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During the Rwandan genocide, Siméon Nchamihigo was the Deputy Prosecutor in Cyangugu prefecture.

Nchamihigo was charged with genocide (Count 1), murder, extermination and other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity (Counts 2, 3, 4). On 24 September 2008, Trial Chamber III of the ICTR found that on 7 April 1994, the Accused told Interahamwe to search for and kill Tutsi with the intention to destroy the Tutsi ethnic group and other civilians who were RPF accomplices, as part of a widespread attack against civilians in Cyangugu. The Chamber also concluded that he had participated in various attacks on refugee locations, that he had attended the prefecture Security Council meetings on 11 and 14 April 1994, and that certain of the massacres had been planned during these meetings. Based on the findings, the Trial Chamber convicted Nchamihigo on all counts and sentenced him to life imprisonment. 

In 1992, Mirsad Repak was a member of the paramilitary Croatian Defence Forces (HOS), in the Dretelj detention camp, in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Repak held a middle leader position in the unit. Serbian civilians were detained in the Dretelj camp and held in inhuman conditions, suffering mistreatment and rape. Repak assisted in depriving civilian Serbs of their liberty and was also involved in the interrogation and torture of a woman detained in the camp.

In 1993, Repak fled to Norway and became a Norwegian citizen in 2001. On 8 May 2007, he was arrested in Norway and indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The case concerned the question whether the Norwegian Constitution allows the retroactive application of the legislation on war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Court observed that Article 97 of the Norwegian Constitution prohibits any retroactive application of the law unless similar legislation existed at the time of the alleged crimes. The Court ruled that prosecution was possible since the actions described in the indictment were punishable under the Criminal Code in force in 1992 (the time of the crimes). Repak was therefore found guilty of war crimes, but was acquitted for the charges of crimes against humanity, as there was no comparable legislation in 1992. Repak was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay damages of a total of NKO 400,000 (approximately 51,000 euro) to the families of eight Serbian victims.

During the Rwanda genocide, Bikindi was a famous singer and composer, and the leader of a ballet troupe, the Irindiro.

The Prosecution charged Bikindi with six Counts: conspiracy to commit genocide, genocide or, alternatively, complicity in genocide, direct and public incitement to commit genocide, murder and persecution as crimes against humanity.

On 2 December 2008, Trial Chamber III of the ICTR found the Accused guilty of direct and public incitement to commit genocide for his calls to exterminate Tutsi at the end of June 1994 on the Kivumu-Kayone road and acquitted him on all other Counts. The Chamber further concluded that there were no mitigating factors, and that the fact that the Accused had used his influence to incite genocide was an aggravating factor. The Chamber sentenced Bikindi to 15 years of imprisonment. 

After the civil war in Papua New Guinea, which led to Bougainville obtaining a more autonomous position, several inhabitants of that island sued the mining company Rio Tinto, basically for its role in the war and the process leading up to it. The plaintiffs claimed that Rio Tinto’s mining activities had harmed their health and the environment, and that they had helped the Papua New Guinea government in, among other things, setting up a blockade with disastrous results for the population. They relied on the Alien Tort Claims Act, a US Act which permits aliens to present a claim in a US Court when, allegedly, the law of nations has been breached. Before the District Court ruled on this case en banc, two previous panels had ruled on this case, thereby mostly focussing on the question whether or not the case should be dismissed as it touched upon questions of US foreign policy, questions which should only be addressed by the Executive Branch of the government. The Court of Appeals en banc took a different route and stated that the District Court should assess in depth whether the fact that the islanders had not exhausted local remedies should lead to dismissal of the case. To this end the Court of Appeals established a framework of applying the ‘exhaustion principle’ and referred the case back to the District Court. 

The armed conflict in Sierra Leone, from 1991 until 2002, opposed members of the Revolutionary United Front and Armed Forces Revolutionary Council to Civil Defense Forces, loyal to the ousted President Kabbah. The hostilities were characterised by brutality as civilians and peacekeepers were targeted. In particular, young women were forced to become ‘bush wives’ for rebels, and children were recruited not only to fight in the hostilities, but also as bodyguards, cooks, cleaners, and spies.

Trial Chamber I of the Special Court for Sierra Leone convicted Sesay, Kallon and Gbao, as high-ranking members of the RUF, for multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. In particular, this decision was the first time that an international criminal tribunal entered convictions for forced marriage as a crime against humanity separate from sexual slavery. The Chamber also defined active participation in hostilities broadly so that the crime of using children to actively participate in the hostilities would extend to more children in different roles, for which their perpetrators could be punished.