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03 February 2016 - NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice
Articles
Hague Prosecutors Dispute Mladic Expert’s Srebrenica Testimony
by Balkan Insight, 02 Feb 2016
Mladic’s expert witness Dusan Pavlovic on Tuesday repeated his claim that “at least 4,000 to 5,000” Bosnian Army soldiers and civilians were killed when trying to break through Bosnian Serb lines and escape Srebrenica in July 1995, despite prosecution claims that his testimony was based on incorrect data. During cross-examination, the prosecutor pointed to what he called factual inaccuracies in Pavlovic’s report, claiming that he did not accurately cite eyewitness statements about the disappearance or murder of Bosniak men who were trying to break through Serb lines and make it to safety in Tuzla after Srebrenica fell.Pavlovic said thousands of Bosniaks were killed “during combat activities when trying to break through” Serb lines.But the prosecutor cited statements by witnesses who said the Bosniaks were actually captured by Bosnian Serb forces and “died as victims of mass executions”.
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War crimes should not be part of any Syria amnesty: UN
By Aljazeera, 01 Feb 2016
The United Nations has said that there should be no amnesty for people suspected of committing war crimes as talks aimed at ending Syria's war continued to struggle in Geneva. Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the top UN human rights official, maintained on Monday that the deliberate starvation of Syrians was a potential war crime and a crime against humanity that should be prosecuted and not covered by any amnesty that may be agreed as part of a peace deal. "In the case of Syria, we are there to remind everyone that where there are allegations that reach the threshold of war crimes or crimes against humanity, that amnesties are not permissible," he told reporters in Geneva. On Saturday, Doctors Without Borders warned that at least 16 residents of Madaya, a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border that has been under siege for months, continued to die of starvation despite the delivery of aid three weeks ago. The group said that the town was in urgent need of emergency aid as an estimated 320 people were suffering from malnutrition, 33 of whom were in danger of death if they did not receive treatment quickly.
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African Union members back Kenyan plan to leave ICC
By The Guardian, 01 Feb 2016
Members of the African Union have backed a Kenyan proposal to push for withdrawal from the international criminal court, repeating claims that it unfairly targets the continent. Chad’s president, Idriss Déby, who was elected African Union chairman at the two-day summit in Addis Ababa, criticised the court for focusing its efforts on African leaders. The war crimes trial of the former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo began last week, rekindling a bitter row across Africa over the international justice system. Set up in 2002 as the last resort to try war criminals and perpetrators of genocide never tried at home, the ICC has opened inquiries involving nine nations, all but one of them African: Kenya, Ivory Coast, Libya, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (twice), Uganda, Mali and, most recently, Georgia. The AU, and particularly Kenya, has accused the court of unfairly targeting Africans for prosecution. Cases included a failed case to Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and a faltering case against his deputy, William Ruto, for allegedly masterminding deadly post-election violence in 2007-09 in which about 1,200 people died.
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Leaving ICC is not an option for Africa
by Daily Nation, 31 Jan 2016
The proposal by leaders at the African Union to move forward a policy of “collective withdrawal” from the Rome Statute, the foundational treaty of member states to the International Criminal Court (ICC), is a source of real concern. African governments have raised many objections to the way the ICC is run, and made credible claims about the independence of some of the court’s organs, including the Office of the Prosecutor. In the case of the remaining Kenya cases in The Hague involving Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang, Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed has complained about the reluctance of the ICC to accept the views of member states that recanted evidence should not guide the decisions of judges. The solution, though, is not for African states to pull out of the ICC but rather for them to press for internal changes to make it better. The ICC plays an important role in offering justice to victims. What the institution needs is internal reforms to make its application of justice more even-handed and its prosecutorial team more efficient and effective.
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ICC authorises Russia-Georgia war crimes investigation
By BBC, 27 Jan 2016
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorised an investigation into possible war crimes perpetrated during a conflict between Russia and Georgia. The investigation relates to the conflict in 2008 centred on South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia. The ICC says it has "a reasonable basis to believe" that crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed. More than 6,000 alleged victims made representations to the court in December 2015. In October 2015, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda announced she had evidence suggesting both sides had killed peacekeepers, which is a war crime. It also suggested that South Ossetian forces had killed ethnic Georgian civilians. The ICC said the types of crimes allegedly committed included: Crimes against humanity, such as murder, forcible transfer of population and persecution and war crimes such as attacks against the civilian population, wilful killing, intentionally directing attacks against peacekeepers, destruction of property and pillaging. It said the crimes allegedly happened between 1 July and 10 October 2008. This will be the ICC's first investigation into a conflict outside Africa.
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Trial of Ivory Coast’s Laurent Gbagbo Will Test International Criminal Court
by New York Times, 27 Jan 2016
ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast — To some of his countrymen, Laurent Gbagbo is nothing more than an executioner who oversaw the killings and rapes of dozens of people. To others, he has become a martyr and a hero who deserves freedom. On Thursday, Mr. Gbagbo, the former president of, Ivory Coast, will go on trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. facing four counts of crimes against humanity stemming from the violence surrounding the 2010 presidential election. He was narrowly defeated in a runoff, but he insisted that he had won and refused to cede power, leading to months of turmoil and the deaths of more than 3,000 people before his arrested in April 2011. The trial of Mr. Gbagbo is an important challenge for the International Criminal Court. He is the first former president to reach trial at the tribunal, which has been in operation for a decade with a mandate to deal with war crimes and genoc ide. Also on trial with him will be Charles Blé Goudé, one of Mr. Gbagbo’s militia leaders in the 2011 upheaval, which followed more than a decade of ethnic political violence in Ivory Coast.
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