War Crimes Prosecution Watch

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Commencement of trial in the Predrag Bastah and Others case scheduled
State Court of BiH
June 26, 2008

A commencement of trial before the Section I for War Crimes of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), in the Predrag Bastah and Others case, has been scheduled for 27 June 2008 starting at 09:00a.m. in courtroom 6. Predrag Bastah, Veljk Baši? and Goran Viškovi? are charged with Crimes against humanity.

As alleged in the Indictment, the Accused Predrag Bastah, Goran Viškovi? and Veljko Baši?, in the period from April until the end of September 1992, took part in a systematic attack directed against the non-Serb population of the Vlasenica Municipality. The Accused allegedly took part in the arrest, capture and detention of Bosniak civilians in the camp “Sušica”. As the Indictment alleges among other things, on 23 April 1992 the Accused Predrag Bastah, as a member of the Reserve Police Force Vlasenica, in the immediate vicinity of the catering establishment „Lipa“ in Vlasenica, together with another Serb soldier, ordered a civilian to drive to the Police Station in Vlasenica. Later on, together with three other Serb soldiers the Accused Bastah allegedly beat him all over his body causing severe physical injuries. Furthermore, as alleged in the Indictment, on 31 May 1992 the Accused Bastah took part in the unlawful detention of two Bosniak civilians in the Police Station Vlasenica, where they were allegedly tortured. As the Indictment further alleges, as a member of the Army of Republika Srpska and together with a few unidentified persons in uniforms, the Accused Viškovi? beat a Bosniak civilian repeatedly in May 1992 at the Police Station Vlasenica.

Indictment confirmed in the Zrinko Pinčić case
State Court of BiH
June 27, 2008

On 26 June 2008, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) confirmed the Indictment against Zrinko Pinčić. 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.

On 26 June 2008 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) issued a Decision dismissing Prosecutor’s motion for the extension of custody, terminating custody for the Accused Pinčić and imposing prohibitive measures which include:

• ban on leaving the place of residence without prior consent of the Court
• temporary seizure of travel documents and the prohibition of the issuance of new travel documents and the prohibition to use the ID card for crossing the state border
• prohibition to change the place of residence without prior consent of the Court
• reporting to the Police Station Mostar between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m.
• ban on contacting witnesses listed in the Indictment in any manner, as well as potential witnesses in this case
• ban on discussing the case with anyone but his attorney
• ban on visiting places and areas where witnesses listed in the Indictment reside
• the Accused is ordered to act in accordance with the Court’s orders and summonses which alter conditions or terminate these measures or which require his attendance before the Court, as well as for him to be available to the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH regardless of his right to remain silent.

In case that the Accused Pinčić breaches any of the aforementioned measures the Court will order custody.

Kujundzic: Russian roulette
BIRN Justice Report
June 27, 2008

Witnesses for the Bosnia and Herzegovina prosecution recall the role of Predrag Kujundzic and his paramilitary "Preda's Wolves" in crimes in Doboj.

The Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecution's protected witness recalled his meeting with Predrag Kujundzic and the abuse he suffered during his imprisonment in the camps in Doboj, between June 1992 and April 1993. "On one occasion, Predrag Kujundzic walked into the room where I was abused and asked me if I wanted to play Russian roulette with him. He put a gun to my head and fired a blank. After that he hit me in the right cheek and said, 'Too bad'," recalled the witness, known as '6'.

The Prosecution charges Predrag Kujundzic, as a commander of the paramilitary "Preda's Wolves", with participating in the persecution, occupation of villages, looting, rape, enslavement, as well as physical and mental abuse of civilians in 1992 and 1993 in Doboj. The indictment specifies that Kujundzic "on an unspecified day in 1992" participated in the physical and mental abuse of witness 6 in the Central Prison in Doboj. "I recall one day when they ordered me to take my clothes off. A policeman took a cable and repeatedly hit me with it so hard that I started losing consciousness. In the end, he grabbed a chair and started beating me with it," said witness 6.

Kazimir Barukcic, the second witness for the prosecution, former prisoner of the "Perca's disco" detention camp said why he joined the police of the Republika Srpska upon his release. "My brother was with me in the camp and he was wounded there when they had taken him as a human shield. Policeman Zoran Devic, whom he saved, was also wounded. Devic later assisted my release when some policemen asked me if I wanted to leave as a civilian and join them. Those were not safe times for civilians so I decided to join the police," said Barukcic. Barukcic said that "Preda's Wolves" were part of the police in Doboj, and that in 1993 they switched under "army command."

Emsud Herceg, the third witness for the prosecution, said "Preda's Wolves" in June 1992 took part in the arrest of civilians in the village of Bukovacke Civcije, as well as the transport of prisoners from "Perca's disco" camp for use as human shields. "On July 12, 1992, the Red Berets and Preda's Wolves came to Perca's disco, picked out 50 prisoners and took us as human shields. Preda's Wolves had their faces painted and wore dark camouflage uniforms," emphasised Herceg. The indictment specifies that prisoners from the "Perca's disco" camp were taken as human shields where at least 16 of them were killed. The trial will resume on July 1.

Andrun: Another visit to Gabela
BIRN Justice Report
June 30, 2008

The Appellate Chamber of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to visit the Gabela detention camp, together with a Prosecution witness, who is supposed to identify the place where he stayed.

Towards the end of the presentation of evidence at the retrial of Nikola Andrun, the Appellate Chamber of the State Court has announced that it will conduct a repeated crimes scene inspection and a "partial reconstruction of events" in the Gabela detention camp on July 3.

The site inspection will be conducted by Chamber members and witness Mirza Colakovic, who will be asked to identify the building in which he was allegedly detained.

Mirza Colakovic appeared as the first Prosecution witness at the trial of Nikola Andrun, who was sentenced, by a first instance verdict announced by the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in December 2006, to 13 years imprisonment for having participated, as deputy commander of the Gabela detention camp, in murder, torture and inhumane treatment of detained civilians in 1993.

Upholding the appeals, filed by both parties, the Appellate Chamber revoked the first instance verdict and ordered a retrial to be conducted. This witness was examined again in the course of the retrial. During the course of his testimony at the first instance trial and the retrial, Colakovic was not able to recognize the room in which he stayed during his detention in Gabela, when he was shown a video recording made during the first reconstruction of events, conducted in Gabela.

"We agreed that the video recording made in Gabela was not fully correct. We have therefore decided to go to the field again," Appellate Chamber Chairwoman Azra Miletic said but she did not mention why the recording was not considered as "fully correct."

At this hearing, the Defense provided more details concerning its proposal to introduce ten new pieces of material evidence and examine five more witnesses, two of whom testified in the course of the first instance trial already.

Once again the Prosecution said it objected this proposal.

The Appellate Chamber will announce its decision concerning the proposal at the next hearing, scheduled for July 4.

Djukic: Shocking moments
BIRN Justice Report
July 1, 2008

Four witnesses, who survived the massacre at Kapija in Tuzla, describe the chaos that followed the explosion.

Four new witnesses, who appeared before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, recalled the events that happened in Tuzla on May 25, 1995, when 71 persons were killed and about 240 were wounded.

"At that moment I sensed a shocking hit in my chest. I saw some intense light and then it became dark. I was wounded in my legs. I saw people lying there, without showing any sign of life. Those were the shocking moments," Damir Tucakovic said.

The Prosecution considers that Novak Djukic, former commander of the Ozren Tactical Group with the Republika Srpska Army, ordered the Artillery Squad, situated on mount Ozren, to shell Tuzla, using M46 cannons. The indictment alleges that one artillery projectile hit the downtown area, also known as Kapija.

Witness Azra Kapetanovic was sixteen, when she was wounded in her stomach at Kapija. She recalled how, following the explosion, she managed to reach a nearby coffee shop, which was "the only light she saw there." When she got there she called her father, who came and drove her to a hospital.

Azra Mitrovic was also wounded in Tuzla on that day.

"They drove me to the hospital. I had a feeling that all Tuzla citizens gathered in front of the Gradina hospital. They were all looking for somebody. The hospital corridor was covered with blood and the corpses were piled up there. I felt as if I were trampled. I heard news about the killed and the wounded. Many names of people and children were mentioned. I could not believe that it had happened to us," Mitrovic said.

At this hearing Ahmed Isic testified as well. He said that, on May 25, 1995 he was lightly wounded and he managed to drive his brother Muhamed and "three or four other people" to the hospital.

"I was the first one who reached the Gradina hospital. After that others started bringing more wounded people. We wrapped the dead in blankets and we piled them up in the corridor. I saw my friend Samir, whose legs were cut off. In some way he saved me, because he stood right in front of me and 'absorbed' all the shrapnel. He died in the hospital," Isic said.

The trial of Novak Djukic is due to continue on July 8, when new Prosecution witnesses will be examined.

Lazarevic et al: Just an ordinary guard
BIRN Justice Report
July 2, 2008

A Defense witness denies allegations that Sreten Lazarevic was a liaison person in the detention units established in Zvornik in 1992.

Sredo Vukovic, who testified as a joint Defense witness at the trial of the former reserve policemen with the Public Safety Station in Zvornik, said indictee Sreten Lazarevic was not his deputy manager of the Zvornik detention units.

"Neither me nor any other Public Safety Station officers issued an authorization to appoint Lazarevic as my deputy. He was just an ordinary guard, like everybody else," Vukovic said, adding that he acted as "a coordinator between the prisons and the Public Safety Station authorities."

The State Prosecution charges Sreten Lazarevic, Dragan Stanojevic, Mile Markovic and Slobodan Ostojic with war crimes against civilians.

The indictment alleges that Stanojevic, Markovic and Ostojic, who were guards in the detention camps formed in the offence court and "Novi izvor" factory buildings in Zvornik, participated in the mistreatment of detained civilians in 1992 and 1993.

Indictee Lazarevic is charged, as deputy manager of the two detention camps, with having failed to stop the mistreatment of detainees.

During direct examination conducted by the Defense teams, Vukovic explained that there were many paramilitary groups in Zvornik in 1992 and "not even the guards dare confront members of those groups."

The indictment alleges that, on several occasions, Lazarevic unlocked the door to the prison unit and enabled some groups of Serbian soldiers to torture and mistreat the detainees.

"The guards did not have any opportunity to resist the paramilitary formations, especially to members of 'Gogic's Unit' from Loznica. It even happened that some of them attacked the guards," Vukovic added.

When asked by the Prosecutor to describe one attack against the guards, the witness said that some military group members once attacked Lazarevic. He said that Lazarevic personally told him about it "after the investigation of the crimes charged upon the Zvornik Four had commenced."

Speaking about his "coordination work," the witness said that he "visited the detention camps two or three times per month" and he spoke to the guards and detainees.

"Nobody ever complained about being mistreated. Not even the detainees, to whom I spoke at the time and after the war," Vukovic added, denying that he ever heard of any cases of sexual abuse or carving of crosses on detained civilians' foreheads.

The trial is due to continue on July 3, 2008.

Gasal et al: Victims Give Conflicting Statements
BIRN Justice Report
July 2, 2008

Two Prosecution witnesses, who stayed in the same room during their detention at the stadium in Bugojno, give different statements concerning the events that happened at that time.

Two Prosecution witnesses gave conflicting statements about what they lived through during their detention in "Iskra" detention camp in Bugojno.

The State Prosecution considers Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica, Enes Handzic and Senad Dautovic responsible for the crimes against more than 300 ethnic Croatian civilians, who were detained at "Iskra" stadium in 1993 and 1994.

Milenko Begic and Zdravko Kezic from Ljubuski said that they were captured as members of the Croatian Defense Council, HVO, "in the vicinity of Gornji Vakuf" on August 27, 1993. They said they were first taken to the Cultural and Sports House in Bugojno and, "fifteen days later," to the "Iskra" stadium, where the two of them were held in the same room.

Begic told the Court that they did not have "any contact with other detainees" and the guards used to take them out to eat only after the other detainees had finished eating. On the other hand, Kezic said that they "saw other detainees only when they went to the toilet or during meals."

Both witnesses said that, during the course of their detention at the stadium, unknown persons used to come there at night, take them to the playground and beat them.

Begic said that the beating started "five or six days after the arrival," while Kezic said that it started after the visit by the International Red Cross in late September 1993.

"After the Red Cross staff made a list of detainees, we were transferred to another room, but, again, there was nobody else in the room except the two of us. A few days prior to the exchange, which was on October 13, 1993, they brought detainee Anto Marjanovic to that room," Begic said.

Witness Zdravko Kezic told the Court that Marjanovic was brought there a few days after their arrival to the stadium and all three of them were then transferred to another room, together with "ten other detainees."

At this hearing the Trial Chamber announced that it had not made a decision concerning the custody termination motion filed by Nisvet Gasal's Defense.

The Court asked the Prosecution to provide additional explanation concerning the alleged pressure on the witnesses.

Prosecutor Slavica Terzic said that she did not conduct an investigation or detailed checks concerning the allegations made by some witnesses that they were threatened. She said that the Prosecution "concluded that the threats were serious."

The next hearing is due to take place on July 9.

Savic: Trial to start on August 12
BIRN Justice Report
July 2, 2008

At the status conference the State Prosecution and Momir Savic's Defense present their evidence presentation plans.

The trial of Momir Savic, who is charged with crimes against humanity in Visegrad in 1992, is due to start on August 12, when the indictment will be read. On the same day the State Prosecution and Defense will present their introductory arguments.

The State Prosecution charges Savic, as commander of the Third Squad with the Visegrad Brigade of the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, with having participated, on several occasions, in the examination and beating of Bosniak civilians from Visegrad. He is also charged with having raped one person, who he "frequently visited in her house" and mistreated and threatened her from June to September 1992.

The Prosecution considers that the indictee and other VRS members took a group of Bosniak civilians from their houses in Drinsko village, Visegrad municipality, mistreated them and then shot them in Pusin Do forest in May 1992.

The indictment charges Savic with having shot a group of civilians from Dusce village. The civilians were then cremated.

The Prosecution will need about 45 working hours for the presentation of its evidence.

Prosecutor Adnan Gulamovic said that, in order to prove the allegations contained in the indictment, 33 witnesses and a medical court expert would be examined. He also announced that he would propose some "facts determined" by the Hague Tribunal to be included as material evidence.

"In case the Defense accepts the facts determined by the Hague Tribunal, we may reduce the number of witnesses, who will be examined in an attempt to prove the existence of a broad and systematic attack conducted by the VRS in the Visegrad area," Gulamovic said.

The Defense of Momir Savic announced the examination of "not less than 15 and not more than 20 witnesses" and the presentation of a few pieces of material evidence. As indicated by Defense attorney Dragan Medjovic, the time needed for the presentation of evidence "will be proportional to the time needed for the presentation of the Prosecution's evidence."

The State Prosecution made a proposal for the acceptance of some parts of the verdict against Mitar Vasiljevic as determined facts. The Defense said that this would "severely violate the right to a fair trial, direct presentation of evidence and the presumption of the indictee's innocence."

The Hague Tribunal pronounced a second instance verdict against Mitar Vasiljevic, sentencing him to 15 years imprisonment.

"Considering that my client is charged with crimes against humanity, the existence of a broad and systematic attack conducted by the VRS represents an important element. If the Trial Chamber decides to accept that as a previously determined fact, my client would automatically be pronounced guilty," Medjovic said.

The Trial Chamber will render a decision concerning the acceptance of the determined facts, contained in the ICTY verdicts, at a later stage.

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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)

First Khmer Rouge trials in September
The Phnom Penh Post
By Cheang Sokha
June 24, 2008

Cambodia's Khmer Rouge tribunal expects to open its first public trial in September, court officials say, adding, however, that it faces a shortfall of nearly $44 million under a revised budget that nearly doubles the amount of money sought from donors and the Cambodian government.

Officials with the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal is known, announced on June 24 a new budget proposal that extends the court's mandate by a year and raises the cost of trying former Khmer Rouge leaders from $56.3 million to $104.6 million.

Sean Visoth, Cambodia's top official to the joint UN-Cambodian proceedings, also said the court expected to put Tuol Sleng prison chief Kaing Khek Iev on the dock in September, more than two years after the court first began its work.

"The co-investigating judges announced on May 15 that they had concluded the judicial investigation on case number one," Visoth told reporters, referring to the case against Khek Ieu, also known by his revolutionary name, Duch, who was the first of five senior regime leaders to be detained by the tribunal.

"They are hoping to order a closing order in July. We are preparing for the trials to be able to commence in September," he added.

The tribunal opened in July 2006 after years of often stalled negotiations between the UN and Cambodia with an expected three-year lifespan.

In addition to Duch, four others have been detained and are facing trial for crimes allegedly committed during their 1975-79 rule over Cambodia. They are the regime's most senior surviving leader, Nuon Chea, Head of State Khieu Samphan, Foreign Minister Ieng Sary, and Social Affairs Minister Ieng Thirith.

Some 1.7 million people died of starvation, disease and overwork, or were executed as the ultra-communist regime drove the entire population onto vast collective farms and erased every vestige of modern society in a bid to forge an agrarian workers' utopia.

But the task of bringing to justice those responsible for the apocalypse that engulfed Cambodia soon overwhelmed the tribunal's budget and staffing capabilities, forcing court officials to go back to its donors for more money.

A series of scandals over fiscal mismanagement and alleged leadership failures, however, made the international community hesitant to pour more money into the tribunal, leaving it repeatedly on the verge of bankruptcy.

A series of cash infusions, including a $2.9 million pledge earlier this month from the court's biggest donor, Japan, have kept it limping along.

Court officials, however, told donors in New York on June 20 that an additional $50.2 million would be needed to keep the court operational through 2010, down from the additional $114 million they had proposed earlier this year.

So far, only $6.4 million has been pledged, Visoth said.

"We are quite optimistic about the aid from donor countries,” Visoth said, while Knut Rosandhaug, the UN's top tribunal official, acknowledged that the court would have to operate with less than hoped for.

"We are going to have less resources and because of that, clearly there has to be more efficiency than there was in the first place," Rosandhaug said.

"I am not going to attack any one part of the court. There has to be increased efficiency across the board. We all want to complete this as soon as possible," he added.

Khmer Rogue Appeals Case to Test Limits of International Law
AFP via Google News
June 29, 2008

The first big test of the UN-backed Cambodian genocide court begins on Monday when a former Khmer Rouge foreign minister is scheduled to appear in court to appeal against his detention.

Ieng Sary, 82, is one of five top regime cadres currently detained for crimes allegedly committed during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule over Cambodia.

He has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity and is expected to face trial within the next year.

But his lawyers say that Ieng Sary was absolved of any crimes after he surrendered to the government in 1996, when he received a royal pardon for an earlier genocide conviction.

That conviction was handed down in a 1979 trial in absentia conducted by the government installed after Vietnam occupied the country and ended the Khmer Rouge's bloody reign.

"The court will have to decide whether the amnesty is valid or not. Maybe they will have a conflict between Cambodia's constitution and international norms," said Sok Samoueun, head of the Cambodian Defenders Project (CDP).

Deciding whether nationally granted amnesties apply to international trials is a significant area of contention that has been raised in the Sierra Leone war crimes trial and the International Criminal Court, said Rupert Skillbeck, head of the Khmer Rouge tribunal's defence office.

"Amnesty is one of the areas of international criminal law where law and politics collide. But the (Khmer Rouge trial) judges will have to judge it as a legal question to be decided," Skillbeck said.

"It's one of the most significant legal questions for this tribunal to answer and an important question in international criminal law in general," he added.

At Monday's hearing, Ieng Sary's lawyers will seek to have him freed on bail, and are expected to argue later in the week that the charges should be dropped because his amnesty still holds.

As the top Khmer Rouge diplomat, Ieng Sary was frequently the only point of contact between Cambodia's secretive communist rulers and the outside world.

He was also one of the biggest public supporters of the regime's mass purges, researchers say.

"He came as close as any senior (Khmer Rouge) official in power ever did to describing publicly... the policy of executing", said Stephen Heder and Brian Tittemore in their book "Seven Candidates for Prosecution: Accountability for the Crimes of the Khmer Rouge."

Up to two million people died of starvation and overwork, or were executed, as the Khmer Rouge set about dismantling modern Cambodia after seizing control of the country.

But as much as he was an advocate for the regime during its 1975-79 rule, Ieng Sary's later defection to the government proved a fatal blow to the then-disintegrating movement.

His departure came two years before Pol Pot's death in 1998. The two had met as schoolboys in the capital Phnom Penh and later became eager supporters of the communist movement at university in Paris.

His wife Thirith, who also became a minister in the Khmer Rouge regime, was arrested with him in November.

Ieng Sary has suffered from deteriorating health since his arrest, according to his lawyer, highlighting the fragile condition of the tribunal's likely defendants, who are mostly in their 70s and 80s.

Khieu Samphan Defense Lawyer Resigns
VOA News
July 1, 2008

The Cambodian lawyer of jailed Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan has resigned, tribunal officials said Monday.

Sy Bory resigned last week due to reasons of ill health, said Rupert Skilbeck, head of the tribunal's defense section, declining further detail.

Sy Bory was likely to continue for a short while, but would not be able to complete the entire trial process, Skilbeck said, adding that it was better to replace him sooner rather than later.

Khieu Samphan will have to select new Cambodian representation, Skilbeck said.

Sy Bory's resignation was not likely to affect Khieu Samphan's trial, he said.

"We are confident he will be able to transfer the case smoothly and not cause any delay," Skilbeck said.

Sy Bory's resignation was not likely to bring any consequences for Khieu Samphan, said Hisham Mousar, who monitors the tribunal for the rights group Adhoc.

Sy Bory's work so far was to speak to reporters and to write a letter of appeal against the former leader's pre-trial detention. Khieu Samphan's French lawyer, Jacques Verges, had done much of the casework so far, Hisham Mousar said.

A tribunal statement issued Thursday said a new Cambodian lawyer would be selected "shortly."

Former Khmer Rouge foreign minister claims double jeopardy at Cambodian genocide hearing
Associated Press via International Herald Tribune
July 1, 2008

Lawyers for the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister told Cambodia's genocide tribunal Tuesday that its case against their client violates "double jeopardy" principles because he already was convicted of crimes against humanity and pardoned.

The United Nations-assisted court has charged Ieng Sary, 82, with crimes against humanity and war crimes, and he appeared before the panel Tuesday for a second day to argue that he should be freed from pretrial detention.

The hearing adjourned in the afternoon and was set to continue Wednesday.

On Monday, his defense lawyers argued that Ieng Sary should be released because of his ill health. On Tuesday they made a case for double jeopardy — the right not to be judged twice for the same crime.

The tribunal, jointly run by Cambodian and international personnel, is attempting to establish accountability for atrocities committed by the communist group when it ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

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

Ieng Sary was condemned to death in absentia for genocide in a tribunal by a communist government that was installed in Cambodia by Vietnamese troops after they toppled the Khmer Rouge regime in 1979. The tribunal was conducted as a classic Soviet-style show trial, with no real effort to present a defense.

In 1996, Ieng Sary received a royal pardon from the sentence from former King Norodom Sihanouk as a reward for breaking away from the Khmer Rouge and leading his followers to join the government. The mutiny foreshadowed the group's surrender three years later in 1999.
In many legal systems — including French law, upon which Cambodian law is based — you cannot prosecute a person a second time for a crime for which a judgment has already been rendered.

Ieng Sary's lawyer Michael Karnavas argued that while some international tribunals have allowed "cumulative prosecutions," this was not permitted under Cambodian law. The American lawyer maintained that Ieng Sary was being tried by a domestic Cambodian court, not an international tribunal.

"As you well know, your honors, you're not here to legislate from the bench. You're here to apply the existing law as it is but not to create new law as if you're legislators," Karnavas said.
In counter arguments, co-prosecutor Yet Chakriya said Ieng Sary was not being prosecuted twice for the same crime because the charges he now faces, crimes against humanity and war crimes, differ from those leveled in 1979.

Another prosecutor, William Smith, said double jeopardy aims to protect people "from suffering the hardships of a trial or consequent punishment twice," but that Ieng Sary suffered neither hardship nor punishment from the earlier trial.

Smith also said that double jeopardy does not apply because the 1979 proceedings did not comply with any internationally recognized standards for a trial.

Ieng Sary, 82, is the only one of five defendants held by the current tribunal who was previously tried and pardoned.

The tribunal plans to hold its first trial later this year.

Ieng Sary's wife, 76-year-old Ieng Thirith, who served as the Khmer Rouge's social affairs minister, is among those being held on charges of crimes against humanity.

On Monday, Ieng Sary's defense team demanded that he be placed under either house arrest or protective hospitalization and undergo proper psychiatric examination to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.

Ieng Sary's "weak physical and mental capacity" makes him unable to fully assist his lawyers, Karnavas told the court.

Lawyers Urge 'Urgent' Release of Ieng Sary
VOA News
By Mean Veasna
July 2, 2008

Jailed Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary appeared for a third day in pre-trial hearings, where the court heard arguments surrounding a royal pardon for a 1979 genocide verdict and death sentence.

Defense lawyers are pushing for Ieng Sary's release on the grounds that he has already been tried for genocide, by a 1979 court set up in the wake of the ouster of the Khmer Rouge by Vietnamese forces. As part of a deal with the government in 1996, then-king Norodom Sihanouk pardoned the former Khmer Rouge foreign minister in return for his defection to the government.

Ieng Sary, who was too weak to finish a hearing on Monday, sat quietly in the court room listening to the arguments.

"The amnesty and the pardon conform with the Cambodian constitution," said Ang Udom, Ieng Sary's Cambodian lawyer. "All the crimes that have been charged against him are under the dimension of this royal [decree]."

"The pre-trial chamber must order the release of Ieng Sary, urgently and without condition," Ang Udom told the court.

The pardon, granted Sept. 14, 1996, banned further accusations of Ieng Sary under an anti-Khmer Rouge law.

Michael Karnavas, co-defense for Ieng Sary, said Wednesday the pardon was approved by the National Assembly and co-prime ministers Prince Norodom Ranariddh and Hun Sen.

The co-prime ministers understood the necessity for amnesty for Ieng Sary, which led to the mass defection of Khmer Rouge troops to the government, Karnavas said.

Ieng Sary was an agent of peace, Karnavas said.

However, prosecutors and civil parties rejected the legitimacy of the pardon.

Co-prosecutor William Smith said Cambodia was a signature country to international genocide mandates.

According to international law, and to obligations of each country member, Cambodia has an obligation to charge against such kind of violation, Smith said.

The royal pardon was only for Ieng Sary's execution, and not to prevent the prosecution of other crimes, Smith said.

Civil parties, which participated in the hearing, explained that the pardon was involved with government policy at the time, and the royal pardon was motivated by peace and reconciliation for the country.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

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

Sudan contemplated extraditing Darfur suspects to ICC: Official
Sudan Tribune
by Wasil Ali
June 24, 2008

(WASHINGTON) –The Sudanese government considered turning over two suspects accused of war crimes in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC), a senior Sudanese official told Sudan Tribune today.

The official who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter said that the leadership of the National Congress Party (NCP) “is getting very nervous over the upcoming announcement by the ICC of new suspects”.

A year ago the judges of the ICC issued their first arrest warrants on the Darfur case against Haroun and militia commander Ali Mohamed Ali Abdel-Rahman, also know as Ali Kushayb. Sudan has so far rejected handing over the two suspects.
The senior official said that the NCP held an unpublicized meeting recently that included the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha, presidential adviser Mustafa Ismail and state minister for foreign affairs Ali Karti among others.

According to the official, Karti made a presentation to the NCP leadership in which he outlined the “difficult position” the government will be in if senior officials are charged by the world court of war crimes.

Karti recommended that Haroun and Kushayb being extradited to the Hague “as a protection from further indictments” the official said.

Al-Bashir appeared to be in agreement with the proposal, the official said, as well as others who were present but that Vice President Taha staunchly opposed it “on the grounds of preserving Sudan’s sovereignty”.

Taha was the top official in charge of handling the Darfur crisis during 2003-2005. He secured the release of the notorious Janjaweed leader Musa Hilal from prison to help mobilize Arab tribes to crush the Darfur rebellion.

Hilal was serving a jail sentence for leading an armed robbery against the Central Bank of Nyala in which one policeman was killed.

The leak of the meeting comes a few days after the Sudanese president swore 3 times not to surrender any Sudanese citizen to the ICC.

Last week the UN Security Council (UNSC) and European Union (EU) issued formal statements voicing support for the work of court in Darfur. The EU threatened sanctions against individuals obstructing cooperation with the ICC.

The ICC prosecutor is also due to name new suspects next month likely to include senior Sudanese officials.

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

Congo-Kinshasa: ICC Lubanga Case and the Future
International Center for Transitional Justice via AllAfrica.com
June 24, 2008

The International Criminal Court’s decision to halt the first case to come to trial does not diminish the gravity of the charges filed in any of the cases pending before the court or alter the fundamental importance of on-going investigations by the prosecutor’s office, the International Center for Transitional Justice said Monday.

On June 24, the ICC is to hear arguments about the possible release of Thomas Lubanga, who is charged with war crimes for allegedly drafting children as militia members during fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002-2003. No date has been set for the court issuing its ruling. The prosecution and the defense will have the right to appeal.

Earlier, the court ruled that the prosecution was obliged to share with the defense more than 200 documents that may contain information supporting Mr. Lubanga’s claim of innocence. That evidence was originally gathered by the United Nations from sources that have not waived their confidentiality. The narrowness of the charges against him may render his case vulnerable in the light of such challenges.

“I urge the court, the prosecutor’s office, the defense and the UN to find a way to use these documents in a way that is consistent with a fair trial,” said Juan E. Méndez, president of the ICTJ. “These are early days for the court, and every party is exploring new ground.”

The ICTJ sees the role of the court as an institution is to guarantee fair trials for persons charged with such serious crimes, and the vigilance of the judges is to be welcomed. The credibility of the ICC as a permanent institution does not rest on the outcome of any particular case.

The ICTJ supports the prosecutor office’s continued investigations into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the DRC, Sudan and other states, where states do not exercise such a responsibility themselves.

In a formal statement earlier this month to the UN Security Council, the prosecutor of the ICC said he would soon seek new arrest warrants for serious crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan over the last five years.

The ICTJ believes the prosecutor’s office should consider the possible impact of an arrest warrant. But this does not mean the court should avoid taking action against people – including heads of state – powerful enough to threaten mayhem. As an independent body, the prosecutor’s office must weigh these factors carefully and ultimately take these decisions independently.

In Sudan, targets of potential new warrants may threaten to disrupt humanitarian missions or peace initiatives.

“These threats are inevitable, but it would be a mistake to yield to that kind of blackmail,” said Mr. Méndez. “International justice mechanisms can serve the cause of peace, but only if we let them work as instruments of justice.”

Justice a threat to peace in Darfur?
Sudan Tribune
by Wasil Ali
June 30, 2008

(WASHINGTON) — The statements by the former US special envoy to Sudan Andrew Natsios about the danger posed by the indictments of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to the stability of Sudan reignited debate on whether justice and peace can go together.

Natsios said at a forum organized by the US Institute for Peace on Sudan that if the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo goes ahead with his plans to charge senior Sudanese officials as expected “it will drive the country closer to dissolution”.

The former US diplomat disclosed a recent meeting he had with Ocampo in which he tried to convince him of this point of view with no success. In the meeting the ICC prosecutor stressed that his duty is to do justice and cannot be part of diplomatic initiatives on Darfur.

The ICC prosecutor is due to present evidence on a new case to the judges within the coming weeks. His condemnation of the Sudanese state apparatus in his UN Security Council report gave the impression that senior officials may be charged next month. Some observers have speculated that even the Sudanese president Omar Hassan Al-Bashir is target for prosecution.

Natsios said that there are no realistic prospects that any of the individuals indicted by the ICC will face trial. He further said that ICC arrest warrants against Lord Resistance army (LRA) leaders in Northern Uganda are an obstacle to peace.
The former US envoy appeared to favor maintaining the status quo in Sudan to prevent a Somalia like style scenario that could be caused by the ICC. Natsios has previously called for working with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) to prevent collapse of the North-South peace agreement and any harsh response against Darfuris if placed under too much pressure.

John Prendergast, a former Clinton administration official and Co-Chair of the ENOUGH Project dismissed Natsios warnings about disintegration of Sudan as a result of ICC investigations.

“Natsios grossly distorts the objectives of the ICC. He has been peddling the same line about the imminent dissolution of Sudan for years” Prendergast said.

“To argue that the ICC’s attempt to break the cycle of impunity will destroy the country is hysterical and an insult to all the Sudanese people who want some kind of justice for the crimes the regime has committed” he added.

Professor Eric Reeves who publishes extensively on Sudan and a longtime critic of Natsios as a special envoy said that the latter is “incapable of understanding either the National Islamic Front (NIF) regime in Khartoum or the urgent claims of justice for Darfur”.

“His evident wish that the ICC cease and desist in its pursuit of justice is nothing more than the crudest accommodation of evil in the name of Sudan’s stability, a stability that is based entirely on the NIF’s ruthless control of the military and security forces in the country” he stressed.

But maintaining the status quo in Sudan to prevent a worst scenario has some merit according to Diaa Al-Deen Bilal from the pro-government daily Al-Rayaam.

“This is a unique situation different from anything that the government has ever faced. It is not their political agenda that is targeted but rather them as individuals.

Even the president is a target. In their eyes this is a threat to their existence” he said.

The reaction of the Sudanese government to naming of new suspects is not an easy prediction by any means. Some have expressed fears that they may resort to restricting humanitarian work in the war ravaged region of Darfur or placing more obstacles to the deployment of the hybrid United Nations-African Union (UNAMID) peacekeeping force.

Alex De Waal, a renowned Sudan expert and Julie Flint, co-author of “Darfur: A Short History of a Long War” have both argued in a series of articles published recently in the Guardian and Washington Post that UNAMID deployment and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) should be a priority over punishing war crimes in Darfur.

“We support accountability for the crimes committed in Darfur, including at the highest levels. But prosecutions must be in the interests of the victims. Few would dispute that their interests are served today by strengthening the protection and peacekeeping force of the joint U.N.-African Union mission” De Waal and Flint said.

“The interests of all Sudanese are served by working with the government to sustain the north-south peace agreement and trying to ensure that democratic elections are held next year to return a government with genuine popular support” the co-authors emphasized.

However Anne Bartlett, Director of the Darfur Centre for Human Rights and Development based in London contend that working with the NCP is a fruitless strategy.

“It is a fallacy to think that being nice to the Government of Sudan will produce results….the NCP are master manipulators of the truth and have no interest whatsoever in cooperating with UNAMID, Mr. Ocampo or anyone else for that matter, unless their options are shut off” Bartlett said in her article “Darfur: Truth or Fiction”.

Professor Reeves also echoed Bartlett conclusions and said that “defense of the status quo represents precisely the kind of international reassurance that will sustain the NIF in its ruthless and murderous survivalism”.

But the central and very basic question has often been raised in similar debates. Is there a way to stop the ICC investigations in Darfur? Is this something the UNSC can do?

Article 16 of the Rome Statue which is the ICC’s Bible states that the UNSC has the power to request a deferral of an investigation or prosecution for a period of 12 months in a resolution adopted under Chapter VII.

But Professor Daniel Nsereko in his paper named “The Relationship between the International Criminal Court and the United Nations Security Council” pointed out that invoking Article 16 is highly unlikely because referring a situation to the ICC “means that the Council now deems judicial action against the alleged disturbers of the peace to be appropriate”.

Politically speaking UNSC members such as UK and France are unlikely to endorse any deferral of Darfur investigations as it would set a precedent and may likely be viewed as sending wrong message to war crimes perpetrators.

So as it stands now the ICC is a reality from which there is no escape and Sudan, along with other countries in the international community, has to factor it in any Darfur peace initiatives.

The AU negotiator in Darfur Salim Ahmed Salim speaking to reporters at the UN headquarters last week said that while “impunity must never be allowed to prevail the timing of any decision becomes important”.

Dr James Smith, Chief Executive of the Aegis Trust responding to Natsios’s assertions on the ICC role in Darfur said that “the ICC indictments are coming whether diplomats like it or not. Whether they aid or hinder peace is a calculation for the international community”.

“Either the indictments can be used as a lever to undermine international and domestic support for the architects of the Darfur crisis, or they can be shelved under threat that war criminals will behave even worse than they already have done” Smith added.

The fundamental argument in favor of the ICC is that it prevents commission of further crimes in any part of the world.

Many would remember the scene in the movie ‘Hotel Rwanda’ where hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina makes well calculated blackmail of the Hutu army general, Augustin Bizimungu by telling him that he is in danger of being tried as a war criminal.

Rusesabagina promised to testify in favor of Bizimungu if he helps him move some refugees safely to the hotel. The trick worked but the Rwandan general was ultimately arrested and transferred to the War Crimes Tribunal in Tanzania.
But De Waal, chief architect of the ailing Darfur Peace Agreement (DPA) and Flint said in Washington Post article titled ‘Justice off Course in Darfur’ that “history shows that dictators often learn that power is their only protection and that nothing, and no one, can be allowed to stand in the way”.

Natsios put forward a similar argument saying that Zimbabwean leader fear of going on trial is preventing a peaceful settlement in the country. He cited the “Charles Taylor factor [Liberian ex-president]”.

However Smith from Aegis Trust noted that “generals responsible for recent violence [in Zimbabwe] were also responsible for massacres in Matabeleland in the 1980’s”.

“Never held to account, the lesson they learned 25 years ago was that they could use mass murder to maintain power and get away with it” he said.

Sara Darehshori Senior Counsel in the International Justice Program at Human rights Watch (HRW) stressed that the “culture of impunity” constitute a far more danger than the ICC arrest warrant.

“Silence on accountability emboldens parties to a conflict to continue to commit serious crimes” she said.

Some analysts have also mentioned that vulnerable Darfuri refugees living in camps could also face repercussions from Khartoum.

But Hussein Abu-Sharati, the spokesperson of Darfur displaced and refugees at the Kalma camp in South Darfur, with some 90,000 residents, said “there is no alternative to prosecuting the Darfur criminals before any peace settlement. All of the displaced and refugees support punishment of the criminals”.

Asked about possible retaliation from government following the naming new Darfur suspects he said “the Sudanese government routinely carries out retaliation against us. We fear no one but god”.

On the Sudanese political front some are bracing for further restrictions of freedoms when senior NCP officials find themselves directly threatened. Yet some see a window of opportunity in the ICC.

Ala’a Al-Deen Bashir a political analyst from the daily Al-Sahafa think that ICC indictments might be helpful.

“There are changes happening as we speak within the Sudanese government and the NCP. There are some moderates within the NCP in the shadows who have been sidelined by the hardliners” Bashir said.

Bashir said that he expects “short term political congestion” after naming the new suspects. He also noted that the ordinary Sudanese has little interest in issue of the ICC given the pressing daily needs to make a living.

“We will see a huge media campaign against the ICC and portraying it as an agent of Western powers. The only problem is that this kind of strategy has been overused during the NCP years in power. At the same time the policies of poverty and injustice will make them less sympathetic with the government” he said.

The political analyst pointed out that all Sudanese political forces are supportive of the ICC with the exception of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) led by Mohamed Osman Al-Mirghani.

The list of supporters also includes even the partners in the government of National Unity Sudan People Liberation Movement (SPLM).

The Sudanese foreign minister Deng Alor urged the government to comply with the UNSC resolution on the ICC.

“I am not talking as a minister of foreign affairs. In this particular issue I’m speaking as SPLM and SPLM calls for cooperation. That’s what I said in my briefing with the ambassadors," Alor told reporters earlier this month on the sidelines of a visit by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to Khartoum.

Alor’s position angered NCP officials and some pro-government columnists accused him of straying from the government’s official position.

Mariam Al-Mahdi, a leading figure in the Umma Party, the largest Northern opposition party in Sudan with a large base in Darfur blamed the government for not taking the ICC issue seriously.

“The Sudanese authorities are taking this matter very lightly. The NCP adopted a policy of ignoring it and treating it as something that does not exist. However the truth of the matter that the ICC is real with a direct impact on the NCP” she said.

Al-Mahdi, daughter of the former Prime Minister Sadiq Al-Mahdi, said that the Umma party supported UNSC resolution 1593 referring he situation in Darfur to the ICC.

“We [Umma Party] supported resolution 1593 knowing its complications that comes with it. The Darfur crisis is caused by people who do not really care about human rights or the need to ending violations that created this humanitarian disaster” she said.

The Umma party official also said that the concept of transitional justice is missing in Sudan and that the existence of the ICC would help fill that void. She called on the government to deal with the ICC from a “legal and technical perspective” and two hand the two suspects Haroun and Kushayb.

“We know that this court is meant with justice and handles specific cases. Using political propaganda and ‘clowning’ is not the way forward” she warned.

De Waal and Flint also threw a new factor into their claim by saying that the ICC is relying on questionable and “circumstantial” evidence. They both claim that the situation in Darfur is not as bad as the ICC prosecutor tried to portray it in his report to the UNSC this month.

They also said that “Several senior ICC staff members have quit, fearful of eventually having to defend an indefensible position” without naming them.
However an ICC official who spoke to Sudan Tribune expressed surprise over this statement.

“The only senior member to leave was Serge Brammertz who was appointed to lead the probe into the assassination of the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri” the official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the press.

It is also ironic that 3 years ago when the ICC investigations started in Darfur war crimes Ocampo was under heavy criticism from international figures including UN officials for moving too slowly. But the ICC prosecutor at the time responding to pressure said that he has to conduct his investigation “in a thorough and fair manner”.

But today Ocampo seems under pressure to place his prosecutions on hold. It is not clear whether he will actually succumb and delay his July’s announcement.

In the meanwhile the mounting pressure by the UNSC, EU and G-8 on the defiant Khartoum to cooperate with the ICC seems to have paid off, at least partially.

This week a senior Sudanese official speaking to Sudan Tribune on condition of anonymity made a surprise revelation that the leadership of the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) “is getting very nervous over the upcoming announcement by the ICC of new suspects”.

He said that the NCP, with recommendation from state minister for foreign affairs Ali Karti, is considering handing over two Darfur suspects Haroun and Kushayb to the ICC “as a protection from further indictments”.

The official said that president Al-Bashir appeared to be in agreement with the proposal as well as others who were present but that 2nd Vice President Ali Osman Taha blocked the proposal saying it is a violation of Sudan’s sovereignty.

But realistically, even if the proposal was to go through, the ICC could not have accepted such a bargain which would undermine its credibility.

The immediate threat to those Sudanese officials who end up being charged is when travel abroad.

The plan to divert a plane carrying one of the Darfur suspects, Ahmed Haroun, on his way to Saudi Arabia in December to perform the annual Islamic pilgrimage was likely to have motivated Karti’s proposal.

The most worrying aspect of the plan to Sudanese officials was that a number of countries took part in the plan including one of Sudan’s neighbors. Saudi Arabia, which maintains good relations with Sudan, was made aware of the plan.

Sudan’s envoy to the UN Abdel-Haleem Abdel-Mahmood told Reuters that it was “especially infuriating” that other countries were willing to help the ICC in the failed operation.

The moral of the story to Sudanese officials is clear; travelling abroad pose a risk of arrest regardless of the destination.

In the coming weeks and months the ICC will become the focus of the international community. The identities of the new suspects are anxiously awaited to determine the full impact on the explosive and unpredictable East African nation.

[back to contents]

Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

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

DR Congo ex-militia chief seeks release pending trial
AFP
June 24, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Former Democratic Republic of Congo militia chief Thomas Lubanga Dyilo could be granted a release from detention next week after a delay in his war crimes trial, it emerged from a court hearing Tuesday.

Presiding judge Adrian Fulford said the International Criminal Court (ICC) would hand down a written judgment in an application for Lubanga's release "hopefully during the course of next week".

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 Democratic Republic of Congo.

But as his lawyers argued Tuesday for his immediate release, the prosecution warned the delay in the proceedings could be short.

"The office of the prosecutor (Luis Moreno-Ocampo) is highly confident that the problem will be resolved in the coming weeks and the trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will start in September," it said in a statement.

Lubanga's lawyer Catherine Mabille told the court there was no legal basis for her client to be kept in detention. "We are requesting his immediate release," she said.

The tribunal's decision to stay the proceedings, over alleged abuses by the prosecution, provided a legal basis for his release from custody, Mabille argued.

But Ekkehard Withopf, for the prosecution, said: "There is no legal basis for the request."

A lawyer for Lubanga's alleged victims cautioned against his release.

"This case is a ball of fire that could set Ituri (a province of the DR Congo) on fire," Catherine Bapita Buyangandu told the three judges.

"The victims are afraid of vengeance. Lubanga is a hero in his community."

Lubanga's war crimes trial is the first to be heard by the ICC, but the tribunal announced on June 13 that it was postponing Monday's scheduled start.

This followed complaints by the defence that the prosecution was withholding evidence sourced from the United Nations and other non-governmental bodies in Congo.

The court found the prosecution had wrongly used a confidentiality allowance to receive information it then failed to share with the defence.

This "misuse" prevented Lubanga preparing a proper defence, it said, with more than 200 potentially exculpatory documents not disclosed.

Mabille claimed the prosecution's failure to give the defence access to the UN-sourced documents had implications "for the very functioning of international justice".

"What is the purpose of international justice -- is it to search for the truth or is it to search for what the UN would want us to (think)?" she asked.

"If sources can dictate to us the policy they want us to pursue, what does that mean for the ... independence of judges and the prosecution?"

A letter from the UN offered to give the trial judges access to the disputed documents under tight conditions. The mass of documents could be reviewed under UN supervision, without the judges being allowed to make notes in the review room.

But Fulford said such an arrangement might not be workable, as it would depend on the judges' "ability to memorise large quantities of information".

Dressed smartly in a dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, the former rebel chief sat quietly at the back of the courtroom listening to the arguments under constant guard.

ICC charges DR Congo 'warlords'
BBC News
June 27, 2008

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in the Hague have charged two Congolese militia leaders with war crimes.

Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui are accused of planning and ordering an attack, in which more than 200 villagers were allegedly killed.

Reports say some of the victims were burned to death, and many women were forced to become sex slaves.

This is only the second case to be launched by the court, set up in 2002.

The first trial, of another Congolese militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, has been suspended over concerns that evidence was withheld from the defence.

Decision

Mr Lubanga, who was on the other side of the Ituri conflict, may be released over concerns that the defence was denied access to some evidence.

Defence lawyers for Mr Katanga and Mr Ngudjolo have asked judges to suspend the case against them as the prosecution is using the same evidence.

However, the court has decided to go ahead with the hearing, as the proceedings are not as advanced.

A "confirmation of charges" is now set to take place at which evidence will be presented to support the charges, which include war crimes and crimes against humanity. These include murder, sexual slavery, rape, inhumane acts and recruiting child soldiers.

At the end of this process the court will have 60 days in which to decide whether or not to go to trial.

"Over 200 children, women, elderly and civilian men were killed," in the north-eastern village of Bogoro, said Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

The Ituri conflict, which raged well after a wider peace accord officially ended Congo's 1998-2003 war, pitted foreign-backed militias from the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups against one another.

Mr Katanga headed the Patriotic Forces of Resistance of Ituri (FRPI), while Mr Ngudjolo led the allied Front of Nationalists and Integrationists (FPI) militia.

The ICC, based in The Hague, was set up in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court.

It was designed to end the need for various ad hoc war crimes courts - including the chambers created to deal with war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and the genocide in Rwanda.

Belgian court clears way for Bemba transfer to war crimes court
AFP
July 1, 2008

BRUSSELS (AFP) — A Belgian court on Tuesday cleared the way for former Democratic Republic of Congo rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba to be transferred to The Hague to face war crimes charges.

Belgium's highest court rejected a charge by Bemba's lawyers that the legal procedures followed since his arrest in Brussels in May had been irregular.

Bemba's transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been suspended pending the court decision.

It is now expected to take place within days.

Bemba was arrested in the Belgian capital on May 24 on a warrant from the ICC and faces four charges of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity in the Central African Republic (CAR).

The former Congolese vice president, currently being held at a prison in Brussels, is blamed for a series of rapes and torture said by victims to have been committed by his men between 2002 and 2003, when his forces fought a coup attempt in CAR at the behest of then president Ange-Felix Patasse.

Bemba, 45, heads a vast business empire and had been living in exile in Portugal, where he fled under United Nations protection following a shoot-out with the presidential guard in Congo which killed more than 200 people in March 2007.

That followed defeat to his fierce rival and current Congolese President Joseph Kabila in the 2006 elections.

Earlier in the day his lawyer Aime Kilolo Musamba said Bemba would ask the UN Security Council to suspend his case.

"The Security Council could demand a suspension (of the legal process) for somebody who has done a lot of work for peace," in Congo, the lawyer told AFP on the margins of the court hearing in Brussels, where Bemba is being held.

"Jean-Pierre Bemba has no fear of the ICC. He is totally sure of his innocence," said Kilolo, who said the link between Bemba and the groups responsible for the crimes had not been established, with the militias involved at the time responding to the Central African Republic authorities.

"For us the matter has been politicised. The complaint comes from those close to President Kabila", Fyfy Osambia, an official from Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), said in Brussels.

"We want him to present himself in front of the ICC as a free man, because we know he will be acquitted," she added.

International court orders Congolese warlord freed
AP
July 2, 2008

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: The International Criminal Court on Wednesday ordered the release of the first suspect it took into custody, saying he cannot get a fair trial because prosecutors are withholding evidence.

The order to free Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga was a major blow to prosecutors. His trial was to be the first at the court focusing solely on the use of child soldiers.

Prosecutors immediately filed an appeal, which will keep Lubanga in custody for at least five days while the court decides what to do next.

His landmark trial was to have been the first at the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal, but the proceeding was suspended before it began last month after the prosecution refused to release documents provided by the United Nations that could help clear Lubanga.

He is charged with conscripting and sending children under age 15 to fight in bloody conflicts in Congo's Ituri region in 2002-03.

In their order, a three-judge panel said that "in the absence of the prospect of a trial, the accused cannot be held in custody." They added that as the situation stood, "a fair trial of the accused is impossible, and the entire justification for his detention has been removed."

In appealing against his release, prosecutors said Lubanga could still get a fair trial and urged that the proceeding go forward.

"The Prosecutor strongly believes that the need to do justice for the victims in ... Congo and to respect a fair trial for Thomas Lubanga can and must be harmonized," prosecutors said in a statement. "The ICC is a permanent and global institution. It must be based on the highest standards of law."

Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo expressed confidence that Lubanga would stand trial at the Hague-based court.

Other cases currently under way at the court could run into the same kind of turmoil if prosecutors in those cases are relying on similar confidential documents.

"Our understanding is that the problem might be pervasive," said Geraldine Mattioli of Human Rights Watch. "This is a practice that was pretty widespread at the beginning of the court's operations."

The United Nations gave prosecutors many documents only on the condition they remain confidential.

In a letter read at a hearing last week, U.N. Undersecretary-General for Legal Affairs Nicolas Michel offered to let judges look through the documents, but only in a closed room in the presence of a U.N. official. They would be barred from making copies or taking notes, but could jot down "their thoughts" after leaving the room, the letter said.

Presiding judge Adrian Fulford rejected that offer as unworkable.

Michael Scharf, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University who has studied international war crimes tribunals, predicted the U.N. will make a "more reasonable" proposal "that will be accepted by the judges before Lubanga is ever set free and that Lubanga's trial will proceed after this matter is resolved."

"The U.N. knows the stakes are far too high not to try very hard to come up with an acceptable compromise with the judges," he said via an e-mail.

Prosecutors acknowledge that about half of the more than 200 documents they are withholding contain evidence that could help support Lubanga's innocence or mitigate his guilt.

Lubanga is founder of the Union of Congolese Patriots and prosecutors charge he swelled the ranks of its armed wing with child soldiers at a time when thousands of people were being killed, maimed or raped in brutal ethnic warfare.

Lawyers representing victims of atrocities in Congo warned in court last week that releasing Lubanga without a trial could unleash "a fireball" in the Ituri region where his support is based.

The three-judge panel said it took those fears into account when making the decision.

The court is also dealing with cases involving atrocities in Darfur, the Central African Republic and Uganda, but only has suspects from Congo in its custody.

Surrender of Jean-Pierre Bemba to the International Criminal Court
ICC Press Release
July 3, 2008

Situation: Central African Republic
Case: The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo

Today, 3 July 2008, the Belgian authorities surrendered and transferred Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, to the International Criminal Court. He arrived at 12:45 at the detention centre of the Court.

"The Court appreciates the steps taken by the Belgian authorities in the enforcement of the warrant of arrest, surrender and transfer of Mr Bemba, as well as the cooperation of the Dutch authorities to transport him to the detention centre," said the Registrar Ms Silvana Arbia.

Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, alleged national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), aged about 45 years old, was arrested on 24 May 2008 by the Belgian authorities following a Court’s warrant of arrest was issued under seal on 23 May. Furthermore, on 10 June, the judges of Pre-Trial Chamber III requested the Kingdom of Belgium to surrender Bemba Gombo to the Court and a second warrant of arrest was issued replacing the previous one.

A Court’s official witnessed the handover and received all pertinent documents from the Belgian authorities. Mr Bemba Gombo was twice examined by doctors in Brussels, before departure and upon his arrival at the prison. Doctors confirmed that he is in good health. He was admitted to the detention centre, informed of his rights, including the right to choose counsel from the list of counsels established by the Registrar.

Mr Bemba, President and Commander in Chief of the Mouvement de libération du Congo (MLC), is alleged to be criminally responsible for five counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the Central African Republic from 25 October 2002 to 15 March 2003.

Thus Jean-Pierre Bemba is allegedly criminally responsible, jointly with another person or through other persons, within the meaning of article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute, for:

- three counts of crimes against humanity: rape (article 7(1)(g)), torture (article 7(1)(f)), and murder (article 7(1)(a));

- five counts of war crimes: rape (article 8(2)(e)(vi)), torture (article 8(2)(c)(i)), committing outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment (article 8(2)(c)(ii)), pillaging a town or place (article 8(2)(e)(v)), and murder (article 8(2)(c)(i)).

Mr Bemba’s first appearance will be announced in due course.

International Criminal Court Orders Former Congo Rebel Leader's Release
Voice of America News
James Butty
July 3, 2008

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the release of former Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga on the grounds that he cannot get a fair trial. The prosecutors have been given five days to appeal his release. Lubanga is accused of using child soldiers in clashes involving his Union of Congolese Patriots militia during 2002 and 2003 in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri District.

His trial was suspended last month after the court ruled that prosecutors inhibited his defense team by refusing to share documents that could help establish his innocence. The trial would have been the first at the ICC focusing solely on the use of child soldiers.

Lubanga supporters in Bunia, DR Congo, told VOA they hope Lubanga's release would focus world attention on what they called the real war criminals in the region.

Param-Preet Singh is counsel with the International Justice Program at the New York-based Human Rights Watch. She told VOA the Lubanga trial proves the ICC is a court of fair trial.

"I think it's clear that the trial chamber's decision to suspend the trial is a disappointment for the victims of Lubanga's alleged crimes because they've been deprived of an opportunity to have the crimes allegedly committed against them addressed by the court. But at the same time, this court is about fair trial; it's not just about prosecution, and indeed it would have been a bigger injustice to move forward with what would have an unjust trial," she said.

Singh said it is wrong for Lubanga supporters to think that the court's order to free him is proof that he did not commit any war crimes.

"I don't think that's accurate because the court has indeed said that the underlying grounds for the arrest warrant are still valid. So there's still reasonable ground to believe that Thomas Lubanga committed the crimes alleged against him. The recent decision is because of a procedural problem in the disclosure of key evidence," Singh said.

She explained the reason behind the court's decision that a fair trial for Mr. Lubanga would not be possible.

"There's a provision in the Rome Statute of the court that basically allows the prosecution to collect evidence confidentially from certain sources. But because it has been collected confidentially, the only way that they can disclose that information to the court or the defense is if they have permission from the United Nations or other providers to do so. The problem is in this case they don't have permission from the United Nations," she said.

Supporters of Mr. Lubanga in Bunia, DR Congo, told VOA they were happy with the court's decision to order his release. They said the charge that Lubanga recruited children to fight is untrue. On the contrary, Lubanga supporters said the children in question were orphans who sought protection from Lubanga.

Singh said whether orphans or not, it is never a good thing to recruit children to fight in conflicts.

"Ultimately it's up to the court to decide whether or not that is indeed true. But at the end of the day children under the age of 15 cannot be used to participate actively in hostilities regardless of whether or not they were recruited or enlisted or whatever," she said.

She said there are both positive and negative implications from the Lubanga trial.

"Certainly the impact on ethnic tensions and perceptions in Ituri that's something that cannot be discounted. And that's something that we raised with the International Criminal Court that it is really important to explain what's going on in The Hague to affected communities in Ituri to really convey that this is not an acquittal for Lubanga. He is not being declared innocent by the court but rather it's a technicality," Singh said.

Singh said Human Rights Watch has collected information that suggests that Lubanga may be guilty of certain crimes, including child recruitment. She said her organization also collected information that suggests that people higher up in the chain of command for Lubanga's rebel movement should also be prosecuted.

She said the Lubanga trial sends a powerful message about the role of the ICC in its attempt to prosecute war criminals.

"I think the message this case sends ultimately is a positive message, which is this court is not a court about prosecution at any cause. It's a court a of fair trial, and the judges of the court would make sure that that principle is strictly adhered to in proceedings before it," Singh said.

DRC Rebel Leader Bemba Transferred to Hague Court
Voice of America News
July 3, 2008

Officials with the International Criminal Court say former Congolese rebel leader Jean Pierre Bemba has been transferred to the Hague to face war crimes charges.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says Bemba was transferred Thursday to the Netherlands from Belgium, where he was arrested in May.

The court says Bemba's forces attacked civilians and committed acts of rape, torture, and pillaging in the Central African Republic during 2002 and 2003. CAR President Ange-Felix Patasse had invited Bemba's group into the country to help put down a coup attempt.

Bemba is one of four former Congolese militia leaders being held by the court. One of the others, Thomas Lubanga, remains in detention pending an appeal of a court order Wednesday that he be released. Lubanga is accused of using child soldiers to fight alongside his Union of Congolese Patriots militia during 2002 and 2003.

His trial was suspended last month after the court ruled that prosecutors inhibited his defense team.

Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo said Thursday that he remained confident justice for the militiamen's victims would come.

Bemba served as one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's four vice presidents following the end of the country's civil war in 2003. He ran for president in 2006, coming in second behind incumbent Joseph Kabila.

Bemba left the DRC for Portugal in April 2007 after clashes between his militia and government troops killed more than 200 people.

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Uganda (ICC)

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

Uganda Rebel Leader to Sign Final Peace Deal
Voice of America
By Peter Clottey
April 9, 2008

Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) peace negotiation team will today (Wednesday) hand over documents to rebel commander Joseph Kony to sign his side of the final peace deal. This comes after the United States Department of State gave visas to members of the rebel negotiating team to travel to the United Nations to seek the removal of the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrants against the top leaders of the LRA. The rebels said that although Kony will sign the final peace deal, they would not disarm until the arrest warrants are removed.

The final peace deal, which will also be signed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni tomorrow (Thursday) will end over two decades of LRA insurgency in northern Uganda. David Matsanga is the leader of the LRA rebel delegation. From the Southern Sudanese capital, Juba he tells reporter Peter Clottey that all is set for the rebel commander to sign the final peace deal.

"Two weeks ago general Joseph Kony called me and told me to postpone the signing of the final peace agreement that we had been negotiated and said we should sign this agreement himself. Should be able to sign this agreement in Rikwangba, but not any other person and that he will sign this agreement and that is all," Matsanga pointed out.

He said a final peace agreement with President Yoweri Museveni’s government would go a long way in showing the seriousness of the LRA towards finding a lasting solution to the northern Uganda conflict.

"I want to make it very clear to the world that this agreement has given the LRA the opportunity, and we shall remove the LRA from the list of the terrorist organizations. We have stopped general Joseph Kony and others to be taken to The Hague, we have managed to achieve the livestock of the people of Uganda to be retuned we have managed to secure UPDF (Uganda People’s Defense Forces) to get out of the soil of Sudan, and return to Uganda. We have managed to create inclusiveness, and participation in the government of Uganda because the people of northern Uganda has been marginalized by Museveni’s government for a long time," he said.

Matsanga said visas have been granted to members of his negotiating team to travel to the United Nations to seek the removal of the ICC arrest warrants against the top leadership of the LRA.

"Oh yes, my delegation has bargained and negotiated and we have actually defeated the Uganda government in negotiations…we secured several things that had never been there in Uganda…I want to tell the world that whether tomorrow or whatever it is we shall go to the United Nations Security Council and put our case and that is why we want the warrants to be lifted," Matsanga noted.

He reiterated the readiness of rebel commander Joseph Kony to sign the final peace deal, which would effectively end the rebels over two decades of insurgency.

"I want to tell you categorically that general Joseph Kony talked to me, he assured me and he told me to postpone the date up to the 10th. I postponed the date and I told Riek Marchar and told everybody that this is what general Joseph Kony has said…after signing the agreement, general Joseph Kony has to sit down with his people and they will tell him about Mato Put (Uganda’s traditional method of justice), and about what is going to happen in Uganda," he said.

Uganda rebel leader delays peace deal signing: top mediator
AFP
April 10, 2008

Uganda's top rebel leader Joseph Kony has requested further consultations before signing a peace agreement to end one of Africa's longest conflicts, the chief mediator said Thursday.

Speaking from the venue near the south Sudanese jungle town of Ri-Kwangba, where Kony was initially scheduled to sign at midday, Riek Machar said Kony had asked for more time to confer with elders from northern Uganda and mediators.

"Since he's now talking to cultural leaders and bishops, it may take time, then he will have a meeting with me and that too will take time," the south Sudanese vice president said.

"I expect it tomorrow," Machar said, when asked when the signing would take place.

Kony -- whose group is notorious for raping and mutilating civilians, enlisting child soldiers and massacring thousands -- has been in hiding to avoid a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Top LRA commanders have met on the other side of the Ri-Kwangba area's border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, but Kony was reportedly spotted recently in the neighbouring Central African Republic.

Kony's people were suspected of gang-raping women, taking dozens hostage and attacking villages, according to a draft UN report.

Ugandan rebels last week asked mediators to delay the signing of the peace agreement citing the inadequate nature of facilities such as toilets in their camp in Ri-Kwangba. Machar dismissed these allegations as "rubbish", insisting that southern Sudan was providing food and facilities.

Twenty years of fighting have left tens of thousands dead and displaced two million people, mainly in northern Uganda. Several thousands have been killed in southern Sudan where the LRA have camps.

Church and rights groups said the expected signing had raised hope of lasting stability in the region.

"War must stop forever. That is my expectation and that is the expectation of the people of northern Uganda and even the government," said Archbishop John Odama of Gulu diocese.

While welcoming the possible deal, Amnesty International expressed reservations on the its failure to address impunity.

"But we have serious concerns about the solutions that are being put forward... because they're not a comprehensive plan," said Jonathan O'Donohue, legal adviser for AI's International Justice Project.

A ceasefire was struck in August 2006, paving the way for peace talks in South Sudan capital Juba that have dragged on for more than a year and a half.

A permanent ceasefire signed in February is expected to take effect 24 hours after the signing of the final accord.

The talks were delayed by the LRA's insistence that ICC warrants against Kony and three of his top lieutenants be lifted before an agreement is signed. However, even with an agreement, Kony is not expected to return to Kampala.

While the Ugandan government has not requested such a move from The Hague-based tribunal, it has been vocal in advocating home-grown solutions to bring former rebels to justice.

Observers argue the government has a vested interest in scuppering too much disclosure at an international tribunal, as it may end up facing war crimes for forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands and killing civilians.

The rebels accuse the Ugandan People's Defence Force of carrying out abuses, but the army says it routinely punishes soldiers convicted of war crimes.

The conflict has raged since 1988, when Kony, a semi-illiterate former altar boy, took charge of a two-year-old regional rebellion among northern Uganda's ethnic Acholi minority.

The original rebellion was started in 1986 by Holy Spirit Movement commander Alice Lakwena, who told her fighters she could rely on magic potions to turn enemy bullets into stones.

Since the signing of the truce agreement almost two years ago, the war-scarred east African nation has engaged in aggressive reforms to attract investors and revamp its image.

Patience of LRA Victims Wearing Thin
IWPR
By Patrick Okino
April 10, 2008

With some apprehension, I began my journey to my home village, a place I had not been ever since the rebel war in northern Uganda began many years ago.

My trip took me first, however, to the Barlonyo refugee camp, north of Lira where the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, LRA, had brutally massacred 300 people in 2004.

I wanted to talk with survivors about the rebel leader Joseph Kony, who many doubted would sign a negotiated peace agreement following reports that he had retreated to the Central African Republic.

>But I began to think that peace was around the corner as I saw former refugees preparing fields for the year’s first planting following the recent rains.

Children walked happily along the road side and waved excitedly at the sight of my motorcycle – something most had not seen in years.

I stopped at the Ogur trading centre, and as I ordered a bottle of soda, I recalled that this place was once unreachable because of rebel patrols and attacks just a few kilometres from Lira.

Along the roads I saw fields of millet, beans, soy beans, and sorghum – crops that had not been planted during the 20-year war.

Nearby several people were loudly debating the outcome of the final peace agreement, and most doubted Kony’s sincerity. Few thought he would present himself and sign the accord – delayed now until April 15 in the South Sudan capital of Juba.

"The bible says there is time for everything," said one of the men. "This scripture is coming to pass on Kony and his fighters."

"We are not worried, even if he [Kony] doesn't sign the peace accord, because his haven [Central African Republic] is a thousand kilometres away," said another.

"This area is now [secure] and reachable [for refugees] unlike in 2003 and 2004," said Regina Akullo, 60, as she planted beans.

I sympathised with these people because I have lived through this war and know how it has devastated the region.

As I reached Barlonyo, a Luo word that means "abundant wealth", I expected to see remains of a battlefield. Instead, I saw permanent structures made of bricks and cement, all projects to build a commercial centre and vocational school to honour the dead.

I continued to Amwak, a village 50 km east of Lira and my home village. People there were bitter about the war and Kony, especially since he was still at large in CAR.

"As we speak now, we are not happy with the International Criminal Court, ICC, for letting Kony cross to CAR without being arrested," said my step-brother James Onyanga.

At the peak of the LRA insurgency in 2002, my mother Jusphanti Okino, 65, and my brothers Geoffrey Onyanga and Simon Eluk fled from the village for the safety of Lira.

After three years, however, and before the peace talks began in 2006, they told me they wanted to return home.

"I’m not used to this kind of life where food is purchased on daily basis," my mother told me. "I want to trek back to my home and start cultivating my own."

I was worried about their safety, because just a year earlier, rebels had ambushed a truck near our home, killing eight people and setting both the dead and the truck ablaze.

But they insisted, so I supported them with enough money for transport and food to get them started again. Luckily, they were all right, because the security in the area had improved.

But it had not been so for my grandfather, Erisa Onyanga, 90, and my uncle Peter Eluk, both of whom were killed during the rebel war. They were among the ten people who died during the war, out of the 50 who once lived in our village.

But already, life had turned around for people across the north, including my brother.

"Out of what I harvested this year, I have purchased two bulls to help us in cultivation," my older brother, Geoffrey, told me. "I think if alð goes well I will be `ble to buy mo2e."

Now with peace in the air, I think he will.

Uganda elders try to save talks with rebel Kony
Reuters
By Skye Wheeler and Francis Kwera
April 11, 2008

RI-KWANGBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Elders from northern Uganda tried to meet fugitive rebel leader Joseph Kony on Friday to salvage long-running peace talks after he delayed signing a deal to end one of Africa's longest wars.

The draft agreement between Kony's Lord's Resistance Army and the government appeared to be near collapse after the elusive guerrilla asked mediators to clarify parts of the text on Thursday and then broke with his chief negotiator.

Religious and cultural leaders who went to explain the document failed to find Kony on Thursday at an agreed spot near Ri-Kwangba on the remote and thickly wooded Sudan-Congo border. Early on Friday, they ventured back into the bush to try again.

"The developments of yesterday and today are a challenge to the peace process, nevertheless, the peace process continues," the Ugandan government's top negotiator, Internal Affairs Minister Ruhakana Rugunda, told Reuters.

Asked whether he thought Kony would sign on Friday, Rugunda said: "We need to know more ... there is no clear answer."

Kony's 22-year rebellion killed tens of thousands of people, uprooted 2 million more in northern Uganda and destabilised neighbouring parts of southern Sudan and eastern Congo.

Kony, who is wanted for multiple war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, did not appear at Thursday's planned signing ceremony in Ri-Kwangba.

South Sudan's Vice President Riek Machar, who has chaired talks between the two sides since mid-2006, said the LRA leader was unsure how the government planned to use its courts and traditional reconciliation rituals to counter the ICC warrants.

ICC prosecutors accuse the LRA boss and two deputies of crimes including rape, murder and the abduction of thousands of children to serve as fighters, porters and sex slaves.

Even if Kony does sign a final peace deal, the rebels have vowed never to disarm until the indictments are scrapped.

Uganda peace deal delayed; Govt. team returns to capital
The Hindu News Update Service
April 11, 2008

NABANGA (AP): A final peace deal to end one of Africa's longest wars broke down Friday after a fugitive rebel leader failed to show up in a jungle clearing to sign the agreement and government representatives headed home.

Before leaving this remote area near the Congolese border, chief government negotiator Ruhakana Rugunda said his team was heading back to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, to await further instructions. Rebels and government negotiators had been gathered in a clearing since Thursday waiting for Joseph Kony, who hasn't been seen in public since 2006.

"He did not sign as expected so we're going back and will wait to be informed by the chief mediator of the next steps to be taken," Rugunda said.

When asked whether he believed Kony was committed to peace, Rugunda said: "We are waiting for concrete evidence."

Kony's notoriously vicious Lord's Resistance Army is behind a 20-year insurgency in northern Uganda. The rebels are known for cutting the lips off their victims, abducting child soldiers and turning girls into sex slaves.

Kony and four other members of the rebel high command wanted by the International Criminal Court have gone into hiding. As part of the final deal, Uganda has agreed to approach the ICC and request that the indictments be withdrawn. Any decision to drop the international charges would have to be approved by judges at the court, who would first want to be sure the rebels get a proper trial in Uganda.

Under the deal, those charged with serious crimes during the insurgency would be tried in a special division of Uganda's High Court. Those accused of lesser crimes would be judged according to northern Uganda's traditional justice system, known as Mato Oput.

Mato Oput is a style of mediation that involves a public apology from the offender, who must also give a payment set by local elders _ often in cattle or sheep _ to the victims, or bereaved. In return, victims agree to forgive the accused.

Some human rights groups condemn such punishment as too lenient.

But more than a year of talks between the government and rebels have not yielded much, and were marked by walkouts and accusations of sabotage on both sides.

U.N. officials estimate that the LRA has kidnapped 20,000 children in the past two decades, turning the boys into soldiers and the girls into sex slaves for rebel commanders.

If both sides reach a comprehensive deal, it will be a major breakthrough in pacifying the volatile region comprising northern Uganda, eastern Congo and southern Sudan. Rebels from all three nations operated across the borders with impunity for decades until a peace accord halted Congo's civil war in 2003 and southern Sudanese rebels joined Sudan's government in 2005.

The Lord's Resistance Army was formed from the remnants of a northern Uganda rebellion that began in 1986 after Yoweri Museveni, a southerner, shot his way to power.

Kony mixed northern politics with religious mysticism, declaring himself a Christian prophet fighting to rule this country of 26 million people by the Ten Commandments.

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The Trial of Alberto Fujimori

Fujimori on Trial

Salazar confirms Montesinos’ power in the SIN
Fujimori On Trial
June 25, 2008

Seventy-fourth session. Former military general and National Intelligence Service (SIN) director, Julio Salazar Monroe continued his testimony, answering the questions of Fujimori’s defense lawyer regarding the legality and formality of the work carried out in the SIN.

1. Incidents during the hearing:

Lawyers for the victims’ families believe there could already be an agreement between Fujimori’s and Montesinos’ lawyers.

After Salazar, Alberto Fujimori’s former presidential advisor, Vladimiro Montesinos, will be summoned to testify. The Public Prosecutor (formal accusation, p. 30) indicates Montesinos as the person through whom Fujimori exercised his power over the Colina military detachment.

However, lawyer Carlos Rivera claims he wouldn’t be surprised if there is already some kind of agreement between the two men’s lawyers so that Montesinos does not incriminate Fujimori.

2. Julio Salazar Monroe’s testimony - Salazar answered the extensive questions of Fujimori’s lawyer (who is also his own lawyer), which were based on trying to confirm that the SIN’s work was guided by legality. The most relevant parts of the witness’ testimony were:

Vladimiro Montesinos, link between the SIN and the president

Salazar admitted that between 1991 and 1992 - when he was director of the SIN - he dealt with Fujimori through Montesinos, who was supposedly only a SIN advisor, since the president could not receive him directly on account of his frequent travels.

Vladimiro Montesinos and the management of SIN money

The witness reiterated that it was Fujimori who gave the order to give Montesinos access to Reserve 1 and Reserve 2 in the SIN. Though the witness does not know the exact destination of this money - he was never informed, despite his being SIN director - since the money went to "private actions," he assumes it was used for social work.

Montesinos and SIN meetings

Though Salazar claims that he was not informed on the missions entrusted to Montesinos, he saw the meetings that Montesinos had with government ministers, congressmen, magistrates from the Judicial Power and National Electoral Board, military officials, police officers and other government officials.

When the witness was asked if this policy of Montesinos’ meetings in the SIN was the same in 1991-1992 and 1997-1998, he first responded that yes, the policy was similar. However, after the defense’s reformulation of the question, the witness changed his answer, saying that there was an increase in Montesinos’ meetings.

Montesinos in the National Defense Council: Yes and no

Though Salazar said in the last session that Montesinos had participated in the National Defense Council meetings as SIN advisor, he claimed during this session that Montesinos participated in Superior Intelligence Council meetings, but not in National Defense Council meetings, which were presided by Fujimori. However, he later admitted that Montesinos accompanied Fujimori to the National Defense Council meetings.

Montesinos and military corruption

During the last session, the witness did not know how to clearly explain why three unrelated military officials were included in the analysis group that was personally congratulated by the president, resulting in their promotion. However, during this session Salazar clearly stated that the person who proposed placing these three officials in the analysis group was Vladimiro Montesinos, attributing this corrupt looking gesture to Montesinos.

3. Next session will continue with Julio Salazar Monroe

The session on Friday, June 27 will only take place during the morning. Fujimori’s lawyer will continue his examination of Julio Salazar Monroe, which will be followed by the judges’ questions. Vladimiro Montesinos is expected to testify in the following session on Monday, June 30.

Key Testimony in Fujimori Trial
BBC News
June 30, 2008

Peru's ex-intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos is to testify in the trial of former President Alberto Fujimori, who is accused of human rights abuses.

The judge summoned Mr Montesinos - who is currently serving a jail term for arms smuggling and is alleged to have organised death squads in the 1990s.

Prosecutors hope he will support their case that Mr Fujimori ordered two massacres that killed 25 people.

The former president, who faces up to 30 years in jail, denies the charges.

Correspondents say nobody knows whether Mr Montesinos will testify in favour or against his former boss, or choose to remain silent.

Death squads

Mr Montesinos, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence, was Mr Fujimori's intelligence chief during his 1990-2000 rule.

As such, he was privy to the government's policies and strategy in its war against left-wing rebels.

Mr Fujimori's trial relates to two massacres carried out by a death squad known as La Colina, in which a total of 25 people died.

In 1991, La Colina raided a barbecue in a poor suburb of Lima known as Barrios Altos and killed 15 people.

The following year, they kidnapped nine students and a professor.

They were taken away from the campus and summarily executed. Their remains were later found in an unmarked grave.

It is alleged the death squad was under the direct command of the Peruvian president.

Mr Fujimori is also charged with ordering the illegal detention and interrogation of a prominent journalist, Gustavo Gorriti, and businessman Samuel Dyer, in 1992.