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In the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, Milorad Trbic was a deputy chief of the Zvornik Brigade of the Army of the Republika Srpska. He participated in the genocide of Bosniak men in Srebrenica in July 1995 by. He did this by, among other things, firing automatic rifles at them during executions, and supervising and coordinating the detention and execution of Bosniak men at various sites in the area around the city of Zvornik.

Milorad Trbic was first indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). On 27 April 2007, the case was referred the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina for further processing, pursuant to Rule 11bis of the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence, taking into consideration the gravity of the crimes charged and the level of responsibility of the accused, and the standard of procedure in the country to where the case is referred. 

On 16 October 2009, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina found Trbic guilty of genocide committed in the Srebrenica area in July 1995, through his participation in a joint criminal enterprise (JCE). For criminal responsibility to arise via participation in a JCE there had to be a consistent and core group of actors with a common plan or purpose to commit a crime, with the accused to both intend and participate in the commission of that crime. The Court held that this was the case with Milorad Trbic. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. 

After the fall of the Cambodian government in 1975, the Communist Party, under the leadership of Pol Pot, came to power and renamed the state the Democratic Kampuchea. An armed conflict broke out with Vietnam, which lasted until 1979. From 1975 until 1979, Pol Pot and the Communist Party of Kampuchea sought to establish a revolutionary state and introduced a policy of ‘smashing’ their enemies, a form of physical and psychological destruction that consisted of arbitrary detention, torture and execution. This policy was implemented at a number of interrogation centres, one of which was S21. Duch, a former mathematics teacher, was the Chairman of S21 responsible for extracting confessions and information, and teaching interrogation techniques.

In the first ever judgment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Trial Chamber convicted Duch of multiple counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment, minus five years as a result of his unlawful detention by the Cambodian Military Court for eight years prior to his transfer to the ECCC. This was also the first case before an international tribunal to allow victims of the crimes to participate in proceedings as civil parties and claim reparations for the harm they have suffered. 

On 16 October 2009 Milorad Trbic was found guilty of genocide by way of joint criminal enterprise in relation to the events at Srebrenica by the Court of Bosnia Herzegovina. For criminal responsibility to arise via participation in a JCE there had to be a consistent and core group of actors with a common plan or purpose to commit a crime, with the accused to both intend and participate in the commission of that crime. The Court held that this was the case with Milorad Trbic. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Trbic was acquitted of come charges, due to insufficient evidence. 

The Defence, Prosecution and victims appealed the Trial Verdict. The Prosecutor appealed on the grounds that the facts were not established correct and complete, and wanted the Appellate Panel to revoke the Verdict in its acquitting part, as well as to order a retrial. As for the sentence, the Prosecutor wanted the Trial Verdict to be reversed and for Trbic to be sentenced to the maximum sentence of 45 years imprisonment. The Defence appealed the Trial Verdict on the grounds that essential provisions of criminal procedure and the Criminal Code had been violated and that the facts were wrongly established and wanted the Panel to change the sentence and to review the facts and evidence again, eliminating the criminal procedure violations and acquit Trbic of the charges. A number of victims also appealed the verdict, specifically against the part of the Verdict on the costs and property claims.

On 17 January 2011, the Appellate Panel gave the Appellate Verdict, judging all appeals unfounded, and upholding the Trial Verdict of 16 October 2009 in its entirety.

Hissène Habré was the President of the Republic of Chad from 1982 until 1990. During that time, he established a brutal dictatorship which, through its political police, the Bureau of Documentation and Security (Direction de la Documentation et de la Sécurité (DDS)), caused the deaths of tens of thousands of individuals. Residing in exile in Senegal, he was unsuccessfully brought before the Senegalese courts in 2000-2001 at which time the Supreme Court of Senegal confirmed that it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case as the acts allegedly committed by Habré were not criminalised under domestic law. In response to an African Union mandate to prosecute Habré, Senegal amended its legislation to provide for universal jurisdiction over crimes against humanity and acts of torture committed by foreign nationals outside of Senegalese territory.

Habré brought a complaint against Senegal before the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of States of West Africa alleging that the new legislation breached his human rights, including the principle of non-retroactivity of the criminal law. The Court held, in a decision that has been criticised for lack of legal basis, that Senegal would violate the principle of non-retroactivity if its tried Habré in its domestic courts. Instead, international custom mandates that Senegal establish a special tribunal to try and prosecute Habté.