Category Archives: International criminal justice

ICC urged to delay possible war crimes charges against Israel and Hamas

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G7 diplomats argue any move now in investigation launched in 2021 could disrupt current ceasefire talks

Diplomats from the G7 industrialised nations have urged officials at the international criminal court not to announce war crimes charges against Israel or Hamas officials, amid concerns that such a move could disrupt the chances of a breakthrough in ceasefire talks.

Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have suggested that the ICC could press charges imminently after an investigation launched in 2021 that covers events starting in 2014. The inquiry has also been looking at Israel’s construction of settlements in occupied territory.

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UK lawyer to oversee ICC investigation into alleged war crimes in Palestinian territories

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Andrew Cayley, previously Britain’s chief military prosecutor, to run operation of the complex case

A senior British lawyer has been appointed to oversee the international criminal court’s investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories, the Guardian understands.

Andrew Cayley, a barrister and former military prosecutor, has recently joined the ICC after he was chosen by the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to lead the high-profile investigation.

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Taiwan considers joining ICC to deter potential China invasion

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Joining court would allow investigation of Xi Jinping if he were to order act of war against Taiwan

Taiwan’s government is considering joining the international criminal court, in part to increase deterrence of a Chinese attack or invasion.

Supporters also say it would help universalise the international legal system, which has a low presence in Asia, and increase Taiwan’s global participation at a time when Beijing works to keep it as isolated as possible.

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Former Yugoslavia countries must face past horrors or risk return to conflict, Council of Europe official says

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Council’s commissioner for human rights says some people prosecuted in the Hague for war crimes ‘return to their communities as heroes’

The failure of the countries of the former Yugoslavia to address their violent past has had devastating consequences for human rights and could ultimately lead to a return to conflict in the region, according to a new Council of Europe report.

The report, published on Thursday by the council’s commissioner for human rights, Dunja Mijatović, said the region has been backsliding for many years on seeking justice and accountability for the brutal wars of the 1990s in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, which killed more than 130,000 people.

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French court issues arrest warrant for Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes

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Three others also subject to warrants over use of sarin gas in two attacks in Syria in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people

A French court has issued an international arrest warrant for the Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad for complicity in war crimes against humanity linked to chemical weapon attacks on civilians.

Three others – including Assad’s brother Maher, head of an elite army unit – are also subject to warrants over the use of banned sarin gas in two attacks in August 2013 that killed more than 1,000 people, including hundreds of children.

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US begins sharing Russian war-crimes evidence with Hague court

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Quiet decision ends dispute within Biden administration over ICC cooperation after Pentagon had been accused of obstruction

The Biden administration has said it has begun sharing evidence with the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague on war crimes committed in Ukraine.

The announcement ends a months-long dispute within the administration over the issue, in which the national security council (NSC) and the state department backed cooperation with the ICC, with the Pentagon resisting on the grounds it would imply endorsement of an international court that could one day seek to prosecute US soldiers.

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The RSF are out to finish the genocide in Darfur they began as the Janjaweed. We cannot stand by | Kate Ferguson

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Peace between Hemedti’s RSF and Sudan’s army will not end war crimes. As UN security council president, Britain must act

As conflict in Sudan escalates, it is becoming clear that the Rapid Support Forces has returned to Darfur to complete the genocide it began 20 years ago. The RSF is the Janjaweed rebranded, the “devils on horseback” used by the Sudanese government from 2003 to implement widespread and systematic crimes against non-Arab communities across Darfur. The RSF was, and still is, commanded by Gen Mohamed Hamdan “Hemedti” Dagalo.

In recent weeks, what we knew was coming has been confirmed. Yale University’s Conflict Observatory, which uses a combination of satellite imagery, Nasa thermal-detection data and open-source analysis, found evidence of the “targeted destruction of at least 26 communities” by the RSF between 15 April and 10 July. Mass graves have been discovered, and satellite imagery shows entire urban neighbourhoods and villages have been burned down.

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Sexual violence is junta’s ‘modus operandi’, Myanmar activist tells UN

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People are united to end military dictatorship but international support is needed, Naw Hser Hser says

The crisis in Myanmar should be referred to the international criminal court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including widespread sexual violence, an open session at the UN security council will be told.

Naw Hser Hser, the first Myanmar human rights defender to brief council members in an open session since the 2021 coup, will also call for greater action to cut crucial supplies of arms and finances to the military junta.

In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support for rape and sexual abuse on 0808 802 9999 in England and Wales, 0808 801 0302 in Scotland, or 0800 0246 991 in Northern Ireland. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html

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Ugandan president and son accused of sponsoring violence in ICC testimony

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Documents containing allegations of torture filed to court in support of complaint made by Bobi Wine

The Uganda president, Yoweri Museveni, and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba have been accused of sponsoring violence and abusing critics in harrowing testimony filed before the international criminal court.

The submissions contain detailed allegations of the torture of opposition figures and activists who report being arrested arbitrarily and being held incommunicado in “torture centres”, where they were reportedly interrogated about their links with the opposition figure Bobi Wine and subjected to physical harm and indignifying treatment.

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Rwandan ex-police chief arrested in South Africa over 1994 genocide

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Fulgence Kayishema, 62, charged with playing leading role in church killing of more than 2,000 people

One of the world’s most wanted genocide suspects, a Rwandan former police chief, Fulgence Kayishema, has been arrested in South Africa and charged with playing a leading role in the murder of more than 2,000 people in a church in April 1994.

Kayishema has spent more than two decades as a fugitive and was living under a false name at the time of his arrest on Wednesday afternoon in Paarl, 35 miles (60km) north-east of Cape Town. He was detained by the South African police and members of a tracking team from the Rwandan war crimes tribunal based in Arusha, Tanzania.

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Former minister urges UK to back international anti-corruption court

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Lord Hain is seeking amendments to economic crime bill requiring ministers to back establishment of new court

The UK government should back the establishment of an international anti-corruption court to prosecute corrupt leaders of countries unwilling or unable to enforce their own anti-kleptocracy laws, according to Lord Hain, the former Foreign Office minister.

With cross-party support, Hain will propose that the time has come for Britain to throw its weight behind the growing global momentum for an international court, analogous to the international criminal court in The Hague.

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UK ‘should impose sanctions on human rights abusers in Sudan’ – report

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UK all-party group says failure to bring to justice Darfur abusers 20 years ago has led to current violence

The UK should impose sanctions on human rights abusers in senior Sudanese military positions as well as designate the Wagner group operating in Sudan as a terrorist group, a report from the all-party group on Sudan has urged.

The group, including the Conservative former Africa minister Vicky Ford, said on Wednesday the west has allowed impunity to become the norm, and the failure to bring to justice many of those responsible for the genocide in Darfur 20 years ago has allowed the same militia to regroup and form part of the forces now blocking democracy in the country.

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ICC to plead for extra money to pursue Russian war crimes in Ukraine

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International court’s prosecutor to make case at conference in London after Putin warrant issued

Karim Khan, the prosecutor of the international criminal court, will plead on Monday for extra cash to pursue Russian war crimes in Ukraine, including the potential prosecution of Vladimir Putin for overseeing the abduction of children from Ukraine to Russia.

Khan made his dramatic move against the Russian president last week ahead of a conference in London co-hosted by the UK and the Dutch government aimed at raising cash to fund the ICC’s war crimes investigatory work inside Ukraine. The ICC’s budget has not been increased even though it has 40 investigators working inside Ukraine.

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Joe Biden hails decision to issue ICC arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin

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US president joined by German chancellor in support of action taken after Russia’s abduction of Ukrainian children

The US president, Joe Biden, has backed the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over his role in the abduction of Ukrainian children, saying it was “justified”.

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was among other international leaders who welcomed the decision, saying on Saturdayyesterday that it showed “nobody is above the law”.

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‘It’s justified’: Joe Biden welcomes ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin

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US president says Russian leader has clearly committed war crimes and move makes ‘a very strong point’

Joe Biden has welcomed the international criminal court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for the Russian president for war crimes in Ukraine.

The US president said Vladimir Putin had clearly committed war crimes and that the arrest warrant for the Russian leader made a “very strong point”.

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Putin’s alleged war crimes: who are the Ukrainian children being taken by Russia?

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What we know about the children behind the indictment of Vladimir Putin and his children’s commissioner for abduction

• Russia-Ukraine war – latest news updates

The international criminal court in The Hague has indicted the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and children’s commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children.

This means there is now an international arrest warrant out for Putin, a reflection of the speed with which the international legal community has pursued allegations of war crimes during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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Russia says it does not recognise Hague court amid reports of arrest warrants

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International criminal court prosecutor is said to be preparing to formally open two war crimes cases

Moscow has said it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the international criminal court in The Hague, after reports that the court is expected to seek its first arrest warrants against Russian individuals over the war in Ukraine.

“We do not recognise this court; we do not recognise its jurisdiction,” Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists in Moscow on Tuesday morning.

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ICC to issue first arrest warrants linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

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Two war crimes cases to be opened over abduction of Ukrainian children and targeting of civilian infrastructure

The prosecutor at the international criminal court will formally open two war crimes cases and issue arrest warrants for several Russians deemed responsible for the mass abduction of Ukrainian children and the targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, according to reports on Monday.

The New York Times and Reuters news agency reported that the prosecutor, Karim Khan, would ask pre-trial judges to approve arrest warrants on the basis of evidence collected so far. If successful, it would be the first time ICC warrants have been issued in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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Ukraine urges ICC to investigate video appearing to show Russians killing PoW

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Graphic clip shows detained combatant standing in a shallow trench before being apparently shot

Ukraine has urged the international criminal court to investigate footage circulating on social media that appeared to show Russian fighters killing a Ukrainian prisoner of war.

In the graphic clip that first circulated on Telegram, a detained combatant is seen standing in a shallow trench and smoking a cigarette. The soldier says “Glory to Ukraine” and is then apparently shot with automatic weapons.

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Russia must face tribunal for ‘crime of aggression’ in Ukraine, say cross-party leaders

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Pressure grows on Putin as politicians and lawyers point to principles that led to Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals

Demands for a special tribunal to investigate Russia for a “crime of aggression” against Ukraine have been backed by senior UK politicians from across the political divide in a move to show Vladimir Putin and his generals that they will be held to account.

In a joint statement shared with the Observer, figures including the Labour leader Keir Starmer, the former Nato secretary general George Robertson, the former foreign secretary David Owen, and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith say the tribunal should be set up to look into the “manifestly illegal war” on the same principles that guided the allies when they met in 1941 to lay the groundwork for the Nuremberg war crimes trials of Nazi leaders.

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