In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Europe

15 Jun

Florence Hartmann's contempt trial began today at the ICTY.  Hartmann, a celebrated journalist who served as the Tribunal's spokesperson from 2000-2006, is charged with knowingly disclosing confidential Tribunal information: On 10 September 2007, a book entitled Paix et Châtiment, authored for publication by Florence Hartmann, was published by Flammarion. Pages 120-122 of the book Paix et Châtiment in particular disclose information...

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03 Jun

This post was written by Gabriel Swain, a Research Associate at the University of Kent's School of Social Policy, Sociology, and Social Research.  I think the project's reports will be of great interest to our readers. Since its birth in the 1950s, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has functioned, through implementation of the rights guaranteed by the European Convention...

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25 May

Disclosure: I am one of Dr. Karadzic's legal associates.  This post is offered with his consent. The defense team has just filed its definitive motion arguing that the Karadzic-Holbrooke cooperation agreement -- in which Holbrooke promised Dr. Karadzic that he would not be prosecuted at the ICTY if he cooperated with the international community's efforts to bring peace to the Balkans...

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22 May

Because I so rarely get to blog about uplifting things, I wanted to pass along the following story, concerning a group of aboriginals who, in 1938 -- when so much of the world was silent -- protested the Nazis' treatment of the Jews during Kristallnacht: William Cooper’s name does not appear on Yad Vashem’s list of the Righteous Among the Nations,...

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21 May

The Wall Street Journal had a news story yesterday, "Spain is Moving to Rein in Crusading Judges" (May 20, 2009), reporting on moves in the Spanish parliament to place stricter limits on the ability of investigating magistrates - most famously, Baltasar Garzon - to undertake sweeping investigations and indictments worldwide on the basis of universal jurisdiction: Under pressure from irate foreign...

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21 May

Deniz Aydiner wins the honors for one of the dumbest murderers ever. He was indicted for aggravated murder in 2003 and while the investigation was pending he returned to Turkey. The state of Oregon subsequently indicted him and sought to impose the death penalty. But Aydiner missed his wife so much that he just had to return...

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04 May

It has gone all but unnoticed in the U.S. but Russia has declared victory in its fight against Chechen rebels. Chechnya had become a byword for a place of chaos and random violence perpetrated by all sides, especially since the first Chechen War of 1994-1996.   But a recent report by the Times of London concerning Russian black operations in the...

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29 Apr

The Eleventh Circuit earlier this month ruled that Manuel Noriega could be extradited to France following the completion of his sentence in Florida. In Noriega v. Pastrana, Noriega argued that under the Third Geneva Convention he was entitled to automatic and immediate repatriation to Panama as soon as his criminal sentence was complete. However, Section 5 of the...

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15 Apr

Der Spiegel reports from Germany (the article is detailed and worth reading in full): In the latest dispute over the European Union's anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia, lawyers representing two suspects being detained in Kenya have filed suits against the German government. They want Berlin to foot the bill for the suspects' defense and ensure they are given a...

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30 Mar

Oy vey iz mir.  The blogosphere is positively abuzz (see here and here) with the news that the ICTY Trial Chamber has used my post about meeting Dr. Karadzic to supports its recent decision that he speaks English for purposes of the Statute and Rules of the Tribunal, a decision that relieves the Prosecution of the obligation to translate its...

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22 Mar

That is the conclusion of the most comprehensive study of the issue to date, "Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies: A Scholars' Initiative," conducted by Purdue University.  From the New York Times, which held follow-up interviews with some of the sources cited in the study: Charles W. Ingrao, the study’s co-editor, said that three senior State Department officials, one of them retired, and...

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