There was a serious error of judgment, a sort of blindness when we didn’t foresee the genocidal dimensions of the government” [French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Rwandans, February 2010] ” . . . all over the world there were people like me sitting in offices, day after day after day, who did not fully appreciate […]
No criminal
February 8, 2010 by 2 Comments
You showed us the crime but not the criminal – is the basic message from the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber I to the Prosecutor. At 103 pages their actual decision is significantly more detailed than that, but in essence the judges decided not to confirm the charges against Abu Garda not because they do not think […]
ICC judges do not confirm charges against Darfur rebel Abu Garda
February 8, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The decision on the confirmation of charges (this is the “substantial grounds to believe” stage) in the ICC Prosecutor’s case against Darfuri rebel leader Abu Garda has just been released. The Prosecution was charging Abu Garda with three counts of war crimes related to the 2007 attack on the AMIS peacekeeping base at Haskanita. The […]
AU reaction to ICC Appeal decision in Bashir case
February 5, 2010 by 1 Comment
Hi all Book drafting taking priority over commentary here, but just to keep you updated re. reactions to the Appeals Chamber decision on the Bashir arrest warrant, I’m posting below the communique released by the African Union. In short they are continuing an anti-ICC position. One thing that did strike me when I was speaking […]
Legal std used to reject genocide charge for Bashir was wrong
February 3, 2010 by 1 Comment
In a straightforward delivery before a packed public gallery, the Presiding Judge in the ICC Appeals Chamber, Erkki Kourula (Finland) handed down the Appeals Chamber’s unanimous decision to reverse the Pre-Trial Chamber’s (PTC) decision with respect to the legal standard on which the PTC rejected the Prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant for Bashir on […]
Appeal in Bashir case to be decided next week
January 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
The ICC has just released the advisory below. I will be in The Hague next week and plan to break from drafting to attend. Quite independent from the Bashir case per se, this issue of the standard of proof for inference at the arrest warrant stage is important for all future ICC cases. I will try and […]
Anyone care about Chad?
January 21, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I realise the advocacy focus today is on the Deputies meeting on Sudan, but while I’ve broken my blog-free commitment, let me take the opportunity to highlight a useful summary of unfolding events in Chad, following Chadian President Deby’s signal that he doesn’t want to UN to renew the mandate of the UN mission (MINURCAT) […]
Sudan’s “new” national security law
December 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment
Below is an unofficial translation of the most controversial aspects of the “new” National Security Act that the ruling NCP rammed through the Sudanese Parliament earlier this week. At first glance Section 50 (E) (“Detention or arrest of any suspected person for a period not exceeding thirty days provided that his or her family is […]
Law Reform (minus the reform part)
December 21, 2009 by 3 Comments
News reports indicate that a last-minute ditch effort by the NCP to check the box on the reform of the National Security Act (which gives Sudan’s security services the veneer of legal cover as they arbitrarily detain Sudanese citizens, incommunicado – more often than not torturing the detainees in their custody) took place yesterday. I […]
Four years on, nothing learned
“Hey, I heard on the radio that there’s a peace agreement for Darfur!” was the excited message a non-Darfur-obsessed friend (I do have a few) greeted me with yesterday. “Hmm” I replied, un-enthused – clearly not the response my friend was expecting. At the time I hadn’t read the actual agreement just signed by the […]