A piece for the Independent website features a case currently being worked on by Steven Kay QC. It concerns a woman called Tamar Perry, who is involved in legal proceedings against a trust company based in Liechtenstein: the Lopag Trust. The article itself focuses on Liechtenstein’s role as a tax haven. Ms Perry and her… Read more »
A recent US Congressional resolution relies extensively on passages from the IBA’s Political Prisons Inquiry report in which 9 Bedford Row’s Steven Kay QC and Kirsty Sutherland acted as counsel for the Inquiry. Pages 3-6 are devoted to a lengthy, verbatim recitation of Inquiry findings. Please see the following link for further details: https://connolly.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1291 … Read more »
Yola Verbruggen, a Multimedia Journalist for the International Bar Association (IBA) has written a piece that has been included in the February edition of the organisation’s journal: ‘IBA Global Insight’. Titled ‘Bringing ISIS to justice’, Verbruggen’s article explores the methods and advantages of a coordinated, legal effort against the terrorist group, as well as the… Read more »
At the end of last year an article was published by Dutch Reformed Daily, marking 25 years since the launch of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). The piece attempts to answer whether the high expectations for the court when it was initially launched in 1993 have been met over two decades… Read more »
Last year Jens Dieckmann, Co-Vice Chair of the International Bar Association (IBA) War Crimes Committee, was interviewed for an article about the Rohingya refugee crisis. The piece was written and compiled by Yola Verbruggen, a Multimedia Journalist for the IBA, and can be accessed by clicking… Read more »
Jens Dieckmann (Associate Member of 9 Bedford Row International) and Colleen Rohan (Member of 9 Bedford Row International and the International Criminal Law Bureau) both ran in the recent ADC-ICTY elections. Colleen Rohan has been elected as President of the ADC-ICT for 2017/2018 and has become a Member of the Executive Committee. Meanwhile Jens Dieckmann… Read more »
Before a court in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) twelve members of a Congolese militia group calling itself Djeshi ya Yesu (The Army of Jesus) have been convicted of raping 37 young girls. The crimes took place in Kavumu, Eastern DRC. The convictions are said to represent a landmark in the fight against impunity… Read more »
Listed below are the reactions of various news outlets regarding the findings of the IBA Report and Inquiry into the existence and operation of political prisons in North Korea. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/north-koreas-prisons-are-as-bad-as-nazi-camps-says-judge-who-survived-auschwitz/2017/12/11/7e79beea-ddc4-11e7-b2e9-8c636f076c76_story.html?utm_term=.bdba57d2feed http://time.com/5060144/north-korea-political-prisons/ https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/north-korean-prisons-nazi-camps_us_5a2fad6ce4b0461754330e3d http://www.newsweek.com/kim-jong-uns-brutal-regime-north-korea-worse-nazi-concentration-camps-human-745032 https://www.vox.com/world/2017/12/12/16766854/north-korea-prison-camp-report-nazi https://www.nbcnews.com/news/north-korea/north-korean-gulags-terrible-or-even-worse-nazi-camps-auschwitz-n828751 http://theweek.com/speedreads/742861/auschwitz-survivor-deems-north-korean-camps-worse-than-nazi-concentration-camps https://forward.com/fast-forward/389835/holocaust-survivor-north-koreas-prisons-camps-even-worse-than-auschwitz/ Image source: famouswonders.com
Written by Steven Kay QC The IBA War Crimes Committee established a team of counsel to prepare a brief for an Inquiry to establish whether the infamous Political Prisons in North Korea called Kwanliso established decades ago by Kim Jong Un’s grandfather were still in existence, under what conditions, who was responsible and whether this… Read more »
Warning: graphic information in this report may upset some readers A new report, authored by three internationally renowned judges – Navanethem ‘Navi’ Pillay, Thomas Buergenthal and Mark B Harmon – under the auspices of the International Bar Association (IBA) War Crimes Committee, calls on the international community to vest in the International Criminal Court (ICC) or… Read more »
Blog post from International Trial Observer and Barrister Margaret Owen (pictured) 7th December 2017 Another icy grey morning in Ankara, and we international observers again pile into two coaches, and then into the crowded buses for the drive to Sincan Prison Complex. On the way we discuss what we predict will happen this day, when… Read more »
Blog post from International Trial Observer and Barrister Margaret Owen (pictured) Wednesday, December 6 Ms Figen Yüksekdağ is charged, under the Anti Terror Law, with inciting violence, making propaganda for a terrorist organisation ( PKK) and establishing and managing a terrorist organisation. These accusations were made on the basis of speeches she had made, as… Read more »
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has confirmed that former Bosnian Croat general Slobodan Praljak has died after drinking a poison at a hearing upholding his conviction for crimes against humanity and war crimes. In the UN tribunal’s final case, the Appeals Chamber affirmed almost all of the Trial Chamber’s convictions of… Read more »
Figen Yüksekdağ, co-chair of the pro Kurdish HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) in Turkey has written a letter about violence committed against women. She wrote it in order to mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women which took place on Saturday 25th November. Ms Yüksekdağ, along with fellow co-chair Mr. Selahattin Demirtaş,… Read more »
Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, 74, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Bosnian conflict. Mladic was commander of the Bosnian Serb Army Main Staff from around 1992-1996. He bears individual criminal responsibility for crimes against Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Muslim (Bosniak) armies in… Read more »
In Turkey, two members of the HDP (Peoples’ Democratic Party) are currently involved in legal proceedings amid allegations of participation in terrorist activities. HDP Co-Chair, Mr. Selahattin Demirtaş (pictured) and Ms. Figen Yüksekdağ, also a party co-chair, were arrested on the 4th November 2016 alongside seven other MPs. Mr Demirtaş is accused of establishing or… Read more »
On Friday 3rd November two Kurdish politicians appeared before a court in Malatya, south-east Turkey, via a videolink from Kandira maximum security prison. These were Mayor of Diyarbakir Gultan Kisanak and Sebahat Tuncel, co-leader of the DBP party affiliated to the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy… Read more »
The 12th Annual Meeting of the International Criminal Defence Lawyers Germany – ICDL eV – will take place in Berlin at the Hotel InterContinental on 27th January 2018. The meeting will last the whole day from: 09:00 – 20:30. The event will include speeches and contributions from many respected legal professionals, including 9 Bedford Row… Read more »
Two members of 9 Bedford Row International, Jens Dieckmann and Colleen Rohan, will be attending in the 5th International Meetings of the Defence, which is set to take place in Nuremberg from the 8th-10th November 2017. This event aims to be an informal gathering between… Read more »
A recent Washington Post article has been published based on a report prepared by David Hawk and Amanda Mortwedt Oh detailing a second set of prison camps in North Korea, which exist alongside the political camps that were previously exposed by the United Nations. Both the report and the opinion piece reveal that these other… Read more »
