Year in Review: This year in War Crimes began with two historical events that will change the shape of War Crimes and International Law for years to come. The first of those events: The beginning of trials at the International Criminal Court. This marks the beginning of International Criminal Justice on a truly global level. While it has been criticized on a number of levels it has provided a venue for the prosecution of War Crimes that currently spans four international situations. The Court was inaugurated with the Lubanga trial and is currently proceeding with the prosecution of War Criminals from Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic and the Sudan. The second major War Crimes event that brought in the new year was the I.C.C.’s issuing of an arrest warrant for sitting Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir. This marks the first arrest warrant issued for a sitting Head of State. Heads of State were to that point considered immune to prosecution as outlined in International Law. The arrest warrant issued for Bashir, while possibly unenforceable, is the biggest step to date in the direction of universal jurisdiction for the prosecution of the most serious War Crimes. Bashir’s arrest warrant signaled the beginning of the end to impunity for currently employed tyrants.
Other major events in the year in War Crimes 2009 include the Israeli invasion of Gaza early in the year which resulted in the Goldstone Commission finding evidence of War Crimes perpetrated by the IDF. The thirty year Sri Lankan civil war came to a bloody end this year and elicited charges of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity from major international organizations.
The trials of notorious (accused) War Criminals Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic and Duch proceeded. Duch began the year at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia by begging for mercy and forgiveness, and ended his trial with a motion to dismiss charges. Karadzic’s trial at the International Criminal Tribunal of the the former Yugoslavia has been delayed by problems with Karadzic’s participation and willingness to work with the defense. Charles Taylor’s trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone is expected to conclude in the next year with the verdict far from certain.
Other noteworthy 2009 events in War Crimes include the guilty verdict against former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori for Crimes Against Humanity in Peruvian domestic court. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is awaiting an appeals verdict this week. Former Iraqi government officials Tariq Aziz and ‘Chemical’ Ali were found guilty of Crimes Against Humanity and sentenced in domestic courts in Iraq for atrocities committed in the early 1990s. Accused Nazi Prison Guard John Dejamjuk, in his late 80s, was extradited from the U.S. to Germany for prosecution. War Crimes continued and proliferated in the Democratic Republic of Congo, including employing rape as a weapon. In September a massacre was perpetrated in Guinea against pro-democratic activists by government forces that raped large numbers of women and were suspected former militants from the conflict in Sierra Leone. And Africa’s first democratically elected female Head of State, Liberia’s former President Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, was found complicit in War Crimes by Liberia’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission which recommended a 30 year ban from public service for the former President.
Surprise of the Year: The acquittal of Protais Zigiranyirazo, better known as “Z” at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. I am sure most of you finished the previous section screaming “What about the acquittal of ‘Z’?” This was by far the most surprising development in War Crimes for the year 2009, even beating out the first ever issuance of a warrant for a sitting Head of State. Z was the brother-in-law of former Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. By all accounts Z was in the ‘inner circle’, the top 4 Rwandan Hutu leaders, that commanded the 1994 genocide of nearly 1 million Rwandans. He was convicted of his crimes at the tribunal and then late last month acquitted on a legal technicality striking a major blow to international justice and the international justice system. The acquittal prompted the current Rwandan Justice Minister to declare the Tribunal “a place for legal play acting“. The case highlights the dichotomy of International Tribunals providing fair trials for the accused in highly emotionally and politically charged environments and providing justice for some of the most serious crimes imaginable.
Person of the Year: International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Ocampo has been a charismatic, outspoken voice for International Criminal Law at a time when the emerging field requires such strong stewardship and a visible leader. Ocampo was the driving force behind prosecuting Bashir and launched official inquiries into international situations that previously were thought outside of jurisdiction for international criminal prosecution including Afghanistan, Kenya, Israel, Colombia and Georgia. Ocampo has been brazen at times and has never demurred from challenging conventional perceptions, even established International Law, in the pursuit of international justice.
The Year Ahead: The elusive Ratko Mladic will finally be caught and brought to justice. I am aware that this is becoming a perennial prediction (which is what makes it easier to predict). Charles Taylor will escape justice based on a weak prosecution case that rested on key witnesses that were predominantly mentally disturbed, confessed killers. The ICC will expand its ‘situations’ to include Kenya, prosecuting crimes that occurred during the post election violence there in 2007. Duch will be found guilty. Wildcard prediction: warrants will be issued against Tamil and Sinhalese armed forces commanders in the Sri Lankan conflict and ‘Z’ will be brought to some form of justice – judicial or extrajudicial.
