Tolimir convicted for Srebrenica massacre: On Wednesday, the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted Zdravko Tolimir for his participation in the July 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which approximately 7,000 Bosnian Muslim men were killed. Tolimir formerly was the senior Bosnian Serb army commander during the war of 1992-1995.  In a majority ruling, one judge dissenting, the three-judge panel at the Tribunal found Tolimir guilty on seven counts of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The Tribunal found that Tolimir was part of two Joint Criminal Enterprises, one to murder Muslim men from Srebrenica, and the other to forcibly remove the Bosnian Muslim population from Srebrenica. The Court found that Tolimir both possessed genocidal intent, and shared it with the others involved in the JCE. Tolimir was acquitted on one count, involving forced deportation. Tolimir was arrested in 2007, after two years on the run following his indictment by The Hague. Upon his conviction, Tolimir was sentenced to life in prison. (For more information, 1. click here and 2. click here)

ICC affirms jurisdiction in Gbagbo case: The Appeals Chamber at the ICC has affirmed the Court’s jurisdiction to try the case against former Ivory Coast president Laurent Gbagbo. The defense team for Gbagbo had filed a challenge to the Court’s ability to hear the case, arguing that the Ivory Coast is not formally a member of the Rome Statute, the foundational treaty that created the ICC and confers upon it jurisdiction to hear cases. The defence had argued that while the Ivory Coast had accepted the Court’s jurisdiction in regards to events occurring between 2002-2003, the country had not accepted any further ICC control. The Appeals Chamber, however, dismissed Gbagbo’s appeal, and upheld the Pre-trial Chamber’s decision, which declined to find that it lacked jurisdiction over the case. Gbagbo is facing charges of crimes against humanity, stemming from post-election violence in the Ivory Coast during 2010-2011 that erupted when Gbagbo refused to concede the election results to the now-current president, Alassane Ouattara.

ICC gives Libya deadline in Seif-Al-Islam case: In a decision reached on 7 December, the ICC gave Libya until 23 January 2013 to prove that it is conducting investigations in the case of Seif-Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late former dictator. The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Al-Islam for crimes against humanity committed after February 2011, in the wake of the Arab Spring and revolution that toppled the elder Gaddafi. On 1 May 2012, Libya asked the ICC permission to try Al-Islam domestically. Despite hearings on the matter on 10 and 11 October, the ICC remains sceptical that the country is conducting the necessary investigations, and is requiring the country to prove the sufficiency of its proceedings with concrete, tangible evidence of progress. The ICC judges also requested information regarding witness protection measures, whether Gaddafi has been before a judge, and whether he has been appointed a lawyer. Gaddafi is currently being held in a town in the southwest of Libya.

HRW study suggests crimes against humanity in Sudan crisis: On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch published a major study detailing the ongoing crisis situation in Sudan. According to the study, the Sudanese government’s aerial bombardment of civilian populations in the country’s south could amount to crimes against humanity. The Sudanese government has been engaged in a protracted battle with a rebel group known as the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army, a holdover from the North-South conflict resulted in South Sudan’s independence from Sudan in mid-2011. Members of the SPLA, however, were left in the North after the secession, and since have been based in the country’s Southern Kordofan region. The report suggests that the Sudanese government is treating all people in rebel-held areas as the enemy, failing to distinguish between civilians and combattants—a policy that has resulted in indiscriminate bombardment. The report suggests that 140,000 refugees have fled in to South Sudan from the Southern Kordofan and Blue Nile regions, and that in total, 900,000  people have been affected by the violence. On 13 December, the Chief Prosecutor for the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, submitted a brief to the U.N. Security Council regarding the crisis, and asked for more support with the ICC’s investigation of the situation. Both Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and Southern Kordofan governor Ahmed Haroun currently have ICC warrants out for their arrest. (For more information, click here)

ICC Chief Prosecutor appoints advisers for Kenya cases: ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has appointed three special advisers to assist her in the cases against Kenyans Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, MP William Ruto, former head of public service Francis Muthaura, and Joshua Sang.  The Special Advisers are chosen for their expertise in specific areas, and will be called upon to assist the Prosecutor as needed. The appointed advisers are Patricia Viseur Sellers, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Diane Marie Amann.

Inter-American Court rules that El-Salvador should probe civil war killings: On 10 December, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that El-Salvador should re-open investigations into civil war-era killings in which approximately 1,000 individuals were killed by the military. The Court also ruled that El-Salvador should pay restitution to the victim’s relatives. The Court found that the killings, which occurred in 1981, were part of a systematic plan of repression carried out by the nation’s military. The Court also found that surviving victims have suffered from the destruction of their property, and from arbitrary imprisonment. In December 2011, the nation’s government formally apologized for the killings.

African Commission to hear journal editors’ case: Two jailed Rwandan editors of a now-defunct news journal are taking their case to the African Commission. Agnes Uwimana and Saidati Mukakibibi were convicted by the Rwandan government in 2010 for stories than ran in their newspaper, which the government claimed defamed Rwandan president Paul Kagame, incited people to violence; the women were also convicted for genocide denial and divisionism for articles that pushed for justice for ethnic Hutu victims of the 1994 genocide and explored divisions within the country’s military. The women appealed their convictions, and in April 2012 the Supreme Court tossed out the genocide denial and divisionism convictions; the defamation and incite to violence convictions remained. The women claim that their avenues for redress against convictions which the women state have denied them rights to a fair trial have been exhausted in Rwanda, and have turned to the African Commission to hear their case. They argue that local authorities have violated their rights to a fair trial, making them guilty until proven innocent, and have denied them their freedom of expression, a right guaranteed in the African Charter on Human Rights, which Rwanda ratified in 1983. The African Commission has agreed to hear the case. The women are seeking a recommendation from the Commission for their release, amongst other remedies including compensation. Any decision from the Commission is non-binding on the country, but the women believe that a positive decision would send a strong message to the Rwandan government.