On March 13, 2015, in Prosecutor v. Kenyatta, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court withdrew charges against Uhuru Kenyatta, the president of Kenya, for insufficient evidence. According to the press release, the Trial Chamber indicated that “although the proceedings shall be terminated, the Court retains jurisdiction over any interference with a witness or with the collection of evidence and that the protective measures ordered for witnesses and/or victims shall continue, subject to the review by the Court.” Kenyatta was accused of crimes against humanity, including...
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 March 11, 2015, in the Matter of Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, the Board of Immigration Appeals, the United States’ highest administrative body for the interpretation of immigration laws, ruled that Carlos Casanova, a former El Salvadorian defense minister, could be deported for his role in the crimes committed during the El Salvador civil war in the 1980s. Noting sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act that do not permit persons who have committed extrajudicial killings to be admitted to the United States, the Board held that Casanova could be deported because “...
On March 11, 2015, the International Criminal Court issued its decision granting the prosecutor’s request to join the cases of Laurent Gbagbo, former president of Côte d'Ivoire and Charles Blé Goudé, an Ivorian politician, who are both accused of crimes against humanity committed between 2010 and 2011 in Côte d'Ivoire. According to the press release, the pair “had charges confirmed against them which arise from the same allegations, namely crimes allegedly committed during the same four incidents by the same direct perpetrators who targeted the same victims" and “largely the same evidence...
On March 10, 2015, an Ivory Coast court sentenced Simone Gbagbo, former first lady of the Ivory Coast, to twenty years in prison. According to one report, Gbagbo was tried and convicted for “undermining state security” for the role she played during the 2010–2011 post-election violence that killed almost 3,000 people. In 2012, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for her arrest in relation to charges of four counts of crimes against humanity, but the Ivory Coast later decided to try her domestically. Her husband, former Ivory Coast president, Laurent Gbagbo, awaits trial for...
On March 9, 2015, in Prosecutor v. Al Bashir, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (the Court) decided that by not arresting and surrendering Omar al-Bashir to the Court, the Republic of Sudan had failed to cooperate with the Court. According to the press release, the Chamber notified the Security Council and “stressed that if there is no follow up action on the part of the UNSC, any referral by the Council to the ICC under Chapter VII of the UN Charter would never achieve its ultimate goal, namely, to put an end to impunity.”
On March 4, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom unanimously rejected the U.K. government’s designation of Jamaica as safe for a rejected gay asylum seeker in R v. Secretary of State for the Home Department. According to the press summary, Jamar Brown, a citizen of Jamaica, sought asylum in the United Kingdom on the ground that as a homosexual he would be persecuted if returned to Jamaica. Pending the resolution of his claim, he was detained and his case was fast tracked pursuant to section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration, and Asylum Act under which Jamaica had been...
On March 4, 2015, in Kong v. Public Prosecutor, the Singapore Court of Appeal ruled that caning as administered in Singapore does not constitute torture. Yong Vui Kong was convicted in 2013 of drug trafficking and sentenced to “life imprisonment and 15 strokes of the cane” as prescribed in Singapore’s amended 2012 Misuse of Drugs Act. Kong appealed the sentence on various grounds, including that caning was a form of torture under international and common law, and particularly under the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (Art. 15(1)) to which Singapore is party....
On March 3, 2015, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 2206, which creates a system by which the Council can impose targeted sanctions on parties impeding peace in South Sudan. According to the press release, the Council “endorsed the Cessation of Hostilities Agreements accepted and signed by both the Governments of South Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement (SPLM)-in Opposition on 23 January 2014, 6 May 2014 and 9 May 2014” and demanded that “all parties adhere to and immediately implement the cessation of hostilities agreements.” The resolution applies to a...
On March 3, 2015, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) amended the Trial Chamber’s “Decision Establishing the Principles and Procedures to be Applied to Reparations” in Prosecutor v. Dyilo. According to the press release, the order was amended to “include an instruction to the TFV [Trust Fund for Victims] that it consult with victims who participated at trial and submitted individual requests on issues relating, inter alia, to the design and nature of the collective reparations awards.” The Appeals Chamber also instructed the TVF “to present a...
On February 27, 2015, the East African Court of Justice dismissed a case brought by the attorneys general of Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania seeking a declaration that the Republic of South Sudan was unfit to be a member of the East African Community (EAC). South Sudan had applied to join the EAC in 2011 under Article 3(3)(b) of the EAC Treaty, but the applicants challenged the move on the ground that South Sudan “does not adhere to universally accepted principles of good governance, democracy, rule of law and observance of human rights and social justice as required under...