It took the jurors less than two days of deliberations to find Green guilty on all 17 criminal counts, which included rape, premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.

Three other soldiers were given life sentences in the March 2006 atrocity that was devised over whiskey and a game of cards at a traffic check point in Mahmudiyah, south of Baghdad.

Green, who was named as the ringleader, was tried in civil court after being discharged from the army due to a “personality disorder” before his role in the crime came to light.

While Green confessed to the slayings when army investigators were called to the scene the next day, the involvement of US soldiers did not come to light until stress counselors talked to the squad several months later.

Green’s mother, father and brother — who were not present during the trial at his request — are scheduled to testify on his behalf during the sentencing phase.

His attorney said the verdict was not a surprise because “we never denied his involvement in this case.

“The goal in this case has always been to save our client’s life,” Darren Wolff told reporters. “We’re going to go to the most important phase, which is the sentencing phase, and we’re going to accomplish that goal.”

Lead prosecutor Marisa Ford declined to speak to the media after the verdict was read.

She told jurors during closing arguments that the grueling conditions and tragic losses suffered by Green’s unit in no way excused his actions.

“The evidence in this case suggests the defendant was acting purposefully and intentionally with full knowledge of what he was doing,” Ford said.

She said Green and other soldiers changed their clothes and disguised their appearance to throw suspicion on insurgents.

They also burned the body of the 14-year-old girl, Abeer al-Janabi, and their own clothes to destroy any evidence that might link them to the crime, she said.

“This was a planned, premeditated crime which was carried out in cold blood,” Ford told the jurors.

But Green’s other defense attorney told the jury that the stresses of war had left the soldier a broken man in a strange world.

“Madness. Madness. That’s the only possible word,” Scott Wendelsdorf said in closing arguments Wednesday.

Wendelsdorf blamed the crime on the lack of leadership at Traffic Checkpoint 2, where Green served with the other soldiers involved in the crimes at the Janabi home.

“They didn’t come there as criminals,” he said. “They were made criminals at TCP 2.”

He noted that Green had been diagnosed as having Combat Operational Stress Disorder three months before the attack, and contended that former private first class James Barker and former specialist Paul Cortez took advantage of Green’s mental condition to carry out the crimes.

Jurors last week heard the stories of Cortez and Barker, both of whom admitted to going to the Janabi family home with Green.

The pair told jurors they raped Abeer, while Green took her six-year-old sister and her mother and father to another room, where he shot them to death.

Cortez testified that Green proceeded to rape Abeer and then placed a pillow over the girl’s face and shot her three times with an AK-47.

Private Jesse Spielman also received a life sentence for raping Janabi and participating in the murders while private Bryan Howard was sentenced to 27 months in jail for acting as a lookout.

Spielman, Barker and Cortez will be eligible for parole in ten years under military rules.

Ex US-soldier found guilty of rape, murder

This is the toughest statement issued by the UN’s top human rights official on the conduct of the war in Sri Lanka. Navi Pillay said she is extremely alarmed at the increasing number of civilians reported killed and injured in the conflict in northern Sri Lanka.

Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, said High Commissioner Pillay is very upset at the apparent ruthless disregard shown by positions.

“Other areas holding civilians have also been shelled. A range of credible sources have indicated that more than 2,800 civilians have been killed and 7,500 injured since the 20th of January, many of them inside the no-fire zones. The casualties are believed to include hundreds of children killed and more than 1,000 injured,” he said.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent state for more than one-quarter of a century. About 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed and tens of thousands made homeless in this long-running civil war.

A few months ago, the Sri Lankan military began an all-out offensive to defeat the rebels once and for all. By all accounts, they appear to be winning. But, victory is coming with a very heavy price in civilian casualties.

Colville said the United Nations estimates up to 180,000 civilians remain trapped in an every-shrinking area of territory in the Vanni region.

“The current level of civilian casualties, which could be more than 10,000 in all, if you add the killed and injured, is truly shocking. And, there are legitimate fears that the loss of life may reach catastrophic levels, if the fighting continues in this way,” Colville said. “The LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, are reported to be continuing to hold civilians as human shields, and to have shot at civilians trying to leave the area they control. They are also believed to have been forcibly recruiting civilians, including children, as soldiers,” he said.

UN aid agencies reported that there is limited food in the Vanni region. They said severe malnutrition is on the rise and key medical supplies are virtually gone.

High Commissioner Pillay called the brutal and inhuman treatment of civilians by the Tamil Tigers utterly reprehensible and said it should be examined to see if it constitutes war crimes.

The rebels have not commented. But, the Sri Lankan government said it is very disappointed in. what it called, the unprofessional statement by the High Commissioner.

UN Rights Chief Accuses Sri Lanka And Tamil Tigers of Possible War Crimes

Leopold Munyakazi had been working at Goucher College near Baltimore under a programme for academics whose lives are threatened at home.

He has denied any involvement in Rwanda’s genocide.

Some 800,000 minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered by Hutu militias in just 100 days in 1994.

Mr Munyakazi, a Hutu, told the Associated Press news agency that he had been persecuted by Rwanda’s government.

He said he had been held without trial in Rwanda from 1994 to 1999 on accusations of genocide.

“I’m not hiding; I was never involved in genocide,” he said.

Sanford Ungar, president of Goucher College, said in a letter to students and faculty that he became aware of charges against Mr Munyakazi when a journalist and a Rwandan prosecutor came to the college in December.

They told him of witnesses testimonies that Mr Munyakazi, 59, had “participated directly” in the genocide.

Charges had been prepared in 2006 after Mr Munyakazi had given a “controversial talk” in the US questioning the Rwandan government’s version of the genocide, Mr Ungar said.

“Dr Munyakazi vehemently denies any involvement in committing genocide, and in fact has presented evidence that he assisted numerous Tutsis in fleeing Hutu killers,” the letter said.

Mr Ungar said the Rwandan, who started teaching French at the college in September, would be suspended from his job pending further investigation.

An official at Rwanda’s embassy in Washington said Rwanda had asked for Mr Munyakazi and five others to be returned to the country.

BBC NEWS | Africa | Teacher in US accused of genocide

Jakup Krasniqi condemned the arrests Saturday and said the Serbian action was meant to provoke the not yet year-old country.

Serbian police arrested the men Friday after searching the southern town of Presevo, a predominantly ethnic Albanian area. Serbian officials say the 10 had been members of the Kosovo Liberation Army and committed war crimes during the Kosovo conflict.

Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic says Saturday the arrests do present a security risk and acknowledged the possibility of some retaliation. Serbian officials have said the arrests were carried out on the orders of the war crimes prosecutors.

Spokesman for Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said the men are accused of killing at least 51 civilians and abducting 159 more between June and October of 1999.

The spokesman says they are also accused of torturing, looting and raping both Serb and non-Serb civilians in the eastern Kosovo municipality of Gnjilane, near the border with Serbia.

The sole ethnic Albanian member of Serbia’s parliament, Riza Halimi, expressed surprise at the arrests and said they would do little to contribute to the stability of the region.

VOA News – Kosovo Speaker Lashes Out at Serbia

Furious rank-and-file soldiers smashed their way into black-market shops dealing in US dollars and snatched cash from illegal money-changers on the street, prompting hopes in some quarters that this was the first spark of a military rebellion against Robert Mugabe.

There is little doubt that the trouble has unnerved the government and the army leadership, who saw the potential danger in soldiers getting together with thousands of disenchanted civilians queuing at the banks to withdraw cash.

As international calls mount for President Mugabe to be removed by force, the attitude of the armed forces has become a crucial factor in maintaining the 84-year-old leader’s grip on power. Speaking to The Observer, a Zimbabwean army captain said more than 100 soldiers were arrested after the riots, which spread beyond Harare, but added that he detected little support among ordinary soldiers for outright rebellion.

‘One of my prime duties is to suppress the rank and file,’ he said. ‘The commanders have told us officers that we will be held accountable for the behaviour of our men, so we have to watch for signs of trouble and prevent it.’

The captain, who asked not to be identified, said that he personally wants Mugabe out of office as soon as possible. However, that would not prevent him watching the men under his command to ensure they don’t try to make that happen by provoking a coup.

‘Nobody likes Mugabe now,’ he said ‘They are not loyal to him. But the soldiers will still obey orders. The army still has quite a good grip.’

The captain also noted that if soldiers wanted to rebel, they would almost certainly have to do so without their weapons. ‘The solders who revolted did not have guns. Weapons are kept under lock and key. They would have to break into the armoury to get them, and the ammo is not kept with the guns,’ he said.

Uncertainty would be another factor, he predicted. While Zimbabwe’s civilians look to the soldiers to lead the way, the soldiers look to the civilians.

‘There are complaints among the soldiers that the civilians won’t do anything. If the civilians went out on to the streets, then the soldiers say they would stand back and not harm them, and maybe even join them,’ he said.

‘Plenty have deserted. They go down to South Africa. Because of the desertions the army will recruit almost anybody. Before, they used to ask for five O-levels, including maths and English. The army was highly educated. Now there have been too many desertions and deaths from Aids, so you don’t need qualifications.’

One former corporal, in his late twenties, said that he deserted last year, fled to South Africa to find work and returned last month. ‘I was finished with the army when I took my child to hospital. He is a boy aged three. He was very sick from dirty water in the street. They told me they could not treat him unless I bought the medicines. I asked how much these medicines cost. If I worked all year I could not pay for them,’ he said.

‘They think we cannot see that those at the top are still getting rich, while our children get sicker. My son got very sick before my brother sent money to pay for the medicine. That’s when I realised I was better off there. Before we were soldiers; now we are beggars.’

A middle-aged NCO said that he remained in the army out of duty. ‘I am one of the last left in my unit. Most of the others went to South Africa or Botswana. The mechanics went first because they know how to fix cars and can work anywhere,’ he said. ‘I am a professional soldier. We had a good army, a professional army. One of the best in Africa. I did not just want to desert.

‘But now I think maybe I have been foolish. Maybe Mugabe is laughing at me. My family is hungry while I do my duty. I often ask myself if Mugabe is doing his duty.’

The captain said that last week’s violence in Harare was purely to do with wages. ‘There are civilians who believe the government is sending soldiers to create disorder, so it can declare a state of emergency. But the cause of that disturbance was a stupid one. The soldiers get paid at the barracks, but that day they only paid the officers. The soldiers were told to go to town and access their money at the bank. When they couldn’t get it there, they went to the Copacabana [a black market] and robbed them of their US dollars and local currency, and they smashed up the shops.

‘The soldiers are all disgruntled, very unhappy. They are suffering, their families are suffering. But I don’t think it will come to that point where they rebel. Soldiers who stay in the army are still worried about their careers.’

The Observer

Amnesty says all sides in the August conflict may have committed abuses. In its new report, Amnesty says Georgian and Russian forces and militia fighters in the breakaway South Ossetia region should be investigated for war crimes during the conflict.

Amnesty’s John Dalhuisen says there is strong evidence of human rights violations, noting concerns over “indiscriminate attacks by Georgian forces on entering Tskhinvali and then Russian forces in reply.

“Amnesty is also very concerned with the “looting, pillaging and destruction of civilian property essentially by South Ossetian forces and militia groups in aftermath of the conflict,” said Dalhuisen.

The war erupted when Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili launched a military operation against separatists in the breakaway province of South Ossetia to bring them under Tbilisi’s control.

Russia responded with overwhelming military force, pushing deep inside Georgia. Dalhuisen says an in-depth investigation needs to take place and recommends an international humanitarian fact-finding commission established under the Geneva convention that both Georgia and Russia agree to.

The New York-based group, Human Rights Watch agrees. It says Georgian and Russian forces used cluster bombs in the conflict and the group’s representative in Tbilisi, Giorgi Gogia, says those bombs that failed to explode have now become de-facto landmines.

“We have called for both sides to provide the strike data to the de-mining organizations to raise awareness and conduct education programs for the civilians that have gone back in the affected areas,” said Gogia. He says Human Rights Watch is also calling on both sides to sign the Cluster Bomb treaty in December.

Professor Sergei Arutiunov, a Caucasus expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, says abuses in South Ossetia must be exposed. But, he says, the army also needs the support of trained police forces in the breakaway region.

“Armies are not geared for police work, to maintain order,” he said. “Marauding and criminal activity happens even after a short war.” This “chaos must be rooted out.”

Though the hostilities have ended, human rights groups say there are more than 20,000 ethnic Georgians unable to return to their homes in South Ossetia – with no prospect of doing so in the near future.

VOA News

The decision marks the second time Serbia will face the allegation of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Bosnia also accused Serb forces of being responsible for genocide during the brutal conflicts that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia.

Croatia alleged that Serb attacks that killed and displaced thousands of Croats during the 1991-95 war of Croatian independence was a form of genocide.

Zagreb demanded that the court order Belgrade to pay compensation. Croatia also asked the court to order Serbia to help trace people missing from the war and return cultural items plundered during the fighting.

Serbia countered that the court had no jurisdiction in the case, saying that it was not a United Nations member state when Croatia filed the case in 1999.

But the 17-judge tribunal rejected the arguments by Serbia, ruling that the country had assumed the responsibilities of the former Yugoslavia after that state crumbled in the early 1990s – including its responsibility to adhere to the convention outlawing genocide.

In a 12-5 decision, the court ruled that it had “jurisdiction to entertain the case,” said the court president, Rosalyn Higgins.

The court will likely take years to hear the case and issue a ruling.

A representative of Serbia, Tibor Varady, criticized the ruling, saying that it would only serve to prolong tensions between the Balkan neighbors.

“I think it would be much better to insist consistently on individual criminal responsibility,” he said.

But the leader of the Croatian delegation, Ivan Simonovic, said the case should help both countries move forward by bringing legal closure for wartime atrocities.

President Stipe Mesic of Croatia described the ruling as “just.”

In a similar case brought by Bosnia, the court exonerated Serbia in February 2007 of direct responsibility for genocide in Bosnia in the early 1990s, but ruled that the authorities had failed to prevent the 1995 slaughter of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica.
Congo rebel to go on trial

The International Criminal Court cleared the way Tuesday to begin its first trial in January, in the case of a Congolese rebel charged with recruiting child soldiers and sending them into battle, The Associated Press reported.

The court in The Hague lifted its suspension of the case against Thomas Lubanga after the prosecution accepted a request that it hand over to the judges confidential evidence received from the United Nations.

The case is a landmark on several scores: Lubanga is the first defendant brought before the court since it was created in 2002 as the first permanent war crimes tribunal, and it is the first trial to deal exclusively with the use of child soldiers.

The judges were on the verge of throwing out the case in July and had ordered Lubanga’s release, saying that he could not get a fair trial because some of the material being withheld by the prosecution could help Lubanga’s defense.

The United Nations and other agencies in Congo had sought to keep the information private to shield field workers from the possibility of retribution.

Appeals judges agreed last month that Lubanga’s trial would be unfair unless all the evidence was disclosed, at least to the judges if not to the defense.

After reading the material, the three-judge tribunal ruled Tuesday the trial could go ahead and set a provisional starting date of Jan. 26.

Lubanga denies recruiting and conscripting children to fight in eastern Congo during 2002-03.

International Herald Tribune

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said the warrants would involve attacks on African Union peacekeepers in September 2007, in which 12 were killed. Speaking in The Hague, the prosecutor did not disclose the names and number of suspects, but earlier he had said that two rebel factions carried out the attacks.

The court previously issued arrest warrants for a former government minister, Ahmad Harun, and for Ali Kushayb, a leader of the government-backed janjaweed militia. In July, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo requested the arrest of the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, but the court is still reviewing the evidence and has not issued a warrant for him.

NYTimes.com

In July the ICC’s Trial Chamber ordered him released from custody. This week the court’s Appeals Chamber overturned that decision. What has gone wrong and what happens next? In this question-and-answer feature, the International Center for Transitional Justice explains.

1. Why did the International Criminal Court delay the trial of Thomas Lubanga?

In June 2008, shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin, the Trial Chamber of the ICC found fault with the prosecutor’s proposed use of evidence contained in documents provided by the United Nations (UN) and by NGOs. The evidence was in some 200 documents that could include exculpatory material – information that might help the defense prove Lubanga’s innocence.

These were documents the prosecutor obtained on a confidential basis. The court ruled that the prosecutor should share that evidence with the Trial Chamber and the defense. Since the prosecutor did not have permission at that time to share the documents, the Trial Chamber halted the proceedings because of fair trial concerns and ordered that Lubanga be released. The prosecutor appealed both rulings to the ICC’s Appeals Chamber.

2. What did the Appeals Chamber decide?

On October 21, the Appeals Chamber agreed with the decision to halt the proceedings. It also agreed that at the time the Trial Chamber made its rulings, a fair trial would have not been possible, because the prosecutor could not have shown the confidential evidence to the court and the defense.

But the Appeals Chamber overturned the Trial Chamber’s decision to release Lubanga. The Appeals Chamber reasoned that the Trial Chamber had halted proceedings only temporarily, and it had not acquitted Lubanga. There was still a chance that a trial could go forward, if concerns about fairness were addressed

3. So does the trial go forward or not?

For now, that is for the Trial Chamber to decide. There are several new factors for it consider.

One is that the prosecutor has now obtained permission from the UN and from the NGOs to show all the confidential documents to the judges. The Trial Chamber will now be able to assess which documents should be disclosed to the defense, and whether certain limitations – such as requests by the information providers that only summaries or edited versions be released – affect Lubanga’s right to a fair trial. The judges are scheduled to review the documents in hearings scheduled for the coming weeks.

4. How did the issue arise about use of confidential documents?

The dispute between the prosecutor and the Trial Chamber was over the meaning and scope of the court’s statute and rules allowing the prosecutor to gather evidence while promising confidentiality.

In many instances, the prosecutor’s investigations of alleged crimes take place in the midst of ongoing conflict. The prosecutor may offer confidentiality to ensure the safety of individuals and organizations providing information. That confidentiality, however, may sometimes be in tension with fundamental fair trial standards, which require that the accused should have access to the evidence.

In its rulings, the Appeals Chamber re-affirmed the importance of ensuring a fair trial for the accused and made clear that the prosecutor’s use of confidentiality provisions does not lessen his obligation to disclose material that may help establish the accused’s innocence. But the Appeals Chamber ruled that the prosecutor’s obligation to disclose is not absolute and that confidentiality agreements have to be honored at all times also by the judges.

5. In the future, will the prosecutor be able to promise confidentiality while gathering evidence

In future cases the court will again rely on evidence gathered by the UN and other bodies. The Appeals Chamber introduced a new procedural step, by giving the ICC’s judges strong oversight function. This will allow the court to resolve the potential conflict between the pledges of confidentiality and the requirements of a fair trial.

At the same time it re-affirmed the absolute nature of the obligation to respect confidentiality agreements. The Appeals Chamber thus acknowledges the difficult and challenging situations the ICC is operating in.

The prosecutor can still assure information providers that confidentiality will be respected. But judges will be able to see the information first, in order to ensure a fair trial From now on, the prosecutor will need information providers to agree that the information can be provided in full to the ICC judges.

allAfrica.com: