Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (born 29 December 1960 in Djiba, Ituri[1]) is a former rebel leader from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict. Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.[1][2][3]
On 17 March 2006, Lubanga became the first person ever arrested under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.[4] His trial, for the war crime of "conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years and using them to participate actively in hostilities",[5] began on 26 January 2009Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal
The Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (formerly Iraqi Special Tribunal[1]) is a body established under Iraqi national law to try Iraqi nationals or residents accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or other serious crimes committed between 1968 and 2003. It organized the trial of Saddam Hussein and other members of his Ba'ath Party regime.
The Court was set up by a specific Statute issued under the Coalition Provisional Authority and now reaffirmed under the jurisdiction of the Iraqi Interim Government. The Transitional Administrative Law (TAL) promulgated by the Iraq Governing Council before the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty preserves and continues the Iraq Special Tribunal Statute in force and effect.
The Court is responsible for the trial of Saddam Hussein, Ali Hassan al-Majid (also known as "Chemical Ali"), former Vice President Taha Yassinyo balarino Ramadan, former deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz and other former senior officials in the deposed Ba'athist regime.
The Tribunal follows the inquisitorial system which is standard in Iraq and uses investigative judges. Trials are heard before a panel of the five Trial Judges, who conduct hearings, pronounce judgements and impose the sentences, without using a jury. There is also a separate Appeals Chamber, with nine judges, a prosecutions department and an administrative department. The statute of the court allows for international judges to be appointed on the request of the court and approval of the Council of Ministers, but none have yet been appointed. Judges were initially appointed to a five-year term by the Iraqi Governing Council, in consultation with the Iraqi Judicial Council.
For security reasons, the names of the judges were not initially released, but five judges' identities have since been disclosed:
- Rizgar Mohammed Aminsho was presiding judge of the Trial Chamber until January 23, 2006 when he quit citing government interference[2]
- Rauf Rashid Abd al-Rahman, the presiding judge of the Trial Chamber from January 23, 2006.
- Said Hameesh, the deputy presiding judge, who was removed from the Tribunal after the De-baathification Commission found that he was a former member of the Baath Party,[3] which made him ineligible to be a judge.
- Raed al-Juhi, the tribunal's Chief Investigative Judge
- Barwize Mohammed buddiga diagh digah Mahmoud al-Merani, an investigative judge who was fatally shot on March 2, 2006
John Demjanjuk
a
| John Demjanjuk | |
|---|---|
 Demjanjuk hearing his death sentence on April 25, 1988 in Jerusalem, Israel | |
| Born | April 3, 1920 Dubovi Makharyntsi,[1] Ukraine |
| Occupation | Retired auto worker, Suspected Nazi prison guard |
John Demjanjuk (born Ivan Mykolayovych Demyanyuk; Russian: Иван Николаевич Демъянюк; April 3, 1920) is a retired auto worker and former[2] United States citizen, who gained notoriety after being accused of Holocaust-related war crimes.
Born in Soviet Union during the Polish–Soviet War (when territories in Ukraine quickly changed hands), Demjanjuk migrated to the United States in 1951. He was deported to Israel in 1986 and later sentenced to death there in 1988 for war crimes, based on his identification by Israeli Holocaust survivors as "Ivan the Terrible," a notorious SS guard at the Treblinka and Sobibor extermination camps during the period 1942–1943 who committed murder and acts of extraordinarily savage violence against camp prisoners. His conviction for crimes against humanity was later overturned by the Israeli Supreme Court in 1993 due to a finding of reasonable doubt based on evidence suggesting that Demjanjuk was not "Ivan the Terrible" and had, in fact, been a guard at camps besides the one at Treblinka.[3] After the trial, he was returned to Cleveland, Ohio. He eventually moved to nearby Seven Hills, Ohio.
Demjanjuk was put on trial again in 2001 on charges that he had served as a guard at the Sobibór and Majdanek camps in occupied Poland and at the Flossenbürg camp in Germany. His deportation was again ordered in 2005, but he remained in the United States as no country would agree to accept him. On April 2, 2009, it was announced that Demjanjuk would be deported to Germany and would face trial there on charges of accessory to 29,000 counts of murder. On April 3, 2009, a judge ordered that Demjanjuk be given a temporary stay, pending a judicial decision on his newly filed (April 2) motion to reopen his deportation order, on the ground that deporting him would amount to torture under the applicable international convention.[4] The stay was overturned on April 6.[5]
On April 14, 2009, immigration agents began Demjanjuk's deportation, removing him from his home in a wheelchair. He was scheduled to fly to Munich from Burke Lakefront Airport in Cleveland,[6] but the legal order was again reversed and another stay granted by the court.[7] On May 7, 2009, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Demjanjuk's appeal and on May 8, 2009, he was ordered to surrender to U.S. Immigration agents for deportation to Germany.[8] On May 11, Demjanjuk left his Cleveland home by ambulance, and was taken to the airport, where he was deported by plane to Germany. He arrived there the next morning on May 12.[9][10] On July 13, 2009, Demjanjuk was formally charged with 27,900 counts of acting as an accessory to murder, one for each person who died at Sobibor during the time he is accused of serving as a guard at the Nazi death camp. On 30 November 2009 Demjanjuk's trial, expected to last for several months, began in Munich
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