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On 21 February 2003, Trial Chamber I of the ICTR delivered its unanimous judgment on the case of Elizaphan and Gérard Ntakirutimana. Gérard Ntakirutimana, a medical doctor practicing at the Mugonero Adventist hospital, was convicted of genocide and of crimes against humanity (murder). His father, Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, a senior pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Mugonero was convicted of aiding and abetting in genocide.

The two Accused jointly faced two indictments, the “Mugonero” indictment with five counts and the “Bisesero” indictment with seven counts. Both indictments charged them with genocide, in the alternative complicity in genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide as well as crimes against humanity. The Accused allegedly participated in killings, attacks and caused serious bodily and mental harm to a large number of men, women and children who sought refuge in the Mugonero Adventist complex as well as in the area of Bisesero.

Pastor Ntakirutimana was sentenced to ten years of imprisonment while his son, Gérard, was sentenced to imprisonment for twenty five years. In both cases credit was given for the time they had already served in the United States and in Arusha.

The village of Kilwa in Katanga province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was the site of combat in October 2004. Having come under the control of rebel forces from Zambia belonging to the Revolutionary Movement for the Liberation of Katanga (MRLK), the troops of the Congolese Army (FARDC) were ordered by President Kabila to regain control over the village. After three hours of heavy shelling on 15 October 2004, the FARDC forces succeeded.

During the take over, it is alleged that they committed acts of pillaging, wanton destruction as well as illegal detentions and summary executions. Some 70 villagers were killed. The present decision was rendered by the Katanga Military Court after proceedings widely described by international observers as unfair and biased by political interferences and procedural irregularities. In its verdict, the Court found the commander in charge of the attack, Adémar Ilunga, and three soldiers guilty for the illegal arrest, detention, and murder of two persons. These crimes, however, were not committed during the attack of Kilwa. All the other accused were acquitted, the Court having concluded the victims were members of a rebel group killed during the attack. The Australian company, Anvil Mining Congo, was also accused, FARDC soldiers having used company property, including a plane, to lead the attack and commit the alleged crimes. However, the Court concluded that the FARDC had requisitioned the vehicles and acquitted Anvil and three of its employees.

Tharcisse Renzaho, a former Rwandan Armed Forces Colonel, had been charged by the Prosecutor of the ICTR with genocide, or, in the alternative, complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity (murder and rape) and war crimes (murder and rape) for his role in the Rwandan genocide.

The Trial Chamber found the Accused guilty of genocide, murder and rape as crimes against humanity and murder and rape as war crimes. Specifically, the Chamber concluded that Renzaho had supported the killings of Tutsis at roadblocks, which were set up following his directives. It also found that he had ordered the distribution of weapons, and that were later used to kill Tutsis. In addition, the Accused had supervised a selection process at a refugee site called CELA, where about 40 Tutsis were abducted and killed. The Chamber further held that Renzaho had participated in an attack at the Sainte Famille church, where more than 100 Tutsis had been killed. He had also encouraged the sexual abuse of women and was found criminally liable for the rape that followed.

For his role in these events, the Chamber sentenced him to life imprisonment.

Ali Mahmud Ali Shafi is a Palestinian national who was spying for Israel until he moved to Israel in 1994. On his return to Palestine in 2001, he was arrested by Palestinian Authority (PA) security officers and subsequently brought to a PA security building where he was detained for several months. During that period, he was severely beaten, left without any clothes, and was not permitted to take a bath. In 2002, Ali Shafi was forced to sign a confession which was used as the basis for his conviction of killing the Palestinian leader Raed al Karmi and for spying for Israel. He was sentenced to death. However, in March 2002, Ali Shafi escaped.

In 2009, Ali Shafi brought a claim in the District Court for the District of Columbia against the PA and the Palestinian Liberation Organization. The District Court dismissed the complaint. On 14 June 2011, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit confirmed the decision because claims can only be brought under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) against state actors. The defendants in this case were no state actors and therefore appellants failed to state a claim within the jurisdiction conferred by the ATS.

Abdoullah Faqirzada, an Afghan national born in 1950, was an officer of the Afghan security police force KhAD (Khadamat-e Etela'at-e Dawlati) in the period 1979-1989. This security police force was known for committing various human rights violations against anti-regime supporters. In 1994, Faqirzada left Afghanistan and went to the Netherlands where he applied for asylum but in vain and therefore stayed in the country illegally. In 2006, the Dutch authorities arrested him on the basis of the principle of universal jurisdiction. Between 4 and 15 June 2007, the District Court of The Hague tried him for committing international crimes (war crimes and crimes against humanity). He was acquitted in 2007 because there was insufficient evidence to prove that he was responsible for crimes committed by the security police force. The Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court also affirmed Faqirzada’s acquittal.