homes, according to the UN.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo, based at The Hague, said survivors were preyed on by government-backed janjaweed Arab militia and regular troops. It could take judges months to rule on whether to issue an arrest warrant.

Sudanese ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem Mohamed said some African diplomats were discussing with China and Russia ways of persuading the 15-nation Security Council to block Mr Moreno-Ocampo's work for a year. Neither China's nor Russia's diplomats commented publicly yesterday.

The Security Council asked the court in 2005 to investigate the Darfur crisis.

Last week, seven peacekeepers were killed and at least 19 wounded in Darfur during an ambush by about 200 gunmen on horseback and in SUVs. The Security Council yesterday strongly condemned the July 8 attack as "premeditated, deliberate, and intended to inflict casualties" and said that attacks on UN peacekeepers during armed conflicts "can constitute war crimes".

Fighting erupted in Darfur in 2003 when ethnic African rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated central government, accusing it of discrimination.

As of last month, 11,359 personnel were in Darfur - two-thirds of them soldiers - as part of the peacekeeping mission, which is authorised to have 26,000 troops, police, civilians and other personnel.

But this week about 130 "non-essential" civilians were withdrawing in the face of deteriorating security, UN peacekeeping officials said.

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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

Global court to keep suspect Lubanga in custody
Reuters
July 8, 2008

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Monday that Congolese war crimes suspect Thomas Lubanga will remain in jail pending its final ruling on an appeal by prosecutors against an order that he be freed.

The ICC last week ordered the release of militia leader Lubanga, who is accused of enlisting child soldiers, because prosecutors were withholding evidence. But the court said he should remain in custody pending the appeal, which prosecutors filed on July 2.

The court said in a statement that Lubanga would remain in ICC custody until a final decision on the appeal is made.

"The reasons for the decision taken today by the judges will be given shortly by the appeals chamber," the court said.

Lubanga, who founded and led a militia in Congo's eastern Ituri district, was arrested in 2006 and is accused of enlisting and conscripting children under the age of 15 from 2002 to 2003. He has denied the charges.

The judges said last week they had given full consideration to the fears of Lubanga's alleged victims, who have warned that freeing the former warlord could ignite a "fire ball" in Congo's volatile Ituri region.

Experts estimate that a decade of violence in Congo has killed 5.4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.

The trial of Lubanga had been due to start on June 23. The halt to proceedings was a major setback for the court, set up in 2002, which now has 106 member states and is also investigating crimes in Sudan, Uganda and the Central African Republic.

The court took custody last week of its highest-profile suspect to date -- Congolese former rebel warlord and vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba, arrested in Belgium in May.

Bemba is accused of leading Congolese rebels who waged a campaign of rape and torture in the Central African Republic in 2002/2003.

International Criminal Court Suspends Release of Rebel Leader
UN News Service (New York) via AllAfrica.com
July 8, 2008

The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has suspended the release of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese rebel militia leader accused of recruiting child soldiers.

Last week, the ICC's Trial Chamber ordered Mr. Lubanga's release after ruling that he could not receive a fair trial, with no judgment made regarding his guilt or innocence.

Proceedings against him were suspended on 16 June, after the Trial Chamber found that prosecutors had failed to disclose more than 200 documents to the defence that have the potential to prove his innocence.

According to the judges, the release was the "logical consequence" of the stay on the proceedings, "as it is at present impossible to secure a fair trial for the accused."

Mr. Lubanga will remain under custody until the Court rules on the Prosecution's appeal.

The founder and leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots in the Ituri region of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), he has been charged with a series of war crimes, including conscripting and enlisting child soldiers into the military wing of his group and then using them to participate in hostilities between September 2002 and August 2003.

Mr. Lubanga's trial was due to have been the first to be held by the ICC.

Prosecution urges ICC to lift stay on first war crimes trial
AFP
July 12, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Prosecutors urged International Criminal Court judges Friday to lift an indefinite stay on the trial of Congolese militiaman Thomas Lubanga and revoke a decision to release him.

Lubanga's trial, the ICC's first, was to have started last month but was stalled when the court ruled that prosecutors had wrongly withheld evidence favourable to the defence from Lubanga's lawyers.

This "misuse" inhibited Lubanga's ability to prepare a proper defence, it said, putting an indefinite stay on proceedings until the matter was resolved.

The prosecution filed an application informing the trial chamber that the United Nations had agreed to give judges access to previously sealed UN-sourced documents containing potentially exonerating information for the defence.

"The UN has accepted that this should be done by the judges in their chambers," said the office of chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

"Should the judges decide that any document needs be disclosed to the defence, the UN has accepted to explore all possibilities to this effect."

The court put an indefinite stay on proceedings until the matter was resolved, after which Lubanga launched a successful bid for his release.

But his freedom was stalled when the prosecution lodged twin appeals against the court's decision to put a stay on proceedings, and its order to release Lubanga.

Moreno-Ocampo's office has previously said it was confident the trial would begin in September.

Lubanga, 47, is accused of abducting minors under 15 and using child soldiers in attacks by the armed wing of his Union of Congolese Patriots between September 2002 and August 2003 in the war-torn DR Congo.

"We are hopeful that the practical arrangements now proposed ... will enable early review of all the materials by the judges, and will therefore remove obstacles for the trial to proceed," said the prosecutor's office.

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Uganda (ICC)

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

LRA to sign peace deal next week
Daily Monitor
By Kenneth Ogosia
July 10, 2008

The rebel LRA announced yesterday they were ready to resume negotiations with the government and gave a new deadline of July 13 or 14 to sign a comprehensive peace deal.

Controversial team negotiator David Nyekoratch Matsanga told a news conference in Nairobi yesterday that he had instructions from reclusive rebel leader Joseph Kony to have his team of negotiators start peace talks with the Ugandan government that could fast track the signing of a peace deal by July 13 or 14.

Dr Matsanga addressed the media in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi yesterday, the same day media reports indicating he had sent a secret letter to President Museveni—Kony's main nemesis—in which he suggested "sending Kony to where he belongs" as the only solution to end the 21 year old LRA war that has ravaged much of northern and eastern Uganda.

"General Kony has instructed me to reassure the world, former Mozambique President Joachim Chissano and Dr Riek Machar the chief mediator together with all African Union and European Union ambassadors accredited to the Juba peace process that he will work towards the peace negotiations," Dr Matsanga said in a statement.

He added that the "LRA this time around is determined to prove its critics wrong by signing the Peace Agreement and wait for the implementation stages to begin in Uganda."

He said his delegation, that will restart the talks, has been mandated to prepare and pave the way for the signing of the peace agreement after further clarifications on the issues Kony raised much earlier.
But the leader of the government negotiating team, Dr Ruhakana Rugunda, said yesterday in Kampala it was up to Kony to sign the final agreement.

Dr Rugunda told Daily Monitor that as far as the government was concerned, "the talks between the LRA and Government have been completed the final peace agreement has been agreed and initialed by all parties."

Dr Matsanga who insisted he resigned to pave way for investigations of allegations raised against him, said they met retired President Joachim Chissano, the UN Special envoy to the talks last week in Maputo and had another meeting with chief mediator Riek Machar on July 5 where it was resolved that peace be given another chance by going to Ri-Kwangba—the agreed assembly point where Kony was expected to append his signature to the agreement.

Dr Matsanga defended Kony for failing to sign in March because he wanted first to be assured by cultural, religious and other leaders from the war affected areas that the agreement addressed all root causes of the war.

He also wanted that the process be able to provide adequate guarantees for a stable, democratic and peaceful future of the country and for security and welfare of the LRA leadership and combatants.

Dr Matsanga added that Kony did not show up the last time fearing for his personal security due to the involvement of some dubious members of the LRA delegation in Uganda to try and implement the peace agreement without the rebel leader's signature.

He claimed there are attempts to defeat LRA millitarily but warned that the rebel group has over 15,000 troops which, he said would be "impossible" to defeat.

He said the SPLA had been infiltrated by UPDF forces to launch an attack on an SPLA camp in Nabanga on the Sudan/DRC border on June 6 which led to the killing of 15 SPLA soldiers and UPDF commander he named as John Obwoya.

The rebel negotiator accused President Museveni of trickery by setting up a battalion specifically camouflaging with LRA uniforms to do the "mission impossible" of killing Kony. He said the rebels have consequently lost confidence on SPLA as a force to stay on the buffer zone when the peace agreement is signed and urged UPDF soldiers to leave Sudan immediately.

"We want the monitoring team to verify and report to both sides that the UPDF has left Southern Sudan completely," he added. LRA want agenda on accountability and reconciliation where indictment of some of their members by International Criminal Courts dealt with.
"We do not know that damn thing called ICC. Uganda Judiciary can handle the matter if there is need but our system of agreement is matoput," he said.

He said there should be an agenda on disarmament , demobilisation and re-integration where the future of LRA members are directly dealt with including the welfare of commanders and fighters. They also need reparation for the losses and suffering in the war affected areas which have not come out properly.

They are demanding wealth sharing and LRA participation in government in the period preceding the next elections. Dr Matsanga dismissed a letter circulating that he had secretly written to President Museveni saying the only solution for war with LRA is to kill Kony.

Ugandan Rebel Leader Kony Makes Fresh Demands Over Peace Talks
Bloomberg.com
By Godfrey Maganda
July 16, 2008

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony made new demands on conditions for peace talks in a letter to Riek Machar, the chief mediator, and copied to the United Nations, the African Union and the governments of South Sudan and Uganda.

In the letter, Kony insists on a new security plan covering the towns of Ri-Kwangba and Nabanga in southern Sudan, where his forces are due to assemble and where he is to meet peace negotiators, Machar's press assistant, Jane Alobo, said by phone from the region's capital, Juba, today. He again demanded that food be delivered to fighters from his Lord's Resistance Army, saying they were close to starvation, Alobo said.

Machar has been mediating negotiations between Uganda and the LRA since July 2006 in an attempt to end a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives and displaced more than 1.7 million people. Kony, who is wanted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, failed to sign the final peace accord in April because he wanted assurances about his safety.

Uganda's Minister of Internal Affairs and leader of the country's peace negotiators, Ruhakana Rugunda, said that the peace talks have been concluded and no more talks are needed.

"We are not going to meet the LRA peace team again," he said by phone from the capital, Kampala,today. "As far as we are concerned, the peace talks were concluded and we are ready to sign the final peace agreement. It is Kony who is stalling the signing of the agreement."

Ugandan policemen to stay in Darfur
New Vision
By Steven Candia
July 16, 2008

THE contingent of Ugandan policemen serving on the hybrid UN–African Union Darfur (UNAMID) peace-keeping mission will remain serving in the region despite the deteriorating security situation that has prompted the UN to relocate some of its staff.

Foreign Affairs permanent secretary Ambassador James Mugume said the Government had been assured by Khartoum of the security of the peacekeepers.

"They will continue on the mission following the assurance by the Sudan government."

But Mugume added that the continued stay of the 72-man contingent would depend on the continuous assessment of the security situation in the region.

"Since their presence there is the responsibility of the UN and the African Union, we expect that they will take the necessary precautions in terms of security by making continuous assessments which will determine whether the contingent remains on service."

The UN on Tuesday began relocating some of its non-essential staff from the region to Uganda amid fears of a violent backlash following, following the ICC indictments for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir over crimes against humanity, triggering off protests in Khartoum.

On July 8, seven UNAMID peacekeepers, among them a Ugandan, were killed by heavily armed militia in Um Hakibah, North Darfur. The body of detective superintendent Julius Osega is yet to be flown back home.

Canada's stance on Ugandan rebel leader weakens ICC, says group
Canada.com
By Kathryn May
July 17, 2008

OTTOWA - Canada is undermining the International Criminal Court with a proposal to suspend arrest warrants for rebel leaders in Uganda, warns a group of high-profile foreign-policy thinkers that includes Maher Arar, former Liberal ministers Lloyd Axworthy and Warren Allmand and former Conservative heavyweight Flora MacDonald.

They have written to Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson asking him to reconsider Canada's behind-the-scenes support for a proposal to defer charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity against notorious Northern Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony.

Deferral supporters hope it will help seal a peace deal to end Uganda's 21-year civil war. Critics say that would come at the cost of the International Criminal Court's credibility.

"It will send a message to those who plan and carry out massive human rights abuses that they can escape justice and could seriously weaken the ICC's ability to contribute to the deterrence of the worst possible crimes," said the letter, the second sent to Emerson in the past month.

Canadian officials circulated a memo to member countries of the UN Security Council saying Canada is open "in principle" to the idea of Uganda's asking the Security Council to defer the indictments against Kony and his band of commanders. The memo was written in April, when peace talks were looking promising.

The UN Security Council has the power under the statute that created the ICC to invoke a deferral for a year, and extend the deferral after a year.

But Axworthy, a former Foreign Affairs minister who was a leading advocate for the ICC's creation, said the deferral provision was a compromise between countries like the U.S., which wanted the Security Council to control the court, and other countries, like Canada, that wanted it independent of the UN.

"Allowing the Security Council interference in one of the court's first cases will send the message that the court is going to be politically controlled after all," said Axworthy.

Instead, the group argues the better course is to turn the prosecution of Kony and his commanders over to Uganda, which has created its own national court to hear war-crimes cases.

This can be done by invoking another provision in the statute that allows Uganda or the accused to challenge the "admissibility" of the cases at the ICC as long as they can prove Uganda's court will meet the standards of international justice.

Bureaucrats say Canada strongly supports the ICC and would rather see Uganda try the accused than seek a deferral.

The ICC's intervention in Uganda was controversial from the start. Some argue the warrants all but killed a peace deal, while others argue its investigation actually got Kony to the table for peace talks. Kony has said he will never surrender and sign a peace deal if he is to end up on trial at the court's tribunal in The Hague.

ICC suffers negative image in Africa
New Vision
By Barbara Among
July 17, 2008

TEN years after its creation, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is yet to address the negative perception it bears in most of the African countries in which it operates.

This observation is contained in a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report issued to mark the 10-year anniversary of the Rome Statute establishing the ICC in the Netherlands in The Hague.

The court was created to bring justice to the victims of gross human rights violations around the world.

The HRW report, Courting History, said the court's investigations have been quite professional, but there was need for the office of the prosecutor to better its image.

"Despite this considerable progress, our field research in the DRC, Uganda, and Chad in 2007 revealed that misinformation and negative perceptions surrounding the court's work are deeply-rooted and will require more intense and creative efforts by the court to address them effectively," the report read. Released yesterday, the report assessed the court's first five years.

The rights body urged greater international support for the ICC in meeting its political and financial challenges.

The report said the ICC's failure to either investigate or prosecute Uganda Peoples' Defence Forces (UPDF) abuses or to explain why this was not being done, had further tarnished its image.

"As a result, the prosecutor's work in Uganda is perceived by many of those in the affected communities as one-sided and biased."

It said assistance provided by the UPDF to the ICC, such as armed escorts for travel in the region, while understandable at times due to security concerns, has compromised perceptions of the court's independence and impartiality in its work in northern Uganda.

The rights watchdog called upon the prosecutor's office to explain its policy regarding the gravity threshold in selecting cases, as well as the limits imposed by its temporal jurisdiction in pursuing cases against the UPDF.

"The negative perception is aggravated by the office of the prosecutor's failure to communicate effectively with affected communities about its activities with regard to crimes committed by the UPDF."

HRW called upon the UN court to focus on outreach with affected communities in Uganda. It, however, pointed out that the ICC had made progress in bringing justice for the worst crimes despite its mistakes.

The ICC prosecutor has opened investigations in the DRC, northern Uganda, Darfur and the Central African Republic. It is currently considering issuing an arrest warrant for Sudan president Omar al-Bashir.

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The Trial of Alberto Fujimori

Fujimori on Trial

Denver Justice & Peace Committee comes to Lima to observe Fujimori trial
Fujimori On Trial
July 9, 2008

Next week, an 11-member delegation from the Denver Justice & Peace Committee will travel to Lima, Peru to participate as international observers in the human rights trial of ex-President Alberto Fujimori and accompany the family members of the victims in the 16th annual commemoration of the La Cantuta Massacre, one of the two massacres for which Fujimori stands trial.

While in Lima, they will publish updates on their experiences through the DJPC 2008 Delegation Blog, and they invite you to accompany them by visiting the blog, reading the postings, and sharing your comments. If you have a specific question about the trial, or if you would simply like to pass a message of solidarity along to the family members who have fought tirelessly (and successfully!) to bring Fujimori to justice, they will happily serve as your medium. As the delegation attends the trial and meets with the principal protagonists of Peru's human rights movement, its goal is to keep you directly connected to this important moment in history.

Additionally, if you would like to learn more about Fujimori's decade in power in the 1990s or about the charges he currently faces, they have included detailed information about both under the "important links" section of the blog.

Hermoza admits speech to Colina agents but claims he didn't know their crimes
Fujimori on Trial
July 14, 2008

Eighty-first session. Former Gen. Nicolás de Bari Hermoza Ríos continued his testimony, admitting that he met with former army intelligence (SIE) agents in order to motivate them in their "silent work," but claimed he didn't know yet about the crimes they had committed.

1. Incidents during the hearing
Fujimori's health
Due to the surgery that Fujimori underwent in the National Institute of Neoplastic Illnesses on July 10 to remove reactive granulomas detected on his tongue, the session scheduled for last Friday, July 11 was suspended so that the defendant could rest.

July 18th session suspended
The President of the Court, César San Martín, announced that the session scheduled for July 18 will be suspended since the Supreme Court of Justice of Peru will be having a plenary session and it is the obligation of all magistrates to attend.

2. Hermoza's testimony – In answering the Public Prosecutor's questions, the most relevant parts of the witness' examination for this trial in his third session of testimony was:

April 5, 1992 coup d'état was Montesinos responsibility
Hermoza admitted that on April 3, 1992, days before the coup d'état, former President Alberto Fujimori met with high military and political leaders in Hermoza's residence in Chorrillos. At the meeting, Fujimori told about the "extreme measures" that would serve to "pacify the country," which would include the dissolution of Congress and intervention in the Judicial Power.

The witness also stated that Vladimiro Montesinos was the person politically responsible for the measures taken during the coup and as such, had to write a list of people who were to be "immobilized in their homes." But he also said that Montesinos never gave this list since Hermoza himself had to sign an order — used to arrest various citizens — for which he assumed full responsibility.

On the June 27, 1992 speech
The witness testified that when he gave the speech, where he addressed Colina detachment agents in the building of the Peruvian Army General Command, he did not know about the crimes they had committed along with Santiago Martín Rivas, even though journalistic reports had already come out denouncing the group and the Constituent Democratic Congress was already investigating the Barrios Altos Massacre.

La Cantuta Massacre – July 18, 1992
Hermoza denied having ordered the bodies of nine students and a professor to be buried after their murder, as former Colina agent Héctor Gamarra Mamani had testified. Gamarra asserted that he committed the Colina detachment's crimes in obedience to superior orders given in a building of the Peruvian Army. Hermoza also denied the testimonies of:

Marcos Flores Albán, who said that Montesinos and Hermoza had command over the Colina detachment;
José Alarcón Gonzales, who was in charge of Hermoza's personal security and said that Hermoza must have been aware of the Colina detachment's crimes;
Julio Chuqui Aguirre, who testified that Hermoza reported on the Colina detachment's activities to Fujimori;
Pedro Supo Sánchez, who gave details on the supposed lunch that Hermoza offered to the Colina detachment members.

Regarding these "intelligence agents," Hermoza made a clear distinction in accepting there were "excesses" committed by agents under his command, but not assuming responsibility for what the agents did.

Hermoza authorized tanks after La Cantuta crime in 1993
After being examined by the Constituent Democratic Congress for the La Cantuta crime, Hermoza admitted in this trial session that he "unduly" authorized the tanks that roamed the capital's streets and assumed responsibility. According to Hermoza, the Peruvian Army had consulted him on the tanks since military personnel had felt there was maltreatment toward their Commander General. However, Hermoza said that he did this without consulting former President Fujimori and that he did not preside over the parade of tanks.

3. Next session
Former Gen. Nicolás de Bari Hermoza Ríos will continue his testimony in the next session.

Hermoza says he knew of all intelligence operations
Fujimori on Trial
July 16, 2008

Eighty-second session. Former Gen. Nicolás de Bari Hermoza Ríos continued his testimony.

1. Incidents during the hearing

Session delay
The session began almost an hour and a half behind schedule due to a coordination failure with the National Penitentiary Institute, resulting in Hermoza's late arrival. Trial sessions (held on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays) last an average of six hours with breaks of twenty minutes and two hours. With this setback, this session lasted only four hours.

Additional evidence
The President of the Court, César San Martín, announced at the beginning of the session that on July 21 the Court will set a deadline for the presentation of document evidence and establish how it will be treated in this trial.

Amicus brief from George Washington University
César San Martín also announced that when Hermoza finishes his testimony, the Court will evaluate — after consulting the lawyers involved in this case — the admission of an amicus brief submitted by the George Washington University Law School's International Human Rights Clinic.

2. Hermoza's testimony – The most important part of this session's examination was:

La Cantuta Massacre
The witness did not investigate these murders even though Vladimiro Montesinos informed him of the crime hours after it occurred, saying that military personnel had "exceeded" the orders. Hermoza admitted that he didn't ask Montesinos who had given the orders for the Colina detachment to enter the La Cantuta University on July 18, 1992. He also said that he doesn't know and didn't look into who had informed Montesinos of the crime. Hermoza only limited himself to say that Montesinos was a "man informed on questions of intelligence."

Despite being Army Commander General, the witness said he did not inform then President Fujimori on any part of this crime. Neither Fujimori nor Montesinos requested him to carry out an investigation, even though it was known from the start that the crime had been carried out by Peruvian Army personnel.

However, Hermoza said that he did inform then Defense Minister, Víctor Malca Villanueva, who is currently a fugitive from Peruvian justice.

Army Intelligence Service (SIE) and Montesinos
Hermoza also said that as Commander General he knew all of the intelligence operations since these were "part of the system." Furthermore, he stressed that the SIE and its operations were not dependent on Montesinos.

Fujimori and the counter-subversive struggle
Hermoza indicated that for the development of counter-subversive action, Fujimori did not give orders to the Armed Forces or organize. Regarding Fujimori's arms handout to the civil population through the self-defense committees, Hermoza said that Fujimori did this so that citizens could defend themselves from subversive group the Shining Path, and that the proposal to hand out arms was given by commander generals from the security zones.

The general and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Hermoza indicated and insisted that he never met with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR, for its initials in Spanish); however, when the lawyer for the victims' families, Carlos Rivera, reminded him that there is an audio of this encounter — an interview between Hermoza and the CVR — which is among the evidence to be presented in this trial, the witness claimed that he "did not remember the meeting."

There were "many excesses"
Former Gen. Hermoza Ríos admitted that there were "many excesses" in the counter-subversive struggle, but justified them, arguing that it was a war and that all cases were investigated by the Army Inspector General. However, when he was asked to identify some of the cases considered "excesses," he avoided giving names.

3. Next session
The next trial session will take place on Monday, July 21, as informed last session, and former Gen. Nicolás de Bari Hermoza Ríos will continue his testimony.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

Court clears Macedonian ex-minister of war crimes
Reuters
Alexandra Hudson
July 10, 2008

THE HAGUE, July 10 (Reuters) - The U.N. war crimes tribunal on Thursday cleared former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski of responsibility for the murder of seven ethnic Albanians during a rebel insurgency in the country in 2001.

However, the court convicted his co-accused, police officer Johan Tarculovski, of murder and destruction for leading a police unit that struck an Albanian village in an apparent revenge attack, and sentenced him to 12 years in prison.

Both men had pleaded not guilty to all charges.

News of Boskovski's release was met with loud applause from the public gallery, while Tarculovski, 33, showed no emotion as the verdict was read out.

Boskovski, 47, was cleared of responsibility for murder, wanton destruction and cruel treatment relating to a police attack on civilians in the village of Ljuboten north of the capital Skopje.

The aim of the attack seemed little more than a retaliation against ethnic Albanians for the actions of rebels believed to have killed Macedonian soldiers, the court ruled.

Prosecutors tried to argue Boskovski controlled the police and was responsible for failing to punish their actions.

But Judge Kevin Parker said: "It has not been established that Ljube Boskovski failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures for the punishment of the police".

Boskovski was one of the toughest members of the nationalist government of Orthodox Christian Macedonia during the six-month insurgency by guerrillas from its Muslim Albanian minority.

The Macedonian government in a statement welcomed the decision to acquit Boskovski but added: "At the same time we honestly regret the Johan Tarculovski verdict."

"We hope that in the appeals process Tarculovski will have the chance to state his case and present the facts."

BURNED HOUSES

According to the indictment during the attack on Ljuboten, police set fire to houses with hand grenades, subjected Albanian villagers to brutal beatings with rifle butts or pieces of burning wood, and carved a large cross on the back of one man.

"Tarculovski personally led the police operation and was with the police as they moved through the village," Judge Parker said, finding him guilty of the murders of three men and cruel treatment of others.

Although Tarculovski himself was acting under orders from above, the evidence does not allow the person who gave the orders to be identified, the judge added.

Boskovski surrendered to the court in March 2005, while Tarculovski was handed over by Macedonia.

The case is the only one at The Hague tribunal concerning Macedonia, which voted for independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. It broke away peacefully but erupted in ethnic violence in 2001.

During the conflict ethnic Albanian rebels seized control of villages in the north of the country, igniting a conflict that took Macedonia to the brink of civil war.

Mediation by NATO and the European Union eventually stopped the fighting, leading to the 2001 Ohrid peace accord which gave greater local autonomy to the 25 percent Albanian minority. (additional reporting by Kole Casule in Skopje; Editing by Catherine Hornby and Keith Weir)

Witness: 'They killed people with delight'
SENSE Tribunal
July 11, 2008

At the trial of Milan and Sredoje Lukic, protected witnesses VG-14 and VG-79 described the execution of a group of Muslim men on the bank of the Drina river on 7 June 1992. 'I had a feeling that they enjoyed it, killing people with delight', a witness who survived the execution noted

Protected witness VG-14 is one of the two survivors of the execution of seven Bosniaks that Milan Lukic and three other paramilitaries from his unit carried out, according to the indictment, on 7 June 1992 on the bank of the Drina river bank near Visegrad. His moving testimony about how he survived the shooting was confirmed by the testimony of another prosecution witness, VG-79, who observed the execution through binoculars from the other side of the river.

In the afternoon on 7 June, the witness recounted, Milan Lukic and his escort – 'in navy blue uniforms, with white Chetnik insignia and with their faces painted' – took him and his relative from their family house. The witness recognized Milan because, as he explained, they had attended secondary school together. One street down they were joined by another car with five captured Muslims inside. They drove to the Vilina Vlas hotel where Mitar Vasiljevic, Milan Lukic's best man, joined them. Vasiljevic is currently serving a 15-year sentence for role in that crime.

When they left hotel, they headed out of the town stopping at a deserted house near the Drina River. When they got close to the river bank, Milan ordered them to line up facing the river. He ordered his escorts to open fire on the prisoners. 'I felt the end was here', the witness said as he described how 'his whole youth unfolded in his head' as he looked at his home village on the other bank. 'I felt as if they enjoyed it, killing with delight', the witness added. When shots were fired at the Muslims, he fell into the water and a victim's dead body fell on top of him. Although the executioners fired some more shots at him, he was again not hit. Soon he saw that another man had survived the execution. When they were sure Lukic and his men had left the river bank, they got out of the water and swam across, holding on to a tree stump.

The second witness recounted today how he and his relative happened to be on the other side of the Drina and how they watched the execution through binoculars from some 500 meters away. He confirmed the evidence given by VG-14, describing how he was there to pick up the survivors when they reached the other bank.

In his cross-examination of both witnesses, Jason Alarid, Milan Lukic's defense counsel, didn't contest the incident itself, but he did try to prove it was a case of mistaken identity; according to him, Milan Lukic was not present at the crime scene at all. In his effort to point to the discrepancies in the statements about the color of the uniforms and the appearance of the cars in which the prisoners were taken to the river bank, Alarid told the presiding judge that his aim was to challenge the 'authenticity and credibility' of the witnesses and their evidence.

After the opening statement and the evidence of first two witnesses, the trial of Milan and Sredoje Lukic will continue on 20 August 2008 after the Tribunal's summer recess.

The prosecution has charged Milan and Sredoje Lukic with persecution, cruel treatment and murder in the Visegrad area from June 1992 to October 1994. The indictment alleges that they are individually or jointly responsible for the burning of about 140 Bosniak women, children and elderly in two houses in Visegrad and a number of murders of civilians.

Witness: Random Shelling of Knin
SENSE Tribunal
July 14, 2008

Describing the shelling of Knin on 4 and 5 August 1995 Canadian captain Alain Gilbert says that – judging from what he saw from his office in the UN Sector South Command – it was his impression that the artillery did not engage military targets; the town was shelled randomly, he said

Canadian captain Alain Gilbert was General Alain Forand's aide-de-camp in August 1995. At the time, Forand was the commander of the UN troops in Sector South in Krajina. In January 2008, Gilbert gave a statement to the OTP investigators describing what he knew about the crimes committed in Operation Storm and in its aftermath. Croatian generals Ante Gotovina, Ivan Cermak and Mladen Markac are on trial for those crimes. In his brief examination-in chief, Gilbert confirmed his statement was true and authentic and clarified some of its parts.

Like general Forand and other Canadian 'blue helmets', Gilbert observed the shelling of Knin on 4 and 5 August 1995 from the UN base. As he contends, the town was under heavy artillery fire; some 400 shells were fired from the Croatian side in just six minutes in the early morning of 5 August 1995. On 25 August 1995, the witness started taking care of the refugees who had sought shelter in the UN base. In his opinion, most of them wanted to return to their homes but in fear for their personal safety they opted to leave for Serbia. According to the witness, the reason for this could be the looting and burning down of abandoned Serb houses in Krajina that reached mass proportions after Operation Storm.

In his cross-examination, Gotovina's defense counsel put it to the witness that because of the fog and the distance from the UN base to the town he could not see if military facilities or civilian buildings were targeted. Gilbert admitted that he couldn't see where the targets were in the town, adding that the shells fell all over the town. It was his impression, he said, that the artillery did not target specific military facilities; Knin was 'shelled randomly'.

When the defense counsel put it to the witness that the UN base in Knin was used not only as a refuge for civilians but sheltered a number of RSK Army soldiers, the witness replied he knew about the case of a single Serb soldier who was expelled from the base when it was established he was in the army. The witness didn't want to comment on the fact that the Croatian authorities asked for the surrender of 38 persons from the UN base because they were war crimes suspects. In his view, they were responsible for crimes only from the Croatian point of view, not according to the UN personnel.

The Canadian captain completed his evidence today. Elisabeth Rehn, former UN special rapporteur for human rights, will give evidence at the trial of Croatian generals tomorrow.

Vlastimir Djordjevic charged with crime Scorpions committed in Podujevo
SENSE Tribunal
July 16, 2008

Vlastimir Djordjevic, former chief of the Serbian MUP Public Security Sector, will tomorrow have another opportunity to enter his plea on the charges in the new amended indictment against him. He is now charged with crimes committed on 28 March 1999 in Podujevo by the members of the Scorpions unit. ICTY chief prosecutor will visit Belgrade next week

Vlastimir Djordjevic, former assistant interior minister and chief of the Public Security Sector in the Serbian MUP, will tomorrow enter his plea on the new indictment amended earlier this month to include the charges related to the massacre of 14 Albanian civilians in Podujevo on 28 March 1999. This was indicated today at the press briefing at the Tribunal.

The crime was committed by the members of the Scorpions unit. The unit operated as part of the Special Anti-terrorist Units (SAJ); in 1999 they were attached to the Serbian MUP on Djordjevic's orders.

The amended indictment alleges that nineteen women and children, members of three families: Bogujevci, Duriqi and Llugaliu, were taken out to the yard of the Gashi family house in the Rahmana Morine Street in Podujevo. They were then gunned down. Four children aged 2 to 9 were killed. Five children survived the massacre but were seriously injured. Sasa Cvjetan, a member of the Scorpions, was tried before the War Crimes Chamber in Belgrade. He was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Vlastimir Djordjevic was arrested last year in Montenegro. At his initial appearance before the judges of the Tribunal he pleaded not guilty to the five counts in the indictment charging him with deportation, persecution and forcible transfer of Albanian civilians on Kosovo in the first half of 1999.

The press was told that chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz would make another visit to Belgrade. According to the OTP spokesperson Olga Kavran, Brammertz is to meet with Serbian officials in charge of Serbia's cooperation with the Tribunal. Other details about the visit are not known yet.

"Someone in Serbia knows fugitives' location"
B92
July 17, 2008

BELGRADE -- The UK ambassador says it's clear certain people in Serbia know the whereabouts of the remaining 3 Hague fugitives.

"We understand that Rasim Ljajic does not personally know where these people are, but it is clear that some people in Serbia do, and the question is how to convince these people to give up the information they have," Stephen Wordsworth told Novi Sad daily Gradanski List.

He said that he expected the new government to have a more pro-active approach to cooperation with the Hague.

The ambassador said that recognizing Kosovo's independence was not a condition for Serbia's EU entry as seven of the 27 member-states had not done so.

"It's clear that we cannot asked prospective candidates to do something that we don't ask of the other members. For that reason, I do not view recognition of Kosovo as one of the conditions for Serbia's progress towards EU integration," said Wordsworth.

"You have a new government that is interested in moving towards European integration as fast as possible. The current situation, where there is no official contact at the highest level with 20 of the 27 member-states of the organization that Serbia wishes to join, is not constructive," he underlined.

General's Dubrovnik shelling conviction upheld
Associated Press
Mike Corder
July 17, 2008

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Appeals judges at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal upheld the conviction Thursday of a Yugoslav army general for overseeing the deadly 1991 shelling of the historic coastal city of Dubrovnik.

The five-judge appeals panel also added two more counts to Gen. Pavle Strugar's original 2005 conviction. But they cut his original sentence from eight years to seven and a half years because of his deteriorating health.

Strugar, 75, showed no emotion as the appeal ruling was read by presiding judge Andresia Vaz.

He was originally convicted of two counts of willful destruction of Dubrovnik and attacking civilians. Appeals judges added two more convictions for unjustified devastation of the town and attacking civilian sites.

Dubrovnik, founded in the seventh century, has been on UNESCO's list of protected world cultural heritage sites for decades for its Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque architecture. The historic walled city is on Croatia's Adriatic coast.

The siege and shelling of Dubrovnik lasted months in late 1991 following Croatia's declaration of independence from the former Yugoslavia, but Strugar's trial focused on just one day, Dec. 6.

Prosecutors say he was in command that day of troops which unleashed an artillery barrage that left two civilians dead and damaged scores of buildings in the walled city. None of the damaged buildings was serving any military purpose.

"Strugar had the material ability to prevent the illegal shelling of the old town and to punish his subordinates," Vaz said. "Strugar had reason to know ... that his subordinates were about to commit crimes but did nothing to prevent them."

Dozens of people were killed and more than 100 religious, cultural or educational sites were badly damaged in the three-month siege. Television images of shells slamming into the city's red roofed houses drew condemnation from around the world.

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International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

Official Website of the ICTR

Eleventh Life Sentence at the ICTR
Hirondelle News Agencey
July 12, 2008

Arusha, 7 December 2007 (FH) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) delivered Friday its 35th verdict by sentencing to life in prison François Karera, the former prefect of Kigali.

It is the eleventh life sentence, maximum sentence possible at this tribunal created by the United Nations after the 1994 genocide. Karera was found guilty of three of the four counts of the indictment. His position as a senior official of those that committed the massacres, municipal police officers, militiamen, was also denounced.

During the proceedings, which lasted over 11 months, the prosecution and the defence were opposed on material witnesses. The prosecution presented 18 and the defence 25, including the defendant. The presence and the participation of Karera during attacks committed in Nyamirambo, a district of Kigali, or at the Ntarama church, an area located about thirty kilometres from the capital, were proven.

His empty promise of safety to the refugees in the Ntarama church, a day before of an attack in which he took part, was regarded as an aggravating circumstance. Karera had arrived by bus with a group of Interahamwe that he had encouraged to attack the church. Seven hundred people were killed. No extenuating circumstances were found.

Dressed in a maroon suit, green shirt, gold tie, Karera remained stoic during the reading of his judgment whereas in front of him, at the bench of the prosecution, a young Rwandan, woman who had for the first time presented the prosecution case during an ICTR trial, kissed her colleagues. In the public gallery, Rwandans women in traditional dress also came to testify by their presence that they regarded the former prefect as responsible for the deaths of their loved ones.

This judgment is the first to be delivered in more than a year at the end of contradictory proceedings. The two other judgments which have occurred in 2007 came after a guilty plea; Joseph Nzabirinda, a former youth manager, in February, and Juvénal Rugambarara, a former mayor, in November.

Since its creation in 1994, the ICTR has delivered 30 guilty verdicts and 5 acquittals. 28 people are currently on trial. The ICTR should, according to United Nations, finish its first instance trials by the end of 2008. Six people are still awaiting a trial. For this reason, the prosecutor has asked that five of them be transferred to Rwanda to be tried there. The judges have not yet made their decisions known.

UN Court to Render Genocide-Accused Lawyer's Judgment in September
Hirondelle News Agency
July 14, 2008

Arusha,14 July 2008 (FH) - The International Criminal for Rwanda (ICTR) will deliver judgement in the trial of 1994 genocide-accused a former Rwandan Deputy Prosecutor, Simeon Nshamihigo, on September 16, according to ICTR Press Release issued Monday.

The last judgement to be delivered was on Francois Karera, former Governor of Kigali, on 7 December, 2007, who was sentenced to remainder of his life. Five more judgements are expected before end of the year.

The prosecution and defence concluded their closing arguments in the Nshamihigo case in mid-January. The prosecution has requested life imprisonment for defendant while the defence has sought for outright acquittal.

Nshamihigo, 48, who has been on trial since 25 September 2006, is accused of having organized massacres of Tutsis in Cyangugu, in south-western Rwanda, his native region. He has pleaded not guilty.

At the close of the proceedings, the defendant showed remorse over the 1994 tragic killings and considered the event as unfortunate and intolerable.

Nshamihigo is defended by two Canadian lawyers, Denis Turcotte and Henry Benoit. The prosecution team is headed by Ivorian Alphonse Van.

The accused was arrested in 2001 at the ICTR premises after he was discovered working at the United Nations court under a false name. Nshamihigo was detained after a witness at one of the trials recognised him and revealed his true identity as one of the alleged organisers of the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis.

Nshamihigo, who was deputy prosecutor during the genocide, was working at the international tribunal as an investigator for the defence team of a former military commander who was a close ally during the slaughter and is now convicted, Samuel Imanishimwe.

Nshamihigo was detained by tribunal security staff and then handed over to immigration officials in Tanzania, where the international court is sitting, after it was discovered he was using an assumed name and a false passport. He was going by the name of Sammy Bahati Weza and claiming to be a Congolese citizen instead of a Rwandan.

Although Mr Nshamihigo was not employed directly by the UN, all of those on trial at the tribunal are declared indigent and the salaries of the defence staff are paid by the court. As a result, the tribunal was supposed to have checked the former prosecutor's credentials and background.

The Rwandan government has in the past complained that several men implicated in the genocide were employed by the court's defence teams.

The arrest of Mr Nshamihigo had raised fresh questions about security at the tribunal. In February, 2001, Hassan Ngeze, a Rwandan newspaper editor already convicted for genocide, was discovered to be running a website from his cell and using it to denounce the judges hearing his case.

90,000 Genocide-Convicted Engage in Community Service in Rwanda
Hirondelle News Agency
July 17, 2008

Kigali, 17 July 2008 (FH) - About 90,000 persons convicted for their responsibility in the 1994 genocide are currently engaged in community service throughout Rwanda, reported Thursday the Rwandan weekly newspaper Grands Lacs Hebdo (Great Lakes Weekly).

To relieve congestion in its prisons, Rwanda adopted a law which envisages that certain categories of authors of the 1994 genocide serve half of their prison sentence and the remainder be commuted to community service. During the serving of community service, convicts live, at the expense of the government, in camps generally located at edge of cities.

The newspaper which quoted the national service of community service, mentions in particular the Gahanga Camp, at the entry of Kigali, "which shelters more than 250 men and women having finished the first half of their prison sentence".

The work varies, according to specificities and the needs in the region: constructions of schools or houses for poor survivors of the genocide, construction of bridges, planting plants and trees to prevent erosion in high-altitude areas, cutting stones, etc.

Each "tigiste" is in addition held, during his stay, to learn a trade which will enable them to earn their living after having served their sentence. Iliterate convicts also learn how to read and write.

'Rwandan Genocide Cases are Difficult to Manage'
Hirondelle News Agency
July 17, 2008

Brussels, 17 July 2008 (FH) - Rwandan genocide legal cases are heavy and difficult to manage, as well as on the investigation level as on the emotional and psychological load that they bring, Philippe Meire, assistant federal prosecutor with the federal prosecution in Belgium who has worked on these cases since 1999 has told Hirondelle Agency.

In addition to the geographical distance - a universal problem when we must investigate into acts committed abroad, but that is felt here with a particular acuity - and the submission to "goodwill" by the authorities of the countries concerned with investigating, the main difficulties come from the responsibility of bringing back evidence, which falls on the prosecution., he claimed.

"By the force of things, many witnesses disappeared or were killed", he explained. "Among the survivors, some can have difficulties testifying, because to testify means to them to relive horrible acts. They prefer thus not to work with justice, especially if they have been able to build a new life. And then there is the memory which can become blurry", he said.

The word, generally parsimonious, of the defendants cannot mitigate this difficult research for witnesses: "We admit more easily to crimes of ordinary law. What explains that there are relatively few confessions, or they are partial. Rare are those who admit to having taken part in the inexpressible acts of a genocide."

For other witnesses, it is the perception of a biased justice which would make them hesitate: "Some consider that, for the acts relating to the genocide, justice is only interested in the crimes committed by only one side. This problem is particularly important at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). But it should not be forgotten that international justice has said that it is necessary to take care of the most serious acts first", he reminds. "That does not mean that war crimes, whose authors benefit from impunity, were not committed", he adds.

In connection with the threats which weigh on the defence witnesses, Philippe Meire replied that "this rhetoric annoys him". "The opposite also exists", he affirms. "People in Rwanda have had threats or criticisms because they came to testify for the prosecution. It should not be forgotten, inter alia, because of the release of prisoners, that genocidaires live in the hills of Rwanda next to survivors."

According to him, during the three trials already held in Belgium in connection with the genocide, "the crushing majority of defence witnesses came". There is the "particular case" of ten witnesses who, at the time of the 2005 trial, did not want to return to Rwanda and filed requests for asylum which are still being investigated. "But there are among them as many witnesses for the prosecution as for the defence, and, if some speak about threats to support their requests, it can be tricky to disentangle what really is going on". During the Ntuyahaga trial of 2007, two Rwandan gendarmes, who had mentioned fears for their safety, fled from their lodging so as not to have to return to their country at the end of their defence testimonies- considered not to be very credible.

"In matters of international justice, the protection of witnesses, which is sometimes necessary, is set up in a system that is too rigid", he adds. He recalled that, before the Assize Court of Brussels, "people openly testified". "Systematic anonymity appears to me to create a problem of credibility for testimonies", he judges. And to stress that anonymity before the ICTR is "quite relative, since identity is generally known by all the people in the case".

These delicate investigations are carried out in Belgium by specialists, that of which few European countries have. Whereas France, in particular, considered only recently the creation of a "unit" to investigate crimes against humanity, Philippe Meire pointed out that such a unit, "was created gradually" since a certain number of years in Belgium.

"After the investigations following the first complaints, in 1995, and the return to the daily routine, it was necessary that a team of federal criminal investigation police saw itself allotted these missions, in addition to the rest. And now, four or five people have worked exclusively, for approximately two years, on these " Belgian" cases; that is to say within the framework of international judicial cooperation - for example with the ICTR", he explained. But this specialization is not found on the side of the investigation judge, "what poses obvious problems of availability", he regretted.

Foreign investigators and magistrates benefit from this experience, by the means of the "network of contact points of the EU, and by more abstract networks" the people implicated who developed these last years, according to him. During a conference of specialists held at the beginning of July at the Belgian Parliament, a French magistrate working with penal cooperation at the ministry of justice affirmed that his country was "thirsty and needed" exchanges on the matter.

In addition, the investigators are trained to prevent ethnocentric reflexes or possible misinterpretations. "We always proceed, as the first work of the investigation, with historical research so that the investigators impregnate themselves, as much as possible, with the context in which will proceed their investigation. It is the same principle which is at work when expert witnesses parade in the trials to enlighten the jury". However, "nothing replaces field work", he concluded

Rwanda Objects to Extension of ICTR Judges Mandate
Hirondelle News Agency
July 18, 2008

Arusha, 18 July 2008 (FH) - Rwanda has objected to an extension of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) judges' mandate, instead she has asked the United Nations to redirect that resources at improving her judicial capacity, reports Hirondelle Agency.

The extension was requested by the ICTR to allow smooth continuation of the on-going and new trials at the UN Court, trying key suspects of the 1994 genocide. The April-July slaughter, according to UN, claimed lives of about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus.

"Rather than extending the terms of judges, efforts and resources should be redirected at further improving Rwanda's capacity to deal with cases referred by the Tribunal to its national courts[ although three of the five such cases have already been rejected by chambers on grounds that the suspects may not get a fair trial],'' Joseph Nsengimana,Rwanda's representative to the UN told a preparatory meeting of the General Assembly Committee drawing the agenda for the 62nd meeting scheduled for a week beginning September 23.

He further added: "Low-level cases were already being transferred to national courts, where improvements had been modeled after the Tribunal. New facilities had been built for the detention of the accused and for incarceration of the convicted."

Never the less, the committee proceeded to action, approving the recommendation to extend the terms of office of trial chambers until December 2009 and those of Appeals Chamber until 31 December 2010. Both had been due to expire on 31 December of this year.

The committee also approved the decision to consider the item directly in plenary as it will result in additional resource requirement of approximately US Dollars 1.5 million for 2009.

There are a total 20 judges at the ICTR-- nine permanent , nine ad litem (temporary) and two Appeals Court.

The ICTR President and Prosecutor, Justice Dennis Byron and Justice Hassan Jallow respectively, last month sought from the UN Security Council an additional one year for smooth completion of trials. They argued that the deadline of December 2008 for first instance trials was not realistic.

Regarding 13 key accused who are still at large, the ICTR considers that four of them must be tried before the Tribunal in case of their arrest.

A recent ICTR document pointed that an individual trial takes approximately ten months and seven defendants are still awaiting trials.

With three chambers in operation at the ICTR, theoretically the tribunal's work goes beyond 2010, the scheduled date for the end of Appeal procedures.

The ICTR, has since its first hearing in January 1997, tried 36 people-31 convictions and five acquittals.

Twenty eight others are currently on trial, seven on standby and 13 are on the run. One suspect is awaiting transfer from Germany.

At the end of 2007, it has cost more than a billion US dollars. Its budget for 2008/2009, voted last January in New York, was US dollars 267 million.

'Brussels Can Effect Arrest Warrants Against RPF Suspects'
Hirondelle News Agency
July 18, 2008

Brussels, 18 July 2008 (FH) - Philippe Meire, Belgian Federal Prosecutor, remains determined to execute on Belgian soil, if necessary, the Spanish arrest warrants that target members of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) currently in power in Kigali.

"Let's be clear, these arrest warrants will be executed except for people who benefit from a jurisdictional immunity", he told Hirondelle Agency, by referring to the cancellation by Rwanda, in May, of the visit of the Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs after the Belgian authorities had noted presence in the delegation of Joseph Nzabamwita, number two of exterior security and wanted by Spanish judiciary.

Nzabamwita is part of the 40 Rwandans targeted by arrest warrants issued on 6 February by Judge Fernando Abreu Merelles. Spanish justice accuses these top-ranking officials of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) regime of genocide, crimes against humanity and terrorism.

"Rwanda was shocked when we warned them that the Spanish arrest warrants would be executed against a Rwandan accompanying the delegation. But we are legally held with respect to the Spaniards to execute these warrants", he clarified.

Simillarly, if an admissible complaint is filed against the RPF before Belgian courts, "it will be the subject of an investigation", he assured, responding to the recurring criticisms of judicial bias, before which are on trial representatives of Hutu extremism or the authors of the genocide policy, whereas the RPF with its Tutsi majority, which seized power in 1994 by stopping the slaughters, was also suspected of grave crimes.

He pointed out that a complaint had been filed by the former Major Bernard Ntuyahaga [sentenced in 2007 by a Belgian court to 20 years in prison for his role in the genocide] against President Paul Kagame, and other people. "The duty to investigate was carried out, we wanted to do others, in particular in Tanzania, which blocked these steps. Then this case was dropped by the Final Court of Appeal in 2003", reminded the prosecutor.

"Two other complaints concerning acts committed by 'the other camp' were shelved without a follow up, because the criteria of jurisdiction was not met", he pointed out, adding: "But, at the present time, I do not know of people who belonged to the RPF who took part in war crimes or crimes against humanity and who would be present on Belgian soil."

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Iraqi High Tribunal

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

Iran's Chemical Ali survivors still bear scars
Reuters
Alistair Lyon
July 8, 2008

NOWDESHEH, Iran (Reuters) - High in remote Kurdish mountains, Iranian villagers still nurse ravaged eyes and lungs, 20 years after Iraqi poison gas attacks that went mostly ignored by world powers then siding with Saddam Hussein against Iran.

That perceived hypocrisy continues to rankle in the Islamic Republic, now accused by the West of seeking nuclear weapons.

It was 4 p.m. on March 17, 1988 when Iraqi planes dropped eight mustard gas bombs over the wood-beamed stone houses of Nowdesheh, nestled in a green horseshoe valley near the border.

"I saw the gas and smelled peaches," said Dara Meshkati, who was 10 years old at the time. "Then my eyes closed and I couldn't see anything. I was blind for two months."

U.N. investigators said 13 people were killed and over 100 injured in the attack -- an event eclipsed by Iraq's chemical assault the day before that killed about 5,000 Iraqi Kurds in Halabja, 25 km (15 miles) across the frontier to the west.

At that time, no asphalt road linked Nowdesheh with the nearest small town of Paveh, so the victims faced a jolting five-hour evacuation over a dirt track through the mountains.

Meshkati, a pale-faced man with listless eyes, recovered his eyesight and is well enough to work in an accountant's office, but still suffers from asthma -- and psychological scars.

"Nobody drinks water from my glasses. People here think I have a problem," he complained.

He is just one of scores of survivors in Nowdesheh, which suffered three gas attacks in the same month of 1988, the final year of Iran's ruinous eight-year war with Saddam's Iraq.

"We went to help the wounded," recalled Rahim Maghrouzi, 52, a surgical mask over his mouth. "We didn't realize it was chemical weapons. My skin turned red. We tried to wash our eyes with water. I still can't breathe properly and I can't work."

DEATH ROW

Maghrouzi, like many in this village of 5,000, is awaiting the day when Iraqi authorities execute the death sentence passed last year on Ali Hassan al-Majeed, a senior Saddam henchman, for his role in a bloody campaign against Iraqi Kurds in the 1980s. "Chemical Ali is responsible for what happened to me," said Maghrouzi, using Majeed's nickname. "I hope he is hanged."

Majeed sits on death row in a U.S. jail in Iraq, his fate tangled in a row between the Iraqi government and presidential council over signing off on the execution orders of his cohorts.

Saddam himself was hanged in 2006 on a narrow charge unrelated to his government's actions against Iraqi Kurds and Iran -- something many Iranians view as a missed opportunity.

"We are happy Saddam was put on trial, but sad he was never tried for what he committed against the Iranian people and Kurds in Iraq with chemical weapons," said Shahriar Khateri, a 37-year-old Iranian doctor who runs a support group for survivors -- like himself -- of Iraqi poison gas attacks.

"There was no chance to talk about these atrocities," he told Reuters. "It's the same for Chemical Ali. They should have been tried in an international criminal tribunal."

Khateri said the government had registered at least 55,000 survivors of Iraqi chemical attacks, 7,000 of them civilians, but the true figure was higher because many people exposed to low levels of mustard gas only developed symptoms years later.

Iraq used mustard gas and the nerve agent sarin repeatedly during the war, partly to counter human wave assaults by Iranian basijis -- mostly young volunteers ready to sacrifice themselves for Iran and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic revolution.

MUSTARD GAS AT DAWN

Ali Jalali was a 21-year-old basiji fighting near Merivan, 40 km (25 miles) north of Nowdesheh, in 1987, when an Iraqi rocket filled with mustard gas struck near his tent at dawn, killing all but a few of his 24 comrades.

"I thought I would die too," he said.

Jalali, who speaks with a rasping cough, perhaps owes his life to Japanese doctors who later treated him in Tokyo for more than four months for injuries to his eyes, skin and lungs.

Married with one child before the attack, he could have no more children afterwards, but does not regret his sacrifice. "I chose my way myself. I had to do my duty for my country."

Mustard gas commonly inflicts respiratory problems and recurrent lung infections, progressive eye lesions that can lead to blindness, and itching sores and scars on the skin.

"Then there is the psychological impact, which is not visible but is very serious for the victims, especially civilians," said Khateri, himself a basiji war veteran.

In Nowdesheh, Faik Fallahi, a bearded 50-year-old with glasses, sat in his bare living room next to his oxygen bottle and a heap of medicine bottles, capsules and pill packets.

"We have become like laboratory rats," he told visitors on a tour organized by Khateri's society. "No medicine works for us."

Fallahi, a father of four who is unable to work, said the chemical attack had destroyed his life. "I can't sleep at night. I have no life, no social life. I am at home all the time."

There is no cure for lungs affected by mustard gas, according to Hamid Sohrabpour, a chest specialist who was in charge of Iran's wartime medical response to chemical attacks.

He said Iran had swiftly deployed medical teams, field hospitals and protective clothing once it had identified mustard gas as the cause of the mysterious symptoms of early victims.

"The worst experience was in the first two months. There were loads of patients coming in and it was desperate because we didn't know how to deal with the problem," the physician said.

Sohrabpour, Khateri and several survivors insisted that Saddam and Chemical Ali were not the only culprits for the Iraqi poison gas attacks, citing evidence that German and other foreign firms had helped Iraq develop its chemical arsenal.

"Several reports by U.N. experts confirmed the use of nerve agents and mustard gas by Saddam's regime. Unfortunately there was no reaction by the international community," Khateri said.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

Tariq Aziz trial postponed to July 16
United Press International via Middle East Times
July 8, 2008

BAGHDAD, July 8 (UPI) -- An Iraqi court in Baghdad postponed to July 16 the trial of Tariq Aziz, Ali Hassan al-Majid and others for the 1992 slaying of 42 businessmen.

Aziz and six co-defendants, including Ali Hassan al-Majid, known as "Chemical Ali," faced the Iraqi High Tribunal on war crimes charges for the execution in 1992 of 42 businessmen who protested rising food prices in the wake of U.N. sanctions on the former regime. The Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein said the men were inflating food prices to exploit the economic impact of the sanctions.

Lawyers for Majid told the court their client endured harsh confinement while awaiting trial, Voices of Iraq reported.

"He has been severed from his family since his arrest in 2003," they said, adding, "He was allowed contact (with his family) once this year for only 10 minutes."

Sabawi Ibrahim, Saddam's half-brother and former commander of the Iraqi secret service, the Mukhabarat, denied involvement in the executions, saying his agency played no role in targeting the men.

Aziz and Majid face additional charges for, among other things, the Feb. 18, 1999, assassination of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, the father-in-law of the anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr.

The case involving the merchants is the fourth case before the Iraqi High Tribunal and the first for Aziz.

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Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)

Offical Website of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
The Sierra Leone Court Monitoring Programme

Sierra Leoneans Look for Peace through Full Truth about War Crimes
Christian Science Monitor
By Jina Moore
July 8, 2008

Bomaru, Sierra Leone - Little but its history distinguishes Bomaru from other villages scattered across Sierra Leone's countryside. A quiet place with mud houses the same color as the dust kicked up by the occasional passing vehicle, it would seem, on an ordinary day, impoverished and washed out.

But today, women dress in freshly laundered wrappers ablaze in color; men wear regal Muslim gowns or their best T-shirts. An anonymous few sweat beneath layers of straw and fabric, in costumes like something from Sesame Street: They are – or are dressed as, depending upon your belief system – the village's local devils, whose appearance signals celebration; their rapid footwork leads a dancing procession to the village center.

Nearly 800 people from Bomaru and nearby villages have gathered for Fambul Tok, a grass-roots reconciliation initiative John Caulker wants to bring to every Sierra Leonean village. The phrase is Krio (English-based creole) ¬for "family talk," the old way of resolving disputes through conversations around bonfires.

Mr. Caulker, whose human rights organization, Forum of Conscience, developed Fambul Tok over the past three years in villages across Sierra Leone, wants the bonfire to be a space for confession and forgiveness for war crimes. Bomaru is the first test of whether the idea works –¬ or whether anyone even cares.

Dozens of people have come to Bomaru 17 years to the day after the war began here in March 1991. They're here to recount crimes they committed after their abductions and forced conscriptions in the 1990s into the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), a rebel group from neighboring Liberia infamous for chopping limbs off civilians. But by the time the bonfire is lit and the crowd settles in for storytelling, they've changed their minds.

Maybe it's coming face to face with the moment, maybe it's the half-dozen white people here to document it, but something has spooked the former war criminals.

"They are afraid that if they talk, they will be prosecuted," Caulker explains.

It's a legal impossibility; Sierra Leone negotiated its peace in part by offering fighters blanket amnesty. But here, legal promises can feel like borders – slippery when interests shift.

Caulker sends a film crew, print reporter, and intern – all white – away from the assembly briefly. He talks with the town chief and convinces them to proceed; the chief, a former RUF rebel, promises to offer the first testimony.

And so, the perpetrators talk one after another, until 2 in the morning. Mostly men speak, confessing atrocities they committed as unwilling soldiers forced to choose: kill, maim, rape, or be killed.

If any of the victims in these stories are present, they don't speak. Which is not what Caulker, whose career in human rights began with dangerous undercover research for Amnesty International during the war, had imagined. He'd thought he'd see perpetrators apologizing to victims, and victims reaching out in forgiving embrace.

"I don't want to make the mistake that this is reconciliation," he says. "This is not reconciliation. This is the beginning of the process."

These days, reconciliation is not revolutionary territory. It's on what Caulker calls the West's "post-conflict checklist," which promotes reconciliation through institutions like truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs). More than 40 countries around the world have turned to TRCs for what, in other circumstances, might be the work of courts or civil society groups: exposing crimes, on the one hand, and promoting social cohesion on the other.

Until South Africa pioneered TRCs in 1995, the past was made public in courts, by definition sites of retributive justice that, experts say, can be at odds with community healing.

"Very often the adversarial process [of criminal justice] has ... effects that can interfere with or delay social reconstruction," says Martha Minow, a professor of law at Harvard University and author of "Between Vengeance and Forgiveness: Facing History After Genocide and Mass Violence."

Prosecution pursues questions of guilt, and in the process focuses on the rights of defendants, potentially leaving victims of mass violence feeling neglected. "It also invites the defendants to defend themselves, rather than build bridges" with those they offended, she says.

Perhaps the most difficult problem is the most obvious: Like the former rebels in Bomaru, war criminals fearing prosecution don't want to tell the whole story – which is what many victims say they want most.

Truth commissions are a kind of compromise. They often offer amnesty in exchange for testimony, theorizing that knowing the truth about the past is more important for individuals and societies than convicting criminals of what can be proved in court. Sierra Leone didn't have that choice: Its judicial system, in shambles before the war, didn't exist after.

"Most of the justice system was destroyed by the civil war, and to ask for justice was very, very difficult for our people," says Hassan Seika, who leads the Bo Peace and Reconciliation Movement in central Sierra Leone.

Then there's the peace agreement, which promised combatants amnesty, taking a trial off the table and with it the possibility of the courtroom as a space for truth-telling. That decision would eventually be partially reversed, and the country would set up a United Nations-backed Special Court with a $100 million budget to try the nine leaders "bearing the greatest responsibility" for atrocities.

Meanwhile, Sierra Leone set up a truth commission, which Caulker calls "my baby." He led a campaign to establish the commission, then lobbied the Freetown-based institution to spend real time in rural communities, where the brunt of the war was felt. Caulker thinks it failed, and even its architects acknowledge that the TRC's consultations didn't live up to the hopes it raised.

"They were not as rooted in the communities as people had envisioned initially," says Priscilla Hayner, an expert with the International Center for Transitional Justice and a consultant to Sierra Leone's TRC. "People think of a truth and reconciliation commission as the body leading to reconciliation, which maybe sets them up for disappointment in the short term because it's a much longer-term process."

Caulker wants to be part of that longer-term process, making it something he feels is more authentic than the Western institutions of justice brought to his capital. In the past year, he has used a bare-bones budget from the US-based foundation Catalyst for Peace to crisscross the rutted roads of rural Sierra Leone, inviting villagers to try reconciliation their way, with fambul tok, asking for and receiving forgiveness around bonfires and offering atonement to the spirits of the ancestors. It's frugal – each ceremony costs about $300. Though it sounds simple, perhaps even silly, like catching a runaway jet with a rubber band, ¬village after village – 35 so far and 10 scheduled – embraced the opportunity.

In communities where perpetrators were frequently victims themselves, kidnapped as youth and often drugged before being asked – ¬or forced depending on your perspective – to commit heinous acts, residents say they want absolution.

"People will not forgive if someone does not come forward to them in person to acknowledge what they did.... Someone has to acknowledge that this person was hurt," Caulker says. "That restores dignity to the victims."

The rationale of truth commissions can come close to rhapsody: "A people is rising," the El Salvador commission proclaimed, "from the ashes of a war in which all were unjust." This is not the language the villagers who welcome Caulker would use. They speak of their desire to apologize, to forgive, to heal; yet these noble gestures aren't so unlike more ordinary human impulses. They are still, at some level, about what people need.

In the impoverished villages of Sierra Leone, people most often say they forgive to bring peace -not just for peace's sake, but because, they echo each other in saying, "Without peace, there is no development."

They forgive because tradition tells them it will improve harvests, and they will not go hungry. They forgive, in large part, because their bellies and their wallets are empty, and the old ways tell them that forgiveness can make them full again.

And so, to villages where every home had been burned down, where widowed women live with the memory and stigma of rape, men hoe fields with only one hand, and young people try to erase their childhoods as kidnapped soldiers, John Caulker goes to start reconciliation the old way, with some matches for a fire and a chicken for the spirits of the dead.

• Tomorrow: A farmer faces the rebel who amputated his arm.

Press Conference by Special Court for Sierra Leone Prosecutor
UN Department of Public Information
July 14, 2008

The Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity, said today that the case was in its fifth month of hearing the prosecution’s evidence, and could possibly wrap up "within a year".

During a Headquarters press conference, Stephen Rapp also told reporters that today on the stand in The Hague was the thirty-fifth witness for the prosecution to appear, and before the end of the week, the thirty-sixth might take the stand. If the Prosecution succeeded on some procedural issues that might speed the case, there was the possibility that its case could be concluded in the next three or four months. The Freetown, Sierra Leone-based Court planned a four-week recess, beginning Friday, he added.

He said that the Defence had announced that its case would take about three or four months, and that then it would be up to the judges to determine his guilt or innocence.

Many outside observers following the trial had hailed the proceedings and the cases put forward by both the Prosecution and the Defence as "models of international justice", showing that the trial of a former Chief of State could be conducted openly and fairly, "and we’re very proud to date of the progress that’s been made", he said of the Court’s handling of the case.

Mr. Taylor was charged with 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 10-year civil war in next-door Sierra Leone, which ended in 2002. He is alleged to have supported the rebels in Sierra Leone who committed murder, rape and mutilation of civilians, and arms trafficking and the use of child soldiers, aiming to gain control of the country’s mineral wealth, particularly its diamond mines. The Security Council authorized the Special Court to transfer Taylor to The Hague for trial, "due to the security implications if he is held in Freetown".

Despite the Court’s progress, Mr. Rapp said the Taylor case had presented the Prosecutor’s Office with some unique challenges, especially since it was dealing with the responsibility of a Head of State and former rebel leader from one country for crimes against humanity in a neighbouring nation. "For that reason we have the special challenge of showing the linkage between Mr. Taylor and crimes committed on the ground [in Sierra Leone] by the RUF and their allied AFRC military group."

To address this, the Prosecution had listed in its case some 59 insiders, people who were at one time or another very close to the former Liberian leader. They were now providing evidence as witnesses to support his case that Mr. Taylor "was behind the planning of this campaign of terror and atrocity, that he took various steps to order and instigate those crimes and, at a bare minimum, at least aided and abetted these crimes by providing crucial arms and materiel in return for diamonds, at a time when all the world knew that these rebels were committing horrendous offences against human beings".

He told correspondents that one of the Court’s ongoing challenges involved the selection, transportation and protection of witnesses. "We deal with people that may be very hard for us to reach and protect, since, in the Charles Taylor case, they have to be brought all the way to The Hague to testify," he said, adding that, even though witnessed could be transferred to safe houses for interviews, 42 days before they appeared in Court, their identities had to be disclosed. That often involved another move and, after their testimony, the Court had to often consider relocation.

"We have ongoing responsibilities in this area," he said, recalling that last year Court officials had spoken to the Security Council about helping to urge countries to enter into relocation agreements with the Court, just as they had in more than a dozen cases with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and in several cases with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

While the Court’s intention was always to relocate individuals in country, there were those, including families and friends, "at such great risk" that they had to be relocated outside the region. He added that perhaps 25 of the witness that had taken the stand thus far in the case would need "ongoing protection of one kind or another".

Responding to questions about the news today that the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court had presented evidence against Sudan’s President for alleged war crimes, including genocide, in the strife-torn Darfur region, Mr. Rapp said that, while the cases against the two leaders might differ, the lesson of the Charles Taylor indictment, arrest, transfer and trial -- as well as that of [former Serbian President] Slobodan Milosevic -- was that when an international count ordered an arrest, even of a Head of State or Government, "it’s not an issue of if, but when", that leader would face justice.

"If the arrest warrant is [executed], I would expect the day will arrive when President Al-Bashir is going to face justice," he said, adding that day might not be tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or even next year. The steps between the issuance of an arrest warrant, an arrest, a transfer and trial, "are somewhat unforeseen at his point", but the momentum was such -- and expectation of the victimized communities, human rights groups and mobilized populations across the globe, was such -- that there would come a day when there would be justice. While the decision was in the hands of the Prosecutor and the judges and all the States parties involved, "I am confident that day will arrive," he said.

Mr. Rapp is also at Headquarters in connection with the Security Council’s debate this Thursday on "children in armed conflict". The Special Court handed down last June historic first convictions by any United Nations-backed tribunal for the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. The judges found the three accused, Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu -- members of the rebel Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) -- guilty of war crimes and other serious violations of international humanitarian law, including the recruitment and use of child soldiers, he said.

Those charges had been affirmed on appeal in February and the three accused now faced "long sentences", up to 45 years, in one instance, and 50 years for the other two. Mr. Rapp will join the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict and the Permanent Representative of France to present the film Mad Dog Jonny, a drama about child soldiers fighting a war in an unnamed African country that premiered to rave reviews at the Cannes Film Festival this past May. That film, shot entirely in Liberia and including a cast of former child soldiers, was produced with backing from the French and Liberian Governments and with the help of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).

"While the movie doesn’t specifically focus on Liberia, I think it presents a very realistic and, to some extent, shocking picture, of this crime" and the way it affected recruited children and the persons who were subjected to their acts of brutality, he said. Indeed, it had been one of the horrors of Sierra Leone and Liberia that children had been used to fight where adults, quite frankly, couldn’t be motivated to join the conflict because it didn’t involve any substantial political issues. "So these children became instruments of warlords, and sometimes, then, committed the most brutal acts," including amputating limbs, in the case of the Sierra Leone conflict.

He said that the film underscored the importance of ending impunity for the crime of child soldiering. Since the Court’s prosecution and since the United Nations had stepped up its involvement in the issue, there had been, to some extent, a reduction in the use of children in war. "But it still happens," he said. "It happens too much." He stressed that the recruitment of child soldiers could be deterred through criminal prosecutions and raising public awareness. At the same time, "the damage needs to be repaired" to help the children and their victims heal the scars of the brutality. He added that former Liberian President Taylor now also stood accused of that crime.

Sierra Leone: Testimony Ends in RUF Trial
Concord Times (Freetown)
Bhoyy Jalloh
June 26, 2008

The Defence concluded their case late Tuesday in the trial of three former leaders of Sierra Leone's Revolutionary United Front (RUF). An Expert Witness, called jointly by counsel for First Accused Issa Sesay and Third Accused Augustine Gbao, was the last witness to testify in the RUF trial and also before the Court in Freetown, as the Special Court for Sierra Leone takes a significant step forward in completing its mandate.

The trial of The Prosecutor vs. Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao opened in Freetown on 5 July 2004. The Judges of Trial Chamber I heard testimony from 86 witnesses during the Prosecution case, including one called at the behest of the Defence. 85 witnesses were called by the Defence. Of the 85 Defence witnesses, 59 witnesses were called by counsel for Sesay, while counsel for Kallon called 22 witnesses, and counsel for Gbao called eight witnesses. Three of the witnesses were common to Sesay and Kallon, and one was common to Sesay and Gbao.

Final trial briefs are due by 29 July 2008 and oral arguments will take place on 4-5 August, prior to the Court's judicial recess. The Judges will then retire for deliberations. A trial judgment in the case is expected later this year.

Two other cases were concluded at the Special Court earlier this year. On 22 February 2008 the Appeals Chamber rendered its judgment in the case of three former leaders of the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council. On 28 May 2008 the Appeals Chamber handed down its judgment in the case of two former Civil Defence Forces leaders.

The Special Court trial of former Liberian President Charles Taylor continues at The Hague.

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United States

White House debates the future of Guantanamo
Los Angeles Times
Julian E. Barnes
July 4, 2008

The Bush administration is locked in an internal debate over whether to present Congress with proposed legislation that would allow suspected terrorists to be held in the United States -- a possible first step toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- according to current and former officials.

The officials said the administration was not on the verge of shutting down Guantanamo. But the legislation under debate could make it easier to move some suspects to the United States by lessening the risk that federal courts would set them free in Ft. Leavenworth, Kan., or Charleston, S.C.

Last month's Supreme Court decision granting federal courts the power to review the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo has thrown the administration's detainee policy into doubt. Administration officials have been debating how best to react to the ruling, which restored habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees. This was the third time the high court had rejected the administration's attempts to hold detainees indefinitely without allowing them full access to civilian courts.

The administration would like to keep at Guantanamo the 80 prisoners it intends to try under military commissions and wants to jump-start those tribunals. Uncertain, though, is the fate of an additional 120 prisoners; the military believes they are too dangerous to release but lacks the evidence to try them.

One of the proposals under consideration, according to officials, would allow regular judicial review of those prisoners' detention. The proposal would include legislation ensuring that if a court finds that they should no longer be considered "enemy combatants," they would not be released but could be held while deportation procedures are begun.

Top Bush administration officials met this week to discuss the fate of Guantanamo and to debate various approaches.

On one side are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who believe that the United States should move to close Guantanamo. On the other side are Atty. Gen. Michael B. Mukasey and Vice President Dick Cheney, who believe that closing the facility is impractical.

Getting any legislation through Congress is likely to be difficult. Republicans may be reluctant to pass anything that moves toward closing Guantanamo, especially if it means moving suspected terrorists to the United States. Liberal Democrats may be reluctant to sanction any sort of long-term detention without trial, arguing that it is an unnecessary infringement of civil liberties.

But Charles Stimson, a legal scholar at the Heritage Foundation, said Thursday that Congress had an obligation to pass legislation.

"Congress' silence on this is no longer an option," he said.

Stimson, a former deputy assistant Defense secretary for detainee affairs, said that Congress needed to draft legislation to cover detainees who federal courts decide are not enemy combatants as well as those whose enemy-combatant status is upheld.

The measure, Stimson said, will have to determine how often enemy combatants' status is reviewed by the courts and what standards are used to assess the evidence.

As the administration ratchets up deliberations over its detainee policy, the Pentagon is pushing to move forward with the military commissions, which have been delayed for years by successful court challenges.

The Pentagon has ordered each of the military services to make dozens of lawyers available to assist with the trials.

Top lawyers are skeptical of the move, unsure if the commission trials are really ready to start. They also are concerned that dozens of lawyers could be sent to Guantanamo only to sit on their hands.

"We have a lot of demand for legal talent, and our resources are finite," said a Pentagon lawyer. "But the word is they want to move forward energetically, and they need prosecutors, defense counsel and support personnel. So we are saluting smartly."

The attorney, like other officials interviewed for this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity because no decisions about Guantanamo had been made.

The Guantanamo facility houses about 265 prisoners, but the administration has announced that it intends to release about 65 of them when it can arrange for transfers to their home countries.

Some officials within the administration favor a comprehensive approach to overhauling the detainee policy, possibly including asking Congress to set up a national security court to oversee the detention of terrorism suspects. They argue that, in the aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling last month, the administration should create a detention policy that can withstand judicial and congressional scrutiny.

Others favor looking for ways to roll back the Supreme Court decision and keep Guantanamo functioning much as it has been.

But officials believe the administration is most likely to put forward the more modest proposal, which would ensure that any detainees found not to be enemy combatants would be deported rather than released in the United States.

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, President Bush said his administration was still wresting with the Supreme Court decision.

"We're analyzing the decision and how to move forward, and there's no decision that is imminent on Guantanamo," Bush said. "But, nevertheless, we have an obligation to live under the law, so we are fully analyzing the impact of the law. . . . We'll get it done as quickly as possible."

In remarks to reporters Thursday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino highlighted the concern that federal courts could release some detainees, setting them free inside the United States.

They could then be held under immigration laws, she said, but under current law such detention could not exceed six months.

Administration officials said that deporting former enemy combatants could take much longer than six months and that additional legislation is needed to prevent such releases.

"There is considered judgment from many federal government lawyers, all the way up to the attorney general of the United States, that it is a very real possibility that a dangerous detainee could be released into the United States as a result of this Supreme Court decision," Perino said.

U.S. Judge Warns Against Delay for Guantanamo Cases
Reuters
James Vicini
July 8, 2008

A U.S. federal judge said on Tuesday he would be concerned and suspicious if the Bush administration delayed cases brought by Guantanamo Bay prisoners seeking their release.

Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan said at a hearing the government needed to understand "that the time has come to move these (cases) forward."

The hearing took place after last month's landmark Supreme Court ruling that allowed prisoners being held at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba to go before federal judges in Washington to seek their release.

Hogan, named to coordinate the lawsuits, said he was committed to moving the cases forward as quickly as possible.

There are about 265 detainees at Guantanamo, which was set up in 2002 to hold terrorism suspects captured after the September 11 attacks. Most have been held for years without being charged and many have complained of abuse.

The U.S. District Court has pending nearly 250 cases involving more than 643 detainees who have been or are being held at Guantanamo. Several dozen new cases are expected to be filed in the near future.

Hogan said some detainees have yet to get a court hearing after being held for 6-1/2 years.

U.S. Justice Department plans to have up to 50 lawyers working on the cases may not be enough, Hogan said. The department has to understand these cases must be addressed first, before other matters.

Hogan said delays would "reflect badly" on the government and would cause him to become concerned and suspicious. Lawyers for the prisoners have complained the government is not moving as fast as it could.

One lawyer for the prisoners, Shayana Kadidal, told the hearing "speed and fairness" were the most important considerations for the court.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Gregory Katsas asked the judge to allow the government to file new evidence to justify holding the detainees, a process expected to take months.

The initial evidence, filed in 2004, was based on the findings of military tribunals that determined the prisoners were "enemy combatants."

Hogan expressed concern about allowing the government to file amended information without showing it was necessary.

The judge also said he planned to issue an order by the end of the week setting out various schedules.

Canada Brushes off Pressure Over Guantanamo Inmate
Reuters
David Ljunggren
Jul 16, 2008

Canada said on Wednesday it would not press for the return of a young Canadian inmate held at Guantanamo Bay despite the release of video footage that showed him weeping and calling for his mother.

The film prompted mounting calls from politicians and commentators for Ottawa to intercede with Washington on behalf of 21-year-old Omar Khadr, who is charged with killing a U.S. medic in Afghanistan in July 2002 at the age of 15.

Secret video of his interrogation by Canadian agents over four days in February 2003 shows him moaning in despair and crying out for his mother.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Khadr faces serious charges and should go on trial.

"Our position has not changed and it's not going to. We're not going to blow in the wind on something as fundamental as this," Harper's chief spokesman Kory Teneycke told Reuters.

Extracts from the secret video show Khadr -- then 16 -- being grilled by officials from the Canadian Security Intelligence Service spy agency.

The film was released by Khadr's lawyers, who are pushing Ottawa to intervene with Washington on his behalf.

"Making a change at the 11th hour because his legal team is pursuing an aggressive media strategy is not in the interests of due process ... We're about doing what the right thing is," said Teneycke.

Critics of Khadr's treatment say he is a child soldier who should be rehabilitated rather than punished. Khadr has alleged U.S. interrogators repeatedly threatened to rape him.

The video shows Khadr in an orange prison jumpsuit. At times he buries his head in his hands or pulls at his hair in evident despair.

"I am suffering but I am holding (on) because I know there are other hundreds who are suffering like Omar and I wish I could do something," said Khadr's mother, Maha Elsamnah.

"If they think Omar would need rehabilitation) I would love it and I know Omar would need rehab. Omar will need somebody to reassure him that he still deserves to live," she told OMNI television on Tuesday.

The United States is holding about 265 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in conditions which have been blasted by human rights groups.

Columnist Jonathan Kay of the right-wing National Post newspaper, a strong backer of Harper's hard-line approach in the war on terror, said it was time for Khadr to come home.

"Millions of people (around the world) are now wondering why Canada's government has acquiesced -- and as the video shows, even participated -- in the unconscionable treatment of a blubbering boy soldier," he wrote on Wednesday.

Documents released earlier this month show U.S. authorities deprived Khadr of sleep ahead of a separate interview with an official from Canada's foreign ministry in 2004.

U.S. sergeant Layne Morris, who was injured in the July 2002 battle that ended with Khadr's capture, said the Canadian interrogators should have been tougher.

"I think Omar is where he belongs. I hope he stays there for a good long time ... as long as he's a danger to either the United States or Canada or any kind of western civilization," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Khadr was taken to Afghanistan by his father Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al Qaeda financier and close friend of Osama bin Laden. Khadr senior was killed in a battle with Pakistani forces in 2003.

Detainee Describes Treatment
The Washington Post
Jerry Markon and Josh White
July 16, 2008

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, an alleged al-Qaeda driver who faces a historic military trial next week, testified Tuesday that a female interrogator elicited information from him using sexually suggestive behavior that he called "improper."

Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden who is accused in a terrorism conspiracy, told a military court that during questioning in 2002, a female interrogator "came close to me, she came very close, with her whole body towards me. I couldn't do anything. I was afraid of the soldiers."

"Did she touch your thigh?" asked Hamdan's attorney Charles Swift.

"Yes. . . . I said to her, 'What do you want?' " Hamdan said at a pretrial hearing. "She said, 'I want you to answer all of my questions.' "

"Did you answer all of her questions after that?" Swift asked. Hamdan said he did.

Hamdan's attorneys are seeking to persuade a judge to throw out incriminating statements he allegedly made to interrogators at the U.S. military prison here, arguing that they were obtained through coercive tactics.

Hamdan's trial, scheduled to begin next Monday, would be the first military commission conducted by the United States in more than half a century. His attorneys have sought a delay from U.S. District Judge James Robertson, but the Justice Department in court filings this Monday urged Robertson not to delay the commission, contending that the military proceedings are fair.

Hamdan's testimony in a former aircraft operations center-turned-courtroom came on the same day that lawyers representing another Guantanamo Bay detainee released more than seven hours of videotape of his questioning. The tapes, the first to publicly show an interrogation session at the U.S. military prison, depicted Canadian Omar Khadr, picked up as a teenager and accused of killing a U.S. soldier in a 2002 firefight in Afghanistan, being questioned by Canadian officials in 2003.

The interrogators are shown offering Khadr cans of soda and McDonald's hamburgers while trying to win his trust. Khadr complains to them about his treatment during captivity.

Navy Cmdr. J.D. Gordon, a Pentagon spokesman, said Tuesday that U.S. interrogators treat detainees at Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere humanely.

In his testimony, Hamdan said he was repeatedly held in solitary confinement and sometimes deprived of sleep by guards who banged on his cell door every few minutes. He acknowledged, however, that he also took naps of up to three hours on some afternoons.

Prosecutors said Hamdan was a devoted follower of bin Laden's who is accused of conspiring with al-Qaeda in terrorist acts and of ferrying weapons for the group. They did not directly address his allegations of mistreatment.

Defense attorneys acknowledge that Hamdan worked as a driver at bin Laden's farm in Kandahar, Afghanistan, but say that the Yemeni father of two, now in his late 30s, had no involvement in terrorism.

Unlike U.S. civilian courts, the military justice system President Bush established after the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon allows for evidence gained through coercion in certain circumstances. A military judge must find it reliable and relevant for it to be used at trial.

Hamdan has previously alleged in court filings that he was subjected to sexual humiliation, but had not testified publicly about it until Tuesday. His depiction of the interrogations provided another glimpse of the treatment of some of the approximately 265 detainees here, who include al-Qaeda leaders accused of planning the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Hamdan seemed a bit dazed when he arrived in court amid heavy security. Wearing a beige sport coat, white pants, sandals and a white headdress, he walked slowly to the stand, escorted by military guards, and refused to raise his hand when he was sworn in.

In the interrogation tapes released Tuesday, Khadr, then 16, is seen smiling and cooperating with questioners but is also shown burying his head in his hands and sobbing. In one video clip, he sits in a chair, grabs his hair and rocks back and forth, repeatedly saying what sounds like "help me" on the grainy video with crackling audio.

Khadr, who is also scheduled to face a military trial, told his interrogators that he was abused at Guantanamo Bay. At one point on the video, he lifts his T-shirt to explain how some of his wounds still hurt and decries his medical care.

"The actual abuse and torture isn't on the video," said Nathan Whitling, a Canadian lawyer who represents Khadr. Whiting said that he thinks U.S. interrogators videotaped harsher methods but that the videos have been destroyed.

Retired Sgt. 1st Class Layne Morris, 46, a Special Forces soldier who was injured in the firefight at the Afghanistan compound where Khadr was captured, said Tuesday that the release of the interrogation video is a "pathetic attempt at manipulating public opinion."

"That's not just a 16-year-old boy snapped up off the streets," said Morris, who lost sight in his right eye when he was hit by shrapnel. "This is a demonstrated, hardened killer who is not happy with his new perspective on life, which is that he's going to be spending a long, long time in U.S. custody."

Rulings Clear Military Trial of a Detainee
The New York Times
Scott Shane and William Glaberson
July 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — Court rulings on Thursday cleared the way for the first trial at the American detention camp in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, opened in 2002 to hold suspects captured in the campaign against terrorism.

The trials have been delayed for years, in part by courts that found legal fault with the commissions created to try people designated by the government as "unlawful enemy combatants."

The rulings in Washington and in Guantánamo Bay rebuffed last-minute pleas by lawyers for Salim Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s former driver who is accused of being a member of Al Qaeda.

Judge James Robertson, of the Federal District Court in Washington, ruled that Mr. Hamdan’s claims that the military commission he faces is unconstitutional can be appealed to a civilian court only after his military trial is over. In a parallel proceeding at Guantánamo, a military judge, Captain Keith J. Allred, rejected similar arguments.

After the rulings, the chief military prosecutor at Guantánamo, Col. Lawrence J. Morris of the Army, said prosecutors were "pleased by the court’s ruling and we’re ready to go to work."

Defense lawyers had hoped that the Supreme Court ruling last month in Boumediene v. Bush, upholding the right of Guantánamo prisoners to challenge their detention in court, might sway Judge Robertson to halt the military trial.

Court officials at Guantánamo said they were planning on Saturday to assemble a panel of military officers — a military style of jury — to hear the Hamdan trial, which could begin Monday.

Colonel Morris called Mr. Hamdan’s case an important test of the military commission system and said trials for others among the 20 detainees already charged would now move quickly. He predicted that the unfamiliarity of military commissions would quickly wear off, comparing them to space shuttle flights that once riveted public attention but became so routine that they drew only modest interest.

It was Judge Robertson who ruled in 2004 that the original procedures set for military commissions by President Bush were inadequate, a finding upheld by the Supreme Court. In response, Congress in 2006 passed the Military Commissions Act, setting up new procedures for the trials.

On Thursday, Judge Robertson said the Congressional action was sufficient to let the trial begin. "Hamdan is to face a military commission designed by Congress under guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court," he said. He suggested that serious constitutional questions about the military commissions remain, but that they would have to be considered on appeal after his trial.

The ruling came after two hours of arguments from Mr. Hamdan’s lawyers, Neal Katyal and Joseph M. McMillan, and a deputy assistant attorney general, John C. O’Quinn.

Mr. Hamdan’s lawyers argued that to proceed with the military trial now would irreparably injure Mr. Hamdan, because the "rulebook" governing such novel trials was uncertain and because testimony based on hearsay and coercive interrogation methods would be allowed.

"At a minimum, Mr. Hamdan deserves his day in court — this court," Mr. Katyal said.

Mr. O’Quinn replied that the rulebook for the military trials was laid out in the law passed by Congress, and that any challenge from Mr. Hamdan should come only after his trial is over.

"It doesn’t make sense for this court to jump in," Mr. O’Quinn said. He said the military commissions as refigured by Congress include "robust procedural protections."

Mr. Hamdan faces charges of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.

At Guantánamo, meanwhile, Judge Allred, the military judge, appeared to acknowledge in a ruling on Wednesday that the Supreme Court’s Boumediene decision gave detainees a right to raise constitutional questions in the military courts. But in rulings on Wednesday and Thursday, he rejected the specific claims defense lawyers had raised: that the charges against Mr. Hamdan were unconstitutional because they were based on a law enacted after he was in custody and because the military commission law treats foreigners like him differently from American citizens.

Judge Allred noted in his written ruling on Thursday that the military commission trials afforded detainees many legal protections, including legal representation, a public trial and the right to be found guilty only by evidence beyond a reasonable doubt.

"In light of this substantial array of privileges and protections accorded to Mr. Hamdan," he wrote, "the commission does not find that the Equal Protection Clause needs to apply at Guantánamo Bay to prevent injustice."

The Guantánamo proceedings were unfolding as Congress continued to review Bush administration policies on interrogation. At a hearing on Thursday before the House Judiciary Committee, former Attorney General John Ashcroft rejected repeated suggestions from Democrats that the methods approved by the Justice Department constituted torture.

"I don’t know of any acts of torture that have been committed," he said, adding that all the techniques fell within legally approved guidelines, including waterboarding, in which water is poured into the mouth and nose to produce a feeling of drowning.

Mr. Ashcroft acknowledged that he had approved a controversial memorandum from the Office of Legal Counsel at the Justice Department in August 2002 that set exceedingly broad limits for acceptable tactics. He said he was persuaded to approve the withdrawal of the memorandum two years later when senior department officials found the original legal rationale inadequate.

He pointed to the decision as an example of robust debate yielding an improved policy. "That’s the way the system ought to work," Mr. Ashcroft said.

Committee members noted that Abu Zubaydah, the first major Qaeda figure captured by the Central Intelligence Agency, was subjected to harsh interrogation methods weeks before the Aug. 1, 2002, legal opinion was issued.

Mr. Ashcroft said he had no recollection of any earlier memorandum or of approving the methods himself, leaving uncertain what legal approval was given for waterboarding and other such methods before that date.

A recent account by ABC News reported that in a high-level meeting in 2002, Mr. Ashcroft raised questions about harsh interrogations, saying, "History will not judge this kindly."

Mr. Ashcroft declined to confirm or deny whether he had said such a thing, noting that such discussions would have been classified. "This town leaks like a sieve," he said. "I think the easiest job in the world would be to be a spy against America."

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UN Reports

Former commander of Bosnian Muslim forces acquitted by UN tribunal
UN News Service
July 3, 2008

The United Nations war crimes tribunal set up to deal with war crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s has overturned the conviction of a former commander of Bosnian Muslim forces who was found guilty two years ago of failing to prevent the murder and torture of Serb captives in Srebrenica.

Naser Oric was acquitted today by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is based in The Hague, Netherlands.

Mr. Oric had been sentenced in 2006 to two years in prison for failing to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent the murder and cruel treatment of a number of Bosnian Serbs held at the Srebrenica Police Station and a building behind the Srebrenica municipal building in the period between 27 December 1992 and 20 March 1993.

Both the Prosecution and the Defence appealed the judgment.

The Appeals Chamber found that the Trial Chamber failed to make all of the findings necessary to convict a person for command responsibility under the Tribunal's Statute.

"Naser Oric's entire conviction rested on that mode of liability," the Presiding Judge, Wolfgang Schomburg, said. "These errors therefore invalidate the Trial Chamber's decision to convict Naser Oric for his failure to prevent his subordinate's alleged criminal conduct."

The Appeals Chamber underscored that, like the Trial Chamber, it had no doubt that grave crimes were committed against Serbs detained in the two detention facilities in Srebrenica between September 1992 and March 1993.

"However, proof that crimes have occurred is not sufficient to sustain a conviction of an individual for these crimes. Criminal proceedings require evidence establishing beyond reasonable doubt that the accused is individually responsible for a crime before a conviction can be entered," the Appeals Chamber found.

UN war crimes court acquits former Macedonia interior minister
International Herald Tribune
July 10, 2008

A U.N. tribunal on Thursday acquitted Macedonia's former interior minister of murder, cruel treatment and other war crimes stemming from a 2001 police attack on an ethnic Albanian village that left seven men dead.

However, the police officer who led the attack was convicted of murder in three of the deaths and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Supporters in the court's public gallery cheered and clapped as Judge Kevin Parker announced that Ljube Boskovski, 47, had been cleared of all charges and ordered him released.

The ruling said prosecutors did not show that Boskovski had failed to take "necessary and reasonable measures" to punish the policemen who ravaged the town of Ljuboten, 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the capital, Skopje.

Former police officer Johan Tarculovsky, 33, showed no emotion as his sentence was read out for three murders, cruelty and wanton destruction. He was exonerated of responsibility for the four other deaths.

Parker said Tarculovsky played a prominent role in "a deliberate and indiscriminate attack on residents of Albanian ethnicity involving acts of murder."

The attack on Ljuboten is the only atrocity in Macedonia indicted by the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The country broke away peacefully from the Yugoslavia in 1991 but was rocked by a six-month conflict 10 years later between government forces and ethnic Albanians fighting for more rights.

The village was targeted because it was believed to support the Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA), Parker said.

He said the attack "was not a law enforcement operation to locate and arrest NLA members. The predominant objective ... was to retaliate against persons of Albanian ethnicity in the village for actions of the NLA, which the village was thought to harbor."

Many Macedonians regard both Boskovski and Tarculovsky as heroes. The government said before their trial started in April 2007 that it was providing "moral, financial and institutional support" for the two men and their families.

The Macedonian government welcomed Boskovski's acquittal, but expressed "regret" for Tarculovsky's conviction.

"We hope that Johan Tarculovsky will be able to explain his case and to provide evidence before the tribunal in his appeal," the government said in a written statement. It added that the government would support Tarculovsky's defense and provide assistance in presenting evidence.

"We are happy for Ljube, but at the same time sad for Johan's conviction. I would like to thank Macedonia for the support," Ljube Boskovski's wife, Violeta, told private Channel 5 TV.

Church bells rang out in celebration in Boskovski's home village of Celopek near the northwestern city of Tetovo.

In the village of Ljuboten, Elmaz Jusufi, whose son, Ramiz, was killed in the 2001 attack, said he was disappointed with the verdict.

"The tribunal said the police were guilty for the death of civilians. Boskovski was also responsible for the police operation as former interior minister, but he was acquitted," Jusufi told Channel 5 TV.

The Ljuboten case was the last indictment issued by the U.N. tribunal for crimes committed during the bloody breakup of Yugoslavia.

The court is scheduled to close its doors by 2010, even though its two most-wanted suspects, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief, Gen. Ratko Mladic, remain at large.

UN has no influence on ICC, Ban tells Sudan's President
UN News Service
July 13, 2008

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has emphasized to Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir the independence of the International Criminal Court, amid reports that ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is preparing to seek an indictment against the African Head of State.

During a telephone conversation yesterday with Mr. Al-Bashir, Mr. Ban stressed that the UN Secretary-General does not have any influence on the ICC Prosecutor.

He also indicated to the President that he was concerned by a declaration made by the Permanent Representative of Sudan which linked the initiative of the ICC Prosecutor with the two UN peacekeeping operations deployed to Sudan.

Mr. Ban told a news conference last Thursday that he was not in a position to mention anything about the impending indictment until there was an official announcement by the ICC.

"In principle, I believe that peace and justice should go hand in hand. Justice can be a part of the peace process, but peace without justice cannot be sustainable," he added. "But I will have to assess the whole situation when there is an announcement by the ICC."

During their conversation, the Secretary-General also voiced his grave concern about the scale and brutality of the deadly 8 July attack on a joint patrol of the joint UN-African Union force in Darfur, known as UNAMID.

He asked the President to investigate the circumstances of the attack, which left seven peacekeepers dead and 19 wounded.

ICC Prosecutor seeks charges against Sudanese President for Darfur crimes
UN News Service
July 14, 2008

Three years after the United Nations Security Council requested him to investigate atrocities committed in Darfur, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court today presented evidence against Sudan's President for alleged war crimes in the strife-torn region, including genocide.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is seeking an arrest warrant for President Omar Al-Bashir, who he believes "bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes," according to a news release issued by the Court.

An estimated 300,000 people have died in Darfur, either through direct combat or because of disease, malnutrition or reduced life expectancy, over the past five years in Darfur, where rebels have been fighting Government forces and allied Arab militiamen, known as the Janjaweed, since 2003.

"His motives were largely political. His alibi was a 'counterinsurgency.' His intent was genocide," Mr. Moreno-Ocampo said.

The evidence presented today at the ICC, which is based in The Hague, shows that Mr. Al-Bashir masterminded and implemented a plan to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups, on account of their ethnicity.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo says that for over five years, armed forces and the Janjaweed attacked and destroyed villages on Mr. Al-Bashir's orders. They also uprooted millions of civilians from their lands, killed the men and raped the women. "I don't have the luxury to look away. I have evidence," the Prosecutor said.

The President's intent to commit genocide became clear, according to the Prosecutor, with well coordinated attacks on the nearly 2.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps.

Instead of helping the people of Darfur, Mr. Al-Bashir "mobilised the entire State apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system," in carrying out his campaign of violence.

"They all report to him, they all obey him. His control is absolute," the Prosecutor added.

The Court's Pre-Trial Chamber will now review the evidence presented and decide whether to issue an arrest warrant for Mr. Al-Bashir. If indicted, the Sudanese President would become the first sitting Head of State to be charged by the ICC.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has emphasized that the Court is an independent institution and that he does not have any influence on the ICC Prosecutor, a point he reiterated to Mr. Al-Bashir in a telephone conversation with the Sudanese President on Saturday.

In a statement issued today, the UN said its peacekeeping operations in Sudan will continue to carry out their functions in an impartial manner, "cooperating in good faith with all partners so as to further the goal of peace and stability in the country." The world body will also continue its vital humanitarian and development work there.

"The Secretary-General expects that the Government of Sudan will continue to cooperate fully with the United Nations in Sudan, while fulfilling its obligation to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations personnel and property," the statement added.

In addition to the UN Mission in Sudan (UNMIS), a joint UN-African Union force – known as UNAMID – has been in place since the beginning of this year to try to end the violence in Darfur, which has uprooted some 2.7 million people, many of whom are living across the border in eastern Chad.

UNAMID today vowed to maintain its operations in the region and continue implementing its mandate, as non-essential staff prepared to relocate due to the recent deteriorating security situation across Darfur.

General Martin Luther Agwai, UNAMID Force Commander, emphasized that force protection levels and patrolling would remain the same.

"We are working on all those issues in our mandate and we will continue to work on them," he said. "We will continue to conduct patrols and security, as well as protect UN personnel and UN facilities on the ground. In addition, we will continue to assist the humanitarian organizations to do their job of rendering humanitarian services to the people in Darfur."

On 8 July, seven UNAMID peacekeepers were killed and 19 injured, seven critically, in a well-organised attack by heavily armed militia in Um Hakibah, North Darfur.

General Agwai said the mission had been assessing recent security incidents and attacks against peacekeepers, including a series of carjackings and the attack at Um Hakibah, the worst in UNAMID's six-month history.

Taylor trial at UN-backed court a model for international justice, says Prosecutor
UN News Service
July 14, 2008

The Chief Prosecutor of the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), which is trying former Liberian President Charles Taylor for war crimes and crimes against humanity, says many commentators refer to the court as a model for international justice.

"It shows that the trial of a former chief of State can be conducted openly and fairly and we're very proud to date of the progress that's been made," Stephen Rapp told reporters in New York today.

Mr. Taylor is facing 11 counts of war crimes, crimes against humanity and other serious violations of international humanitarian law – including mass murder, mutilations, rape, sexual slavery and the use of child soldiers – for his role in the decade-long civil war that engulfed Sierra Leone, which borders Liberia. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.

Mr. Rapp said the prosecution's case is that Mr. Taylor aided and abetted two rebel groups, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) and the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which committed numerous atrocities during the civil war.

He noted 59 insiders, people who were at one time very close to the former Liberian President, are providing evidence as witnesses to support his case that Mr. Taylor "was behind the planning of this campaign of terror and atrocity, that he did various steps to order and instigate those crimes and, at a bare minimum at least, he aided and abetted these crimes by providing crucial arms and materiel in return for diamonds, at a time when all the world knew that these rebels were committing horrendous offenses against human beings."

Currently the SCSL is hearing its 35th prosecution witness, Mr. Rapp said, adding that he expected that the trial would wrap up within a year after the defence has also made its case.

In 2006, the Security Council authorized the staging of Mr. Taylor's trial at The Hague, Netherlands, citing reasons of security.

The Court, established in January 2002 by an agreement between the Sierra Leonean Government and the UN, is mandated to try "those who bear greatest responsibility" for war crimes and crimes against community committed in the country after 30 November 1996.

Last year, it reached an agreement with the British Government whereby Mr. Taylor will serve out his sentence in the United Kingdom if he is convicted.

Mr. Rapp also noted today that the Security Council is holding a debate on children and armed conflict this week, and stressed that the SCSL had obtained the first convictions in history for the crime of the enlistment or use of children under the age of 15 in hostilities.

In February the Court upheld convictions against Alex Tamba Brima and Santigie Borbor Kanu, who are both serving 50-year prison terms, and Brima Bazzy Kamara, who is serving 45 years, after all three were found guilty of 11 charges, including committing acts of terrorism, murder, rape and enslavement and conscripting children under the age of 15 into armed groups.

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NGO Reports

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Local Courts Face Obstacles in War Crimes Trials: Slow Progress May Create Impunity Gap for Many Perpetrators of Grave Crimes
Human Rights Watch
July 10, 2008

Bosnia and Herzegovina's cantonal and district courts face serious challenges in their efforts to fairly and efficiently try cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. A sustained commitment by local authorities, as well as substantial international support, is needed to address the large backlog of cases, Human Rights Watch said.

It is estimated that several thousand unresolved case files involving very serious crimes committed during the 1992-95 war remain that may be tried before the cantonal courts in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and district courts in Republika Srpka (the two entities that make up Bosnia and Herzegovina). Yet, these trials have a fraction of the attention or support that similar trials received at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) or the War Crimes Chamber of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"Victims have been waiting for more than a decade to see justice done," said Joshua Franco, researcher in the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch. "Local and national authorities in Bosnia should demonstrate the political will to ensure fair and effective trials can be held."

The 71-page report, "Still Waiting: Bringing Justice for War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina's Cantonal and District Courts," details the numerous practical and political problems impeding these trials.

The obstacles include that prosecutors' offices lack sufficient staff and generally do not specialize in one type of crime. Cooperation between prosecutors and police and between police across entity lines continues to be problematic. Witness protection measures are rarely, if ever, employed, and witness support services are generally not available. Prosecutors often fail to make use of available sources of evidence and do not take steps necessary to secure suspect attendance at trial. Defense attorneys generally lack access to training in relevant areas of law and are often inadequately, or not at all, compensated for their work. Some cantonal and district courts have yet to try a single case.

"Clearly, there are resource constraints in the entity justice systems, and the Bosnian authorities need to ensure that those doing effective work on these cases have the tools that they need," said Franco. "But resources cannot explain all of the shortcomings in these trials. Prosecutors, police, judges, and others who are not fulfilling their duty to investigate and try these cases need to be pressed to do more with what they have."

The legal system also suffers from several serious deficiencies. A lack of law harmonization in Bosnia's four justice systems leads to inconsistent interpretations of key points of law and to widely differing punishments for similar crimes. Courts often do not respect the precedent of other courts, including the ICTY. The absence of formalized cooperation or a framework for extradition with neighboring countries makes it impossible to try many cases.

In addition, trials for crimes committed during the war that are being prosecuted in cantonal and district courts are often invisible to the public due to insufficient outreach and a lack of accurate, publicly available information on these trials.

"Without public understanding of the process, it is hard for victims, witnesses, and society at large to trust the fairness of the trials," said Franco. "In the absence of accurate information, there is a tendency to interpret these proceedings in a way that conforms to preexisting political beliefs."

The recent signing of a stabilization and association agreement between the European Union (EU) and Bosnia and Herzegovina underscores the importance of the EU's commitment to building the rule of law and of supporting political stability in the country. The EU should prioritize the needs of cantonal and district courts dealing with these war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

The report includes detailed recommendations of steps that local and national authorities, as well as the European Union and other governments, can take in order to address the pressing problems standing in the way of justice for victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

ICC Prosecutor seeks arrest of Sudanese president
AMICC
July 14, 2008

ICC Prosecutor seeks arrest of Sudanese president: On July 14, 2008 ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo filed an application for a warrant of arrest for Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir on charges of 10 counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. This is the first time the Prosecutor has publicly charged an individual with the crime of genocide. The Prosecutor alleges in his application that President Al Bashir targeted and sought to destroy the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur by deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the groups' destruction. The judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I will evaluate the evidence presented and decide whether to issue a warrant of arrest for President Al Bashir.

Darfur: ICC Moves Against Sudan's Leader: Charges Against al-Bashir a Major Step to Ending Impunity
Human Rights Watch
July 14, 2008

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant against Sudan's president is a significant step towards ending impunity for the horrific crimes in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. On July 14, 2008, the court's prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, asked Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan Ahmed al-Bashir on charges of crimes against humanity and genocide.

"Charging President al-Bashir for the hideous crimes in Darfur shows that no one is above the law," said Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch's International Justice Program. "It is the prosecutor's job to follow the evidence wherever it leads, regardless of official position."

The ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber will review the information in the prosecutor's application to determine whether to grant the request for a warrant. If the Pre-Trial Chamber judges are satisfied that there are "reasonable grounds to believe" that al-Bashir has committed ICC crimes and that arrest is necessary to bring him to trial, it will issue the warrant.

Since 2003, Sudanese government forces and government-backed militias known as "Janjaweed" have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes on a massive scale as part of counter-insurgency operations in Darfur. They have directly attacked civilian populations from land and air and have carried out widespread summary execution, rape, torture, and pillaging of property.

In a December 2005 report, "Entrenching Impunity: Government responsibility for international crimes in Darfur," Human Rights Watch called for investigations of senior Sudanese government officials, including al-Bashir, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. To date, no senior officials have been brought to justice in Sudan for these massive crimes. The Sudanese government has shown no willingness to end its deliberate attacks on civilians in Darfur – attacks which continue to this day.

"The warrant request against President al-Bashir is one step towards ending the environment of total impunity that continues in Sudan today," said Dicker. "The warrant in no way lessens the government's obligations to ensure protection of civilians and justice for abuses carried out in Darfur."

Human Rights Watch called upon Sudan to abide by its agreement to permit deployment of the African Union/United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur (UNAMID) as set out in Security Council Resolution 1769. Under international humanitarian law, Sudan is also required to ensure the full, safe, and unhindered access of humanitarian relief to all those in need in Darfur, in particular to internally displaced persons and refugees.

On March 31, 2005, the UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the ICC prosecutor. In April 2007, the ICC issued its first arrest warrants against State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmed Haroun and Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib for their leading roles in crimes in West Darfur. The Sudanese government has refused to surrender the first two suspects. On June 16, 2008, the UN Security Council unanimously called on Sudan to cooperate with the ICC.

In his June 2008 briefing to the Security Council, ICC Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo announced that he had collected evidence of a "criminal plan based on the mobilization of the whole state apparatus, including the armed forces, the intelligence services, the diplomatic and public information bureaucracies, and the justice system."

The Security Council's referral to the ICC stemmed from the January 2005 UN International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur report to the UN secretary-general. The report found that the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militias were responsible for serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law amounting to crimes under international law and strongly recommended referral to the ICC. The commission created a sealed list of 51 suspects bearing further investigation, including a number of senior government officials and military commanders. The list was handed over to the UN secretary-general with the recommendation that it be disclosed to the ICC prosecutor.

"It is hardly news that senior leaders in Khartoum are implicated in the devastation in Darfur, but it is noteworthy that the request for criminal charges has been brought against the person at the top," said Dicker.

Doing the right thing for Darfur: An ICC indictment of Sudan's president serves peace and justice
Human Rights Watch
By Sara Darehshori, Los Angeles Times
July 15, 2008

"When will Bashir be tried?" Darfurian refugees on the Chad border asked me time and again last summer. "We are here because of Bashir," they said.

Last July, I went to Chad to look into how the International Criminal Court, which has a field office in Abeche and works with refugees in the camps, is performing on the ground. As part of my assessment, I interviewed dozens of refugees.

Considering the hardships the refugees faced daily, I was not sure how they would feel talking about a topic as abstract as accountability in an international forum.

Thus I was surprised when their reactions to my questions were positive, with even a hint of impatience because the ICC prosecutor had not yet gone after the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir. A Sudanese official and a rebel leader had been indicted by The Hague-based court but, to the refugees, that didn't go far enough. The chain of command was clear.

On Monday, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC chief prosecutor, sought a warrant from the court for the arrest of Bashir on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. It may take months for the court to rule, but Moreno-Ocampo's actions will, no doubt, be greeted with joy in the camps.

Yet some commentators outside Darfur have argued that this "moment of jubilation" can only be a symbolic victory for the long-suffering people of that region. They contend that should the prosecution of top officials -- however terrible their crimes -- go forward, it will interfere with prospects for peace and security.

Sudan's history makes a strong case for the opposite conclusion: The persistent lack of accountability has instead undermined the prospects for peace and stability. There has been little peace to keep.

Since taking power in a military coup in 1989, the leadership of the ruling party in Sudan has conducted brutal campaigns to combat rebel groups in several regions, forcibly displacing millions of Sudanese and killing up to 2 million people in southern Sudan alone, all with impunity.

The strategy of burning and looting villages and arming tribal militias to kill and steal from ethnic groups deemed supportive of rebels was initiated in the south, and for years, much of the international community stood by silently. Not one U.N. Security Council resolution condemned the attacks throughout the 1990s.

International negotiators, understandably anxious to secure peace, were silent on the issue of accountability for fear of its effect on the peace talks; perpetrators of the most serious crimes were never held to account. When the Darfur insurgency began in 2003 -- during negotiations between the north and south -- the Sudanese government returned to the same old tactics, committing widespread attacks on civilians in Darfur.

Today, it remains true that most of the international attempts to persuade Khartoum to end the violence in Darfur have resulted in little cooperation. In particular, relative silence on accountability and justice issues in Sudan has yielded extremely limited concessions from Sudan.

When the ICC issued the first two warrants against suspects in Darfur, the Security Council did not speak out against Khartoum's blatant refusal to carry out the warrants. (Not only did Khartoum refuse to turn over those who were indicted, but one was promoted within the government.) Apparently the Security Council hoped that downplaying justice would help in the deployment of peacekeeping forces or compliance with the peace agreement. However, despite a resolution authorizing a U.N. peacekeeping force in Darfur, Khartoum continues to obstruct full deployment. Few bases have been established, and the forces are at barely a third of their authorized capacity.

Now there is concern that a Bashir warrant from the ICC will in particular threaten humanitarian efforts in Darfur. Last week, seven U.N. peacekeepers were killed by attackers whose identities are still uncertain.

But with or without the Bashir warrant, the government of Sudan remains obligated under international law to ensure the full, safe and unhindered access of relief personnel to all those in need in Darfur. Attacks against personnel involved in a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission constitute war crimes. It is up to the Security Council to take measures, such as targeted sanctions, to ensure that Sudan abides by its obligations under international law.

In June, the Security Council issued a unanimous statement calling for Sudan to cooperate with the ICC. That reaffirmed the council's historic commitment to bring justice to victims in Darfur. The international community should now stand with the ICC as it considers warrants against Bashir, which is a further step toward meaningful accountability for the massive crimes in the region.

As one Darfur refugee put it to me, "There is no justice in Sudan. If there was, we would not be here."

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