Countries | Guernica 37

Bangladesh

Provided legal advice and representation to political leaders prosecuted by the International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh.

Drafted and submitted a number of communications to the United Nations Special Procedures Branch on enforced disappearances, arbitrary detention, summary or extrajudicial killings and the independence of judges and lawyers;

The filing of a communication to the International Criminal Court, on international crimes committed in Bangladesh under the current government.

Drafted book chapters, articles and legal reports on the theory and practice of the International Crimes Tribunal.

Why I’m Taking the Bangladesh Prime Minister to the International Criminal Court:

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Served in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the Human Rights Chamber for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and as member of the prosecution team in the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the cases of Prosecutor v. Radovan Stankovic; Prosecutor v. Zeljko Mejakic et al.; Prosecutor v. Mitar Rasevic & Savo Todovic; Prosecutor v. Gojko Jankovic; Prosecutor v. Milan Lukic & Sredoje Lukic; and Prosecutor v. Pasko Ljubicic.

Also sought recognition of foreign judgment and seizure of realisable assets to satisfy damages awarded under the United States Alien Tort Claims Act for acts of genocide committed during the conflict.

Chile

Investigated the assassination of Victor Jara, one of the innumerable atrocities that took place in the Chile Stadium days after Pinochet’s coup d’état. As a consequence of these investigations, a U.S. Court found Pedro Barrientos Nuñez, the former lieutenant that participated in the torture and murder of the popular singer, guilty and criminally responsible for Jara’s killing.

Secrets and Lies. The case of Victor Jara:

Colombia

Filed a lawsuit against Carlos Mario Jiménez alias “Macaco”—former paramilitary member extradited to the United States—for the assassination of attorney Alma Rosa Jaramillo and popular leader Eduardo Estrada. Provided assistance to the Justicia y Paz process and advised civil society organizations and institutions in Colombia on Point 5 of the Peace Agreements, concerning truth and justice for victims. Appointed judge of the People’s Tribunal for Sexual Violence in the framework of the Armed Conflict in Bogota, which concluded that systematic sexual violence had been used as a weapon of war in the Colombian conflict.

Ecuador

Member of the Ecuadorian Truth Commission—which published its final report ‘Sin Verdad no hay Justicia’ in 2010—and appointed senior legal advisor in the Direction for the Truth Commission and Human Rights in the Ecuadorian Office for the Prosecutor. Gave a conference called ‘The Truth Commission in Ecuador’ in the Ministry of the Justice and the Andean University of Ecuador and met the President of the Republic and members of the Ministry of Justice to discuss the transitional strategy in the country.

El Salvador

Investigated the killing of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter by members of the Salvadoran Army and received judicial approval by US Courts to initiate the extradition of Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano from United States to Spain on charges of terrorism, murder and crimes against humanity related to this massacre. The attack took place on 16th November 1989 in the Jesuit University of Central America and constituted a landmark in the 12-years-long armed conflict in El Salvador.

El legado y la Justicia. XXV aniversario del asesinato de los Jesuitas y sus empleadas en El Salvador: http://alrevesyalderecho.blogsinfolibre.es/?p=3390
Sin Justicia no hay transición: el caso jesuitas de El Salvador: http://alrevesyalderecho.blogsinfolibre.es/?p=4558
The Road to Spain: The Jesuit Massacre and the Struggle Against Impunity in El Salvador:

Egypt

Drafted three reports on the history of the Muslim Brotherhood, concerning Egypt’s democratic transition as a result of the Arab Spring and the subsequent human rights violations under Al-Sisi’s regime.

Presentation of cases before the African Court of Human and Peoples’ Rights and before the International Criminal Court for human rights violations and international crimes concerning the closure of the Rafah Border crossing during Operation Protective Edge.

ICC must look into Egypt’s role in Gaza atrocities:

Guantanamo

Participated as member of the defence team in the main 9/11 terrorism trial and drafted legal memoranda on the use of evidence obtained through torture under international law, on the application of IHL in national and international tribunals and on the legality of war crimes charges before the U.S. Military Commissions.

Authored a report on the UK legislation concerning penalties for unauthorized disclosures of information that became part of an amicus curiae coordinated by the Open Society’s Justice Initiative and submitted to the U.S. Army Court of Criminal Appeals in PFC Chelsea Manning’s case. Finally, members of Guernica 37 pioneered litigation strategies to challenge cyber-surveillance targeting journalists and human rights defenders.

Amicus Curiae briefings call for the reduction of PFC Chelsea Manning’s sentence: http://www.ifdhr.org/2016/05/amicus-curiae-briefings-call-for-the-reduction-of-pfc-chelsea-mannings-sentence/
Suing the Surveillance States: The (Cyber) Tort Exception to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act:

Guatemala

Investigated incidents of mass torture and sexual violence against the Ixil Maya community and presented the evidence collected before the Spanish National Court in accordance to the principle of Universal Jurisdiction. These investigations contributed to the conviction of former Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt for his responsibility on the Mayan genocide and other acts constitutive of torture, enforced disappearances, state terrorism and crimes against humanity. Ríos Montt was sentenced to 80 years imprisonment in the first judgement that officially acknowledged the Mayan genocide.

Culpable, sí. ¡Y además por Genocidio!:

Palestine

Filed an Article 15 submission with the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court concerning the widespread and systematic torture of Palestinian detainees in the West Bank committed by the Palestinian Security Services; and submitted a communication to the UN Special Procedures on the arbitrary detention of a human rights activist who collaborated in the investigations.

Drafting and submission of Petitions of Complaint with the UN Special Procedures Branch.

Submitted a written submission to the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on alleged international crimes perpetrated by Israeli Defence Forces during Operation Protective Edge.

Press Release: U.N. Commission of Inquiry Must Resist All Forms of Sabotage and Malign Influence and Deliver According to its Mandate: http://www.ifdhr.org/2015/02/press-release-u-n-commission-of-inquiry-must-resist-all-forms-of-sabotage-and-malign-influence-and-deliver-according-to-its-mandate/
IFDHR and AOHRUK submit communication to the ICC on widespread and systematic torture in Palestine:

Sri Lanka

Participated in several rounds of consultations with the victims of the civil war in order to identify their needs and determine priorities for the post-conflict transitional process.

Currently building networks with members of the Sri Lankan civil society to provide legal and forensic trainings aimed at creating local capacity building, supervise transitional institutions designed by the Government, and initiate investigations on emblematic cases.

Syria

Filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against the government of Syria for the murder of journalist Marie Colvin as a war crime.

Currently representing victims and leading an international investigation into the Cesar evidence—compiled by a Syrian defector who documented the mass starvation, torture and execution of several thousand civilian detainees in the wide network of Syrian detention centres—and into widespread sexual slavery and violence against the Yazidi people as a constituent act of genocide.

Members of Guernica 37 have previously coordinated a transitional justice programme in the Syrian Arab Republic—which included detailed needs assessments, institution-building for documenting war crimes, and the training of legal professionals.

Led a Foreign and Commonwealth Office investigative mission to document human rights abuses in Syria.

Briefed the UN Security Council on international crimes committed by Assad’s regime and on a potential referral to the jurisdiction of the ICC; and represented six Syrian-American plaintiffs in the United States Federal Court in the District of Colombia seeking reparations under the Aliens Torts Claims Act and the Foreign Services Immunities Act.