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Lena Bjurström

France - Correspondent

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Lena Bjurström

Lena Bjurström is a freelance journalist who writes about exile, gender and justice for La Chronique d'Amnesty, Politis, Femmes ici et ailleurs and others. For the media outlet Les Jours, she wrote a two-year investigation on Anwar Raslan, a former Syrian intelligence colonel on trial for crimes against humanity in Koblenz, Germany. At the same time, she observes the multiplication of Syrian cases in European courts for Justice Info. In 2019, she co-founded the Focus collective, which brings together independent journalists and documentary filmmakers who share the same obsession with long-term reporting.

More info:
Lundin trial in Sweden: when oil and war crimes mix in Sudan.
Oil and war crimes in Sudan: Lundin trial opens in Sweden
4 September 2023 by Lena Bjurström
The long-awaited trial of two former executives of Swedish oil company Lundin begins in Stockholm on September 5. Alex Schneiter and Ian Lundin are charged with complicity in war crimes committed over 20 years ago in what is now S [...]
The credibility of witnesses was at the heart of the Hategekimana trial. Accused of genocide in Rwanda, he was on trial in France. Verdict: life imprisonment. Hategekimana proves classic Rwandan case
29 June 2023 by Lena Bjurström
A French court on June 28 sentenced former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana to life in jail for genocide and crimes against humanity. In the final days of this trial, where testimony was central, the prosecution and defence [...]
Genocide in Rwanda - Drawing showing Philippe Hategekimana at his trial in Paris. Philippe Hategekimana makes final statement, then goes silent
23 June 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana, on trial in Paris for genocide and crimes against humanity, briefly restated his position before his final questioning. Yes, he said, the Tutsi genocide took place in Rwanda in 1994. [...]
The children of genocide in Rwanda - Hategekimana trial / France Manier in France I was 10 years old in Rwanda in 1994 and now a prosecution witness
20 June 2023 by Lena Bjurström
A dozen people who were under 15 in 1994 have testified at the genocide trial of former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana before a Paris court. With frozen scenes, lost details and distorted time, they recount the chaos and m [...]
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Genocide in Rwanda - At the Hategekimana trial in Paris (France), Rwandan priest Hormisdas Nsengimana was called as a witness.
26 May 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Controversial priest dodges in Hategekimana trial Rwandan priest Hormisdas Nsengimana was heard on 22 May at the trial of former Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana. Accused himself of genocide and crimes against humanity, the cleric was acquitted in 2009 by the UN tribunal fo [...]
Philippe Hategekimana (or Philippe Manier / former Rwandan gendarme) at his trial in Paris, France.
25 May 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Hategekimana trial: former Rwandan soldiers have memory gaps Since May 10, former colleagues and superiors of Rwandan gendarme Philippe Hategekimana (or Philippe Manier) have testified in his trial. Between accusations, personal grudges and cautious recollections, these soldiers have not sh [...]
Genocide in Rwanda - Trial in France of ex-gendarme Philippe Manier (formerly Philippe Hategekimana)
12 May 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Genocide in Rwanda: the multiple lives of a gendarmerie officer on trial in Paris This is the fifth Rwandan universal jurisdiction trial to open in France. Philippe Hategekimana, former chief warrant officer of the Nyanza gendarmerie in southern Rwanda, has been on trial since May 10 before the Paris Court of A [...]
Universal jurisdiction in France - World map of countries where France conducts investigations
16 March 2023 by Lena Bjurström
Crucial hearing for universal jurisdiction in France On March 17, the French high court will examine appeals in two Syrian war crimes and crimes against humanity cases. The outcome could affect the future of French universal jurisdiction and of more than a third of such investigatio [...]
Drawing of Kunti Kamara during his conviction for crimes against humanity in France
3 November 2022 by Lena Bjurström
Liberian Kunti Kamara convicted in France for crimes against humanity On November 2, a French court found former Liberian rebel Kunti Kamara guilty of complicity in crimes against humanity during the civil war 30 years ago. He was also convicted of torture and aggravated acts of barbarism. The court [...]
Pencil drawing of a courtroom in Paris, in the trial of Kunti Kamara, for crimes committed in Liberia. Another Liberian (living in Switzerland), Alieu Kosiah, was called to testify.
24 October 2022 by Lena Bjurström
Liberian case in France: "too complicated to be tried by whites" Since October 10, former Liberian militiaman Kunti Kamara has been on trial in France for complicity in crimes against humanity. His trial mirrors the one held in Switzerland against a senior officer, Alieu Kosiah, convicted in Ju [...]
3D image illustrating the construction project of the Paris court (office buildings). In the foreground, the logos of several companies (Lafarge, BNP Paribas, Uniqlo, Amesys and Castel group) are embedded in bubbles.
5 July 2022 by Lena Bjurström
Lafarge and the judicial twists and turns of corporate liability in France Since 2016, the Lafarge case seems to have been stretched out over the years and the appeals. But its many twists and turns raise questions about complicity in crimes against humanity, the place of a company as a defendant and the [...]
General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi speaks at a microphone
19 May 2022 by Lena Bjurström
France: Interpol president suspected of torture Elected last November to the presidency of Interpol, Emirati General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi is the target in Europe of several judicial complaints for "torture". Already under a first investigation in France, where the internationa [...]
Iraj Mesdaghi displays documents on a table
13 January 2022 by Lena Bjurström
Sweden-Iran: Noury faces death row survivors Former Iranian prison official Hamid Noury, on trial for war crimes before a court in the Swedish capital Stockholm, has since last summer been confronted with the testimony of witnesses. He denies any involvement in the mass exec [...]
A soldier stands guard outside an oil refinery
29 November 2021 by Lena Bjurström
Oil and war crimes: Swedish justice in the front line On November 11, the president and former director of the Lundin Energy company were indicted for complicity in war crimes. The charges relate to attacks carried out against civilians between 1999 and 2003 in an area of the future [...]