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	UN war crimes courts call for greater efforts to seize indicted ringleaders by United Nations News   Dec. 2009   Top officials of the United Nations war crimes tribunals today called for Serbia’s “critical” cooperation in capturing the two remaining top fugitives accused of atrocities in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s and denounced Kenya for failing to cooperate in the case of a major suspect in the Rwandan genocide of 1994.   “The arrest of Ratko Mladic [Bosnian Serb military chief in Bosnia and Herzegovina] and the other remaining fugitive [Serb politician] Goran Hadžic remains one of my office’s foremost priorities,” International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Prosecutor Serge Brammertz told the Security Council, noting progress in Serbia’s cooperation in providing more effective access to documents.   But, he added in a regular six-monthly briefing, “The most critical aspect of Serbia’s cooperation is the need to apprehend the fugitives… Serbia must maintain these efforts [tracking operations] with the clear objective of apprehending the fugitives.”   Mr. Mladic faces numerous charges, including genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions, deportation, taking of hostages and inflicting terror on civilians, particularly in connection with massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the supposedly “safe haven” of Srebrenica in July 1995 in one of the most notorious events of the Balkan wars.   Mr. Hadžic is charged with murder, persecutions, torture, cruel treatment and other war crimes and crimes against humanity related to his role as president of a self-proclaimed breakaway state of rebel Serbs in southern Croatia during the early 1990s.   The President of the ICTY, Judge Patrick Robinson, also stressed “the major obstacle” presented by the continuing flight of the two. “I urge the Security Council to seek ways to facilitate their immediate arrest,” he said. “If these two men are not brought to justice, it will tarnish the Security Council’s historic contribution to peace-building in the former Yugoslavia.”   Of the other 161 indicted, only one remains in pre-trial stage, 24 are presently on trial in nine cases, and 13 have appeals pending, he reported. Five trials are expected to be completed during 2010, three during 2011, and the remaining case – that of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžic – should be completed in late 2012, with all appeals ended in 2013, apart from Mr. Karadžic’s which is estimated for completion in 2014.   Mr. Robinson also stressed the need to set up a claims commission to compensate victims of the Balkan wars, noting that at present there is no effective mechanism for them to seek redress for their injuries although such a right is firmly rooted in international law. “I would therefore implore you to take official steps to support the establishment of such a claims compensation as a method of complementing the Tribunal’s work,” he said.   The issue of fugitives was also a matter of major concern for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) trying suspected perpetrators of the 1994 genocide in which 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by extremist Hutus.   Eleven suspects still remain at large, and court President Dennis Byron praised the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Uganda for “their important contribution to the fight against impunity” by their prompt recent transfer of two alleged ringleaders, Grégoire Ndahimana and Idelphonse Nizeyimana respectively.   But ICTR Prosecutor Hassan Jallow reported “no progress in the matter of cooperation” from Kenya in the case of Félicien Kabuga. “Repeated requests to the Government of Kenya for details of Kabuga’s reported departure from that country have gone unanswered for the past 12 months. This situation should not be allowed to continue,” he said.   “Kenya should be required to comply with its legal obligations under the UN Charter and international law generally to give full cooperation to the ICTR and comply with its requests.”   He voiced confidence that intensified tracking efforts and greater State cooperation might yield positive results in apprehending the remaining 11. But Mr. Byron, while noting “remarkable progress” in the trials over the past 15 years, also stressed the need for greater effort.   “Significant work remains ahead before we can safely say that we have achieved our mandate and prosecuted and tried the principal perpetrators of the horrendous atrocities committed in Rwanda in 1994,” he said.
	Iraqis angered and disbelieving as Blackwater Charges are Dropped by ICJ / New York Times   Iraqis have reacted with disbelief, anger and bitter resignation to news that criminal charges in the United States had been dismissed against Blackwater security guards who opened fire on unarmed Iraqi civilians in 2007 in a fusillade that left 17 dead. Charges against the guards accused in the killings have been dismissed by a judge.   “What are we — not human?” asked Abdul Wahab Adul Khader, a 34-year-old bank employee and one of at least 20 people wounded in the melee. “Why do they have the right to kill people? Is our blood so cheap? For America, the land of justice and law, what does it mean to let criminals go?”   The Iraqi government, meanwhile, expressed its “regrets” about the ruling.   The problem with the court case, according to the federal judge who issued the ruling, was that statements given by the five Blackwater guards had been improperly used, compromising their right to a fair trial.   The judge, Ricardo M. Urbina, threw out manslaughter and weapons charges against the guards on Thursday, ruling that the case had been improperly built, in part, on sworn statements that they had given to the State Department under the promise of immunity.   Prosecutors have not said whether they will appeal the decision.The shooting, a signal event of the war here, helped calcify anti-American sentiment in Iraq and elsewhere.   It also raised Iraqi concerns about the extent of its sovereignty because Blackwater guards had immunity from local prosecution, and stoked a debate about American dependence on private security contractors in the Iraq war.   Many Iraqis also viewed the prosecution of the guards as a test case of American democratic principles, which have not been wholeheartedly embraced, and in particular of the fairness of the American judicial system.   The ruling on Thursday appeared to confirm the feelings of some that their skepticism had been justified. For Iraqis directly affected by the violence, the result was incomprehensible.   Some victims and their families said they did not understand how charges could have been dropped despite what they regarded as overwhelming evidence.   Several said that in their minds, this should have been an open-and-shut case because they had been shot as they tried to flee — obviously contradicting the guards’ reports that they had been attacked.   “I can’t even think of words to say,” said Sami Hawas, 45, a taxi driver who was shot in the back during the episode and is paralyzed. “We have been waiting for so long,” he added. “I still have bullets in my back. I cannot even sit like an ordinary human being.”   Ali Khalaf, a traffic police officer who was on duty in Nisour Square at the time and aided some of the victims, was furious.   “There has been a cover-up since the very start,” he said. “What can we say? They killed people. They probably gave a bribe to get released. This is their own American court system.”   Some of the victims had been burned so badly, he said, that he and others had to use shovels to scoop their remains out of their vehicles. “I ask you,” he said, “if this had happened to Americans, what would be the result? But these were Iraqis.”   Ali al-Dabbagh, a spokesman for Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said in a statement that the government “regrets” the federal court decision. Despite that muted wording, however, he made it clear where he thought the guilt in the case lay.   “Investigations conducted by specialized Iraqi officials confirmed without a doubt that Blackwater guards committed murder and violated laws by using weapons without the presence of any threat,” Mr. Dabbagh said.   In a second statement, he said Iraq was considering suing Blackwater for damages related to the shooting, but did not provide further details.   In addition to the five Blackwater employees who had faced trial, a sixth, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, pleaded guilty to killing one Iraqi and wounding another.   Blackwater, now called Xe Services, continued to provide security for the United States Embassy in Baghdad until last spring. But in March, the Iraqi government said it would not grant Blackwater an operating license. Afterward, the embassy contract was awarded to another security firm.   Feb 2011 (International Commission of Jurists)   Letter in support of complaint against former US President Bush for Responsibility for acts of Torture against detaine.   We, the undersigned human rights non-governmental organizations and individuals, are writing this statement in full support of the two criminal complaints filed against George W. Bush, former President of the United States.   The complaints are filed pursuant to Article 6(1) of the Swiss Criminal Code and request the General Prosecutor of the Canton of Geneva to open a preliminary investigation and prosecution against Mr. Bush upon arrival in Switzerland, for substantive breaches of the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT).   The complaints set forth reasonable grounds to believe that a person who is scheduled to be present on Swiss territory has committed an act of torture. Visit the related web page
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