On June 9, 2014, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (the Court) unanimously confirmed the charges against Bosco Ntaganda, the former alleged deputy chief of the staff of the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), and committed him for trial before a Trial Chamber. Ntaganda is charged with eighteen counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, relating to the activities in Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, between August 2002 and December 2003. According to the press release, the Court found that “as part of the widespread and...
International Law in Brief
International Law in Brief (ILIB) is a forum that provides updates on current developments in international law from the editors of ASIL's International Legal Materials.
On June 5, 2014, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, published a Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes. According to the press release, the comprehensive policy paper will “guide the Office of the Prosecutor in its work in fighting against impunity for sexual and gender-based crimes, and promote transparency and clarity, as well as predictability in the application of the legal framework of the Rome Statute to such crimes.” The Policy Paper was promulgated following “a process of extensive consultations, gathering input from staff in the Office, the...
On June 5, 2014, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/274 (draft only), which “[r]ecognizes the right of return of all internally displaced persons and refugees and their descendants, regardless of ethnicity, to their homes throughout Georgia, including in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia.” According to a press release, the resolution was adopted out of concern “about forced demographic changes, as well as the humanitarian situation resulting from armed conflict in Georgia.” The resolution was passed by recorded vote of 69 in favor, 13 against, and 79 abstentions. ...
On June 2, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bond v. United States that the Chemical Weapons Convention Implementation Act of 1998 (the Act), which implements the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction and makes a federal crime the use or possession of a chemical weapon, did not apply to a “purely local” assault involving the use of chemicals in Pennsylvania. Petitioner Carol Anne Bond, a microbiologist, had spread toxic chemicals on the property of her husband’s mistress and subsequently...
On May 29, 2014, diplomats stated that the U.N. Security Council is considering a draft resolution that would provide immediate cross-border aid in Syria without government approval. The draft resolution comes shortly after the February passage of Security Council Resolution 2139, which demanded “that all parties, in particular the Syrian authorities, promptly allow rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access . . . across conflict lines and across borders.” According to a news article, the draft resolution, under Chapter 7, “would authorize deliveries into Syria at specific points from...
On May 29, 2014, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan signed the Eurasian Economic Union Treaty, formally creating the Eurasian Economic Union. According to a press release, the treaty creates “a common space where goods, services, capital and work force can move freely” and in which “[t]he three states will follow a coordinated policy in such key branches of the economy as energy, industry, agriculture and transport.” The treaty will enter into force January 1, 2015.
On May 21, 2014, the Appeals Chamber of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (the Chamber) denied the appeal of Radovan Stanković against the decision of the Referral Bench of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to dismiss his request to return his case to the ICTY. Stanković, a former member of the Miljevina battalion, was indicted by the ICTY in 1996 and faced charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. The ICTY transferred his case to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) in 2005, the Appellate Panel...
On May 27, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (the Court) decided the case of Marguš v. Croatia, declaring inadmissible the claim that that there had been a violation of Article 4 of Protocol No, 7 (the right not to be tried or punished twice) of the European Convention on Human Rights (the ECHR) when Croatia convicted Marguš, a former commander of the Croatian army, of war crimes in 2007, having granted him an amnesty in 1997 pursuant to the General Amnesty Act (unofficial translation). According to the press release, the Court underlined that “where a...
On May 27, 2014, the Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the Court) decided (not yet available in English) the Zoran Spasic case, holding that the rule found in Title III, Chapter 3, of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement (CISA), which restricts the application of the ne bis in idem principle to cases in which the penalty imposed in a Member State has been enforced or is actually in the process of being enforced, is not contrary to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. According to the press release, the Court...
On May 23, 2014, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced (French only) Germain Katanga to a total of twelve years’ imprisonment. He was found guilty (French only) in March 2014, as an accessory, of one count of crimes against humanity and four counts or war crimes during the attack on the village of Bogoro, in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the press release, “the Chamber stressed that the crimes committed . . . in Bogoro were committed with particular cruelty” and that Mr. Katanga “had made a significant contribution...