FRANCE/CONGOBrazzaville Beach missing persons case: The government of Congo Brazzaville has scoffed at judicial procedures in France in the case of “the missing of Brazzaville Beach” – several hundred returning refugees who disappeared in 1999 after being detained. French judicial authorities last week indicted a Congolese general, Norbert Dabira, in Paris. “Everything being done in France in this case is worthless and of no effect,” Congolese Justice Minister Aimé Emmanuel Yoka declared on Monday in Brazzaville. In 2005 a court in Brazzaville organized a trial after which all the accused were acquitted.
SCSLTaylor appeals judgment: The Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) said Tuesday it will deliver its judgment in the trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor on September 26. The judgment will be pronounced in The Hague, where the trial took place. It will also be streamed live to the SCSL court house in Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown. On April 26, Taylor was found guilty of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Sierra Leone during that country’s civil war. A month later, he was sentenced to 50 years in jail. Both defence and prosecution appealed.
ICC /KENYATrial of Kenyan Deputy President Ruto: The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday ordered the prosecution to disclose to the lawyers of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto certain documents in their entirety concerning witnesses. These documents are notes taken during preliminary questioning of twelve witnesses that the prosecution no longer intends to call in the trial. The trial is set to start on September 10. Ruto is to be tried jointly with journalist Joshua Sang for crimes against humanity committed in Kenya during 2007-2008 post electoral violence.
NEXT WEEKAt the ICC, the defence will continue presenting its case in the trial of Congolese senator Jean-Pierre Bemba. Bemba is on trial for crimes against humanity committed in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
ER/JC