International Legal News

Weekly update: 03 – 08 June 2020.

The following media round up of international legal and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period 03 – 08 June 2020.

The Guernica Group will provide weekly media updates from the International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, European Union and other sources. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Nenad Vucijak for consideration.

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 04 June 2020 The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda issued a statement regarding the situation in Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo. She expressed that she was deeply concerned by the numerous reports of an escalation in serious violence over the past several months in Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo, particularly in the territories of Djugu and Mahagi. https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=200604-icc-prosecutor-statement-ituri-drc

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – 05 June 2020 Around 1,300 civilians have been killed in a number of separate conflicts involving armed groups and government forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo over the past eight months, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said on 05 June, adding that some of the incidents involving killings and other abuses and violations may amount to crimes against humanity of war crimes. https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25928&LangID=E

Turkey – 04 June 2020 The European Court of Human Rights has declared inadmissible for non-exhaustion of domestic remedies the application in the case of Kaman v. Turkey concerning the applicant’s custody on remand in the aftermath of the attempted coup d’etat in July 2016. The Court reiterated that States were dispensed from answering before an international body for their acts before they had had an opportunity to put matters right through their own legal system. It also observed that it had already found that an individual application to the Turkish Constitutional Court was capable of affording appropriate redress. https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#{%22itemid%22:[%22003-6712418-8942034%22]} Tanzania – 05 June 2020 The Tanzanian government is contemplating introducing amendments to the country’s laws that will prevent human rights defenders and organizations from filing lawsuits on behalf of, or for the benefit of, victims of human rights violations, according to Amnesty International. https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/06/tanzania-planned-law-amendments-to-prevent-solidarity-lawsuits-must-be-rejected/ Iran – 06 June 2020 Iranian authorities have detained two students from Sharif University in Tehran in solitary confinement for nearly two months, according to Human Rights Watch. The organisation calls on Iranian authorities to release the two students immediately – unless they can promptly charge them with a recognizable crime – and ensure all their due process rights. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/06/iran-free-students-long-solitary Israel/Palestine – 07 June 2020 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described the killing of an autistic Palestinian man by Israeli police last month as a “tragedy.” Iyad Halaq, 32, was shot in occupied East Jerusalem as he walked to his special needs school on 30 May. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-52956656 El Salvador – 08 June 2020 Thirty years after Jesuit killings in El Salvador, two men will stand trial in Madrid beginning on 08 June, accused of involvement in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests and two women in El Salvador. Five Spanish priests were among those murdered, including Ignacio Ellacuría, a prominent figure who defended dialogue between the guerrillas and the government during the civil war. https://english.elpais.com/americas/2020-06-08/thirty-years-after-jesuit-killings-in-el-salvador-trial-begins-in-madrid.html#:~:text=After%20a%20legal%20battle%20of,two%20women%20in%20El%20Salvador.&text=Both%20are%20accused%20of%20participating,%E2%80%9Cexecution%E2%80%9D%20of%20the%20killings. United States – 08 June 2020 The man accused of murdering African American George Floyd, whose death sparked global protests, is to appear in court for the first time. Derek Chauvin, a white policeman, knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while he was being arrested in Minneapolis on 25 May. Mr Chauvin, who has since been sacked, will face a judge in Minnesota remotely on murder and manslaughter charges. Three other officers were also fired and charged with aiding and abetting. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52961599 Libya – 08 June 2020 Libya’s GNA forces press ahead after failed truce offer by Egypt. Libya’s east-based parliament speaker Aguila Saleh arrives in Moscow for talks as government forces push towards Sirte. Libyan fighters allied with the country’s internationally recognised government have pressed their advance into the strategic city of Sirte, boosted by recent battlefield gains and a withdrawal by forces of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar from around the capital, Tripoli. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/libya-gna-forces-press-failed-truce-offer-egypt-200608093125455.html Sweden – 08 June 2020 The findings of an investigation into one of the world’s most infamous cold cases, the 1986 assassination of Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, will finally be made public on 10 June. Palme was shot in the back at close range on a Stockholm street while walking home from the cinema with his wife Lisbeth on a February evening. The gunman disappeared into a side street and the mystery has thwarted the Swedish police ever since, giving rise to an industry built around competing speculative theories. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/08/case-of-sweden-murdered-pm-1986-olof-palme-south-africa