Ruto and Sang case: ICC Appeals Chamber reverses Trial Chamber V(A)’s decision on admission of prior recorded testimony
Today, 12 February 2016, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided unanimously to reverse the decision of ICC Trial Chamber V(A) of 19 August 2015, which granted the Prosecutor’s request for admission of prior recorded testimony into evidence pursuant to amended rule 68 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE).
The Appeals Chamber in this appeal was composed of Judge Piotr Hofmański (Poland), Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (Argentina), Judge Christine Van den Wyngaert (Belgium), Judge Howard Morrison (United Kingdom) and Judge Péter Kovács (Hungary). Judge Hofmański, who presided over this appeal, read a summary of the judgment in open court.
The Appeals Chamber considered that there was nothing in the drafting history of amended rule 68 of the RPE that revealed an error in the conclusion of the Trial Chamber that the amended rule may apply to this case, subject to a consideration of article 51 (4) of the Rome Statute providing that amendments to the RPE shall not be applied retroactively to the detriment of the accused.
It noted that rule 68 of the RPE was amended by the Assembly of States Parties on 27 November 2013. The Appeals Chamber found that the application of this rule was retroactive as the trial had started on 10 September 2013, before the amendment to the rule, and detrimental in the sense that the disadvantage, loss, damage or harm to the accused caused by its application negatively affected the overall position of Mr Sang and Mr Ruto in these proceedings. For these reasons, the Appeals Chamber decided to reverse the decision to the extent that prior recorded testimony had been admitted under amended rule 68 for the truth of its contents.
The trial of William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang opened on 10 September 2013 before Trial Chamber V(A). Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are accused of crimes against humanity (murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution) allegedly committed in the context of the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya.
Judgment on the appeals of Mr William Samoei Ruto and Mr Joshua Arap Sang against the decision of Trial Chamber V(A) of 19 August 2015 entitled “Decision on Prosecution Request for Admission of Prior Recorded Testimony”
For more information on this case, click here.
On Friday 19 FebruaryPanorama Mesdag and Auction House Venduehuis The Hague, will organize another valuation afternoon in the famous Museum Panorama Mesdag at the Zeestraat in The Hague.
You are welcome between 12.00 – 16.00 hours to evaluate the following types of art and antiques: paintings, drawings and watercolours from the The Hague School, the Indies and Post-War art, Chinese porcelain, Asian Art, silver, gold and jewellery. If you want to, you can also directly submit your art and antiques for one of the auctions in the Spring of 2016.
We will evaluate the maximum of 5 items per person. With your entrance ticket to the museum you can see the permanent art collection and also the two temporary exhibitions: “Chansons Grises” -haute couture gowns by Peter George d’Angelino Tap and “The world of Mesdag in Stereophotography”.
Here you can enter a 3-D stroll through The Hague and Scheveningen in the time of H.W. Mesdag.
Entrance tickets: 5 euro p.p.
Holders of a Museum Card have free access.
Information: http://www.panorama-mesdag.nl/english/
Development Cooperation Minister, HELillian Ploumenhas praised the new humanitarian aid reforms proposed in ‘One Humanity: Shared Responsibility’, the report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon which is being published today in New York. ‘His report offers solid stepping stones for us to forge ahead now towards greater cooperation and efficiency. We urgently need this in order to give adequate support to the millions of people who depend on humanitarian aid,’ the minister commented.
In recent years, Ms Ploumen has repeatedly called for a new and better form of cooperation between UN agencies, donor countries, NGOs and businesses involved in delivering emergency aid. Currently, 125 million people worldwide – the largest number since the Second World War – depend on this form of aid, largely because of wars and natural disasters. The UN has calculated that barely half of the necessary funding was available in 2015, due to a shortfall of USD 10 billion. ‘This means that vast numbers of people get no aid at all, or aid that is totally inadequate,’ the minister said. ‘A new approach is urgently needed – one that can help us get better results from every available euro. I enthusiastically welcome Ban Ki-moon’s powerful and ambitious message.’
In his report the Secretary-General proposes a set of reforms, such as investing in crisis prevention and ensuring that the various actors work less in isolation from one another. It is also recommended that donor countries impose fewer restrictions on UN organisations and that in turn, UN aid agencies provide these countries with more transparent information about their expenditure. In addition, mandates and funding should not automatically be given to large and often cumbersome international organisations, because local organisations often have a better understanding of what is needed.
Mr Ban’s report seeks to pave the way for new agreements at the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul in May. ‘I fully agree with what Ban Ki-moon says: I too feel that this really needs to be a turning point,’ Ms Ploumen said. ‘To this end, I am having intensive dialogue with my counterparts in Europe and the US, and also with new donors in the Gulf. Humanitarian aid needs to be improved, because we cannot abandon 125 million people to their fate.’ In the run-up to the WHS, the minister will be stepping up her contacts and efforts in order to achieve tangible improvements.
The Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey, His Excellency Mr. Ahmet Davutoğlu today met the OPCW Director-General, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü at the OPCW Headquarters in The Hague.
The Director-General briefed the Prime Minister on the work of the Organisation in implementing the Chemical Weapons Convention and the progress achieved in various programme areas. He also provided an update on OPCW’s work in Syria. They discussed the importance of strengthening the authority of the Convention as a key disarmament treaty.
Prime Minister Davutoğlu reiterated the value that his country attaches to the Chemical Weapons Convention and expressed his full support for OPCW’s mission. He praised the efforts of the OPCW with regard to the elimination of the chemical weapons capacity of Syria and stressed the importance of concluding all the remaining issues.
Lubanga case: Trial Chamber II orders Trust Fund for Victims to add information to the reparations plan.
Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) ordered the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) to add information to the reparations plan in regard to the case The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo on Febryary 9th. Presented to the Chamber on 3 November 2015, this plan sets out how to execute collective reparations for the victims of the case, as ordered by the Appeals Chamber.
Composed of Presiding Judge Marc Perrin de Brichambaut (France), Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia (Dominican Republic) and Judge Peter Kovacs (Hungary), the Chamber recalls that it is its responsibility to monitor and supervise the execution of a reparations plan for the victims of the case, once the plan has been approved.
The Judges, considering the TFV’s reparations plan incomplete, defer their approval and set a schedule for the TFV to submit the requested additional elements. In particular, the Chamber sets the deadline of 31 December 2016 for the TFV to file a submission including the list of potential victims, a first set of detailed collective reparations programmes, an assessment of the extent of harm done to victims, the anticipated amount of Mr Lubanga’s liability, and, if necessary, the revised monetary amount that the Fund intends to contribute in order to implement the plan.
Background:
On 7 August 2012, Trial Chamber I issued a decision on the principles and the process to be implemented for reparations to victims in the case. On 3 March 2015, the Appeals Chamber amended Trial Chamber I’s order for reparations and instructed the Trust Fund for Victims to present a draft implementation plan for collective reparations to the newly constituted Trial Chamber I within six months.
Mr Lubanga was sentenced on 10 July 2012 to 14 years of imprisonment by Trial Chamber I, after having been found guilty of the war crimes of conscripting and enlisting children under the age of 15 years and using them to participate actively in hostilities. On 1 December 2014, the Appeals Chamber confirmed the conviction and sentence imposed. The time he has spent in the ICC’s custody will be deducted from the sentence imposed. On 19 December 2015, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was transferred to a prison facility in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (“DRC”) to serve his sentence of imprisonment.
For further information on the case, click here.
In February 2016, Her Excellency Ms. Haifa Aissami Madah was appointed Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), while also acting on the similar position to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other international organizations in The Hague. Previously, H. E. Haifa Aissami Madah was her country’s top representative as Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the Kingdom of the Netherlands presenting credentials to Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands on February 9th, 2011.
Before working in foreign affairs, H.E. Haifa Aissami Madah served in Judiciary of Venezuela for more than ten years. Particularly, she held position of National Prosecutor, specializing on the issues of human rights, drugs and family protection. Later, in 2010, H. E. Haifa Aissami Madah was appointed Judge of the Court of Appeals of the Metropolitan Area of Caracas in Criminal Law.
In addition to outstanding legal and diplomatic postings, H. E. Haifa Aissami Madah, in her earlier stages of career, acted as undergraduate teacher at the Bolivarian University of Professorships on Constitutional Protection, State and Resolution of Conflicts and Coercive Aspects of the norm. Likewise, she delivered numerous guest lectures at key national institutions including Supreme Court of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Justice National Prosecutor School.
Furthermore, H. E. Haifa Aissami Madah is a fluent speaker of three languages: Spanish, Arabic, and English.
On the picture French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Belgian Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister Didier Reynders in the background Ambassador Arnould – Picture by French Embassy to Belgium.French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and his Belgian counterpart Didier Reynders came together for a working lunch in Brussels on February 3.
On the menu for the bilateral talks were the subjects of the EU-British relations, migration and the refugee influx to Europe, the Mediterranean partnership as well as the state of rule of law in Europe. Furthermore both foreign ministers would like to see even closer security and border control cooperation in the fight against terrorism as measures already outlined by the countries’ heads of government, the French Manuel Valls and its Belgian counterpart, Charles Michel, during their bilateral meeting held on 1 February at Brussels.
Professor Saradindu Bahduri holder of the Prince Claus chair 2015-2017 will deliver his inaugural lecture Frugal innovation by the small and marginal, exploring implications for development at ISS on May 23 at 4:30.
Dr. Saradindu Bhaduri is working closely with the Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa, he holds the Prince Claus Chair since last September for a period of two years. His thematic focus is on the area of “Frugal Innovation for Development and Equity”, a research field that Dr. Bhaduri has an excellent academic track record.
“Frugal innovation”, is a new research field in the innovation studies and is a form of design and entrepreneurship with relatively advanced products, services and systems within the reach of relatively poor consumers living in an environment with limited resources.
The challenge is herein not only to deliver products that are stripped of all the additional features in order to lower the price, but to deliver quality and affordable innovations that suit the local conditions and culture. To be to connect to the local area “Frugal innovation”, developed polycentric innovation networks in which entrepreneurs, designers, investors, producers and distributors from different parts of the world meet.
Dr. Bhaduri is a promising Indian scientist who study in “frugal innovation” by and for the poorest consumers. Here he focuses on innovation in the informal sector which his research touches on the core value of the Prince Claus Chair ‘development and equity. Dr. Bhaduri has an extensive network and will bring together academics from different countries during his term, thereby facilitating the exchange of knowledge and experience between “Frugal innovation” hotspot India and other emerging economies.
Dr. Bhaduri works at the Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, India. During his two-year term, Dr. Bhaduri will spent three months twice at the ISS in The Hague, will do fieldwork in India and Africa and will contribute to education about ‘frugal innovation’. He will work closely with researchers from the Centre for Frugal Innovation in Africa, one of the multidisciplinary research of the University of Leiden, Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam.
Dr. Bhaduri will visit The Hague for his inaugural speech at the International Institute of Social Studies, scheduled on May 23 at 4:30.
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Prince Claus Chair
The objective of the Prince Claus Chair is to continue the work of Prince Claus (1926-2002) in the field of development and equity. Utrecht University and the International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) of Erasmus University Rotterdam set every year alternately a young academic from a region in development as chair holder. The chair was created in 2003 with the aim of “promoting research and education in the field of development cooperation”.
www.princeclauschair.nlInternational Institute of Social Studies (ISS)
The ISS is an international research and educational institute in the field of development studies. The ISS is based in The Hague and is part of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Annually, there are about 300 to 400 students, mostly from developing countries, on the ISS. ISS also has a large PhD program.
www.iss.nl
Frugal Centre for Innovations in Africa (CFIA)
The CFIA is one of the joint multidisciplinary research at Leiden University,Delft University of Technology and Erasmus University Rotterdam. The research center is focused on identifying areas where ‘frugal innovations’ best come into their own in improving the lives of consumers and producers at the bottom of the global socio-economic pyramid.
www.cfia.nl
On the picture HE Piragibe Dos Santos Tarragô, Ambassador of Brazil and HE Eduardo Ibarrola-Nicolín, Ambassador of Mexico.
The expat community of The Hague including many Ambassadors turned out to participate in the colourful Brazilian Carnaval Gala. Location was Nieuwspoort in the Dutch Parliament. Guests were dressed in black-tie or costumed & enjoying drinks at the caipirinha bar. Meanwhile a Brazilian DJ was taking care of the music & a fashion show took place.
For additional Kim Vermaat’s pictures, please visit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/121611753@N07/albums/72157663936462670H.E. Enrique Eduardo Rodriguez Veltze, Ambassador of Bolivia and wife, Amaira Quinones, H.E. Maria Teresa de Jesus Infante Caffi, Ambassador of Chile, H.E. Fermín Gabriel Quiñones Sánchez, Ambassador of Cuba and H.E. Héctor Horacio Salvador, Ambassador of the Republic of Argentina.
