Dear reader, please find the latest International Justice Tribune (IJT)

For any suggestions, comments or ideas, please do not hesitate to contact our Editorial Coordinator Franck Petit () and follow him on Twitter@Franck_IJT

The next issue will be published February 29, 2012

Download the print version of the International Justice Tribune 145 (PDF file)

Subscribe to the International Justice Tribune

IJT – Sarajevo’s model under threat
The international community has been urged to intervene, one more time, by President of the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Meddzida Kreso, to save the institution. It hosts the War Crimes Chamber, set up to try cases in Bosnia in accordance with practice at the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Read more...>

IJT – Duch: down with subtleties
The life sentence for the former Khmer Rouge secret police commander, Comrade Duch, leaves a hardened legacy. The appeal judgement was handed down by the ECCC on 3 February. Duch’s 30-year sentence in July 2010 was a subtle attempt to convey the complexities raised during the trial. Read more...>

IJT – ‘Duch, Master of the Forges of Hell’
“They always used me,” Duch declares as the film begins. Rithy Panh* often had the same feeling about himself with regard to the former director of S-21; indeed, the filmmaker wondered whether he wasn’t serving as a sort of “coach” to Duch as he prepared for his trial. Read more...>

IJT – Empty dock: a sense of failure?
There has been a mixed response to the announcement of the decision to “try the four men accused of the 14 February 2005 attack in their absence," by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on 1 February. The Tribunal was set up to probe the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and 22 others in Beirut. Read more...>

International Justice Desk:

Impunity in Syria – ICC ready but powerless
The UN Human Rights Chief says she is appalled by the ongoing violence in Syria. Yet there is no legal mechanism in place to address the problem. Navi Pillay believes nothing short of targeting the current Syrian leaders will adequately address the crimes taking place in Syria.
Read more...>

Garzon: Down but not (necessarily) out
Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon may have been convicted and banned from Spain’s judiciary for the next 11 years, but that doesn’t mean he can’t—in theory--use his prosecutorial prowess in the world’s international courts. Read more...>

Banged up in Bangladesh
The imprisonment of six suspects at the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh is excessive, according to the UN. The ICT has drawn widespread criticism for failing to meet international legal standards. The UN working group on Arbitrary Detention has now added its voice to that growing chorus. Read more...>

Pressure slowly mounts on Sri Lanka
The United States is pushing for a resolution to criticise Sri Lanka at the next session of the Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva. If it wins support for the move it would constitiute the most serious international pressure on Colombo so far to address claims it committed war crimes at the end of the country’s civil war in 2009. Read more...>

ICJ tells Germany and Italy to keep talking
The International Court of Justice ruled today that Italy is violating Germany’s sovereign immunity by allowing civil claims of victims of Nazi atrocities during World Ward Two. Italy was disappointed, hoping the ICJ would open the way for other reparations claims. The German representatives walked out of the Peace Palace in The Hague smiling, unscathed after a four-year row between the two European countries. Read more...>

Earlier IJT editions:

International Justice Tribune, 144 (1 February 2012)
International Justice Tribune, 143 (20 January 2012)
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)

IJT editorial staff:
Managing editor: Arjen van Dijkhuizen
Editorial coordinator: Franck Petit
Editor: Geraldine Coughlan
Editorial team: Richard Walker, Lauren Comiteau, Josephine Uwineza