UN reports says war crimes by all sides in Libya should be brought to ICC: A report issued by the United Nations says that war crimes and other human rights abuses have been committed in the past two years and those who are responsible should face investigation and prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ninety-five-page report is based on interviews with 200 witnesses and victims and 900 individual complaints. Six UN human rights officers compiled evidence that consisted of; gender-based violence and discrimination, unlawful executions, torture, sex crimes, abductions, arbitrary detentions, military attacks on civilian areas and abuse of children. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said that “One of the most striking elements of this report lies in the complete impunity which continues to prevail in Libya and the systemic failures of the justice system.” The report says that all of this is happening in a climate of “complete impunity” which has been made worse due to the collapse of Libya’s justice system and that crimes are being committed by “a multitude of actors – both state and non-state.” The report calls for investigations by the ICC and for the UN Security Council to consider economic sanctions against those found responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Libya. (BBC, Reuters, The Jerusalem Post)
Serbia promises to cooperate on witness intimidation perpetrators in Seselj case: The legal representative of the Serbian government at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Sasa Obradovic, has stated that Belgrade wrote to the ICC promising cooperation over the case of three accused Radical Party members who are wanted on contempt charges. Obradovic said he “promised the [ICTY] trial chamber that the case will be dealt with in Serbia according to the Law on Cooperation with the ICTY which Serbia signed” and that “the case will first be discussed during a government session and I was told that will happen soon.” After the case is discussed by the government, it will be forwarded to Belgrade’s higher court for an examination by a judge to see if it is in accordance with the ICTY cooperation law and if the Serbian judge rules in favor then the accused would be sent to The Hague. The ICTY’s trial chamber accused Belgrade of failing to cooperate earlier this month because it had not arrested the three Radical Party members – Vjerica Radeta, Jovo Ostojic, and Petar Jojic – and ordered Belgrade to send a report every two weeks describing what actions the government of Serbia is taking to arrest the accused. According to Serbia’s Law on Cooperation With the ICTY, Belgrade does not have to comply with all ICTY requests and can deny any request if it believes it to violate the sovereignty or national security of Serbia. (Balkan Insight)
ICC Prosecutor declines to indicate when preliminary examination into Israel / Palestine will be decided: The Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, declined stating when her 18-month-long preliminary examination into the allegations of Israeli war crimes would be complete or to what extent she was bound by the 2015 United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on the 2014 Gaza conflict. Bensouda stated that they were “not looking, judging the whole judicial system of any state or any system that is supposed to have jurisdiction or that could exercise jurisdiction” and that they were specifically looking at “specific crimes,” “specific conduct,” and “specific persons” in order to find who is responsible for the crime. Moreover, she said that everything was being done in “an independent and very impartial manner.” Finally, Bensouda stated that they had taken note of the UN report but are collecting information from “different, divergent sources” rather than just one source. (Haaretz)
Nuon Chea international counsel referred to bar assoc for statement about judge: Victore Koppe, defense counsel for Nuon Chea, has been referred to the Amsterdam Bar Association, again, for alleged professional misconduct following an interview with the Mkong Review literary journal. Mr. Koppe allegedly criticized Judge Jean-Marc Lavergne stating, “If you’re in that courtroom day in day out, you know… it’s unbearable, day in day out, to be faced with that French judge, who is the ultimate combination of bias, incompetence and dumbness. Trial Chamber President Nil Nonn wrote a letter to the Amsterdam bar identifying a number of objectionable quotes from Mr. Koppe’s interview including that Judge Lavergne “is on an active path to try and prevent [Nuon Chea’s] story [from] being told.” This is the second time Mr. Koppe has been referred to the Amsterdam bar in less than 3 months. In August, he accused Judge Lavergne of making “cowardly decisions” and lacking “judicial integrity” and the Trial Chamber sent a letter to his bar in December after he ignored their warning to “correct his behavior”. Mr. Koppe said he believes what he said was “well within the range of [his] free speech rights” and he was “not bothered at all” by the latest referral. (Cambodia Daily)
ECCC defense lawyers address documents on Khmer Rouge treatment of minorities: On 24 February 2016, defense counsel for Khieu Samphan, the former Khmer Rouge head of state, presented several documents in an attempt to demonstrate that the regime’s alleged persecution of the Vietnamese people was political and not racial, thus not included under the charge of genocide. Anta Guisse, defense attorney, highlighted that the conflict with both the Cham Muslim and Vietnamese people existed prior to the regime by citing to scholars, newspapers, propaganda and Democratic Kampuchea (DK) meeting records. She said that “the issue was not race, the issue was politics… the problems that may have occurred were not created by the DK, but these excesses committed against the Vietnamese [were]… problems that dated back to the Lon Nol regime.” Guisse then pointed to scholar Stephen Heder’s analysis of the Khmer Rhouge’s slogan “Kmer body with a Vietnamese head” – a description applying to ethnic Khmers born in Vietnam who were also persecuted under the regime. Heder wrote that a Vietnamese political structure was conjured on top of Cambodian leadership. Civil party lawyers also presented documents detailing the accounts of ethnic Vietnamese victims with one account reading that, “he was beaten 50 times with a whip.” (Phnom Penh Post)
The post 25 February 2016 – NEWS ABOUT THE COURTS – War crimes in Libya and the ICC, Serbia cooperation on witness intimidation, ICC Preliminary Examination on Israel / Palestine and ECCC submissions appeared first on ICL Media Review.