In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Criminal Law

18 Jul

In the wake of the Pre-Trial Chamber's categorical rejection of Libya's admissibility challenge, the Libyan government asked the Appeals Chamber to suspend its obligation to transfer Saif Gaddafi to the ICC pending its appeal of the decision. The Appeals Chamber has now rejected that request and ordered Libya to surrender Saif to the Court. Here are the critical paragraphs of its decision: 24. Libya...

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15 Jul

This week's Crossing Lines is a two-parter involving the kidnapping of a Russian billionaire's son, so I'll have more to say next week. For now, just take a gander at this exchange, wherein the French detective explains -- read: defends -- her team's jurisdiction: Billionaire: "Who are you people, again?" French Detective: "We work out of the International Criminal Court." Billionaire's Wife: "Handling...

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10 Jul

I am a huge fan of Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth, but his description of the specific-direction requirement in yesterday's New York Times is not simply misleading, it's flat-out wrong. Here are the relevant paragraphs of his op-ed (emphasis mine): Aiding-and-abetting liability has long been understood to require proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused knew that his conduct had...

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09 Jul

We are now up to the fourth episode of Crossing Lines, the new NBC drama that features a team of detectives who work for the ICC. This episode, which concerns long-haul truckers who force families to hunt each other for sport, features a nice jurisdictional discussion after the team realizes that a German victim had been in Poland: Irish guy: "I'd say...

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02 Jul

Someone needs to explain this to me. The ICTY's official Twitter account just tweeted the following: Witness in Mladić trial, Dražen Erdemović, is testifying with facial and voice distortion. — ICTY (@ICTYnews) July 2, 2013 A witness normally testifies "with facial and voice distortion" in order to prevent the defendant from knowing his or her identity. So here we have the ICTY tweeting...

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01 Jul

Every week, for as long as the show survives, I'll be blogging about Crossing Lines, the new NBC drama that features a team of detectives who work for the ICC. Today, my expert analysis of the second episode: It's about art thieves. Really. It's about art thieves. I'm not kidding. (And don't get me started about how the team threatens to let a wounded...

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24 Jun

After weeks of anticipation, I finally had a chance to watch the premiere of Crossing Lines, the new NBC drama about a police unit that works for the International Criminal Court. As a police procedural, the show is not bad. William Fichtner is fantastic as always. Production values are extremely high. Bringing together detectives and investigators from a number of...

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22 Jun

I considered adding a question mark to the title of this post, but there's really no need. I argued a couple of days ago that the real scandal concerning Judge Harhoff's letter was the Judge's willingness to reveal confidential discussions between the ICTY's judges. We now have to acknowledge another aspect of the scandal: quite understandably, defence attorneys are making...

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19 Jun

On 11 June 2013, Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng asked the Presidency to excuse her from the Appeals Chamber concerning the recent denial of Libya's admissibility challenge to the case against Saif Gaddafi, which Libya is appealing. Judge Monageng's request was based on her previous participation (as Presiding Judge) in the Pre-Trial Chamber's decision to issue an Arrest Warrant for Saif...

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17 Jun

I have refrained from weighing in on the recent scandal at the ICTY concerning a letter written by the Danish judge, Frederik Harhoff, that accuses the President of the Tribunal, Judge Theodor Meron, of pressuring his fellow judges into acquitting high-profile defendants such as Gotovina and Perisic. I have done so not because the scandal isn't worth mentioning, but because...

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