Author Archive: Cedric Ryngaert
Srebrenica: Military Chamber of Arnhem Court upholds prosecutor’s decision not to investigate the role of Dutch commanders
On 29 April 2015, the Military Chamber of the Court of Arnhem-Leeuwarden dismissed a complaint, filed by relatives of victims (Mustafić, Nuhanović) of the Srebrenica massacre, against the Dutch public prosecutor’s decision not to investigate the Dutch military commanders (2013) for murder, war crimes and genocide. The (three) commanders of a Dutch battalion (Dutchbat), deployed…
Read moreInternational criminal and civil liability for the downing of MH17: an uphill struggle
On 26 February 2015, study associations Urios and Ad Informandum organized a symposium on accountability and liability questions concerning the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 above eastern Ukraine in July 2014. Notably Dr. J.A.C. Bevers (legal advisor to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court – hereinafter: ICC) and Mr. M. van den Steenhoven…
Read moreMinister van Justitie verbiedt tenuitvoerlegging van vonnis tegen Europese Octrooiorganisatie: accountability van internationale organisaties blijft ver weg
Op 17 februari 2015 besliste het Gerechtshof Den Haag in kort geding dat de Europese Octrooiorganisatie (EOO), een intergouvernementele organisatie die een nevenvestiging in Rijswijk heeft, dat de organisatie op onrechtmatige wijze beperkingen had aangebracht aan vakbondsvorming en –communicatie, alsook aan het stakingsrecht. Vervolgens zegde de Minister van Veiligheid en Justitie de gerechtsdeurwaarder evenwel aan…
Read moreDoes the European Court of Human Rights read the UCall blog? Court makes U-turn in life imprisonment cases
Does the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) read the UCall blog? One would almost be inclined to believe so. In an earlier UCall blogpost, we criticized the Court’s approach to life imprisonment cases. In particular, we took issue with the imposition of a strict version of the European rehabilitation approach to penalties (‘the right…
Read moreInternationaal Gerechtshof acht Servië noch Kroatië aansprakelijk voor vermeende genocide begaan tijdens het Balkan-conflict
Het vonnis van het Internationaal Gerechtshof (IGH) in Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia), 3 februari 2015 , is de zoveelste gerechtelijke beslissing met betrekking tot de gruwelijkheden begaan tijdens de oorlogen die zich in de jaren 1990 in het voormalige Joegoslavië afspeelden. Eerder…
Read moreExtradition of Terrorism Suspects: European Court of Human Rights Rules on the Compatibility of Life without Parole with the European Convention. The Case of Nizar Trabelsi v. Belgium
On the 4th of September 2014, the European Court of Human Rights handed down its judgment in the case of Trabelsi v. Belgium. Ending a decade-long debate the Court ruled that Belgium’s extradition of terrorist suspect Nizar Trabelsi to the United States is a violation of art.3 of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)….
Read moreJaloud v. the Netherlands: European Court of Human Rights finds the Netherlands liable for failing to adequately investigate the use of lethal force by Dutch troops in Iraq
On 20 November 2014, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Jaloud v. the Netherlands held that the Netherlands had failed to adequately investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of an Iraqi citizen allegedly killed by a Dutch lieutenant at a vehicle control point in Iraq in 2004. As participants…
Read moreDistrict Court of The Hague holds State of the Netherlands liable for Srebrenica massacre – Part II
On 16 July 2014, in the case of Mothers of Srebrenica v. State of the Netherlands, the District Court of The Hague held the State of the Netherlands liable for damages incurred by relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre resulting from the cooperation of Dutchbat – the Dutch battalion of the United Nations forces…
Read moreDistrict Court of The Hague holds State of the Netherlands liable for Srebrenica massacre
On 16 July 2014, in the case of Mothers of Srebrenica v. State of the Netherlands, the District Court of The Hague held the State of the Netherlands liable for damages incurred by relatives of victims of the Srebrenica massacre resulting from the cooperation of Dutchbat – the Dutch battalion of the United Nations forces…
Read moreJones v United Kingdom: the European Court of Human Rights restricts individual accountability for torture
On 14 January 2014, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) handed down its judgment in the case of Jones and others v United Kingdom. This judgment was widely anticipated as the Court was called on, inter alia, to rule on whether State officials were entitled to immunity from jurisdiction in civil proceedings with respect…
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