The International Criminal Law Bureau : Blog

ICLB Presentations and Mock Trial at Salzburg Law School on International Criminal Law 2010

The Right of Self-Representation – The Lawyers in the Eye of the Storm

Steven Kay QC and Gillian Higgins have posted a resume of the right to self-representation of an accused at the ICTY under the title : “The Right of Self-Representation – The Lawyers in the Eye of the Storm”.

This article has been written by them for the ICLB, in response to the numerous requests received for information on this subject. They hope it assists as a brief outline on the development of the issue since the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.

The article is available here: Lawyers & Self Representation – Kay – Higgins

ICLB Mock Trial Competition 2010 – Winners Announced

The ICLB Mock Trial Competition 2010, which took place at the ICTY during June and July, was again a great success.  The participants, interns and legal assistants  from ICTY Chambers, Defence and OTP, took on the roles of defence counsel, prosecution counsel, witnesses and accused. On four consecutive Thursday evenings, the mock trial attorneys argued their case in front of  acting ICTY Judges and ICLB associates. They examined and cross-examined witnesses, argued evidentiary motions, presented opening and closing arguments, and responded to questions from the Bench. Last Thursday, the ICLB hosted a closing reception at which the winners of the best team and best advocate were announced. They were:

Best team:  Alexandra Dodger, Matthew Kerns, David Martini and Jan Wolfe, of the Moot Defence Team 2D.

Best advocate:  Jointly awarded to Paul Bradfield and Joseph Davids of the Moot Prosecution Team.

The ICLB wishes to thank the Judges of the ICTY who generously donated their time to take part in the moot court. They were, in order of appearance on the bench: Judge Frederick Harhoff, Judge Kevin Parker, Judge Burton Hall, Judge Alphons Orie, Judge Prisca Matimba Nyambe, Judge Stefan Trechsel, Judge Howard Morrisson, and Judge Uldis Kinis.

Thanks also to  ICTY Counsel who volunteered their time to give lectures to the participants, and to sit on judging panels: JJ Du Toit, Avi Singh, and Eugene O’Sullivan.

A very special thanks also to Guido Heijblok of the AV unit for volunteering  his time to record all of the sessions, to Carline Ameerali for organising the courtroom, to the Security Staff for facilitating the event, and to those who volunteered to act as witnesses and court ushers.  The mock trial could not have been as successful as it was without the generosity and support of these individuals.

Defence Final Briefs Filed in Gotovina et al. Case at the ICTY

Bangladesh International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 – Proposal for Conference

Steven Kay QC with Toby Cadman of 9 Bedford Row, met with representatives of Jamaat-E-Islami on 30 June 2010 in London.This is an opposition party from Bangladesh. The reason for the meeting was a discussion concerning the Bangladesh International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973. This act arose after the 1971 war of independence which saw Bangladesh emerge as an independent State separate from West Pakistan.The act was never used to prosecute and is an interesting and little known piece of post-Nuremburg and pre-UN war crimes Tribunal legislation.

The International Crimes (Tribunals) Act 1973 is attached.

Now in 2010 national trials are proposed and will be directed against those who previously supported West Pakistan in the Conflict. These trials will have open rules of evidence and fail to conform to the normal criminal procedures of the State.

The ICLB has suggested a conference to Jamaat in Dakha, for an open discussion by all parties and an analysis of these legal procedures.

The ICLB will be regularly posting developments and information on the blog and Facebook.

We invite comments and debate on a matter that will be of interest to all international lawyers and ICLB supporters.

Salzburg Law School Summer School on International Criminal Law

Interested in becoming an Administrative Pro Bono Assistant for the International Criminal Law Bureau?

The International Criminal Law Bureau is seeking administrative assistants.

These are pro bono positions and require the applicants to be available for at least 2 days a week in The Hague for a period of at least 3 months.

Computer skills are mandatory and legal knowledge/skills preferable.

If you are interested in finding out more about the type of work involved, please contact us at: case@internationallawbureau.com

You can also visit our website: www.internationallawbureau.com

Deirdre Montgomery of ICLB Publishes New Article in the Journal of International Criminal Justice

Deirdre Montgomery of the ICLB has just co-authored an article with Eugene O’Sullivan (Defence Counsel at the ICTY) entitled “The Erosion of the Right to Confrontation Under the Cloak of Fairness at the ICTY”. It is available in the latest edition of the Journal of International Criminal Justice.

This article focuses on the right to confrontation in trials before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). There has been a steady erosion of right of the accused to cross-examination as a result of a number of amendments in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence and decisions handed down by various Chambers in the ICTY. This article reviews these matters by examining hearsay evidence, judicial notice, the admission of statements into evidence in place of oral testimony and the relevant provisions of the Statute of the ICTY and the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Appeals Hearings at the ICTY

Last week, appellate hearings took place at the ICTY in the cases of Prosecutor v Haradinaj, Balaj and Brahimaj and Prosecutor v Boskoski and Tarculovski .  Idriz Balaj is represented by ICLB members Gregor Guy-Smith and Colleen Rohan. Ljube Boskoski is represented by ICLB member Guenael Mettraux.  In both cases the Prosecution is appealing the acquittals the accused. The transcripts of these hearings which took place on 28 and 29 October 2009 will be posted here as soon as they are available.

The ICLB Newscast 009 has just been published

Appeal Filed by Defence in Hartmann Case at ICTY

Florence Hartmann’s Defence, Karim Khan and Guenael Mettraux,  filed an appeal last week against the judgement convicting the former OTP spokesperson of contempt of court.

Hartmann was sentenced to pay a fine of € 7,000. The appeal contains 14 grounds and is available here – Hartmann Appeal Brief

Update on ICLB Member Activities – Guenael Mettraux

On 5 October 2009, ICLB member, Guenael Mettraux, participated as a guest speaker in a joint conference co-organised by the University of Geneva and the Academy of International Humanitarian Law concerning the defence of persons accused of committing international crimes. Other speakers included Mr. Slobodan Zecevic (President of the ADC-ICTY) and Me. Francois Roux (Head of Defence Office, STL). The conference also marked the launch of a law clinic co-sponsored by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, the Geneva academy of international humanitarian law and human rights and the University of Geneva. The project will be led and organised by Professor Robert Roth, Professor Paola Gaeta and Guenael Mettraux.

“The Ethical Obligations of Prosecution and Defence Counsel in International Criminal Proceedings” – Lecture by Colleen Rohan at the Asser Institute

ICLB member Colleen Rohan will be speaking at the Asser Institute in the Hague next Wednesday 30th September on the topic of “The Ethical Obligations of Prosecution and Defence Counsel in International Criminal Proceedings.”

This lecture part of the Asser Institute Supranational International Criminal Law series. The lecture begins at 7.30 and the Asser Institute is located on R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, The Hague.

ICLB Member Activities – Guénaël Mettraux

On September 8th,  ICLB member  Guénaël Mettraux gave a lecture devoted to the issue of the “Repression of violations of international humanitarian law” in Sion, Switzerland, as part of an ICRC training course.

On September 11th , Guénaël will be giving a lecture to members of the Nepalese judiciary as part of a course organized by the Hague Forum for Judicial Expertise.

ICLB Members Participating in STL Defence Functions

Gregor Guy-Smith has been appointed to the Admission Panel for the List of Counsel of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL).

The Admission Panel is responsible, under the Rules of Procedure and Evidence  of the Special Tribunal of Lebanon for admitting applicants to the List of Counsel.

Mr. Francois Roux, fulfilling his mandate as Head of Defence Office for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to promote and protect the rights of the Defence, which includes a suspect or accused’s right to effective legal representation,  decided to create an Admission Panel as a primary mechanism to control the quality of the legal assistance provided to the indigent suspects and accused.

This is an innovative and important step in the continued development of the Defence Function in International law.

Also, on 30-31 July 2009, ICLB members Gregor Guy-Smith and Guénaël Mettraux provided training at a training conference for lawyers and defence counsel in Beirut, Lebanon. The conference was organized by the Defence Office of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon . 

A Nuremberg for Guantanamo : Guénaël Mettraux Op-Ed Contribution to the New York Times

Guénaël Mettraux of the ICLB has contributed an op-ed piece to yesterday’s New York Times on Guantanamo detainees and the need for an international tribunal, under the title ‘A Nuremberg for Guantanamo’. The piece is available here – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/opinion/20mettraux.html?_r=1&ref=global . Below is the original piece:

THE GREAT IMPASSE – CLOSING DOWN GUANTANAMO

Guénaël Mettraux

In the wake of the Second World War, the victorious powers in Europe found themselves the custodians of thousands of captured enemies, many of whom had committed atrocities of unspeakable horror. Some among the victors thought that prisoners should be shot to set an example. Others, however, including many American leaders, steadfastly resisted a course that would have set a terrifying precedent. Instead, they insisted that these men should be subject to criminal proceedings to establish a record of their crimes and to punish those who had partaken in them. These trials were to serve not just as a way to mete out justice, but were intended to symbolize the return of the rule of law on the European continent and were meant to demonstrate the superiority of democratic values over the fascist lunacies of their fallen enemies. That the victorious powers should “stay the hand of vengeance” to give these men a trial was, as Justice Robert H. Jackson of the U.S. Supreme Court and a Nuremberg Prosecutor, said, one of the most significant tributes that power ever has paid to reason.

Once again, America finds its hands full with individuals whom it regards as enemies of mankind, not knowing what to do with them. It is time to close down Guantanamo and to bring America back within its tradition of law and justice that it had so vigorously defended half a century ago. Setting up an internationalized tribunal to try the Guantanamo detainees might offer a way out of a conundrum that has been built on fear and a disregard for the rule of law.

At Nuremberg, four states put their human, moral and financial resources at the disposal of an international tribunal to prosecute men responsible for some of this past century’s worst crimes. Since that time, other international criminal tribunals, from The Hague to Arusha, from Freetown to Phnom Penh, have shown that adequately-equipped criminal tribunals are capable of giving fair trials in challenging political environments to men and women accused of the gravest of crimes. As America and its allies are pushing for and supporting the creation of a Special Tribunal for Lebanon to deal with acts of terrorism committed in that country, a similar internationalized tribunal could be set up to deal with the Guantanamo detainees.

A criminal trial is not the solution to all problems, but it sometimes is the least bad of all solutions. In this instance, the setting up of a Guantanamo tribunal would free the Obama administration from trying to find a political solution to the Guantanamo question that might fall short of its own standards and which might effectively make it an accomplice of the abuses of its predecessor. By putting its faith in the hands of the law, the new administration would send a powerful message to its allies and to the enemies of America. By giving a fair trial to its enemies, the United States would at once reassert some of its core values and demonstrate the superiority of those values over the new evil that has been challenging them.

International support for such a tribunal, in particular from Middle Eastern countries and from those European states which have played a part in the detention or transfer of these men, would provide legitimacy for the idea of a judicial solution to Guantanamo and guarantees of independence and impartiality necessary to the success of any such judicial process. On the domestic front, Republicans in Congress should feel morally and politically compelled to support an idea that would help America solve a problem that they have so stubbornly contributed to creating.

The time has come for the United States to do for itself what it has helped other nations achieve. A fair trial for the Guantanamo detainees supported by the international community would be a symbol of America’s renewed commitment to the ideals of justice and would help the country rebuild its badly damaged image abroad. At Nuremberg, Justice Jackson had said that the Allied powers would be judged based on the record on which they would judge the defendants and that passing them a poisoned chalice would have been to put it to their own lips. It is to be hoped that the wisdom of his prophecy has not been lost to those who will decide the fate of Guantanamo detainees.