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Mpambara: Public Prosecutor v. Joseph Mpambara

Judgment, 26 Nov 2013, Hoge Raad (Supreme Court), The Netherlands

Between April and July 1994, as much as 10% of the entire Rwandan civilian population was murdered in an ethnic conflict in which the Hutus sought to eliminate the Tutsis. At the same time, an armed conflict was fought between the Rwandan government army (FAR) and the armed forces of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF). The RPF were a rebel army primarily composed of descendants of Rwandan Tutsi who fled from Rwanda in preceding years.

The accused, Joseph Mpambara, fled Rwanda for The Netherlands. He was arrested and brought before the Dutch courts on charges of war crimes, torture and genocide. Although the Dutch courts deemed themselves without jurisdiction for genocide, Mpambara was initially convicted for torture. The Court of Appeal also found him guilty of war crimes and increased his 20 years' prison sentence to life imprisonment. Mpambara appealed at the Supreme Court, arguing that the previous judgment - especially the use of evidence from witnesses he could not examine and the issuance of a life sentence - was in violation of his fundamental rights (as found in the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR), namely his rights to a fair trial and to protection against inhumane treatment.

The Supreme Court found the grounds of appeal unfounded, dismissed Mpambara's appeal, and confirmed the Court of Appeals' judgment and sentence. 


Saric: The Prosecutor v. Refik Saric

Judgment, 25 Nov 1994, 3rd Chamber of the Eastern Division of the Danish High Court, Denmark

Refik Saric came to Denmark in 1994 as a Croat refugee. Other refugees at a Red Cross refugee center recognized him as a guard at the Dretelj camp in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Police investigations revealed that Saric had been a Muslim prisoner at the camp, where he was eventually promoted to guard duty. The original indictment included 25 counts of "causing grievous bodily harm of a grave nature". These acts included, amongst other acts, kicking and punching several persons, dealing a number of blows to persons’ backs with sticks, rifles, chains and metal pipes as well as blows to the head, which in some cases resulted in death of persons. The indictment was based on both the Danish Penal Code and the Geneva Conventions. Since the Accused’s mental condition was in question, the Court determined that he needed to be placed in a mental hospital until his sentence could be served. The Accused was found guilty on 14 counts and not guilty on 6 counts. The jury also granted the request for a more severe sentence because of aggravated circumstances. The Accused was sentenced to eight years in prison and permanently barred from entering Denmark after his sentence.


Bouterse: Prosecutor-General of the Supreme Court v. Desiré Bouterse

Judgment, 18 Sep 2001, Supreme Court, The Netherlands

Desiré Bouterse, a Surinamese politician, was born on 13 October 1945. Bouterse led a coup d’état in 1980 and became the military leader of Suriname until 1987. Relatives of victims of the so-called December murders of 8 and 9 December 1982, when 15 opponents of the military regime headed by Bouterse were tortured and subsequently killed, brought a complaint against Bouterse in the Netherlands. On 18 September 2001, the Supreme Court of the Netherlands dismissed the action against Bouterse. The Court held that Bouterse could not be prosecuted because he was not connected in any way to the Netherlands. Moreover, the acts committed under the military dictatorship of Bouterse were not criminalised as such at the time they were committed.


Samardžija: The Prosecutor v. Marko Samardžija

Verdict, 15 Oct 2008, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber (Section I), Appellate Panel, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Marko Samardžija was the commander of the 3rd Company of the Sanica Battalion within the 17th Light Infantry Brigade. He has been accused of ordering soldiers under his command, on 10 July 1992, that the Bosniak (Muslim) population from the settlements of Brkići and Balagića Brdo (in the Ključ Municipality) leave their houses, after which the men older than 18 and younger than 60 were brought to the primary school in Biljani. From there, the men were murdered in groups of 5 to 10, which led to the deaths of at least 144 Bosniak men.  

On Appeal, the Court found the Accused guilty of Crimes against Humanity for the deprivation of liberty of these men, since they were forcefully moved from their homes and taken to the primary school. The Court did not find him guilty of aiding in the murders, since this was not a clear and obvious consequence of his acts.

Therefore on 15 October 2008, the Appellate Division of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found Marko Samardžija guilty of crimes against humanity (depriving of liberty) and sentenced him to seven years imprisonment. 


Bagaragaza: The Prosecutor v. Michel Bagaragaza

Sentencing Judgement , 17 Nov 2009, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Trial Chamber III), Tanzania

Until July 1994, Michel B. was the managing director of OCIR-Tea, the controlling body for the tea industry in Rwanda. B. is accused of conspiring with his employees in order to kill Tutsis in the Gisenyi Prefecture. In addition, he was a member of the local committee of the Republican Movement for Development and Democracy (MRND) for the Gisenyi Prefecture.

B. was indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on charges of genocide and, in the alternative, war crimes. He pleaded guilty to complicity in genocide and he was sentenced to 8 years’ imprisonment. The Tribunal found that B. had substantially assisted the military and the Interahamwe militia launch an attack against Tutsis at Kesho Hill and Nyundo Cathedral by authorising that vehicles and fuel from his tea factories be used to transport attackers, that personnel from the factories participate in the attacks and that the attackers be provided with heavy weapons. These weapons were then stored in his factory. The Accused also contributed financially by providing the Interahamwe with money to purchase alcohol so as to motivate them to continue with killings. 


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