IRMCT Revokes Referral of Contempt Case to Serbia, Citing Witness Safety Concerns: Judge Liu Daqun of the MICT has revoked an order made last year referring a contempt case to Serbia, after witnesses raised concerns for their safety and refused to testify in Belgrade. The two accused, Vjerica Radeta and Petar Jojic, were charged in 2012 with tampering with witnesses in the trial against their party leader, Vojislav Seselj. A summons has been issued requiring the two to return to the Hague to face trial. However, they are refusing to cooperate and claim that they are protected from extradition by a ruling of Belgrade’s High Court in 2016, which found that extradition to the Hague only applied to those charged with war crimes, not contempt of court. Serbian lawyer Visnja Sijacic of Belrgade’s Humanitarian Law Centre has stated that the court erred in its decision, as ‘serbia cannot point to it’s domestic legislation in order to justify non-compliance with international obligations.’ (MICT, Balkan Insight)
UN Fact Finding Mission Urges International Community to Cut Off Financial Support to Myanmar Military: A UN fact finding mission in Myanmar has called on the international community to stop providing support to the Myanmar Military, who are accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide for atrocities committed against the Rohingya community. Marizuki Darusman, the chairperson of the fact finding mission, said that cutting financial support is necessary as there has been no progress towards a resolution of the conflict, which has displaced over 1 million Rohingya civilians. Myanmar’s government has denied the allegations of human rights abuses, saying civilians have not been targeted by the military. The fact finding mission was urgently established by the Human Rights Council on 24 March 2017 to establish the facts of the alleged human rights abuses by military forces against the Rohingya population, in order to ensure accountability for perpetrators and
The post 16 May 2019 – IRMCT Revokes Referral of Contempt Case to Serbia, Citing Witness Safety Concerns, and UN Fact Finding Mission Urges International Community to Cut Off Financial Support to Myanmar Military appeared first on ICL Media Review.