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NewsletterGuernica 37 GroupISSUE NO.13ISSUE NO.13ISSUE NO.13design by ONCELondon | San Francisco | Madrid | e Hague

ISSUE NO.132A Message from the Joint Heads of Chambers. Welcome to the Easter edition of the Guernica 37 Group Newsletter, covering the achievements of Chambers and the Centre throughout March and April 2022.is is a special edition in which Guernica 37 celebrated the opening of its new premises situated at Six Pump Court (First Floor West), Temple, London, in conjunction with Almudena being Called to the Bar by the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. e reception to commemorate both events was held on 23 March 2022 at e Lumley Library, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where more than 80 guests attended. Guernica 37 is also delighted to introduce Ian Whitehurst who joins Chambers as a Door Tenant, Alexandre Prezanti who commenced pupillage in Chambers in March and Clarissa Rodio who commenced pupillage in April 2022. We would like to extend our sincere gratitude to Carolyn Patty Blum who served as our rst Chair of the Board of the Guernica 37 Centre and who stepped down in March 2022 and handed over to Toby Cadman. We would also like to welcome our new board members Sandra Coliver (lawyer and philanthropist), Nema Milaninia (lawyer in Alphabet’s Regulatory Response) and León Fernando del Canto (barrister).Further, this edition includes blogs specically related to the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, the situation in Yemen and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Members of Guernica 37 continue to seek to advance justice and accountability mechanisms within the international arena, particularly in relation to Colombia, India, South Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and many others. We hope that you will enjoy this edition of the Newsletter. Almudena and Toby

We do the right work, we do it the right way and we do it with the right people.

ISSUE NO.134Images by Igor Huzbasic (https://instagram.com/igor_huzbasic?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=) who captured the opening party of Guernica 37 Chambers and photographed our team at our new premises at #SixPumpCourt #blackandwhitephotography

ISSUE NO.135Guernica In e NewsFormer US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, and British-Syrian lawyer at Guernica 37, Ibrahim Olabi, discuss holding accountable the Assad regime in Syria and lessons for the world.Reported on CNN.e Guernica 37 led a formal submission with the US government seeking sanctions against Adityanath, for his role in extra judicial killings allegedly committed by the police forces between 2017 and 2021. e submission, led on February 9, 2022, with the Department of State and the US Department of the Treasury, also recommends sanctions against Om Prakash Singh, the recently retired Director-General of the Police of UP, and Sanjeev Tyagi, Superintendent of the Police of the district of Kanpur.“We believe that there is an evidential basis to suggest that the three individuals were in a position of command and control at the time the police that undertook the killings, that they failed to prevent or punish, and that there are statements and orders which would suggest that a direct link the crimes as alleged,” international lawyer and an Associate Counsel at the Guernica 37, Toby Cadman said in an interview.Reported on Kashmir Media service, HW News, e Wire.Lawyers representing Syrians forced to ee their country during the ongoing war have called for the rst time on the International Criminal Court to investigate Iran’s role, alongside those of Syrian ocials, in perpetrating alleged war crimes. Toby Cadman, a UK barrister who led one of the earlier Syria petitions in 2019, said he believes the reason the ICC has yet to open a preliminary examination is that it would be the biggest case the court had ever opened which would require signicant time and money. “e ICC is already struggling with resources and states are not funding it as they’re supposed to [and] as they have committed to. ere is a great deal of reluctance to engage just because they don’t feel as though the ICC has delivered,” Cadman told MEE. Reported on Middle East Eye.One year ago, Denmark revoked the 58-year-old Syrian lawyer’s residency permit after the country deemed Damascus and Reef Dimashq “safe” for refugees to return to. Mohammed Tarek al-Deiri was told he would be transferred to a return center with two of his children, while his wife and eldest daughter are allowed to remain at the family’s home in Sønderborg, in southern Denmark, while their case is under review. Denmark’s policy runs counter to UNHCR and EU assessments of Syria as a country that is unsafe for returns. e Danish government insists that returns are voluntary, but the “voluntary” character of returns is debatable, since refugees whose residency is revoked are obligated to reside indenitely in return centers.“ese are not individuals who are voluntarily returning, that’s nonsense. What Denmark is trying to do is trying to force them to travel back to Syria,” explained Toby Cadman, international law specialist and cofounder of Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers in London. In the event that a Syrian refugee returns to Damascus after losing their right to stay in Denmark, and is forcibly disappeared or killed in Syria, “there is a likelihood and a legal basis for the family to bring a civil claim for damages against Denmark for that person’s death,” explained Cadman.Reported on Syria direct.

ISSUE NO.136On the third day of closing statements at the trial of Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in e Hague on 16 March, Haradinaj’s defence lawyer Toby Cadman claimed his client had never threatened potential war crime trial witnesses as the prosecution claims. Mr. Haradinaj did however criticise what he considers to be the “discriminatory approach” of the Specialist Chambers, Cadman said. Haradinaj’s lawyer Cadman said that, “ere was no threat, obstruction, interference, or revenge… the prosecution has not identied any witness that has been threatened or scared from the actions of Gucati and Haradinaj”, adding that the prosecution did not even identify “against whom ([Haradinaj] took revenge”. Mr. Cadman claimed that Haradinaj actually urged former KLA members to “collaborate [with the court] because there is nothing to hide or fear”, when he became deputy leader of the KLA War Veterans’ Organisation.Reported on Balkan Insight.In closing statements on 17 March, the prosecution asked the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in e Hague to sentence the leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army War Veterans’ Organisation, Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj, to six years’ imprisonment and a 100 euro ne each. e defence argued against a prison sentence, with Haradinaj’s lawyer, Toby Cadman, calling the prosecution’s case “rotten”. Mr. Cadman said that “[Haradinaj] is a whistleblower, he did his job to nd the truth, and we ask the judging panel to address the public interest”.Reported on Balkan Insight. UN urged to open query into Iran’s 1988 killings and Raisi role. More than 460 current and former United Nations ocials, human rights and legal experts, international NGOs and academic institutions have written to the UN Human Rights Council calling for an international inquiry into the 1988 massacre of thousands of political prisoners in Iran. Among the signatories, Guernica 37 endorsed the open letter, urging the OHCHR and the UN Human Rights Council to challenge the impunity enjoyed by Iranian ocials by mandating an international investigation into the 1988 mass executions and enforced disappearances, which amount to crimes against humanity and genocide.Access full article here.Ibrahim Olabi, Barrister at Guernica 37, will be participating in the upcoming panel on Accountability for atrocity crimes in the post Nuremberg era. e event will discuss a range of current case studies and hot topics. Ibrahim will shed light on accountability issues linked to the Syrian conict.Access full article here.G37 Summary

ISSUE NO.137In response to the balloted action commencing today 11 April 2022, Guernica 37 Chambers issues the following statement: Members of Chambers undertaking Criminal Defence work in England and Wales support the position of the Criminal Bar Association and agree that neither the level of remuneration for such work, or the demands placed on practitioners is adequate or sustainable.Access full article here.On 2 April 2022, ImpACT International for Human Rights Policies, a nongovernmental think-tank based in London, held a symposium to address the conict in Yemen, highlight war crimes and other human rights abuses, and call for justice. Toby Cadman was invited as a speaker, who shed light on, inter alia, how the practice of sportswashing by the UAE and Saudi Arabia seek to obscure the military excesses as well as human rights abuses carried out by these countries in the Yemeni war. Toby Cadman also pointed out how the two-month ceasere, a temporary cessation of hostilities, gives an opportunity for further evidence and witness statements, although it is yet to be seen if the warring parties will respect this deal, considering that the Saudi-led coalition already violated the Hodeidah ceasere deal in 2018.Watch the full webinar here.On 15 April 2022, Toby Cadman spoke at the 26th Global Forum “Practicing law in the face of military confrontation – Challenges for lawyers under severe circumstances”. e Forum was organised by the Swiss Chinese Law Association, a legal and industry community comprised of over 200 legal experts, CEOs and Government ocials. e forum invited speakers from Ukraine, Argentina, Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, China, Nigeria, Singapore, Poland and Bulgaria to share their views on current aspects of legal practice in the course of wars and how military conicts inuence various businesses around the world. Toby Cadman spoke about the sanctions regime, particularly the Global Magnitsky Act as well as the UK sanctions regime, which have been used during instances of human rights violations, such as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, the torture of the Uyghur population in China, and others. Toby Cadman also delved into how the sanctions regime can be used to target corporations in conict-related situations and how arbitration claims can be brought in relation to human rights violations.On 16 April 2022, Almudena Bernabéu was interviewed by Cadenaser. Almudena was asked about the war in Ukraine and the legal diculties in prosecuting Russia. She said that “it can be thought that universal justice is going through low moments because if we look at Syria, for example, the crimes against humanity committed there have not been investigated. e international response to Syria has nothing to do with the one given to Ukraine .” Almudena maintains a committed ght for women’s rights and dreams of abolishing problems such as femicide or female genital mutilation. She stated that “rape as a war crime it has been slow to recognize why jurists are men, due to ignoring and excessive conservatism in treaties”, adding that “the best thing is to listen to the interview to meet a woman who has the will and strength to “change everything””.Read the full article here.Almudena Bernabéu

ISSUE NO.138Our Expertise Guernica 37 is an innovative International Justice Chambers specializing in transnational litigation involving the enforcement of fundamental human rights protection and international criminal norms in national courts.International criminal and humanitarian law is at the forefront of Guernica 37’s practice. Its members have been involved in several high-prole matters prosecuting, defending and acting for victims before international tribunals, hybrid courts and human rights monitoring bodies including the International Criminal Court (ICC), International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina War Crimes Chamber, Bangladesh International Crimes Tribunal and Kosovo Specialist Chambers. Previous cases have included General Augusto Pinochet, President Uhuru Kenyatta, former President Pervez Musharraf, former Bosnian Vice President Ejup Ganic, General Karake Karenze of Rwanda, the political leadership of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and more recently the President of Syria Bashar al-Assad. Public International Law is one of the fast growing legal elds. It has been at the cutting edge of legal development in recent years and continues to develop into many interconnected elds. e introduction of the Human Rights Act in the United Kingdom and the in- creasing reliance on international law in the domestic courts means that expertise in this eld is now more important than ever before. Guernica 37 regularly advises and represents individ- uals, foreign governments and judicial authorities in extradition proceedings at all levels. Its members have been involved in a number of high-prole extradition International Criminal Law Rule of Law Development International Commercial Law, Arbitration & MediationPublic International Law Extradition, Mutual Legal Assistance and Interpol Red Noticesrequests for individuals facing trials in the Balkans, South Asia, Latin America, North America, Africa and numerous Member States of the European Union under the European Arrest Warrant Scheme. Human Rights Act in the United Kingdom and the increasing reliance on international law in the domestic courts means that expertise in this eld is now more important than ever before. Guernica 37 seeks to adopt a principle to promote international justice through investigation, litigation, and transitional justice initiatives. It does this by building eective global networks, empowering victims and local partners to secure their voice in transitional justice mechanisms. It uses legal accountability to incentivise institutional reform and prevent future abuses. is way it develops transnational legal strategies to overcome entrenched impunity, fostering an exchange of expertise between legal cultures, civil society groups and victim communities to cross-pollinate accountability strategies.International arbitration has enjoyed growing popularity with States and Corporations. ere are a number of reasons that parties elect to have their international disputes resolved through arbitration. Guernica 37 is increasingly asked to advise and represent parties in commercial matters seeking to avoid the uncertainties and local practices associated with litigation in national courts. Clients see the more ecient procedures, the relative enforceability of arbitration agreements and awards, the freedom to select and design arbitral procedures, condentiality and other benets.

ISSUE NO.139Climate change and the risk of irreversible environmental damage is one of the greatest challenges we face. It impacts on a variety of human rights and fundamental freedoms. It has immeasurable consequences of the right to life, right to health, right to housing, freedom from poverty, right to access clean water and is likely to cause catastrophic internal and external displacement. Climate change and our response to the challenges we face have a disproportionate impact on the poor and marginalised. It has disproportionate impact on women, children and the elderly and is a greater threat in certain parts of the world already at risk through poverty, conict and the absence of sustainable economic and environmental stability.Business and corporate strategy is now more global than it has ever been. With the increase in international trade and associated agreements however, international scrutiny has also increased with businesses and their conduct watched evermore closely. Just as the United States has made the enforcement of the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act a priority, so too has the United Kingdom Serious Fraud Oce sought to target allegations of corruption following the enactment of the Bribery Act. It is essential therefore that businesses are alive to both their domestic and international obligations. Dealing with multi-jurisdictional investigations is now the reality for those companies seeking to conduct business in global market place. We recognise that prevention is better than a cure. Guernica 37 members are perfectly placed to assist businesses in designing and implementing appropriate ‘anti-corruption’ programmes with policy enactment, and employee training.Over recent years, corporate responsibility has seen a change of focus. As a global population becomes ever more alive to general principles of individual human rights, they have also become aware of the social and environmental responsibility. Stakeholders, having developed a common understanding, are increasingly adopting responsibility for the issues that corporations are faced with, and seek to highlight such issues and exert pressure where they can. In the area of Business and Human Rights, Guernica 37 provides bespoke advice and assistance on compliance with human rights standards and due diligence policies, advancing the UN Guiding Principles. Guernica 37 further provides advice and assistance to organisations and States in the areas of anti-corruption initiatives, rule of law development, training, institution building, legal reform, and legislative drafting.International Climate JusticeAnti-Corruption, Bribery & Risk ManagementBusiness and Human RightsDomestic Crime Chambers’ domestic criminal law expertise includes a wide range of areas including general criminal law, business and nancial crime, anti-corruption and bribery, terrorism, and investigations of serious crimes. With members spanning all levels of seniority and dierent types of expertise, Chambers provides well-rounded representation and advice at all levels on all types of cases, whether being instructed through solicitors and through direct access. 9

ISSUE NO.1310Our EpisodesOur Episodese Guernica Accountability Podcast – Introducing e Guernica Group, directly from the voices of those who form part of this initiative.Guatemala – Toby Cadman speaks to Law Professor Naomi-Roht-Arriaza about the Guatemalan Genocide and the historic process that saw a former Head of State put on trial in a national court for Genocide.Syria – Toby Cadman speaks to Waad Al Kataeb, the extraordinary young woman who produced the documentary For Sama, her husband Hamza, a surgeon from the last remaining hospital in besieged Aleppo and Catherine Marchi-Uhel, the Head of the United Nations Mechanism for Syria.e Jesuits Massacre Case – Guernica Co-founders, Almudena Bernabeu and Toby Cadman, discuss the historic Jesuit Massacre Trial before the Spanish National Criminal Court. Almudena has been involved in the case for more than a decade.e Secret Barrister – Guernica Co-founder, Toby Cadman discusses a broken legal system with e Secret Barrister. e Secret Barrister discusses the legal system of England and Wales, how it is broken and how it can be xed. e Pillars of Justice – Guernica Co-founder, Toby Cadman discusses the four pillars of transitional justice - truth; justice; repararations; and non-recurrence - with Pablo de Grei.Gender Crimes & Sexual Violence – Guernica Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Michelle Jarvis, Deputy Head of the UN IIIM and discusses her career in international criminal justice. An Unorthodox Barrister - Guernica Co-founder, Almudena Bernabeu speaks to Toby Cadman about his unorthodox career path to the English Bar, human rights, Guernica, Bangladesh, Syria, Kung Fu and the Rolling Stones.Sexual Violence as a Weapon of war – Patricia Viseur Sellers takes us on a journey, looking at accountability mechanisms and the development of international law and the role it plays in combating gender violence in conict.“Accountability through the Lens of Diversity” - In tenth Episode episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast we discuss Cherie Blair QC’s extraordinary career in law. Justice and Recontiliation – Guernica Co-founder, Toby Cadman speaks to Yasmin Sooka and Howard Varney on the pursuit of truth, justice and accountability in South Africa 20 years after the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.Episode 1 – Episode 2 – Episode 3 – Episode 4 – Episode 5 – Episode 6 – Episode 7 – Episode 8 – Episode 9 – Episode 10 – Episode 11– You can now listen to the latest episode of the Guernica Accountability Podcast on Spotify, Google podcasts, Apple podcasts and a number of other podcast players. Make sure you subscribe to get access to new episodes as soon as they are uploaded.https://www.guernica37.com/podcaste Guernica Accountability Podcast

ISSUE NO.1311e Month In International Legal NewsA multimillionaire Azerbaijani politician and his family On 15 February 2022, the trial in the case e Prosecutor v. Paul Gicheru opened before Judge Miatta Maria Samba of Trial Chamber III of the ICC. Mr Gicheru is accused of oences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly inuencing witnesses regarding cases from the situation in Kenya. On 16 December 2020, the Parliament and the Council adopted a regulation which establishes a general regime of conditionality for the protection of the Union budget in the case of breaches of the principles of the rule of law in a Member State. Hungary and Poland each brought an action before the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for the annulment of that regulation. e ECJ dismisses the actions brought by Hungary and Poland against the conditionality mechanism which makes the receipt of nancing from the Union budget subject to the respect by the Member States for the principles of the rule of law.Announcing that the Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Bill along with plans to upgrade Companies House will be introduced in parliament, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘ere is no place for dirty money in the UK.’ According to a statement by Downing Street, the legislation will create a register of foreign owners of UK property. It will also require anyone setting up, running, owning or controlling a company in the UK to verify their identity with Companies House. e ICC will launch an investigation into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity that have been committed. ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan QC announced his intention to open an investigation into the situation in Ukraine: “Today, I wish to announce that I have decided to proceed with opening an investigation into the situation in Ukraine, as rapidly as possible.” Ukraine’s foreign minister has backed the establishment of a special international tribunal to try Russia’s leaders for the crime of aggression against Ukrainians. e former prime minister Gordon Brown, one of the advocates of the plan, said the possibility of bringing Vladimir Putin to trial was realistic. He said the tribunal, modelled on the Nuremberg trials after the second world war, would investigate all those who planned the invasion and were complicit, including by providing nance.Julian Assange has moved a step closer to a US trial on espionage charges after the UK’s highest court refused to hear his appeal against extradition. e WikiLeaks founder was attempting to appeal against a judgment by the high court in December that ruled he could be extradited after assurances from the US authorities with regard to his prison conditions there. e supreme court said that it had refused permission to appeal “as the application didn’t raise an arguable point of law”. After the decision, the case is expected to be formally sent to Priti Patel to approve the extradition.

ISSUE NO.1312Russia has been suspended from the United Nations’ leading human rights body as its invasion of Ukraine continues to provoke revulsion and outrage around the world. At a meeting of the UN General Assembly, 93 members voted in favour of the diplomatic rebuke while 24 were against and 58 abstained. Russia is the rst permanent member of the UN Security Council to have its membership revoked from any UN body. It is also only the second country to have its membership rights stripped at the Human Rights Council, which was established in 2006. Following the Resolution of the Committee of Ministers that the Russian Federation ceases to be a member of the Council of Europe as from 16 March 2022 (Resolution (CM/Res(2022)2), the European Court of Human Rights has decided to suspend the examination of all applications against the Russian Federation pending its consideration of the legal consequences of this Resolution for the work of the Court.e ICJ has delivered its Order on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Ukraine in the case concerning Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation). In its Order, the Court indicates the following provisional measures: (1) the Russian Federation shall immediately suspend the military operations that it commenced on 24 February 2022 in the territory of Ukraine; (2) e Russian Federation shall ensure that any military or irregular armed units which may be directed or supported by it, as well as any organizations and persons which may be subject to its control or direction, take no steps in furtherance of the military operations referred to in point (1) above; (3) both Parties shall refrain from any action which might aggravate or extend the dispute before the Court or make it more dicult to resolve.A former militia leader in Sudan has denied committing war crimes and crimes against humanity as his landmark hearing opened at the ICC. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman is accused of leading thousands of pro-government ghters on a systematic campaign of murder, rape and torture during the height of violence in the Darfur region of Sudan between 2003 and 2004. e trial is the rst at the ICC to deal with the Darfur conict, and campaigners have said it shows that no impunity exists even for crimes committed nearly two decades ago.Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that suspected Russian mercenaries participated in an operation with Mali’s army in March in which about 300 civilian men were allegedly executed over ve days. Eyewitnesses and local community leaders said hundreds of men were rounded up and killed in small groups during the anti-jihadist operation on 23 March in the central town of Moura. Local security sources told HRW that more than 100 Russian-speaking men were allegedly involved in the operation, which HRW described as the worst single atrocity reported in Mali’s decade-long armed conict.Ketanji Brown Jackson has been conrmed as the rst black woman to sit on the US Supreme Court in its 233-year history. Judge Jackson, 51, will also be the rst former public defender to sit on the Supreme Court and the third black judge to sit. e African-American judge was nominated by US President Joe Biden in February, to replace liberal Justice Stephen Breyer.

ISSUE NO.1313Kosovo Police apprehended, then released, a cameraman in the southern town of Suhareke/Suva Reka after lming the eviction of a privatised company put under administration by the Kosovo Privatisation Agency, KPA. Albania’s parliament has voted to extend the mandate of key justice-vetting bodies until December 31, 2024 – a move welcomed by the US embassy and EU delegations in Tirana. e mayor of the Montenegrin town of Pljevlja, Igor Golubovic, resigned amid a controversy over his alleged opposition to removing grati celebrating Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic in his hometown.Albania’s parliament has voted to extend the ve-year mandates of the Independent Qualication Commission, KPK, and Public Commissioners, to vet judges and prosecutors. Islamist extremism in Serbia is decreasing but far-right extremism is on the rise, according to research by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, BCBP, and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia. Serbia’s intelligence service (BIA) has denied media reports that it had planned to assassinate a Swiss prosecutor. Dick Marty, who has a reputation for international investigations, told Swiss television RTS that he had been living under police protection since 2020. Mr. Marty claimed that his murder would then be blamed on Kosovo by Serbia. A Tirana court has in absentia jailed Italian businessman Francesco Becchetti for 17 years for money laundering and theft – although Becchetti claims the case is politically motivated, and the UK has refused to extradite him. Prosecutor Dusan Knezevic asked e Belgrade Higher Court to hand down a six-year prison sentence to Osman Osmanovic, who is accused of abusing civilians and prisoners of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the summer of 1992. e European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Montenegrin authorities failed to compensate passengers who were injured when a bus fell into a ravine in a deadly accident in 1994. Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine should make the West pay more attention to the divisive and destructive political games being played by nationalist leaders in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. On the third day of closing statements at the trial of Hysni Gucati and Nasim Haradinaj at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, Mr. Haradinaj’s defence lawyer, Toby Cadman, claimed his client had never threatened potential war crime trial witnesses as the prosecution claims.Britain announced sanctions against Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik and ally Željka Cvijanović for what it said were their eorts “to undermine the legitimacy and functionality of the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina.” A Belgrade court found former Bosnian Serb reservist policeman Milorad Jovanovic guilty of torturing civilians in Bosnia in 1992 and sentenced him to nine years in prison in a retrial.

ISSUE NO.1314e beginning of the war between President Hadi and the Houthis dates back to September 2014 when they rst entered the capital city Sana’a. Subsequently, President Hadi and his closest political allies were placed under virtual house arrest as the Houthis pressured the central government for political concessions allotting equal political power in the country’s northern regions. e Houthis took over the Yemeni Government by February 2015. As a result of this, President Hadi escaped from Sana’a, rst to the southern Yemeni port of Aden and then to Saudi Arabia. is has proven to be a dening moment that saw the Saudis intervene by setting up a military and political coalition. By March 2015, the military campaign started. At this time, it was reported that the Houthis were backed by Iran. Yemen therefore became a conict zone by proxy, with the Yemeni people paying the cost.In essence, the main purpose of assembling a Saudi-led coalition was to initiate a military oensive in order to restore Yemeni President Hadi’s rule and dislodge the Houthis from Sana’a as well as other major cities in Yemen. erefore, the ghting turned into a proxy war between Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who overthrew the Yemeni government, and a multinational coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. e conict in Yemen has now entered its seventh year, with the situation being described as the worst man-made humanitarian disaster in the world in terms of numbers aected. Since the Saudi-led coalition entered the conict in March 2015, civilians have been subjected to widespread and indiscriminate attacks. ere have been repeated and well-documented incidents of aerial bombardment, deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilians and civilian neighbourhoods, targeting of protected sites such as schools and hospitals, and the use of prohibited weapons.e Yemen Data Project compiled a spreadsheet containing a list of air raids by the Coalition forces in Yemen between March 2015 and June 2021, which runs into over 23,000 entries detailing over 18,000 civilian casualties and many civilian targets being hit, including farms, food storage sites and marketplaces. A summary of attacks has been documented in coordination with the Yemen Center for Human Rights, amounting to a total of 21 incidents carried out by the Saudi-led coalition. ese incidents include, inter alia, a funeral attack in Sana’a in 2016, a bus attack in Sa’dah Governorate in 2018, numerous airstrikes on villages, markets, a fuel station, and other locations between 2015 and 2019. e attacks committed had grave repercussions primarily upon Yemeni civilians causing an innumerable number of deaths as a result of the acts committed by the Saudi-led coalition. Furthermore, these attacks have also had exacerbating eects upon food security, leading to high levels of hunger among Yemeni civilians, thereby amounting to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.e list of countries that are involved in the conict and States Parties to the Rome Statute, hence under the Yemen’s Seven Years of War: An Incessant Conict with No Peace in Sight

ISSUE NO.1315jurisdiction of the ICC are: Republic of Chile, Republic of Colombia, Republic of El Salvador, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Republic of Maldives, Republic of Panama, Republic of Senegal, Republic of Sudan, and the United Kingdom. e main issues lie upon Yemen, which is not a State Party, as well as those States which are parties to the conict: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Somalia, Eritrea, Egypt and the United States of America. In fact, the greatest challenge is that the States that bear the greatest responsibility are Saudi Arabia and the UAE.On 25 October 2019, the European Parliament called on all EU Member States to cease exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia, and on 4 February 2021, the U.S. Government announced an end to its support for Saudi Arabia’s operations in Yemen. However, arms transfers to the UAE continue.From 2018 until 2021, the UN Human Rights Council-mandated Group of Eminent Experts (GEE) on Yemen documented numerous violations and abuses of international law that may amount to war crimes, including, inter alia, torture, arbitrary detention, indiscriminate airstrikes and shelling. On 7 October 2021, the Human Rights Council failed to renew the GEE mandate, resulting in a termination of what represented the only international independent mechanism devoted to monitoring violations of international law in Yemen. is eectively signies that there cannot be justice and accountability in the absence of an impartial investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity, leading to an intensication of hostilities and cross-border attacks on behalf of the Saudi-led coalition.e Human Rights Council should endeavour to reinstate the GEE mandate, especially in light of what occurred on 21 January 2022, where Saudi-led airstrikes targeted a detention centre holding migrants in the city of Sa’ada as well as a telecommunications facility in the strategic port of Hodeidah.In 2020, the GEE identied and recommended ve specic actions that should be taken on behalf of the international community. First, that the UN Security Council should refer the situation in Yemen to the ICC; second, that the Security Council should expand the list of persons subject to sanctions under Resolution 2140 (2014) on the basis of violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law; third, that an independent international criminal justice-focused investigative mechanisms should be established, which would bear similarities to those mechanisms established for Syria and Myanmar; fourth, that third States should deploy all forms of jurisdiction, including universal jurisdiction, to investigate and prosecute war crimes in their domestic courts; fth, that the international community and the Yemeni authorities engage in a dialogue for the purpose of creating a special tribunal, namely a hybrid tribunal, in order to facilitate the prosecution of those most responsible for international crimes committed in Yemen.As far as the UN Security Council is concerned, there are serious obstacles gravitating towards the ve permanent members, such as the UK and the U.S., who have actively assisted the Saudi-led coalition by supplying arms and having boots on the ground, hence it is highly unlikely that they would refer the situation to the ICC. Hybrid tribunals are indeed a feasible option, as proposed by the GEE, which in principle could be achieved via a recommendation by the UN General Assembly, the most appropriate body to go to considering the challenges within the UN Security Council, although a fully-edged international tribunal would require a UNSC resolution.More importantly, the most eective way to circumvent these challenges is to rely upon the principle of universal jurisdiction. All countries should endeavour to not only complement the work of the ICC and exercise universal jurisdiction in order to substantially reduce the number of safe havens for the alleged perpetrators, but also to demonstrate their willingness to contribute to the global ght against impunity.If the international community fails to act in holding perpetrators accountable, the Yemeni population will never see justice for all the suering that they have been subjected to throughout the last 7 years and the Saudi-led coalition will indeed be incentivised to commit further crimes. Finally, the international community as a whole, in its failures, would demonstrate its total indierence to the world, thereby placing itself in a worse position than the perpetrators themselves.

ISSUE NO.1316e Kosovo Specialist Chambers: e Prosecutor v. Hysni Gucati and Nasim HaradinajOn 3 February 2022, the evidentiary proceedings in the case of Mr. Gucati and Mr. Haradinaj before the Kosovo Specialist Chambers were closed. e Specialist Prosecutor’s Oce and the Defence led its nal trial briefs on 3 March 2022. On 16 March 2022, the Panel reopened the proceedings for the sole purpose of admitting certain witness statements, led by the Defence, related to mitigation. e closing statements took place from 14 March until 17 March 2022.e Haradinaj Defence raised concerns about the jurisdiction of the joint institutions based in the Hague, fair trial provisions and the fact that the prosecution is only targeting one side of the conict, thereby aecting the legitimacy of the process.e Haradinaj Defence argued that the Prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, raised incitement/entrapment and public interest defence.e Haradinaj Defence submitted a detailed Final Trial Brief, but raised the concerns that dealing with sentencing and mitigation prior to any judgment being rendered on the evidence was not appropriate.On the rst day of closing statements, specically on 14 March 2022, the Prosecution stated that the defendants, Mr. Gucati and Mr. Haradinaj, sought to undermine the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, which they maintain is unjustly trying to prosecute KLA ex-guerrillas for war crimes. Over two days, on 15 and 16 March 2022, the Gucati Defence set out its closing statement by challenging the prosecution case and making the clear argument that it failed to meet its burden of proving its case beyond all reasonable doubt and rearming that the accused was concerned about selective justice. On the third day, on 16 March 2022, Mr. Haradinaj’s lead counsel, Mr. Toby Cadman, gave his closing speech. He armed that Mr. Haradinaj had never threatened or intimidated any witnesses. However, he did criticise what he deems to be the discriminatory approach of the Special Prosecutor’s Oce. Mr. Cadman contended that his client was merely expressing an opinion, which is a basic right of every citizen of Kosovo. He stated that it is notable that Courts try Cases, but occasionally, Cases try Courts, and this was one of those occasions. He conrmed that this case will set the tone for all future cases that comes before the court. at is the grave responsibility imposed on the court and upon counsel. is case was about much more than the fate of the two defendants. It has far-reaching consequences that extend past the four walls of this court building. It is about the future of Kosovo and the people of Kosovo. It is about justice, and it is about justice denied, justice denied to the thousands of victims of aggression. e Trial Panel ocially closed the case on 17 March 2022, and the judgment will be pronounced in due course.Toby Cadman

ISSUE NO.1317On 28 February 2022, the ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan QC, announced his decision to launch an investigation into the Situation in Ukraine “as rapidly as possible”. e ICC Prosecutor stated that although Ukraine is not a State Party to the Rome Statute of the ICC, it has twice exercised its prerogative to legally accept the Court’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes under the Rome Statute occurring on its territory. He concluded by asserting that there is a reasonable basis to believe that both alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity have been committed in Ukraine. Evidence shows how Russia deployed cluster munitions in Ukraine. It is worth noting that neither Russia nor Ukraine have signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and Russia has continued to use them in eastern Ukraine in 2014 as well as in Syria in 2016. A CNN crew reportedly identied a Russian thermobaric multiple rocket launcher, commonly known as vacuum bombs, in the vicinity of Ukraine’s border. Unlike cluster munitions, which are used to destroy widespread areas, vacuum bombs target sites like tunnels, bunkers and foxholes. At present, there is no international treaty banning thermobaric weapons, but the use of any weapons which fail to comply with the jus in bello principle of distinction between military objectives and civilian objects is prohibited under international humanitarian law. Furthermore, reports have alleged that Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a private military company (PMC) run by one of President Putin’s closest allies, were in Kyiv on a mission to assassinate President Zelensky in return for a substantial pecuniary gain. Wagner mercenaries were rst identied during Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and President Putin persistently denies any connection with the PMC, despite the fact that it is believed to be funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman who has close ties with President Putin.Guernica 37 deeply condemns the recent massacre in Bucha, which only demonstrates the way in which Russia is committing systematic atrocities against the Ukrainian population. is massacre may also suggest that Russia is in the process of perpetrating genocide, although at present, there is not enough information that could indicate Russia’s genocidal intent in carrying out these atrocities, which would indeed require a very high threshold under international law. e Russian Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Truth, Justice and Accountability

ISSUE NO.1318government’s denial of the Bucha massacre, by asserting that the images of deceased civilians are staged and that they had been killed by Ukrainians, was to be expected. One clear example is Russia’s denial in relation to allegations of chemical weapon attacks in Syria and how these were staged by the White Helmets. e weaponisation of propaganda has been at the core of every war since time immemorial, and Russia’s modus operandi of disinformation is merely characterised by questioning the truth. is can be illustrated by comparing this situation to the Srebrenica massacre, where some revisionists said that it was staged and that the number of victims was in reality inated. Fears have been reported that a massacre in Borodyanka will overshadow that of Bucha and the attack on the train station in the city of Kramatorsk, targeting civilians eeing conict, is demonstrative of the sheer brutality of the Russian attacks on non-combatants. is has led to reports of crimes being committed reaching the threshold required for the specic intent of genocide. Certainly, reports coming out of Moscow by state media outlets, referring to the fact that the process of de-Nazication is in fact a de-Ukrainisation, would certainly indicate that the Russian aggression has elements of genocide. e Kremlin and its supporters continue to deny the allegations and continually refer to reports of atrocities as fabricated for international attention. e reality is that denial, revisionism, and the distortion of facts are inevitable. is can be traced back to the most well-documented events in history, namely the Holocaust, where revisionist historians claimed, inter alia, that the Nazis had no intention to exterminate the Jews and that the gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau never existed. Revisionism and denial suppress the truth, and history has taught us that dangerous propaganda has indeed detrimental impacts upon the society and most importantly, it has the eect of annihilating hope for the victims who re-experience trauma as a result of war-related exposure.On 7 April 2022, the United Nations General Assembly suspended Russia from the UN Human Rights Council over reports of “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights” by invading Russian troops in Ukraine. Guernica 37 applauds the UN for this extraordinary move, which marks a positive step towards justice and accountability, considering that suspensions are rare, and the vote eectively makes Russia the rst permanent member of the UN Security Council to ever have its membership revoked. What must now follow is Russia being suspended from the UN Security Council, or at the least to have its veto powers revoked whilst it is engaged in the crime of aggression against another UN member state.Guernica 37 continues to stand in solidarity with Ukraine as it has since 2014 when the conict began. Members of Guernica 37 have supported the Prosecutor General of Ukraine and will continue to support her momentous eorts to ensure that all perpetrators are held accountable. We will continue to seek all the available legal avenues in order to pursue truth, justice and accountability and let us not forget this. In 2015, Russia became an active participant in the Syrian conict and in April 2016, airstrikes targeted a hospital in Aleppo. at was the testing ground. We did nothing and Russian attacks continued. Testing the resolve of the international community paved the way for Russian aggression in Ukraine. Unless we act now decisively and deliberately, it will not stop there, with Russia now warning Finland and Sweden of the consequences if it were to join NATO.

ISSUE NO.1319India has long considered itself the world’s largest democracy. It claims to have a vibrant media and independent judiciary. But a decline in its human rights record in recent years has gone under-noticed by the international community – even as observers warn that human rights abuses, civil society repression, and increasing hate speech all point to a growing risk of atrocity crimes.It is time for the international community to take notice and respond to serious human rights abuses by sending a clear signal that these actions will be met with stark consequences. Laws already exist that allow the United States and United Kingdom to sanction ocials involved in serious human rights abuses in India. Now, those governments should use that power to live up to their rhetoric on human rights.In Uttar Pradesh (UP), India’s most populated state, the UP police is alleged to have carried out at least 146 extra-judicial killings since Yogi Adityanath, UP’s chief minister, took power in 2017. e police have claimed self-defense, but witness testimonies, autopsy reports, and other evidence show that the victims were, in fact, executed. Similarly, following the adoption of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act in December 2019, credible sources show that the UP police shot 21 protestors without any cause and physically and mentally abused numerous victims in custody. ese are egregious human rights violations that have gone unpunished in India with investigations being carried out by the police ocers involved in the violations themselves and inaction on part of the National Human Rights Commission. Adityanath, who has publicly encouraged extra-judicial killings by the police as a means to combat crime, was recently re-elected to a second term in oce.at’s why the Guernica 37 Centre, a not-for-prot organization of international criminal and human rights lawyers to which I serve as Chair, has made submissions to the U.S. State Department and UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Oce, requesting that each impose targeted sanctions on Adityanath, as well as former Director General of UP Police Om Prakash Singh, who consistently denied the police’s role in the shooting of protesters, and Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Tyagi, who allegedly ordered his subordinates to use excessive force against protesters.ese sanctions submissions are made under U.S. Magnitsky Act 2012 and the UK Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020, which allow for asset freezes and travel bans to be imposed on individuals and organisations around the world in response to their involvement in serious human rights abuses. ese laws Time to Walk the Talk on Human Rights Abuses in Indiaby Toby Cadman

ISSUE NO.1320reect eorts by the United Kingdom and United States to integrate the promotion of human rights and open societies into their foreign policy agendas – but to truly be champions of human rights, those countries must go beyond rhetoric and consistently apply sanctions wherever they are warranted.Some of the noteworthy designations in recent times under these targeted sanctions include those against Chinese corporations concerning human rights abuses against Uighurs; Myanmar military ocers for abuses against Rohingyas; and Saudi ocials for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Indeed, members of Bangladeshi Rapid Action Battalion were sanctioned by the U.S. in 2021 for abuses of a similar nature as committed by the police in Uttar Pradesh. According to Bangladeshi activists, extrajudicial killings have stopped since punitive U.S. measures were imposed two months ago.A failure to act against the Indian police ocials and political leaders, for equally heinous abuses, would be a clear sign of double standards in application of the human rights sanctions’ regime.It becomes particularly urgent to act on violations in India for the lack of other means available to victims to hold the perpetrators accountable. e UP authorities have so far ignored calls by victims’ families, human rights groups, domestic courts and United Nations mandate holders to investigate and prosecute these cases.International avenues for the victims are all the more limited as India has not acceded to the individual complaint mechanism of any of the relevant U.N. treaty bodies, such as the Committee against Torture and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Similarly, India has also not accepted the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) jurisdiction, and a referral to the ICC would require a resolution of the U.N. Security Council, where India has been sitting as a non-permanent member for eight terms now, and Russia and China have consistently exercised veto powers over referrals.Targeted U.S. and UK sanctions against those most responsible will be an ocial recognition and acknowledgement of these violations against the victims, that they have failed to receive thus far at the domestic or international levels. Other civil society groups in India and the United States have likewise noted the importance of sanctions in signaling that human rights abuses in India will not be ignored by the international community.e human rights violations in UP documented in our sanctions submission continue unabated and are part of a troubling – and rising – pattern of repression and state-sanctioned violence in India. A clear signal that such abuses will not go unnoticed could deter their continuation. A timely action by the international community, in the form of targeted sanctions in this case, would act not only as a recognition of past violations but also as a potent tool to prevent future ones.Access full article here.

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