Universal jurisdiction
Trying people wherever they are, whatever their nationality
Universal jurisdiction enables national judicial systems to try individuals, regardless of their nationality or the place where the crimes were committed. This justice approach deals with international crimes committed a long time ago, as during the civil wars in Liberia, or when no other jurisdiction, international or national, is able or willing to try them,, as in the case of Syria. As with the trials of Rwandans in several European countries (for genocide), the trial of Gambian Ousman Sonko (accused of crimes against humanity in Switzerland) or of Chadian Hissein Habré, tried and convicted in Senegal (for crimes committed in Chad in the 1980s). Discover universal jurisdiction through the news documented by our experts.
Martin Schibbye (journalist): “Sweden believed in Lundin”
Six months have passed since the start of the longest trial in Swedish history, which will last another two years. Time for a first assessment by one of its most assiduous observers, Martin Schibbye, who spent 438 days of his life in an Ethiopia jail for investigating oil firm Lundin accused of complicity in war […]
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