War Crimes Tribunals

War Crimes Trials have become a critically important component of nation building. PILPG's War Crimes Practice Area was established in 1996, with an agreement between Richard Goldstone and PILPG to provide research assistance to the International Prosecutor on issues pending before the Yugoslavia Tribunal. The War Crimes Practice Area has significantly expanded to currently provide research assistance to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Iraqi Special Tribunal, and the International Criminal Court.

International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
In 1996, the Managing Director of PILPG, Michael Scharf, entered into a unique arrangement with Richard Goldstone, the Prosecutor of the Yugoslavia Tribunal, under which law students under the supervision of Scharf and other members of PILPG would provide legal research and analysis to the war crimes Prosecutor on issues pending before the Tribunal.

Funded in part by annual grants from the Open Society Institute (George Soros Foundation), this program has to date provided more than 120 legal memoranda and hundreds of thousands of pages of supporting research materials to the international tribunals on a wide range of legal issues relating to the prosecutions of individuals for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide.

The Program is currently run as "the War Crimes Research Lab" at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and as "The International War Crimes Prosecution Project" at the New England School of Law.

Through one of its members, PILPG also drafted extensive background papers for use in the preparation of the Prosecution's case against Tihofil Blaskic. The papers addressed the relationship between ethnic violence and the political objectives of the Bosnian Serbs and the Bosnian Croats. Assistance was also provided on preparing the indictment for Slobodan Milosevic for war crimes committed in Bosnia.

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
In 1997, the Justice Program was expanded to render assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor of the Rwanda Tribunal. Since 1998 PILPG, in cooperation with the New England School of Law, has provided over 75 legal memoranda to the Rwanda Tribunal’s Office of the Prosecutor. In June 2003, Michael Scharf travelled to Arusha at the invitation of the judges of the Rwanda Tribunal to make a series of presentations over a three day period to advise the judges and their law clerks on difficult issues pending before the Tribunal.The Program is currently run as "the War Crimes Research Lab" at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and as "The International War Crimes Prosecution Project" at New England School of Law.

The Special Court for Sierra Leone
In 2003, the Justice Program was expanded so that law students under the supervision of Professor Michael P. Scharf and other members of PILPG would render assistance to the Office of the Prosecutor of the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The Program is currently run as "the War Crimes Research Lab" at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and as "The International War Crimes Prosecution Project" at New England School of Law and is funded in part by the Open Society Institute.

The Iraqi Special Tribunal
Working with the Department of Justice Regime Crimes Liaison Office in Baghdad, PILPG has developed a program to provide legal assistance and training to the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The program consists of providing a series of detailed legal memorandum on questions of international law faced by the Tribunal, and participating in training sessions organized by the Liaison Office.

In November, PILPG was able to provide to the Tribunal a detailed best practices analysis of the Rules of Procedure of the Yugoslav, Rwanda and Sierra Leone Tribunals prepared on a pro bono basis by the  Covington & Burling London Office , and a detailed memorandum on the lessons learned from the experience of these Tribunals prepared by Case Western Reserve University Law School . At the request of the Special Tribunal, PILPG is now organizing a consortium of law firms and law schools to provide additional memoranda.

Managing Director Michael Scharf recently served as one of five international experts to lead a training conference for the judges of the Special Tribunal in London.  Michael led sessions on the definition of genocide and crimes against humanity, limits to the tu quoque defense, limits to the right to self-representation, and the proper use of plea bargains in war crimes cases. PILPG has also worked closely with the International Legal Assistance Consortium which has been providing training sessions for ordinary Iraqi judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel in the internationally recognized rights of the defense, human rights law, and international humanitarian law.  PILPG Members Michael Scharf, Leila Sadat, and Melissa Waters have each participated in one or more of the week-long training sessions, which are held every other month in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Saddam Hussein Trial Blog

The International Criminal Court
The PILPG War Crimes Program, under the direction of PILPG Managing Director Michael Scharf, provides research assistance on issues pending before the ICC to the Office of the President of the ICC.  PILPG has provided memoranda on the amnesty exception to the jurisdiction of the ICC, the countorus of Complementarity, and the application of effects jurisdiction.  The memoranda are available on the PILPG/Cox Center War Crimes Research Portal, at: www.law.case.edu/war-crimes-research-portal.