Search: Complementarity SAIF GADDAFI

...pointed out, the ICC has nothing to gain by considering Libya’s admissibility challenge regarding Saif, because Libya has indicated that it has no intention of complying with an adverse decision. The same problem exists even more acutely in situations in which multiple states challenge admissibility, as permitted by Article 19. It makes no sense for the ICC to risk alienating member-states by resolving competing admissibility challenges when the custodial state will simply refuse to extradite the suspect should the ICC give the other state priority to prosecute. That is not...

...hearings. On the US-ICC relationship, Julian ventured that a cultural change is required if it is to blossom into a love affair. More news from the ICC came from Kevin, who worried that a funding crisis was behind the OPCD’s request to withdraw from the Saif Gaddafi case, and the Pre-Trial Chamber’s approval of a new lawyer. Finally, Kevin corrected an old post on whether Bill Keller of the NYTimes can be charged with aiding and abetting the enemy like Bradley Manning. As always, we listed events and announcements that...

The trial against Ratko Mladic at the ICTY continued today, with testimony today covering the systematic execution of 8,000 Muslim men and boys. However, due to prosecutorial error, Judge Orie has suspended the presentation of evidence indefinitely, originally to begin May 29. Foreign Policy takes us back to the early days of the tribunal with this graphic representation. In Libya, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is refusing to appoint a defense lawyer for domestic charges against him in that country. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said yesterday that he would not oppose a...

...Beijing had called off human rights talks. Japan and Australia have clinched a bilateral trade deal. Middle East and Northern Africa The trials have begun in Tripoli against Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and his younger brother, Saadi, on charges including murder and plundering state coffers. Their co-accused include the former intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi and former prime ministers, al-Baghdadi al-Mahmudi and Bouzid Dorda. Israel is holding secret talks with some Arab states that do not recognize it, looking to establish diplomatic ties based on a common fear of Iran according Israeli...

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin welcomed the new international criminal law blog Beyond The Hague to the blogosphere and sparked much debate with his post based on Judge Harhoff’s recent comments about the ICTY Appeals Chamber’s Perisic adoption of the specific-direction requirement and followed-up with a second post on the topic clarifying what the specific-direction requirement entails. Kevin also questioned the latest in the Libya and Saif Gaddafi situation, with Libya’s statement that they aren’t able to surrender him, but they could, in fact, prosecute him. Kristen pointed to...

...also strange that SOAS would simply replace the original examiners with new ones after two “not pass” results and a subsequent allegation of bias. Why would a student who failed to correct his dissertation twice be given a third bite of the apple with different examiners? Page is hardly the first student to allege bias when he received a failing mark — and it’s not like he’s Saif Gaddafi or anything. Something is seriously wrong here. SOAS is a world-class university with very high academic standards — one I’m proud...

I had the privilege last week of speaking in London at a superb Chatham House/Doughty St. Chambers symposium on the ICTY’s recent high-profile acquittals in Perisic, Gotovina, and others. My co-panelists were John Jones, QC, Saif Gaddafi’s ICC-appointed lawyer, and Elies van Sliedregt, the Dean of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Chatham House’s Elizabeth Wilmshurst was the moderator. I don’t believe the symposium was recorded, so I thought I would post the detailed outline of my remarks. My talk was, not surprisingly, a defence of Perisic‘s specific-direction requirement; it developed and systematized...

Libya will challenge the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi in order to try him on Libyan soil. Mark Kersten at Justice in Conflict has more analysis about the battle of where the trial will be held. Police in Sierra Leone have arrested an investigator employed by former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s defense team on charges he attempted to bribe prosecution witnesses to recant their testimony during Taylor’s war crimes trial. Nigerian soldiers have shot more than 30 civilians dead in the northeastern Nigerian city of...

The Falkland Islands are set to hold a referendum about sovereignty. IntLawGrrls points to interesting issues arising around citizenship and globalization. The ICC Prosecutor seeks a 30-year sentence for Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, convicted of conscripting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In other ICC news, a team from the Court has visited the four detained staff members in Libya, accused of smuggling documents to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has transferred its fifth case to domestic authorities. The UN Security Council has passed...

...Kevin argued last week that the ICC’s OTP committed a serious legal error when it argued that even an in absentia trial would mean that Libya’s admissibility challenge of the case against Saif Gaddafi could pass. It is no surprise then that Kevin was happy to see the OTP retract its submission this week. Kevin also recommended Jens Ohlin’s new article on “Targeting and the Concept of Intent“. Kristen put the spotlight on International Peace Institute’s recent recommendation to give the African Union a bigger role in transitional justice issues...

...Saif Gaddafi, and Charles Taylor will be so relieved! (Junger obviously has absolutely no idea what a crime against humanity is — and, apparently, no interest in finding out. Probably because doing so might undermine his claim that the noble thing to do is intervene in a civil war after 100,000 innocent civilians have been murdered. It’s like the Eddie Izzard line: “after a couple of years, we won’t stand for that…”) (And no, it’s not “essentially one person at a time.” Junger might want to read something about the...

...European Parliament has included the punk band on its list of finalists for the annual Sakharov human rights prize. Scotland will hold an independence referendum in 2014, according to a British government minister, whereas Spain’s parliament voted yesterday to block Catalonia’s bid for sovereignty. Russia has signed a $4.2 billion arms deal with Iraq, making it the largest arms provider to the Middle East after the United States. Libyan government lawyers promised yesterday at a hearing at the ICC that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi will get a fair trial in Libya....