Trial to open of former child soldier turned LRA warlord The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Dominic Ongwen, the former child soldier who became a Lord’s Resistance Army warlord, will go before war crimes judges on Tuesday in a trial which presents the International Criminal Court with its “most difficult …
Read More »ICC: US may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | US military forces and the CIA may have committed war crimes in Afghanistan through the “cruel and violent” interrogation of detainees mostly between 2003-2004, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Monday. There was a “reasonable basis to believe that, in the …
Read More »Prosecutor Bensouda vows to press on despite Africa ICC withdrawals
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor has described decisions by three African countries to withdraw as a “setback”, as she vowed that the tribunal will continue its work on the continent. “You could expect a setback as the ICC started to make more progress,” …
Read More »Why Gambia has joined list of African nations to quit ICC
Dakar, Senegal | AFP | The Gambia has become the latest African nation to announce its withdrawal from the International Criminal Court, accusing the war crimes tribunal of “persecuting” Africans. The shock move announced late Tuesday was condemned by rights groups as a “drastic blow” for victims of serious crimes …
Read More »What happens to Ongwen, Bemba cases if African countries pull out of ICC?
Five questions and answers on the ICC The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | The Gambia has become the third country in just a matter of weeks to announce it plans to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The shock announcement will be a personal blow to the tribunal’s chief …
Read More »Bemba, aides guilty of bribery during ICC war crimes trial
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | International judges on Wednesday found former Congolese vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba and four close aides guilty of bribing and corrupting witnesses in a bid to derail his landmark war crimes trial. The case was “about the clear, and downright criminal behaviour of the five …
Read More »How much is child soldier’s lost youth worth? ICC asks
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | “How do you calculate a lost childhood?” That was the question Tuesday before war crimes judges trying to set the amount of landmark reparations to be paid to former Congolese child soldiers. After years of hearings, trials and appeals before the International Criminal Court …
Read More »Malian jihadist jailed for 9 years for Timbuktu attacks
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | War crimes judges Tuesday found a Malian jihadist guilty of destroying Timbuktu’s fabled shrines, and were set to pass sentence amid hopes the court will send a strong message to help safeguard the world’s ancient monuments. A three-judge bench began handing down its judgements …
Read More »DRC warlord Ntaganda on 7th day of hunger strike at ICC
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | Congolese former rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda on Wednesday again refused to attend his war crimes trial on the seventh day of a hunger strike which is posing a legal dilemma for international judges. Ntaganda is protesting his treatment in detention and has said …
Read More »Malian jihadist says sorry for destroying Timbuktu
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | A Malian jihadist pleaded guilty Monday to attacking the fabled city of Timbuktu and begged forgiveness as the world was shown sickening videos of him and other fundamentalists tearing down centuries-old Muslim shrines with pick-axes. At the opening of his unprecedented war crimes …
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