The U.S. House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a bill that would brand the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 a genocide. President Bush opposes the bill, however, the Democratic control over the House may produce enough votes to pass both the Foreign Affairs Committee and the […]
The presiding officer in the investigation into the killing of 24 Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha concluded the cases lacked sufficient evidence to proceed with murder charges. Investigators recommended charging Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich with negligent homicide rather than murder because of the nature of the investigation. Murder charges against Lance Cpl. Justin […]
The former foreign minister for the Khmer Rouge, leng Sary, declared his innocence on Sunday. The former minister was in Thailand over the weekend on declining health issues. His comments reflect rumors regarding the U.N. war crimes tribunal examining the role of the Khmer Rouge in the deaths of some 1.7 million people when they […]
The New York Times revealed Thursday the U.S. Justice Department issued a secret finding endorsing extraordinary interrogation tactics, such as water-boarding and stress positions. The Bush administration waded into the legal fray regarding permissable interrogation tactics in 2002. Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11, it began to hold prisoners in secret facilities outside the access […]
Lam Akol, the Sudanese foreign minister, announced in a press statement this past weekend that Ali Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, known as Ali Kushayb, was released from detention due to lack of evidence. Sudanese officials detained him in November for “suspicion of violation Sudanese laws.” Kushayb was the subject of the first ever arrest warrant issued by […]
Romeo Dallaire, the Canadian general who led a U.N. peacekeeping mission during the Rwandan genocide in 1994, testified in Canadian court Tuesday for the war crimes trial of Desire Munyaneza. Munyaneza is charged with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity in relation to attacks at the National University of Rwanda against the Tutsi ethnic […]
On Oct. 2, 1992, riot police from the Brazilian police force forcibly put down a riot in the Carandiru Detention Center, killing 111 in Brazil's worst prison massacre. In cell block 9, a fight broke out between two prisoners from rival gangs over exercise space. The fight resulted in the hospitalization of one prisoner following […]
Prosecutors from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service are pursuing possible war crimes charges against U.S. Marines for actions in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. The charges allege that Marines from Camp Pendleton killed several detained insurgents. Jose Nazario Jr., 27, faces voluntary manslaughter charges in civilian court and several other Marines are under investigation. The investigation […]
The Defense Department has granted suspected terrorists held at the U.S. naval facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba the right to request legal representation. Defense Department officials gave 14 high-value detainees, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, “Legal Representation Request” forms. The form allows them to state their desire “to have a civilian lawyer represent me […]
Skirmishes erupted on Monday between the Congolese army and rebel fighters loyal to warlord Laurent Nkunda, shattering a three-week ceasefire in the region. The fighting, which has been ongoing for the past year, has resulted in the forced displacement of more than 300,000 people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The […]
A U.S. military appeals court reinstated terrorism charges against Omar Khadr for murder, conspiracy, spying and supporting terrorism. Khadr, 21, has been held at the U.S. detention facility at a naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for the past five years. He was detained in Afghanistan for allegedly killing Sgt. Christopher Speer, an Army special […]
Witnesses in the trial of Saddam Hussein's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, testified that he had ordered the execution of 200 people during a Shi’ite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991. One unnamed Shia witness testified from behind a curtain that al-Majid, also known as “Chemical Ali”, personally oversaw the execution of the first 25 people. […]
A recent book by Florence Hartmann, a former spokeswoman for the U.N. war crimes division, alleged that the United States and Russia intervened in Serbian affairs regarding the fugitive Radovan Karadzic. Hartmann claims that the two countries made a secret deal with Karadzic to not detain him in exchange for his disappearance. Rasim Llajic, a […]
Nuon Chea, the right-hand man to Cambodian President Pol Pot, was formally charged with war crimes and for crimes against humanity by the U.N. backed Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia. Nuon Chea, known as “Brother Number Two”, was detained and arrested Wednesday in connection with the deaths of nearly 1.7 million people during […]
France circulated a new Chapter 7 draft resolution at the United Nations calling for a European Union force and U.N. police deployment to Chad and the Central Africa Republic. A Chapter 7 resolution allows the use of military force in order to protect civilians, provide general security, and establish a humanitarian aid corridor. Idriss Deby, […]