The International Center for Transitional Justice
www.ictj.org
July 15, 2004
HEADLINES
Bosnia and Herzegovina:
Srebrenica Survivors Seek Reparations; Wartime Archives Handed Over to the
ICTY
Cambodia: Former Khmer Rouge
Leader Hospitalized
Democratic Republic of the
Congo: Correction to June 30 Summary of DRC News
Croatia: Former General
Pleads Not Guilty at the ICTY
Ghana: Officer Explains 1979
Execution of Generals to the NRC
Guatemala: Court Sentences
Soldiers for Xaman Massacre
Iraq: Saddam Hussein Appears
Before Iraqi Tribunal
Rwanda: ICTR Upholds Niyitegeka
Conviction
Serbia and Montenegro:
Milosevic’s Health Delays Trial
Sierra Leone:
Prosecution Makes Opening Argument in RUF Leaders’ Case
South Africa:
Hundreds of Cases of Political Killings May Be Re-opened
BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA
Srebrenica Survivors Seek Reparations
July 11, 2004
Survivors of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica are seeking reparations from the Dutch government for failing to stop the attack. On behalf of 10,000 survivors, the group is asking for US$2.4 billion. Survivors also commemorated the ninth anniversary of the massacre with a memorial service and a burial ceremony in Potocari for the remains of 338 victims that were exhumed from mass graves in the area.
See: BBC, Massacre survivors seek payout
AFP, Srebrenica
survivors bury loved ones on massacre anniversary
Wartime Archives Handed Over to the ICTY
July 8, 2004
Sasa Misic, chief of the second police station at Banja Luka, Bosnia, has been suspended after handing over wartime archives to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on what critics are calling false pretenses. In June, 16 cases of wartime archives were found in the basement of a Banja Luka police station. Misic is one of the few Croats who hold a senior position in the Interior Ministry.
See: Nacional (Zagreb) (translation by BBC International Monitoring Europe), Bosnian Croat policeman hands over SDS right wing’s wartime archives to ICTY
For more detailed weekly updates on the ICTY, please see Tribunal Update by The Institute for War and Peace Reporting, the UN Public Information Services’ ICTY Weekly Update, and the Coalition for International Justice’s Latest Reports. See also the International Center for Transitional Justice/Bard College’s audio/video archive of the Milosevic trial.
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CAMBODIA
Former Khmer Rouge Leader Hospitalized
July 7, 2004
Former Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary has been admitted to a Thai hospital and is reported to be in critical condition. Sary helped found the Khmer Rouge and served as foreign minister from 1975 to 1979. The long-delayed United Nations-backed tribunal that is being set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders for atrocities committed by the Pol Pot regime will likely try Ieng Sary and other elderly leaders.
See: Borneo Bulletin, Ex-Khmer Rouge leader in Thai hospital
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CROATIA
Former General Pleads Not Guilty at the ICTY
July 8, 2004
Former Croatian General Mirko Norac has pled not guilty at the ICTY on five counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war related to a 1993 operation against rebel Serbs in the Krajina region. Norac, whom many Croatians view as a war hero, is already serving a 12-year prison sentence in Croatia for a separate attack on Serb civilians in 1991. No date for the trial has been set, and Norac will now return to Croatia to continue carrying out his prison sentence. In related news, a Croatian court has ordered the state to pay reparations to the family of an ethnic Serb who was killed by a local policeman in the eastern town of Podravska Slatina in February 1992. The perpetrator was previously found guilty of the murder and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, but served less than four months because of an amnesty by then-President Franjo Tudjman.
See: BBC, Croat “war hero” flown to Hague
Reuters, Croat General Flies to Hague, Pleads Not Guilty
B92, Croat court awards damages to Serbs
Please see “Bosnia and Herzegovina” (above) for links to more information about the ICTY.
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC
OF THE CONGO
Correction to June 30 Summary of DRC News
July 13, 2004
In the June 30, 2004, issue of “Transitional Justice in the News,” we ran the story, “ICC Begins First Investigation, Arresting Two,” related to the recent arrest of Floribert Kisembo and Pitchou Iribi, two rebel leaders in the northeastern region of Ituri. The rebel leaders were arrested by MONUC, the United Nations mission in the region, per its mandate and in cooperation with the local authorities. The arrest has nothing to do with the ICC and the ICC has nothing to do with the arrest.
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GHANA
Officer Explains 1979 Execution of Generals to the NRC
July 5, 2004
Retired captain Baah Achamfour has given testimony at Ghana’s National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) regarding the June 4, 1979, extrajudicial killing of four generals. Achamfour described the killings as the result of tribal rivalries within the military that resulted in a coup that brought Jerry John Rawlings to power. The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) commemorated another significant event in recent Ghanaian history with a Remembrance Service for three High Court judges who were murdered on June 30, 1982. The GBA expressed hope that the Commission’s final report will shed more light on the case.
See: Accra Daily Mail, Afrifa’s Ghost Again!
Ghana Web, Lawyers remember murdered High Court Judges
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GUATEMALA
Court Sentences Soldiers for Xaman Massacre
July 9, 2004
A Guatemalan court has reversed an appeals court decision and sentenced Lt. Camilo Lacan and 13 soldiers under his command each to 40 years in prison for the 1995 massacre of recently returned refugees in Xaman. Eleven people, including two children, were killed in the massacre.
See: AP, Guatemalan Soldiers Sentenced in Massacre
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IRAQ
Saddam Hussein Appears Before Iraqi Tribunal
July 2, 2004
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has appeared before an Iraqi investigative judge and has been informed of charges against him under a preliminary arrest warrant. Hussein refused to recognize the court and claimed he was still the leader of Iraq, also claiming immunity because he acted in an official capacity. Eleven of Hussein’s top former deputies appeared before the court after his appearance had concluded.
See: Reuters, Saddam Hussein Appears Before Iraqi Tribunal
Washington Post, Defiant Hussein Hears Charges in Court
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RWANDA
ICTR Upholds Niyitegeka Conviction
July 9, 2004
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has upheld the conviction of former information minister Eliezer Niyitegeka on charges of genocide and other crimes in the 1994 killings.
See: VOA, UN
Tribunal Upholds Genocide Conviction of Former Rwandan Minister
BBC, Ex-minister loses genocide appeal
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SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
Milosevic’s Health Delays Trial
July 12, 2004
The trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic came under review at the ICTY last week due to his continuous high blood pressure and poor health. This has again brought into focus the question of Milosevic’s self-representation. However, the Trial Chamber decided that the trial should continue, at least until the customary court recess in August, and that the Registrar should start to make arrangements for the appointment of stand-by counsel.
See: AP, Milosevic’s Poor Health Delays Case Again
Please see “Bosnia and Herzegovina” (above) for links to more information about the ICTY.
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SIERRA LEONE
Prosecution Makes Opening Argument
in RUF Leaders’ Case
July 7, 2004
The prosecution at the Special Court for Sierra Leone has opened its case against three leaders of the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF), accusing them of killings, rapes, and abductions during a decade of civil war. The prosecution also pointed to the support the RUF received from Libya and Liberia. One of the accused, Augustine Gbao, refused to leave his cell to appear in court, saying he did not recognize the court’s legitimacy. He is being tried, along with Issa Sesay and Morris Kallon, on an 18-count joint indictment for systematic killings, rapes, enslavement of child soldiers, and mutilation with machetes. Foday Sankoh, the former leader of the RUF, died in the custody of the Court last year.
See: Reuters, Top Rebels Face Sierra Leone War Crimes Court
Reuters, S.Leone rebel’s trial to go on despite boycott
BBC, Rebels face Sierra Leone tribunal
AP, U.N. Court Opens Trials for Rebel Leaders
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SOUTH AFRICA
Hundreds of Cases of Political Killings May Be Re-opened
July 13, 2004
The office of the National Prosecuting Authority in Pretoria has confirmed that an estimated 400 cases against perpetrators of political killings who failed to apply for amnesty at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) could be re-opened. In related news, the state has brought a case against former African National Congress youth league member Ronnie Blani for the 1985 murder of a farming couple in Kirkwood. Blani did not apply for amnesty at the TRC.
See: Independent Online, ANC member charged with murder of farm couple
Business Day, 400 political killings cases “may re-open”
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New From the ICTJ
July 15, 2004
ICTJ President Appointed UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide
See: ICTJ Applauds Appointment of President Juan E. Méndez to UN Special Adviser on Genocide Post (ICTJ press release)
Annan Chooses Former Political Prisoner As His First Special Adviser on Genocide (UN News Centre story)
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Editor: Patrick J. Pierce
Patrick J. Pierce serves as a consultant to the ICTJ.
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