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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.

Gibril Massaquoi: Finnish trial on appeal in Liberia
3 min 33

Massaquoi case: Finnish court of appeal arrives in Liberia

Finnish judges, prosecutors and lawyers are expected to arrive in the Liberian capital on 31 January. They are to stay for two months for the appeal trial of the former Sierra Leonean rebel commander, Gibril Massaquoi. Massaquoi was acquitted of all charges in the first instance trial in April 2022. This new trial is likely […]
By Thierry Cruvellier
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In a street whose buildings are completely devastated (Yarmouk district in Damascus, Syria), a distribution of food aid is organized for many refugees

Patrick Kroker: “They saw injuries nobody could have survived”

Portrait (drawing) of Philip Grant, director of the NGO Trial International, specializing in international justice, especially on

Philip Grant: “Ukraine is accelerating a revival of universal jurisdiction”

Drawing of Kunti Kamara during his conviction for crimes against humanity in France

Liberian Kunti Kamara convicted in France for crimes against humanity

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.

Liberian case in France: "too complicated to be tried by whites"

Baboucar

Gambian trial in Germany: I posed as a “Jungler”, defendant says

Ulimo fighters patrol in northern Monrovia, Liberia

First trial in France on the crimes of Liberia's civil wars

In a street of Vilnius (Lithuania) crowded with demonstrators, a huge flag of Ukraine is deployed on the road, held by Lithuanians.

Why Lithuania is at the forefront of the Ukrainian lawfare

A priest and musicians celebrate a mass in memory of 3 victims of enforced disappearances in Guatemala in the 1980s.

Universal jurisdiction: what can Belgian justice bring for Guatemalan victims?

Drawing of Laurent Bucyibaruta sitting in the courtroom of his trial in Paris. In the background, a magistrate.

Rwanda: "Bucyibaruta did what he could"

A patrol of Senegalese soldiers in the forest of Casamance (Blaze Forest)

Swiss first step to investigate environmental crimes in Gambia

Bai Lowe (a

Gambian trial in Germany: the thin line between witness and suspect

General Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi speaks at a microphone

France: Interpol president suspected of torture

Portrait of Laurent Bucyibaruta

Rwandan ex-prefect Bucyibaruta on trial for genocide in Paris

Gibril Massaquoi at the Tempere court in Finland

Massaquoi acquittal: What has it Wrought?

Gibril Massaquoi

Acquittal of Massaquoi: reality check for Finnish justice

Collection of portraits (archives) of victims of the

Time’s ticking for Ethiopia’s Red Terror trial in the Netherlands

In Gambia, a woman holds a sign saying

Gambian dictatorship’s crimes go on trial in Germany

The portraits of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin are embedded in a map of Ukraine and the national flag

Ukraine responds to warfare with “lawfare”