Monthly News Updates: Domestic Prosecution of International Crimes – April 2022
By: Pauline Pfaff, Junior Research Associate, PILPG-NL
Several war crimes trials started in the month of April. This post provides an overview of the core developments worldwide regarding the domestic prosecution of international crimes.
EUROPE
Finland | Court acquits former Sierra Leonean rebel commander of war crimes
The court of Tempere, Finland, released its judgment in the case against Gibril Massaquoi, a former Sierra Leonean rebel commander. The court acquitted Massaquoi of all war crimes and crimes against humanity charges based on insufficient evidence. Massaquoi stood trial for crimes committed in Sierra Leone and Liberia between 1999 and 2003. [April 29, 2022]
Ukraine | State prosecutor prepares war crimes charges relating to the Bucha massacre
The Ukrainian state prosecutor announced plans to prepare charges against several members of the Russian military for war crimes committed in Bucha. Following the retreat of Russian troops from the city, Ukrainian authorities discovered the remains of more than 410 civilians, some of which showed signs of torture and execution. The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense published the identities of ten Russian soldiers allegedly involved in the Bucha massacre. [April 28, 2022]
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Court charges former Bosniak political and military leaders with war crimes
The Bosnian state court indicted ten individuals for their alleged involvement in an attack on a Yugoslav People’s Army convoy on May 3, 1992 which killed eight individuals and injured 24. The attack occurred when the convoy attempted to retreat from Sarajevo under the escort of United Nations peacekeepers. Among the charged individuals are several former ministers and retired Bosnian army generals. [April 27, 2022]
Germany | Trial against Gambian national for crimes against humanity starts
The trial of a Gambian individual accused of committing crimes against humanity and murder commenced before a German court. The defendant allegedly belonged to the so-called “Junglers,” a death squad under the direct command of former Gambian authoritarian ruler Yahya Jammeh. The charged crimes include the murder of journalist Deyda Hydara in 2004. The trial is based on the principle of universal jurisdiction. [April 25, 2022]
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Court acquits four former members of the Sarajevo police force of war crimes charges
The Bosnian state court acquitted Dragan Vikic, the former police chief of Sarajevo, and three co-defendants of war crimes. The prosecution indicted the four defendants for the murder of eight Yugoslav People’s Army prisoners in the early days of the siege of Sarajevo in April 1992 and the failure to punish the direct perpetrators. The judgment may be appealed. [April 21, 2022]
Netherlands | Appeal hearings in Ethiopian war crimes case conclude
The Appeal Court of The Hague completed hearings in the case of Ethiopian-Dutch Eshetu Alemu after two weeks. In 2017, a first instance court convicted Alemu of war crimes committed during the so-called red terror in Ethiopia in 1978. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment. The underlying acts include 75 murders, six instances of torture, as well as 320 counts of arbitrary detentions which took place between February and December 1978. [April 18, 2022]
Netherlands | Court sentences Afghan national to 12 years imprisonment for war crimes
The District Court of The Hague sentenced Abdul Rafief to twelve years in prison after finding him guilty of war crimes under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Rafief was a top commander at the infamous Pul-e-Charkhi prison in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the 1980s. The court found that while there, Rafief engaged in the inhumane and degrading treatment of political prisoners. [April 14, 2022]
Germany | Court charges suspect with war crimes in Syria
The German state prosecutor charged Moafak D. with war crimes before a Berlin court. In 2014, D. allegedly threw a grenade into a crowd of civilians waiting to receive food in Damascus, Syria. At least seven individuals lost their lives. D. is stateless and a former member of the Free Palestine Movement, the group that controlled the Yarmouk district of Damascus at the time. [April 14, 2022]
Switzerland | Criminal proceedings start against company for plunder in Libya
The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland formally announced the start of criminal proceedings against the Swiss-based company Kolmar Group AG for pillage as a war crime. The company allegedly procured smuggled gasoil from a Libyan state-owned company during the Libyan civil war from 2014 to 2015. [April 13, 2022]
Ukraine | Prosecutor announces war crimes investigations into 500 Russian individuals
The Ukrainian state prosecutor announced investigations into the possible culpability of 500 Russian officials for war crimes. In the announcement, the prosecutor alleged that Russian individuals committed approximately 5,600 alleged war crimes on Ukrainian territory since the start of the Russian invasion earlier this year. [April 10, 2022]
Serbia | Court convicts former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman of torture
The Belgrade Higher Court found former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman Milorad Jovanovic guilty of torturing non-Serb civilians in the Sanski Most area in 1992. The court sentenced Jovanovic to nine years’ imprisonment. [April 8, 2022]
Germany | Former ministers file war crimes complaint against Russian individuals
Former minister of justice Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrberger and former minister of interior Gerhart Baum filed a criminal complaint against several Russian officials with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The aim of the complaint is to prompt a war crimes probe. Russian president Vladimir Putin is among the implicated individuals. [April 7, 2022]
AFRICA
Democratic Republic of Congo | Third war crimes trial starts
The military court opened the trial against seven former members of the Kamuina Nsapu militia. The defendants allegedly committed war crimes in the Kasai Central province in 2017. This is the third such trial in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [April 21, 2022]
Central African Republic | First trial of war crimes court postponed
The long-awaited hybrid Special Criminal Court opened its doors in the Central African Republic to adjudicate international crimes committed during the protracted armed conflict within the country. The defense lawyers boycotted the inaugural trial hearing to protest their unequal treatment. As a response, the court adjourned the hearing and will continue on April 25. The first case of the court pertains to the alleged killing of 46 civilians in the villages Koundjili and Lemouna by members of 3R rebel group in May 2019. [April 19, 2022]
THE AMERICAS
Colombia | First public admission of guilt for crimes against humanity and war crimes
Nine military officials and one civilian co-defendant admitted to having orchestrated the enforced disappearance and extrajudicial killing of 120 civilians as part of the so-called ‘false positives’. This marks the first public admission of guilt for crimes against humanity and war crimes before the Special Jurisdiction for Peace. [April 27, 2022]