Justice Info is taking a summer break and will resume publishing on August 23. In the meantime, we bring you a selection of our best articles since September 2020. We hope you enjoy this look back at transitional justice events over the last 12 months.
The following 15 articles, presented as a slideshow (scroll horizontally), are sorted by date of publication, from most recent to oldest.
Colombia: 25 Army officials charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity
Over the past two weeks, Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace announced its second batch of major decisions, accusing 25 former members of the Colombian Army of war crimes and crimes against humanity, including several high-ranking officers. The charges are linked to the ‘false positive’ scandal, in which murdered civilians were passed off as rebels killed […]
Colonial Crimes: World map of justice initiatives
The colonial past is back in the spotlight in many countries, from New Zealand to France, Canada to Germany, or Sweden to the Netherlands. Official apologies, demands for reparations and restitution of cultural heritage, truth commissions: Can the arsenal of transitional justice deal with colonial crimes and their consequences in today's world?
Karim Khan takes over as ICC prosecutor
On Wednesday June 16, Fatou Bensouda is moving after 17 years in the two top jobs at the office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. The new prosecutor, Karim Khan, comes fresh from setting up an investigative team into Islamic State crimes, and with baggage as a former defence counsel at international tribunals. […]
The inglorious end of the Lebanon tribunal
On June 2, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon announced it would have to close by the end of July due to lack of funds. The next day it said all proceedings in a new trial due to open on June 16 were suspended. Lebanon is bankrupt and it’s not paying its 49% share of the […]
Gambia: Jammeh's justice and the shadow of Bensouda
This week in Gambia, the Truth Commission is ending probing the lawyers who established and entrenched the Yahya Jammeh dictatorship, without having called some of the most interesting witnesses. One of the elephants in the room is the outgoing prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda.
Massaquoi: Please hide this trial from Liberians
The trial of former Sierra Leonean rebel commander Gibril Massaquoi before a Finnish court concluded its hearings in Liberia on 7 April and is to resume on 28 April in Freetown, Sierra Leone. In Liberia, civil society had high expectations of this innovative and daring model of a court travelling to the scene of the […]
Germany: Lessons from the first conviction of an agent of the Syrian regime
On February 24 Eyad al-Gharib was the first Syrian regime official to be convicted by a German court for aiding and abetting the torture and detention of protesters in 2011. The minor role the defendant played in those crimes is mirrored in an accordingly short prison sentence. But the importance this verdict carries lies somewhere […]
ICC trial of Dominic Ongwen: Are the spirits there?
The International Criminal Court is to hand down its judgment today February 4 in the case of Ugandan rebel Dominic Ongwen, a former member of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Belief in spirits has been central to the arguments of the defence. It has sought, before a court ill-equipped to judge "non-Western" behaviour, to justify […]
ICC Victims Fund: Waiting for Godot in Georgia
ICC TRUST FUND SERIES - EPISODE 6 Georgia was the first place outside the African continent selected by the International Criminal Court for investigation. Twelve years after the 2008 war, the small Caucasian country is still waiting for the ICC conclusions. But in November, the ICC's Trust Fund for Victims committed to an assistance programme, […]
ICC Trust Fund: The black hole
ICC TRUST FUND SERIES - EPISODE 2 The Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) was initially conceived as an independent reparations body; the organisation that would provide the International Criminal Court-ordered reparations to victims. But until now, the TFV's ‘assistance’ mandate has dominated its work and faces consistent critique. How did we get there?
Tunisia’s transitional justice at the mercy of politics
Three parties and a president have produced bills aimed at national reconciliation, often driven by the desire to interrupt or even reverse the transitional justice process. They mark a failure on the part of politicians, and show how transitional justice in Tunisia is again subject to the vagaries of political calculations.
Central African Republic: Special Court detentions shrouded in secrecy
This is an unprecedented situation in international justice. Officially, about fifteen suspects are in pre-trial detention at the Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic. But this mixed court with national and international judges is keeping their identity secret, meeting criticism both inside and outside the country.
In Brazil, it’s reparation time for Volkswagen
During the military dictatorship in Brazil (1964-1985), Volkswagen denounced several trade unionists and communist militants who were then arrested and tortured by security agents. Following an out-of-court agreement between victims and the German car maker, the Brazilian Attorney General’s Office has ordered the payment reparations to victims.
Rwanda wins on ICTR convict early releases
It's a U-turn, that applies to convicts from Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. In his September 17 decision, the new presiding judge of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals wrote that he had “taken note” of Kigali’s opposition to early release of ex-mayor Laurent Semanza, before he refused to release him.
Sexual abuse in the Church: map of justice worldwide
With tens of thousands of victims worldwide over several decades, sexual abuse by members of the Catholic Church is an unprecedented issue of justice. In order to reveal and confront the magnitude of the crimes, many transitional justice mechanisms are at work, including expert reports, commissions of inquiry, truth commissions and trials. Justice Info here […]
