Monthly News Updates: Domestic Prosecution of International Crimes - June 2021
By: Alexandrah Bakker, Research Associate, PILPG-NL
The following post highlights developments from around the world in the domestic prosecution of international crimes. This month saw developments at all stages of criminal proceedings, including the filing of criminal complaints, the strengthening of national legislation, and long-awaited convictions.
EUROPE
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Constitutional Court rejects appeal against crimes against humanity conviction
Bosnia’s Constitutional Court has rejected Zoran Babic’s appeal against his conviction of crimes against humanity. Babic is serving a 35-year sentence for murders he committed during the war in the former Yugoslavia. The Constitutional Court held that the lower courts had not violated Babic’s right to a fair trial after Babic complained that a hearing had taken place in his absence while he was unable to attend for medical reasons. [June 25, 2021]
Switzerland | Federal Criminal Court convicted Alieu Kosiah of war crimes
The Swiss Federal Criminal Court convicted Alieu Kosiah of war crimes for his role as the commander of the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy (ULIMO) rebel group during the Liberian civil wars of the 1990s. The Court sentenced Kosiah to 20 years’ imprisonment, the maximum sentence. This is the first time Switzerland’s civilian jurisdictions heard a war crimes case. [June 18, 2021]
Germany | Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf convicts woman of crimes against humanity
The Higher Regional Court of Dusseldorf convicted a German woman, who was a member of ISIS, of crimes against humanity and sentenced her to six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. Notably, the Court convicted the woman of persecution on the grounds of gender and religion for crimes committed against enslaved Yazidi women. [June 18, 2021]
France | Investigating judges indict tech executives for complicity in torture and enforced disappearance
Investigating judges of the Paris Judicial Court’s special war crimes unit have indicted four individuals of complicity in torture and enforced disappearance. The indicted persons are all executives of the companies Amesys and Nexa Technologies. They have been under investigation since 2011 when human rights NGOs filed complaints against the companies for selling surveillance technology to the Libyan and Egyptian regimes. [June 17, 2021]
The Netherlands | District Court of The Hague conducts hearings in Syria war crimes case
The District Court of The Hague conducted hearings on the merits in the case of Ahmad Abu-K., a Syrian accused of committing a war crime in 2012 after the discovery of a YouTube video depicting his involvement in the execution of a Syrian officer. The hearings lasted three days, and the Court will deliver a verdict in early July. [June 15-17, 2021]
France | Human rights NGO files torture complaint against United Arab Emirates official
The Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR), an NGO based in Lebanon, filed a criminal complaint in France against Major General Ahmed al-Raisi, an official from the United Arab Emirates who is running to be president of Interpol. The complaint accused al-Raisi of being responsible for the torture of an activist imprisoned in Abu Dhabi. [June 12, 2021]
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced defendants for crimes against civilians
The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina sentenced several defendants to serve between five and ten years in prison over the inhumane treatment and unlawful detention of Serb and Croat civilians in 1994. [June 10, 2021]
AFRICA
Liberia | Civil society introduces bill for the establishment of a war crimes tribunal
A group of 15 Liberian civil society organizations introduced a bill in Parliament to establish a tribunal with jurisdiction over crimes committed between 1979 and 2003. This crucially covers the period between 1989 and 2003, during which two civil wars took place. To date, there have been few prosecutions for international crimes committed during this time, and most cases have taken place in third states on the basis of universal jurisdiction. [June 24, 2021]
South Africa | Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that a delay in the prosecution of Apartheid-era crimes does not violate the defendant’s right to a fair trial
The Supreme Court of Appeal of South Africa has ruled that a 47-year delay in the prosecution of a former police officer accused of the murder of an anti-Apartheid activist does not violate the defendant’s right to a fair trial. The delay was the result of political interference, with an initial inquest ruling that the victim had committed suicide in police custody. [June 21, 2021]
The Gambia | Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission public hearings come to an end
The Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) has concluded its public hearings. It held its first hearings in 2019 and experienced some delays because of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the TRRC’s mandate is to establish a historical record of human rights abuses in the Gambia between 1994 and 2017, the Commission has the ability to recommend the prosecution of offenders. In his concluding remarks, Lead Counsel Essa Faal summarized the abuses described by witnesses and labeled them as crimes against humanity. Faal called for justice to be done, be it in the Gambia or elsewhere. [May 28, 2021]