This month:

• Domestic prosecutions
• International(ized) prosecutions

Domestic prosecutions

Argentina

• A Bosnian Serb policeman went on trial for his involvement in the killings of 37 Bosniak civilians;
• A policeman, who was accused of involvement in the killings of civilian prisoners in the Sanski Most area in 1992, died while still on trial;
• An appeal lodged by a former Bosnian Army soldier was rejected, previously he had been convicted of involvement in the killings of 21 Serbs;
• A former commander of the Third Corps of the Bosnian Army, was sentenced to ten years for failing to stop Islamic volunteer fighters torturing and killing Serb prisoners;
• The appeal of ex-soldiers against their convictions for forcible disappearances and rape was rejected;
• A verdict was upheld for two men who have been found guilty of physically abusing a Bosniak man and his son and using them as human shields;
• Six former Bosnian Serb Army troops stand trial for their alleged involvement in an attack on a village where dozens of civilians were killed;
• A conviction was upheld sentencing a former Bosnian Serb Army soldier to five years in prison for raping a Bosniak woman;
• An indictment has been confirmed against a former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army who is accused of assisting in the commission of genocide on Bosniaks;
• A retrial started against a wartime commander of a Bosnian Army battalion. He is accussed of failing to discipline his troops for killing 27 Croat civilians;
• An appeal was rejected from a Bosnian Serb ex-soldier against his conviction for committing crimes against humanity by persecuting Bosniaks;
• A verdict was upheld sentencing a former Bosnian Serb Army serviceman to two years in prison for beating up Bosniak prisoners;
• An indictment has been confirmed against Bosnian Serb Army officers for persecution;
• Interpol issued a ‘red notice’ asking states worldwide to arrest Mladen Mitrovic, who is suspected of committing crimes against humanity against non-Serbs;
• The Bosnian court acquitted three men of the killings and inhumane treatment of imprisoned Bosnian Serb civilians and soldiers;
• A suspect died while on retrial for crimes against Serb and Croat civilian prisoners who were illegally held in detention camps;
• The indictment of a suspect who had been extradited from the US on rape charges was not confirmed;
• Two men went on trial for committing crimes against humanity against Bosniak civilians;
• An international arrest warrant was ordered for the arrest of former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Marko Kovac, who is believed to live in Serbia;
• The appeal of a former Bosnian Serb Army military policeman was rejected. He had been convicted of participating in the murders of 28 Bosniaks;
• An appeal was rejected of a former policeman who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in murders and other crimes against Bosniaks.

Colombia

On 28 January, Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) published its first indictment. It targets eight former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commanders for their involvement in and/or responsibility for kidnappings. Earlier, JEP published a 322 page document about FARC’s kidnappings between 1990 and 2012.

Croatia

• A criminal charge was made against a former member of the Territorial Defence Forces who is believed to have shot and killed a civilian;
• Four persons have been charged for committing a war crime by unlawfully detaining and mistreating prisoners;
• A former Croatian Serb paramilitary has been charged with committing a war crime by physically abusing and killing a Croatian civilian;
• A former Serb paramilitary has been indicted for committing a war crime by killing a teenager;
• An acquittal was overturned in the case of a wartime commander of the Croatian Serb Territorial Defence forces, who had ordered the killing of an 83-year-old civilian;
• A former Yugoslav People’s Army colonel was acquitted after a retrial for ordering the shelling of civilian and business facilities.

Democratic Republic of Congo

• On 11 January, the former aid of a militia leader was convicted to 20 years imprisonment. He was found guilty of crimes against humanity such as murder, rape, sexual slavery, torture, imprisonment, enforced disappearances and other inhumane acts. Reparations were granted to over 170 victims. The crimes were commited in South-Kivu between 2007 and 2012.
• On 16 March, the first war crimes trial in Kasai was concluded. A traditional chief and militia leader during the 2016-2017 violence was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was found guilty for war crimes of murder, pillage, torture, destruction, hostage taking, terrorism and criminal conspirancy.

El Salvador

El Salvador seeks justice for the murder of four Dutch journalists in 1982. They shot by government army soldiers as they attempted to enter the guerrilla territory of the left-wing FMLN fighters. So far, an amnesty law excluded the prosecution of involved military personnel. In 2016 this law was deemed to be unconstitutional and then lifted. A UN truth commission concluded that the IKON journalists were the target of the action.

Finnland

The preliminary investigation against a suspect of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sierra Leone was finished, and on 3 February 2021 the trial commenced. The prosecutor has demanded a life sentence.

France

On 29 December, the French authorities arrested and detained a former Congolese warlord and leader of Rassemblement Congolais pour la démocratie-National (RCD-N). He is suspected of crimes against humanity. Reports of both the UN Security Council and of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights seem to confirm the charges.

Germany

• Early February, both a man and a woman were charged for their involvement in and responsibility for crimes committed in Nazi-Germany. The 95 year old woman used to be a secretary of a commander of a concentration camp, the 100 year old man was a nazi-SS guard at another concentration camp;
• On 24 February 2021 a former member of the Syrian secret police was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison for aiding an abetting crimes against humanity. The man, a member of the secret service, was held accountable for rounding up protestors in Douma and delivering them to a detention center, where they were subsequently tortured. The trial was the first of its kind worldwide as it was the first time a state actor was held to account for state-sponsored torture;
• On 16 March, a former member of the Gambian armed forces was arrested. He is suspected of involvement in crimes against humanity, murder and attempted murder under then President Yahya Jammeh. The arrest warrant said he belonged to a so-called “Patrol Team” of the Gambian military, also known as “Junglers.” The unit was used by the Gambian president to execute illegal kill orders, among other things. The ultimate goal was to intimidate the Gambian population and suppress opposition.

• A Serb ex-fighter was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his involvement in Serbian forces’ attacks on ethnic Albanian civilians;
• Police arrested an a man on suspicion of committing war crimes during a massacre by Serbian forces in the Kosovo village of Izbica.

Netherlands

• A suspect has been convicted to 7 years in prison for his participation in Syria for a terrorist organisation (IS), and the war crime of outrageous acts on the personal dignity and degrading acts upon one of the organisation’s victims;
• On 19 March, the prosecuter demanded a 10 year sentence for a suspect who had joined the terrorist organisation Ahrar Al-Sham and who alledgedly committed war crimes. The judgement is scheduld for 21 April.

Serbia

• The prison sentences of six Serbian wartime policemen, soldiers and paramilitaries who were earlier found guilty of killing 28 civilians were reduced. Two convictions were totally overturned;
• A former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman was convicted to nine years in prison for torturing civilian detainees;
• The case against a Bosnian Serb ex-policeman accused of involvement in killing 1,313 Bosniaks in Srebrenica was dismissed. The man could no longer stand trial due to mental health problems;
• A former Bosnian Serb fighter was convicted to two years imprisonment after a retrial for assaulting and robbing a Bosniak civilian;
• An ex-soldier was sentenced to five years in prison for killing one civilian and attempting to kill two others;
• A case of a suspect, earlier sentenced to ten years in prison for beating Serbs at a prison, will go on retrial;
• A former Bosnian Serb Army soldier went on trial for committing a war crime by participating in the murders of at least ten Bosniak civilians;
• A former brigade commander went on trial for ordering attacks on non-Serb civilians, resulting in crimes including 150 killings, torture and rape.

International(ized) prosecutions

International Criminal Court (ICC)

• On 24 January, Mahamat Said Abdel Kani was surrendered to the ICC by the authorities of the Central African Republic (CAR). On 7 January 2019 a warrant of arrest was issued. He is suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Bangui in 2013. The situation of the CAR was referred to the ICC in 2014. The situation involved alleged crimes committed since 1 August 2012 by both the Seleka and the Anti Balaka. The violence led to thousands of deaths and left hundreds of thousands displaced;
• On 4 February, Dominic Ongwen was found guilty for of 61 crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. His crimes were committed in the context of the armed rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the government of Uganda. The LRA, including Dominic Ongwen, perceived the civilians living in Northern Uganda as enemies. In particular those civilians who lived in government-established camps;
• On 16 February, the trial againstAlfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona opened. They are suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the CAR. Both suspects pleaded not-guilty to all the charges;
• On 3 March, the prosecutor confirmed the investigation into the Palestinian situation. The investigation will cover crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC that have been committed since 13 June 2014. The decision was made after a preliminary examination that lasted close to five years;
• On 8 March, the ICC ordered reparations to victims in the case of Bosco Ntaganda. The total reparations for which he was found liable was set at USD 30,000,000. Eligible victims include: direct and indirect victims of the attacks, of crimes against child soldiers, of rape and sexual slavery, and children born out of rape and sexual slavery. It also defined the harms caused to victims, describing the great suffering and long-lasting consequences they suffered;
• On 24 March, media quoted a spokesman for the Libyan National Army, stating that the military commander, Mahmoud Al-Werfalli, was killed in Benghazi. He was wanted by the ICC. His dead remains to be confirmed by the ICC;
• On 30 March, the appeals chamber confirmed the decision of 8 July 2019, which found Bosco Ntaganda guilty of 18 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, committed in Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, in 2002-2003. In addition, the appeals chamber confirmed the decision of 7 November 2019, by which he was sentenced to 30 years of imprisonment. The conviction and the sentence are now final;
• On 31 March, the appeals chamber delivered its judgment on the prosecutor’s appeal against the decision of 15 January 2019, which acquitted Mr Gbagbo and Mr Blé Goudé of all charges of crime against humanity allegedly committed in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010 and 2011. The appeals chamber confirmed the decision of the Trial Chamber. The acquittal of Mr Gbagbo and Mr Blé Goudé is now final.

Kosovo Tribunal

On 16 March, the authorities of Belgium arrested Pjetёr Shala after the Kosovo Tribunal had issued an arrest warrant. He will be detained in Belgium, pending a transfer to the detention facility in The Hague. The indictment will be made public no later than the initial appearance of the accused.

Lebanon Tribunal

On 13 January, the prosecutor notified the appeals chamber of filing an appeal in the case of Ayyash and al., dated 18 August 2020.