The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sentenced Nedjo Samardzic, a Bosnian Serb, to 13 years in prison, the first verdict and sentence imposed by the court, which was established in 2005 to reduce the ICTY's workload by taking responsibility for prosecuting less serious cases. Samardzic was found guilty of imprisoning, torturing, and raping civilians in Muslim villages near...
There is a fascinating, if too brief, interview with Mikhail Gorbachev in today's USA Today. During the interview, Gorbachev not only defends Putin's "reforms," but opines that the Soviet Union should have been preserved. Here's a snippet: Q:Many Russians criticize you because in their opinion, you gave away the Soviet empire and weakened Russian power. Is this characterization accurate?...
The AP has an interesting story discussing the fact that Suharto, the murderous dictator who ruled Indonesia from 1967 to 1998, has managed to avoid being brought to justice by the international community, even though he is responsible for far worse crimes than Milosevic, Saddam, and Charles Taylor. Suharto continues to live unmolested in a wealthy area of...
Discussions have begun between the UN and the Burundian government about establishing two transitional justice mechanisms for dealing with the atrocities committed during Burundi's 12-year civil war, which claimed the lives of more than 200,000 people and displaced more than 500,000: a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and a special criminal tribunal empowered to investigate and prosecute genocide, war crimes, and...
I know not everyone is a fan of punk, but this is ridiculous: British anti-terrorism detectives escorted a man from a plane after a taxi driver had earlier become suspicious when he started singing along to a track by punk band The Clash, police said Wednesday. Detectives halted the London-bound flight at Durham Tees Valley Airport in northern England and Harraj Mann,...
Prosecutors began cross-examining Saddam today. During questioning, Saddam insisted that it was legal for him to authorize the execution of the 148 Dujail villagers, because they had been properly sentenced to death by the People's Revolutionary Court: In the current trial, Saddam and seven former members of his regime are charged in a crackdown against Shiites launched after a...
Citing insufficient evidence, a three-judge Iraqi court has dismissed charges of insurgent activity against Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a CBS cameraman detained and held by the U.S. military for nearly a year after he filmed the aftermath of a bombing in Mosul: Scott Horton, one of his American lawyers, said the U.S. military claimed Hussein had prior knowledge of the car...
Peru's Minister of Justice, Alejandro Tudela, reiterated yesterday his intention to have Alberto Fujimori, the former President of Peru, extradited from Chile to stand trial on corruption and human-rights charges, including using a death squad to kill 25 people, illegal wiretapping -- still a crime in Peru, if not in the U.S. -- bribery, and illegal payments of more...
Here's a fascinating statistic: of the 20 Iraq combat veterans who have announced their intention to run for Congress in 2006, 19 are running as Democrats. That's a staggering percentage, given that a poll taken prior to the 2004 election found that 72% of active-duty military personnel and 73% of National Guard and Reserve personnel favored Bush over Kerry....
The International Crisis Group has released its April report concerning whether 70 conflict situations have improved, worsened, or stayed the same over the previous month. In March, ten situations worsened: Belarus: Incumbent Aleksandr Lukashenko declared winner of 19 March presidential election with 82.6% of vote. OSCE observers said poll not free and fair. Opposition came under pressure in run-up to...
The Iraqi High Tribunal has announced that Saddam Hussein and six others have been charged with genocide in connection with Operation Anfal, a three-phase attack on the Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s during the war with Iran. Saddam's co-defendants in the Operation Anfal case include Ali Hassan Majid, better known as "Chemical Ali"; former Defense...
To no one's surprise, the Serbian government has finally admitted, after years of denials, that a group of nearly 50 military and intelligence officials conpsired to help Ratko Mladic avoid capture. Some of the officials have been reassigned or fired, and the Serbian government insists that "the noose is tightening" around Mladic. Serbia better hope so. As I've noted...
