Monthly News Updates: Domestic Prosecution of International Crimes - December 2020
By: Alexandrah Bakker, Junior Research Associate, PILPG-NL
The following post highlights developments from around the world relating to the prosecution of international crimes before domestic jurisdictions. This month, states have not only continued to arrest and try defendants but have also taken steps to repair the harms caused by international crimes.
EUROPE
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Bosnian prosecutors charge former Bosnian Serb fighters with crimes against humanity
The Bosnian state prosecution charged two former Bosnian Serb fighters, Borislav Pjano and Spomenko Novovic, with crimes against humanity for their participation in an attack on Bosniak civilians in Foča in 1992. [December 30, 2020]
The Netherlands | Dutch Ministry of Defence asks prosecutors to investigate possible war crimes by Dutch armed forces in Afghanistan
The Dutch Ministry of Defence asked prosecutors to investigate whether Dutch armed forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan in 2007, following an interview with a veteran who reported that he was ordered to fire at civilians. [December 23, 2020]
The Netherlands | Relatives of Srebrenica victims can file claims for compensation from the Dutch government starting March 2021
Relatives of Srebrenica victims will be able to file claims for compensation from the Dutch state from March 2021 until March 2023. The claims will be handled by an independent commission-based in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is the product of a decision of the Dutch Supreme Court, which held that the Dutch state is partially responsible for the deaths of several hundreds of victims in Srebrenica in 1995. [December 22, 2020]
Germany | German prosecutors charge a Syrian doctor with murder and torture as crimes against humanity
German prosecutors charged Alaa M., a Syrian doctor living in Germany, with murder and torture as crimes against humanity. The charges relate to crimes committed during the time Alaa M. was working at a military prison in Homs, Syria in 2011 and 2012. [December 21, 2020]
Croatia | Croatian Supreme Court increases sentences of former Serb paramilitaries who killed Croatian civilians in 1991
The Croatian Supreme Court increased the sentences of Dusan Zarkovic, Bogdan Jednak, and Dusan Martic, former Serb paramilitaries, from 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment. The Supreme Court thereby upheld the decision of the Zagreb County Court, which convicted the men in absentia of war crimes for the killing of three Croatian civilians in 1991. [December 17, 2020]
The Netherlands | The Netherlands will begin implementing a voluntary compensation scheme in Iraq
The Dutch Ministry of Defence announced that it will begin the implementation of a voluntary compensation scheme in Hawija, Iraq, following the 2015 bombing of an alleged ISIS bomb factory which resulted in the deaths of a number of civilians. The scheme aims to repair the city’s electricity network, improve employment opportunities and infrastructure, and clear rubble. [December 15, 2020]
Azerbaijan | Prosecutors announce the arrest of four members of Azerbaijan’s armed forces suspected of war crimes
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan announced that four members of Azerbaijan’s armed forces were arrested on suspicion of war crimes. Prosecutors accused the suspects of defiling bodies, inhumanely treating enemy combatants, and defacing gravestones during the conflict with Armenia over the Nagorno-Karabakh region. [December 14, 2020]
Switzerland | Trial opens in the case against Alieu Kosiah, a former Liberian rebel commander
The first phase of the trial against former Liberian rebel commander Alieu Kosiah took place in Bellinzona, Switzerland, between December 3, 2020, and December 11, 2020. The charges against Kosiah include the recruitment and use of child soldiers, forced transportation, looting, cruel treatment of civilians, attempted murder, murder, desecration of a corpse, and rape. [December 11, 2020]
Bosnia and Herzegovina | The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicts two men of crimes against humanity for the rape of a woman during the war in Foča
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina convicted two men of crimes against humanity for raping a woman during the war in Foča in 1992. The Court sentenced each defendant to eight years’ imprisonment and ordered them to pay the victim nearly €19,000 in compensation. [December 3, 2020]
Hungary | Metropolitan Court of Budapest sentences Syrian national for crimes against humanity
The Metropolitan Court of Budapest sentenced a Syrian national to life imprisonment for crimes against humanity and terrorism, in a trial brought on the basis of universal jurisdiction. [December 3, 2020]
AFRICA
Ethiopia | Ethiopian Federal Court pardons former state officials previously convicted of genocide
The Ethiopian Federal Court pardoned Addis Tedla and Berhanu Bayeh, who had been senior officials of Ethiopia’s Derg military leadership. The pair, who had been convicted of genocide and sentenced to death in absentia, have been sheltering in the Italian embassy in Addis Ababa for 29 years. [December 25, 2020]
Central African Republic | Constitutional Court invalidates presidential candidacy over international crimes allegations
The Central African Republic’s Constitutional Court invalidated the candidacy of former president François Bozizé. The Court based its decision on the requirement that candidates be “of good character.” The Court considered that this requirement was not satisfied because Bozizé is subject to an international arrest warrant and United Nations sanctions. [December 3, 2020]
AUSTRALIA
Australia | Australian government appoints special investigator in war crimes inquiry
The Australian government announced that Justice Mark Weinberg will serve as a special investigator in the inquiry into war crimes committed by Australian armed forces in Afghanistan, following the conclusion of the administrative inquiry into the same crimes in November. Weinberg will examine the evidence unearthed in this inquiry and, where appropriate, refer cases to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions. [December 16, 2020]
THE AMERICAS
The United States of America | Gambian “Jungler” appears in a preliminary hearing before a US District Court in Colorado over torture allegations
Michael Sang Correa, a Gambian national believed to have been part of the Jammeh-led government militia faces allegations of torture and conspiracy to commit torture for acts that took place in 2006 in a District Court in Colorado. So far, the Covid-19 pandemic has created significant delays in this trial. [December 4, 2020]