Agence-France Press reports the Rwandan government may issue indictments against former French President Francois Mitterand and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin for their alleged role in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. A recent Rwandan government investigation held approximately 20 French officials, including Mitterand and Villepin, responsible. At the same time, a Rwandan official has been arrested […]
Pakistan just might be the thorniest of the myriad pressing foreign policy challenges that will demand President Obama's attention the minute he's sworn in. Josh Hammer has this summary of the several recent terrorist attacks conducted by Taliban-allied forces. Meanwhile, the United States continues to target Al Qaeda militants living on the Pakistani side of […]
Charles Taylor's son Chucky was convicted of torture Friday, in the first prosecution under the United States’ Extraterritorial Torture Statute. Taylor is accused of leading a special unit in his father's Liberian army, known as the Demon Force, from 1999 to 2002; according to the Times of London, the force allegedly used tactics like “dripping […]
At Foreign Policy magazine's Passport blog, Elizabeth Dickinson has this moving and incisive piece on the causes and effects of the long-running conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which flared up again. It's a compelling read. As for the conflict, the EU is sending aid for some of the displaced civilians, of whom there […]
Former UN High Representative in Bosnia Paddy Ashdown and American diplomat Richard Holbrooke wrote this column last week warning of an impending crisis in the region and asserting that the Dayton Agreement, which has crafted an uneasy and separate peace which has lasted more than a decade now in Bosnia, is on the rocks. Niheer […]
Kevin Heller at Opinio Juris points to an announcement by the ICC's Chief Prosecutor that he will bring war crimes charges against Darfuri rebels. As Heller ably lays out, it's not easy to decide what to think of the charges; the offense in question, an armed attack on African Union peacekeepers, seems appropriate for the […]
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili Tuesday strongly denied accusations his armed forces had committed war crimes during an August offensive in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia. The BBC reported Georgian troops had used indiscriminate force, turning their guns and tanks on civilian targets. Eyewitness accounts of the incursion details civilians being shot as they […]
Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's trial was adjourned until January today. Karadzic will keep busy testifying on behalf of a former Serb official, Momcilo Krajisnik. Alan Dershowitz, who is assisting with Krajisnik's defense, promises Karadzic will provide “significant exculpatory evidence.”
The New York Post reports the US strike in Syria Sunday killed Abu Ghadiyah, an Al Qaeda leader located on the Syrian side of the Iraq-Syria border. Syria has closed an American school and cultural center in response.
The LA Times reports that the Air Force and Department of Defense are investigating Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, considering allegations that he interfered with certain Guantanamo prosecutions. The allegations are serious, in light of the high standards governing prosecutors’ conduct, and the Times reports the Air Force has already conducted a preliminary inquiry and found […]
The Uighur detainees we referred to earlier this week yesterday lost an appeal for en banc rehearing of the Justice Department's petition for a stay of the trial court's order releasing them into the U.S. mainland. Scotusblog reports DOJ has filed a merits brief, arguing in essence that while the Uighurs can't be returned to […]
The first case at the International Criminal Court may be setting an unwelcome precedent as judges this week suspended the trial for Congolese militia leader, Thomas Lubanga. ICC judges in June suspended the trial because prosecutors would not share their evidence with the defense. The judges this week said Lubana should remain in custody, but […]
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