June 2020 - Domestic Prosecution of International Crimes Update
By: Sophia Zademack, Junior Research Associate, PILPG-NL
Several cases based on Universal Jurisdiction have either been initiated or taken up again after breaks due to COVID 19. The following post highlights the work of courts and lawyers around the world that prosecute international crimes in their national jurisdictions.
EUROPE
UK | Most claims against British soldiers during Iraqi war dropped
The director of the Service Prosecution Authority (SPA) said, one remaining case against british soldiers in Iraq was still examined, as the low level of offending and lack of credible evidence had led to most of the cases to be dismissed. He also admitted that it is quite possible that none of the original allegations will lead to a prosecution, referring to the last open case. Additionally, he reassured his confidence that the separate, preliminary investigations conducted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague will conclude this year without further action being taken. [June 2nd, 2020]
Kosovo | Kosovo Serb acquitted of war crimes despite Supreme Court ruling
The defendant, Milorad Zajic was acquitted by the Basic Court in Peja/Pec in March 2019 of killing two people and expelling ethnic Albanians from a village during the Kosovo war in 1998. Kosovo’s Supreme Court has now ruled that two court verdicts wrongly found him not guilty of committing war crimes against civilians and violating the Geneva Conventions. However, his acquittal stands because the Supreme Court cannot order a retrial after a defendant has already been acquitted. [June 4th, 2020]
Kosovo | Kosovo President accused of war crimes
The Kosovar President, Hashim Thaci, has been accused of war crimes by a special international prosecutor in The Hague. Allegedly, the president and others are criminally responsible for murders, torture, and enforced disappearances. Mr. Thaci was a former commander with the Kosovo Liberation Army during the war for independence from Serbia between 1998 and 1999. The accusations, covering Kosovo's independence war against Serbia, are being assessed by a judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers who will decide if the case goes to trial. [June 25th, 2020]
Germany | Syrians file claim over sexual abuses in Assad’s jails
Seven Syrians who suffered or witnessed rape and sexual abuse in detention centers under President Bashar al-Assad have submitted a criminal complaint to prosecutors in Germany. The plaintiffs were held in various detention centers between 2011 and 2013, where they were victims or witnesses of torture and sexual violence, including rape, "electrical shocks to the genitals…, and forced abortion“. They named nine senior Syrian government and air force intelligence officials in their complaint, including Jamil Hassan, who is already the subject of an international arrest warrant from Germany and France on suspicion of crimes against humanity. [June 18th, 2020]
AFRICA
Libya | Prime Minister urges UN to provide technical support
Libyan Prime Minister al-Sarraj has urged the UN to provide technical assistance in collecting and documenting evidence of war crimes committed by the militia affiliated with warlord Khalifa Haftar. The UN was asked to provide the necessary assistance to the authorities to investigate the crimes and violations committed in the south of the cities of Tripoli and Tarhuna. After civilian mass graves were found in Tarhuna, the Libyan government urged for an investigation "on the grounds of planting explosives, mines in civilian areas, executions, and torture" and called on to the international community to take action. [June 17th, 2020]
Sudan | War crimes suspect detained in Central African Republic
Ali Kushayb, a Sudanese war crimes suspect, turned himself in and was transferred to the International Criminal Court. Kushayb is a former commander of the Janjaweed, a militia that worked alongside the Sudanese armed forces in their campaign against the Fur, Massalit, and Zarghawa people in Darfur, Sudan, in the early 2000s. He is charged with 50 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising out of that campaign. [June 12th, 2020]
Sudan | Prosecutor suggests Bashir might not be extradited to the ICC
Sudan’s Prosecutor, Tagelsir al-Hebr, said "individuals wanted by the International Criminal Court are not required to be (physically) present at the court's headquarters in The Hague“ for a judgement. Hebr, who did not refer to Bashir by name, said legal obstacles concerning Sudan's sovereignty stand in the way of extraditing people to the ICC and that Sudan would coordinate further actions with the ICC. [June 15th, 2020]
THE AMERICAS
Argentina | Possibility of a case against Myanmar kept open by the Federal Appeals Court
A court in Buenos Aires overturned a previous decision not to pursue a case against State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and senior officers in the Myanmar military. The federal appeals court in Buenos Aires has instead requested more information from the International Criminal Court (ICC), to ensure that a case in Argentina would not duplicate other justice efforts. Furthermore, it ruled that it is necessary to approach the ICC for more information about its case against Myanmar through a formal diplomatic note, before making a final decision on whether to open an investigation in Argentina. [May 29th, 2020]
United States | Military Judge rules that torture can be considered in sentencing Guantanamo Prisoners
A military judge ruled that war court judges have the power to reduce the prison sentence of a Al Qaeda operative at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as a remedy for torture by the C.I.A. In the ruling, the court said that “taken as true, this mistreatment rises to the level of torture.” The defense argued that the judge had no such authority because there was no explicit provision for it in the manual for the commissions, which are a hybrid of military and civilian tribunals. This was turned down by the judgement saying that it: “has the inherent authority to grant a remedy […], especially when no other remedy is available.” [June 4th, 2020]
United States | Alleged death squad member charged with torture
Michael Sang Correa, was an alleged member of the notorious “Junglers” death squad in The Gambia, set up by then-president Yahya Jammeh. Jammeh’s rule was marked by widespread human rights violations, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, torture, and arbitrary detention. In the indictment before the US District Court of Colorado, the US Department of Justice alleges that Correa is responsible for the torture of at least six people and is also implicated in some of the Jammeh government’s other notorious crimes, such as executing a former intelligence chief and four associates. [June 12th, 2020]