Trends and developments

This month:

1. International Criminal Court (ICC)
2. Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor’s Office
3. Syrian cases in Germany and France
4. Vulnerable countries

ICC

On 27 March 2018 a warrant of arrest was issued for Al Hassan Ag Abdoul Aziz Ag Mohamed Ag Mahmoud. He surrendered to the ICC on 31 March 2018 and remains in its  custody. On 23 April 2020 the pre-trial chamber of the ICC decided to partially grant the prosecutor’s request to modify the charges against the defendant. Additional facts have been added for which there are substantial grounds to believe that the defendant might hold responsibility for.

The following charges of crimes against humanity have been modified to include additional facts: sexual slavery, rape, persecution and other inhuman acts, including forced marriage.

The following charges of war crimes have been modified to include additional facts: cruel treatment, sexual slavery, rape, outrages upon personal dignity and passing of sentences without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court affording all judicial guarantees which are generally recognized as indispensable.

The other requests by the prosecutor were dismissed. The redacted version on the indictments will be published later this year.

Kosovo

On Thursday 23 April 2020, the prosecutor informed the president of the court of the intent to initiate additional proceedings and therefore requested that a pre-trial judge to be assigned to review the new indictment. The content of the indictment remains confidential, unless and until confirmed.

Syrian cases

Germany

On 24 April 2020 the first trial addressing genocide against the Yazidi minority started in Frankfurt am Main. The defendant in this case is charged for acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Elements of crime are:

• genocide: killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, inflicting conditions that lead to physical destruction;
• crimes against humanity: killing, human trafficking or enslavement, deprivation of liberty;
• war crimes: killing and torture.

The wife of the defendant has been on trial in Munich, while in May 2020 a case similar to her case will stand trial in Hamburg.

On 23 April 2020 the first trial addressing Syrian state torture by two former Syrian intelligence officers started in Koblenz. Both defendants worked for the Syrian General Intelligence Directorate (Branch 251) in the Al-Khatib detention facility. After their defection, they applied for asylum in Germany. One defendant is charged for torture, sexual assaults and murder, while the other is accussed of complicity in cases of torture.

France

According to “20 Minutes”, there are in France currently 11 ongoing investigations into Syria related crimes against humanity as well as 27 preliminary inquieries. An assett to the investigations is the fact that more and more asylum seekers dare to speak out. They contribute to the inquieries and investigations through testimonies and by delivering evidence. In many of these cases the witnesses have found legal and mental support through the work of victimes oriented non-governmental organizations.

Myanmar

On 29 April 2020 the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar has released a statement on the possibility of ongoing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Rakhine and Chin states of Myanmar. This is even more troubling, since the International Court of Justice earlier ruled that Myanmar needs to prevent genocidal acts against the Rohingya Muslims and to report regularly on its implementation of the order.

Cameroon

On 22 April 2020 Cameroon published the findings of its Joint Commission of Inquiry. This commission had been investigating the 14 February 2020 massacre in Ngarbuh. Here, government groups and their proxies killed at least 21 civilians, amongst others 13 children and 1 pregnant woman.  Human Rights Watch claims that the findings diverge in significant detail from the facts of the events as established by HRW, the UN and others. Also,  HRW emphasises that the attack in Ngarbuh was not an isolated case, but part of a larger pattern of serious human rights violations by the Cameroonian security forces in the Anglophone regions. However, the report does establish that Cameroonian soldiers attempted to cover up the truth around the killings and includes a government pledge to work with human rights organizations. As such, it is an important first step in establishing the truth around the killings of civilians by government forces.