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Universal jurisdiction

News and expert analyses

Bai Lowe (a
2 June 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami
Gambian trial in Germany: the thin line between witness and suspect In Celle, Germany, a former member of Gambia’s notorious “Junglers” is accused of crimes against humanity. One of his former comrades, with a very similar background, was expected to come as a witness to shed light on the death sq [...]
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 [...]
Portrait of Laurent Bucyibaruta
9 May 2022 by Emmanuel Sehene Ruvugiro
Rwandan ex-prefect Bucyibaruta on trial for genocide in Paris Former Rwandan prefect Laurent Bucyibaruta, 78, goes on trial from May 9 to July 12 before the Paris Court of Assizes for alleged crimes of genocide, complicity in genocide and complicity in crimes against humanity during the Tuts [...]
Gibril Massaquoi at the Tempere court in Finland
3 May 2022 by Lansana Gberie
Massaquoi acquittal: What has it Wrought? Lansana Gberie, a renowned expert on the civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia, provides an exclusive analysis of the trial of Gibril Massaquoi before a Finnish court, and how it led to a full acquittal on April 29. He worries ab [...]
Gibril Massaquoi
29 April 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier
Acquittal of Massaquoi: reality check for Finnish justice What was supposed to be an innovative and exemplary judicial experiment has turned into an adventurous rush to conviction, with questionable investigative practices and fanciful historical theories. On April 29, by acquitting Gibr [...]
Collection of portraits (archives) of victims of the
26 April 2022 by Thijs Bouwknegt
Time’s ticking for Ethiopia’s Red Terror trial in the Netherlands Last week, The Hague Appeals Court completed its long-awaited hearings on old war crimes in Ethiopia. With ongoing conflict in Tigray, the Derg’s “Red Terror” of four decades ago may seem a story of the past. Yet this belated but [...]
In Gambia, a woman holds a sign saying
25 April 2022 by Mustapha Darboe
Gambian dictatorship’s crimes go on trial in Germany On April 25, the trial of a former member of a hit squad – known as the “Junglers” – under Yahya Jammeh’s rule in The Gambia opens before a German court. Baboucar “Bai” Lowe is a self-confessed former driver of this paramilitary g [...]
The portraits of Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin are embedded in a map of Ukraine and the national flag
25 March 2022 by Julia Crawford and Thierry Cruvellier
Ukraine responds to warfare with “lawfare” There is a military response, a panoply of economic sanctions, and then there is a judicial offensive unprecedented in its speed and range. Justice is Ukraine’s third weapon in response to the invasion of its territory by the Russ [...]
Aerial view of Pul-e Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan
25 February 2022 by Thijs Bouwknegt
Afghanistan: Challenges of trying a war crimes veteran in The Hague On Tuesday 22 February, the District Court of The Hague closed its latest universal jurisdiction trial, against an Afghan-Dutch national alleged to have been head of the Pul-e-Charki prison in Kabul in the 1980s. But the trial has [...]
Gibril Massaquoi, pensive, is installed in an armchair
18 February 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier
Liberia: Massaquoi freed from jail in run-up to Finnish verdict There’s a new surprise in the trial of Gibril Massaquoi. On Wednesday February 16, the Finnish court released this former Sierra Leonean rebel after almost two years in detention. The trial verdict is expected by April 29, and his [...]
Protesters step on portraits of Myanmar's armed forces chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing
11 February 2022 by Asymmetrical Haircuts
Legal battlefields on Myanmar Multiple and very diverse procedures are undergoing to address the crimes committed against Myanmar’s Rohingyas. The proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are back in the spotlight but there is a knotty issue [...]
A doctor holds a bloodstained open book in a hospital
1 February 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami,
Germany: When Syrian doctors became part of Assad’s terror In Frankfurt, Germany, a Syrian doctor is accused of crimes against humanity. He is said to have tortured 18 prisoners in Syria’s military hospitals, depriving two of their ability to reproduce, and killing one. Dr. Alaa Moussa ha [...]
Gibril Massaquoi and his lawyers in the courtroom of Tampere (Finland)
27 January 2022 by Thierry Cruvellier
Liberia: Massaquoi trial closes in Finland The trial of Gibril Massaquoi, a former Sierra Leonean rebel accused of crimes committed in Liberia, came to an end on Monday, January 24, before a Finnish court. One year after the start of this trial, which included four months [...]
Ousman Sonko
25 January 2022 by Julia Crawford
Five years on, the slow wheels of Swiss justice in Gambian case Five years ago, on 26 January 2017, former Gambian Interior Minister Ousman Sonko was arrested in Switzerland, suspected of crimes against humanity. Five years after, he is still in pre-trial detention in the Alpine country. Why i [...]
2 Syrian victims and activists demonstrate with signs outside the court in Koblenz, Germany, following the trial of Anwar Raslan
20 January 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami
Anwar Raslan's conviction: "The beginning of a wider struggle" In Koblenz, Germany, the al-Khatib trial has ended with a life sentence for main defendant Anwar Raslan. The judges found the ex-intelligence officer responsible for torture and killing in Damascus security branch 251. The defence [...]
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 [...]
Anwar Raslan in the dock in Koblenz (Al-Khatib trial), Germany
13 January 2022 by AFP
Syria: Anwar Raslan gets life sentence for crimes against humanity A historic verdict has just been handed down in Germany, on Thursday 13 January. State torture in Syria has been recognised for the first time by a court, in Koblenz, with the sentencing of Anwar Raslan to life for crimes against [...]
Anwar Raslan during his trial in Koblenz, Germany
10 January 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami
Defence: “Raslan did whatever he could to help” The final verdict in the first state torture trial for Syria is expected on January 13, in Koblenz, Germany. Last Thursday, the defence pleaded for Anwar Raslan’s innocence. The former secret service officer himself made a final s [...]
Syrian Colonel Anwar Raslan handcuffed during his trial in Koblenz (Germany)
6 January 2022 by Hannah El-Hitami
Prosecution: "Raslan was either powerless, or he wasn’t" Today on January 6, the defense will make its closing arguments before the court in Koblenz, Germany. The trial against former Syrian secret service colonel Anwar Raslan is coming to an end. In December, the prosecution and joint [...]