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The next issue will be published February 1, 2012

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IJT - Losing civil parties in Cambodia

Soum Rithy spent two years of his youth being beaten and tortured in a Khmer Rouge jail between 1977 and 1979, after Pol Pot’s cadres mistook him for a soldier in the previous government. He saw his father die of disease exacerbated by the lack of modern medicine under the ultra-Maoist regime, while two brothers starved to death. His third brother, the youngest, had his throat cut by Khmer Rouge soldiers after he was caught stealing a papaya. Read more...

IJT - Cuska - a "brave and patriotic" trial

It was a sign of changing times in Serbia at the end of December 2011, when Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor Bruno Vekaric told journalists that an insider witness testimony describing atrocities against Kosovo Albanian civilians committed by Serb paramilitaries in 1999 constitutes a "brave and patriotic act." Read more...

IJT - ICTR legacy: fragile and confusing

When former Rwandan MRND leaders Edouard Karemera and Mathieu Ngirumpatse received life sentences in December 2011, the conclusion of 17 years of work at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was remarkable: there was no plan at the state or party level to exterminate Tutsis prior to the shooting down of former President Habyarimana’s plane on 6 April 1994. Read more...

International Justice Desk: -

The Garzón trial: petty vengeance

To see judge Baltasar Garzón standing trial before Spain’s Supreme Court is like watching a man made to take a dose of his own medicine. But this is a particularly bitter pill, force fed by political opponents. Read more...

Dutch Tamil Tiger 5 on appeal

Five men convicted of supporting Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers (LTTE) last October began their appeal against conviction Monday in The Hague. The case marks the first time an EU member state has considered the question of whether the Tamil Tigers is a terrorist organization. It could result in a change of EU law. Read more...

Darfur - ICC's mission impossible

Dangerous delays are hampering the investigation into war crimes committed in the small town of Haskanita, Darfur. Read more...

Rwanda’s RPF off the genocide hook

The Rwandan government last night interpreted the long awaited French ballistics report on who shot down the Presidential plane that triggered the genocide in 1994, as exonerating itself entirely. Read more...

Guantánamo Bay: 10 years of controversy

Torturous, painful, hopeless, oppressive, unrelenting: these are the words used by Moazzam Begg to describe his three years of detention in the United States prison camp at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. One of the world’s most infamous prisons is 10 years old this week. A decade of controversy. Read more...

Bangladesh mastermind arrested

Bangladesh arrested an Islamist leader last Wednesday on charges of war crimes during the country's 1971 liberation struggle against Pakistan, lawyers said. Ghulam Azam, 89, a former head of opposition Jamaat-e-Islami party, has been accused of creating and leading pro-Pakistan militias which carried out many murders and rapes during the nine-month war. Read more...

Libyan authorities dismiss ICC?

Libya expects the International Criminal Court to agree that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the most prominent son of Libya's late leader, can be tried in Libya, where he could face the death penalty, the justice minister said on Thursday. Read more...

ICC to assist Gbagbo's defence team

Ivory Coast's former president Laurent Gbagbo will get legal aid while his financial status is assessed, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Saturday. Read more...

Bringing foreign war crimes before Dutch courts

“People with blood on their hands shouldn’t feel they’re safe here,” says Hester van Bruggen, who brings international human rights cases before Dutch courts. She is just back from Rwanda, where she’s been hearing witnesses. Read more...

2011: the year in international justice

As 2011 came to a close, we reflected on the highlights of international justice: the ICTY welcoming its last fugitives - and the STL carving a new definition of terrorism. But the ICC is the one to watch.... We asked prominent legal experts what they thought were the most significant developments in international justice during the past year. We also asked them to look ahead and tell us what they think will be 'big ones' on this year’s docket. Read more...

Earlier IJT editions:

International Justice Tribune, 142 (21 December 2011)
International Justice Tribune, 141 (8 December 2011)
International Justice Tribune, 140 (24 November 2011)
International Justice Tribune, 139 (9 November 2011)