Two University of Amsterdam researchers have meticulously documented one of Syria’s worst atrocities: The mass execution in 2013 of scores of men, women and children in the Tadhamun neighborhood just a short distance away from Damascus city center. The recently published documentation provides compelling evidence of a war crime. Professor Ugur Umit Ungor and Annsar Shahhoud,
The legal principle of universal jurisdiction is increasingly being used to bring accountability for atrocity crimes across the world. An overview of recent developments sheds light on certain patterns that may have begun to emerge.
In a landmark case, a Syrian regime officer is being tried for crimes against humanity in Germany. Evidence presented by prosecutors has cast a light on Bashar Assad's system of torture and oppression.
In a landmark case, Syrian regime officers are being tried for crimes against humanity. The court aims to probe the defendants' alleged crimes as well as cast light on Bashar Assad's system of torture and oppression.
Wolfgang Kaleck is using the justice system to do what nation-states will not or cannot.
Goetz Schleser/laif/Redux
December 14, 2020
Wolfgang Kaleck, a 60-year-old human rights lawyer with large blue eyes and a wave of sandy brown hair, smiles a lot for someone who has spent his life litigating some of the world’s worst atrocities. “The stories you hear you won’t forget,” he says, sitting at a long table in his office in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. “But at the same time you learn about these cruel facts of the world, you learn about the light side, which is that there’s resistance basically everywhere.” He should know: For the better part of three decades, he has pursued cases across borders on behalf of victims who have been disappeared by the military dictatorship in Argentina and spied upon by the East German Stasi. He has filed criminal complaints against former U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, CIA Direc