War Crimes

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The Putin-South Africa arrest warrant saga: A tale of the shrinking world of an accused war criminal

August 18, 2023

Since March of this year, the travel plans of one particular accused war criminal have been the subject of much speculation and legal debate. On 17 March 2023, the ICC announced that it had issued an arrest warrant for President Putin (and one of his officials – Ms Lvova-Belova). This, unsurprisingly, occasioned world-wide interest and attention. One focus of this was President Putin’s invitation, together with other heads of state, to attend the August 2023 BRICS Summit hosted in South Africa - an ICC Rome Statute state party. Politicians, political pundits, journalists, scholars, and lawyers began to ask: Will Putin attend the Summit, or won’t he? If he does, will South Africa arrest him? If it doesn’t, wouldn’t South Africa violate its international and domestic legal obligations? In the face of repeated refusals by the South African government openly to accept that it would comply with its obligations to arrest President Putin, in May 2023, the Democratic Alliance (the DA), the official parliamentary opposition, launched an urgent application in the Pretoria High Court (the…

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Arbitrary Detention in Non-International Armed Conflicts: A Tale of Two Hague Courts

April 18, 2023

On 3 April 2023, the much-anticipated trial against Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Rexhep Selimi and Jakup Krasniqi started at the Kosovo Specialist Chamber (‘KSC’). In its opening statement, the Prosecution told the judges that each accused is criminally responsible of four counts of war crimes – to wit: illegal and arbitrary arrest and detention, cruel treatment, torture and…

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The ICC Arrest Warrants against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova – An Outline of Issues

March 21, 2023

On 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the Court”) issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova. Putin is the President of the Russian Federation. Lvova-Belova is the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President. The crimes alleged concern deportation and transfer of children…

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The International Criminal Court goes all-in: What now?

March 20, 2023

The bombshell announcement on 17 March 2023 of ICC arrest warrants against Russian President Putin and his Children’s Rights Ombudswoman Lvova-Belova put an end to one-year long speculations about the first cases to be brought before the ICC in relation to Ukraine. Pre-Trial Chamber II (PTC II) found reasonable grounds to believe they committed war…

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New universal jurisdiction case filed in Germany for crimes committed in Myanmar before and after the coup: On complementarity, effectiveness, and new hopes for old crimes

March 7, 2023

A few days before the second anniversary of the ‘failed coup’ in Myanmar, a case was filed in Germany against senior Myanmar military generals and ‘other actors’ identified in the complaint for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. It was filed under universal jurisdiction enshrined in the German Code of Crimes against International Law (Völkerstrafgesetzbuch…

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