Opening the Floodgates, Controlling the Flow: Swedish Court Rules on the Legal Capacity of Armed Groups to Establish Courts

About/Bio

Jonathan Somer is the founder of Persona Grata Consulting, advising on international law and policy in fragile states. He is part of the MILC/SLDP expert process on fair trial guarantees for courts of non-state actors. Previously he was Legal Adviser for Geneva Call, and has also worked among others with the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

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Opening the Floodgates, Controlling the Flow: Swedish Court Rules on the Legal Capacity of Armed Groups to Establish Courts

March 10, 2017

Jonathan Somer

A Swedish District Court (SD Court) has recently ruled that non-state armed groups have the capacity under international law to establish courts and carry out penal sentences, but only under certain circumstances. While the issue has been widely debated by legal scholars over the past decade (Somer, Sivakumaran, Hakimi), this may…