War Crimes

Foster Care Horror: Toddler Killed, Incinerated by Foster Parents
A developmentally disabled boy whose parents reported him missing on August 15 was actually killed by neglect and then his body was incinerated to keep the crime a secret. But the agency that placed the boy had all kinds of warning signals before approving the parents.

The Exception to the Rulers
Exposing Oily Politicians, War Profiteers, and the Media That Love Them. In The Exception to the Rulers, award-winning journalist Amy Goodman, with the aid of her brother David, exposes the lies, corruption, and crimes of the power elite -- an elite that is bolstered by large media conglomerates.

American soldiers and War crimes in Iraq
I don't know "" Why do American and British soldiers in Iraq kill innocent Iraqi civilians?!!! """

Desmond Tutu: Israeli Shelling in Gaza May Be War Crime
Archbishop says attack showed 'a disproportionate and reckless disregard for Palestinian civilian life'

Karadzic Refuses to Enter War Crimes Pleas at Un Tribunal
Former Bosnian Serb leader accuses Hague tribunal of being a 'Nato court' intent on 'liquidating' him as he refuses to plead

Radovan Karadzic Claims in Lengthy Statement That He Will Not Get a Fair Trial
Former Bosnian Serb leader claims US diplomat 'wanted him dead' in submission released by the UN war crimes tribunal

Back to His Old Self, Radovan Karadzic Faces His Accusers Over War Crimes
The defendant arrives in case IT-95-05/18 at the international war crimes tribunal at The Hague

Radovan Karadzic Delays Plea to War Crimes Charges in The Hague
Former Bosnian Serb military commander will defend himself against 11 charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes

Karadzic to Appear Before War Crimes Judge in The Hague
Former Bosnian Serb leader faces charges of genocide, extermination and murder

Serbia War Crimes: Lukewarm Turnout at Mass Rally for Karadzic
15,000 Serb nationalists converge on Belgrade in an attempt to challenge the new pro-western government

Karadzic Lawyers Fight Extradition
War crimes tribunal in Hague still waiting to receive captured Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic

Serbia: Remaining Hidden From Authorities Was Easy for Me, Karadzic Boasts
War crimes suspect attended conferences while in hiding and found separation from family the only difficult aspect

Karadzic to Defend Himself at Hague, Says Lawyer
Bosnian genocide suspect is convinced he will be cleared of war crimes charges, his lawyer says

War Crimes: A Fragile Peace in the Bosnian Killing Fields
Bitter memories linger in the settlements and villages surrounding the site of the Srebrenica massacre

Radovan Karadzic Arrest: Serbia Vows His Army Chief Will Be Next Held Over War Crimes
New era in relations between Serbia and the west beckons after surprise arrest of Bosnian genocide suspect

Radovan Karadzic: What Happens Next?
Karadzic will know how to delay proceedings after seeing the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic end when he died after four years

'Justice for the World at Large'
Capture of alleged architect of war crimes is welcomed around the world

In Custody: Leader Whose Campaign Left 100,000 Dead - and a Country in Ruins
Karadzic is virtually certain to become the first European to be found guilty of genocide if he sees out his trial at the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague, writes Ian Traynor

War Crimes Fugitive Radovan Karadzic Arrested
The former Bosnian Serb wartime leader who orchestrated the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995 has been arrested

Radovan Karadzic, Europe's Most Wanted Man, Arrested for War Crimes
Former Bosnian Serb leader arrested in Serbia after more than 12 years on the run from charges of genocide and war crimes

US: Bin Laden's Driver Goes on Trial in Guantánamo
Prisoner accused of conspiracy to be tried in controversial war crimes court established after 9/11

International Court Likely to Seek Arrest of Sudan's President for War Crimes in Darfur
Backlash expected by aid agencies after 'entire state apparatus' accused of systematic attacks on civilians

Sri Lanka: Tamil Tigers Leader Quits Uk After War Crimes Inquiry is Dropped
Human rights groups condemn government for failing to bring charges as leader accused of numerous abuses leaves UK

Former Tamil Tigers Commander Leaves Uk After War Crimes Inquiry Dropped
Colonel Karuna Amman, who was jailed for entering Britain on a fraudulent passport and investigated for alleged war crimes, returns to Sri Lanka

Could Humiliation Be the Next Weapon in Our War on Crime?
Julian Borger and Joe Jackson:'Shaming sentences' could soon be given to British offenders under reforms suggested in a report by former head of the government's Respect Unit

US Prison Ships
In its simplest terms, rendition means questioning prisoners and crime suspects without regard to legal niceties like Miranda rights and such. Suspects continue to be rendered, only this time round, they are confined in floating prisons – essentially, US warships in international waters.

Campaigner Fails to Arrest Ex-bush Official Over 'war Crimes'
Activist George Monbiot fails in bid to make citizen's arrest of former ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, at Hay festival

Tamil Guerrilla Avoids War Crimes Charges
Sri Lankan warlord jailed for entering Britain on a falsified visa will not be prosecuted for war crimes

Somali Refugees Speak of Horrific War Crimes
Soldiers, insurgents and bandits routinely attacking civilians, carrying out murder, rape, and robbery

Former War Crimes Prosecutor Alleges Kosovan Army Harvested Organs From Serb Prisoners
Storm of recrimination follows allegations of human body parts trade, and call for investigation

Briton Faces War Crime Trial Over Serb Massacre of 200 Croats
39-year-old father of two, Milorad Pejic, a Croatian Serb, lived in Corby in Northamptonshire for 10 years

British Citizen Charged With Balkans War Crimes
Prosecutors allege Milorad Pejic helped carry out execution of 200 ethnic Croats during Balkan war in 1991

Museveni Refuses to Hand Over Rebel Leaders to War Crimes Court
The Ugandan president is headed for a confrontation with the international criminal court after saying he will not hand over the leaders of his country's rebel Lord's Resistance Army indicted for war crimes

Uganda Defies War Crimes Court Over Indictments
Uganda's president, Yoweri Museveni, is headed for a confrontation with the international criminal court over its first war crimes indictment after saying he will not send leaders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) to the Hague for trial

Croat General on Trial for War Crimes
Tribunal set to open window on the murky and ugly politics of the Balkans in the 1990s

Titanic Folly
Leader: Bigger is not always better, and with prisons it is decidedly worse. America's giant lock-ups have a well-deserved reputation as inhumane warehouses of crime

Sudan's President Appoints Janjaweed Leader As Adviser
Blow to Darfur peace talks as militia chief rewarded· Hilal under UN ban and facing war crime charges

Taylor War Crimes Trial Begins
Former Liberian president Charles Taylor enters dock in The Hague as first African leader to be tried for international war crimes

First Witness Appears As Charles Taylor War Crimes Trial Resumes
The trial of the first African leader to be prosecuted for international war crimes finally got under way yesterday when Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president, entered the dock at a special tribunal in The Hague after months of wrangling and boycotts

Tamil Warlord Entered Uk on Forged Passport
Sri Lanka's high commissioner has been called to the Foreign Office to explain how a Tamil paramilitary leader - detained on suspicion of immigration offenses and being investigated for possible war crimes - entered Britain on a forged diplomatic passport

Le Pen on Trial for Saying Nazis Not Inhumane
The French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen yesterday went on trial for condoning war crimes after he said the Nazi occupation of France during the second world war was 'not particularly inhumane'

General Who Led Sarajevo Siege Jailed for War Crimes
UN war crimes tribunal jails Bosnian Serb general who led siege of Sarajevo for 33 years

The Pride and Passion of a Manhunter
Crusading UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is about to end an eight-year mission that has convicted 53 killers. In this exclusive interview with Ed Vulliamy in The Hague, she looks back at her triumphs and failures

'Safe' Uranium That Left a Town Contaminated
They were told depleted uranium was not hazardous. Now, 23 years after a US arms plant closed, workers and residents have cancer - and experts say their suffering shows the use of such weapons may be a war crime

'Safe' Uranium That Left a Town Contaminated
They were told depleted uranium was not hazardous. Now, 23 years after a US arms plant closed, workers and residents have cancer - and experts say their suffering shows the use of such weapons may be a war crime

Indonesian Troops 'deliberately Killed' Reporters, Cornoner Rules
Indonesian troops deliberately killed five Australian journalists in East Timor in October 1975, possibly committing a war crime, a coroner said today

Coroner Accuses Indonesians of War Crimes in East Timor
Indonesian troops deliberately killed five Australian journalists in East Timor in October 1975, possibly committing a war crime, a coroner said today.

Tamil Paramilitary Held Over Immigration Offences
Human rights groups urge war crimes prosecution· Pro-government faction accused of child abduction

Depleted Uranium Is A War Crime
A quick glimpse into the awful habit that is Depleted Uranium use…

Ex-Serb Colonel Gets 20 Years for Vukovar War Crimes
Croatia furious over court's leniency as war crimes tribunal jails former Serb officers over torture and murders at Vukovar.

War Crime Lawyers Fight Un on Top Job
New secretary general is challenged over 'secret appointment' to replace top tribunal prosecutor.

Nazi Victims' Greek Descendants Sue for Compensation in Italy
One of the most controversial Nazi war crime cases, arising from a massacre in a Greek village, has been reopened - not in Greece or Germany, but in Italy.

Darfur Force Tainted By War Crimes Allegations
· Claims that deputy ordered Hutu killings· West reluctant to join peacekeeping mission

Prosecutor Sees Progress in Taylor Trial
The prosecutor in the special Sierra Leone tribunal said today he was optimistic that the trial of Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president accused of war crimes, will proceed on schedule despite recent delays.

Former Liberian Leader Charles Taylor Ends Boycott of War Crimes Trial
Charles Taylor appears at Liberian court in The Hague after demand for more senior lawyer is rejected.

Three Found Guilty in Sierra Leone War Crimes Trial
An international tribunal today found three militia leaders guilty of committing war crimes including mutilation, rape and the use of child soldiers during Sierra Leone's civil war.

Taylor Boycotts Start of His War Crimes Trial
Liberia's ex-leader claims he will not get fair hearing -Conflict ugliest in living memory, says prosecutor

Taylor Boycotts War Crimes Trial
Charles Taylor, the former Liberian leader accused of war crimes, today boycotted the start of his trial at The Hague.

The Political Trail of Charles Taylor
Mark Tran traces key events in the political life of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who faces war crimes charges at an international criminal court in The Hague.

Thousands Flee As Shelling By Ethiopian Tanks Kills Hundreds of Civilians in Somali Capital
PM claims Islamists are routed, but attacks go on - UN accuses all sides of committing war crimes

Canadian War Crimes Suspect Was Child at Time of Capture
A human rights group today attacked a US decision to file murder charges against a Canadian national and alleged Taliban fighter who was captured in Afghanistan when he was 15.

Serb Paramilitaries Found Guilty in War Crimes Trial
Four convictions in first court case linked to massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica.

Australian Detainee Could Be Home in Months
David Hicks, the Australian detainee who pleaded guilty last night to war crimes charges after five years in Guantanamo Bay, could be sent home within months, according to US prosecution lawyers.

David Hicks Becomes First Guantanamo Inmate to Go Before the Bush Administration's New Military Tribunals
David Hicks, an Australian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, is to appear before a war crimes court at the US detention centre today, the first inmate to go before the Bush administration's new military tribunals.

Afghan Amnesty Vote Angers Un
The Afghan parliament has approved an amnesty for warlords and others accused of war crimes, possibly including the Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar.

Afghanistan Approves Amnesty for Warlords
The Afghan parliament has approved an amnesty for warlords and others accused of war crimes that could possibly include the Taliban leader, Mullah Muhammad Omar.

Congo Militia Chief to Face Trial
The international criminal court gave the go-ahead for its first trial yesterday by ruling that there is sufficient evidence to try a Congolese militia leader for war crimes.

What Lies Ahead Now the Votes Have Been Counted in the Last Remnant of What Was Once Yugoslavia
No single party won outright. The extreme nationalist Radical party, led by Vojislav Seselj - who is on trial for war crimes in The Hague...By Mark Tran

Fanning the Flames
The 1945 destruction of Dresden has been criticised before, but a controversial German bestseller, newly translated, accuses Churchill and Harris of war crimes. By Stuart Jeffries.

Prosecutors Move Closer to Darfur Trial
A proposed war crimes tribunal for Darfur moved a step closer to reality today, after the chief prosecutor for the international criminal court (ICC) said he was ready to present evidence to judges.

War Crimes Tribunal Orders Force-feeding of Serbian Warlord
The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague last night ordered the force-feeding of a Serbian warlord and senior politician who has been on hunger strike in custody for almost a month.

Rumsfeld Faces Renewed War Crimes Claims
A US-based civil rights group today asked German prosecutors to take legal action against the former US secretary of defence Donald Rumsfeld for war crimes.

Croatian Fights Extradition After Arrest on War Crimes Warrant
He was convicted of war crimes in his native Croatia and sentenced to 20 years in his absence. But it was an arrest for shoplifting that brought Milan Spanovic to the attention of the British authorities.

Bush Faces Wave of Challenges to Terror Law
The Bush administration yesterday faced a raft of legal challenges to a sweeping new regime for Guantánamo that would deny court oversight to detainees in the war on terror, and would bar prosecution of US personnel for war crimes.

Ex-Bosnian Serb Leader Jailed for War Crimes But Not Genocide
A former Bosnian Serb political leader was found guilty yesterday of the extermination, murder, and forced expulsion of Bosnian Muslims in 1992, in the most important former Yugoslavia war crimes trial to reach a conclusion at The Hague.

Bosnian Serb Leader Jailed for War Crimes
A former Bosnian Serb political leader was found guilty today of the extermination, murder and forced expulsion of Bosnia's Muslims in 1992, in the most important war crimes trial to reach a conclusion at the UN tribunal in The Hague dealing with former Yugoslavia.

Bleak in Basra, Court Martial Told
The commanding officer of British soldiers accused of war crimes in Iraq admitted there were bound to be times when the harsh conditions his men worked in got the better of them, a court martial heard yesterday.

British Soldier Admits War Crime As Court Martial Told of Iraqi Civilian's Brutal Death
· 'Systematic' abuse meted out at detention centre · Commanding officer denies neglecting duty

UK Accused of Guantanamo Collusion
More than 100 senior doctors today accused the government of colluding in war crimes by refusing to give medical aid to British residents detained at Guantanamo Bay.

Amnesty Report Accuses Hizbullah of War Crimes
Hizbullah militants broke international humanitarian law during the recent conflict with Israel, an Amnesty International report concluded today.

Amnesty Report Accuses Israel of War Crimes
Israel deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure and committed war crimes during the month-long conflict in Lebanon, according to an Amnesty International report.

Saddam Refuses to Plead in Kurd Genocide Trial
Saddam Hussein refused to enter a plea on charges of genocide and war crimes against Iraq's Kurds yesterday as the trial of the former dictator and six co-defendants over the infamous Anfal campaign in the 1980s began in Baghdad.

New Bosnian War Footage Shows 'crimes' Against Serbs
A Bosnian war general considered a hero by Bosnian Muslims for withstanding a three-year Serb siege in the 1990s could face war crimes charges after video footage emerged apparently showing him ordering Serb homes to be burned.

Bush and Blair Complicit in War Crimes, Says Tehran
Tony Blair and George Bush are "co-defendants" in war crimes committed by Israel in Lebanon and should be made to answer for their actions before an international court, a senior Iranian government leader said yesterday.

Del Ponte Tells of Admiration for Milosevic
The chief prosecutor for war crimes in former Yugoslavia yesterday voiced admiration for and fascination with her most formidable opponent, Slobodan Milosevic.

More Us Troops Charged With Iraqi Girl's Rape and Murder
Four more soldiers have been charged with the rape and murder of a young Iraqi woman and her family, the most explosive of the five war crimes investigations currently under way in Iraq.

Five Us Soldiers in Iraq Rape and Murder Inquiry
· Pentagon pursues fourth war crime investigation · Woman's body burnt and family killed in home

Guantánamo Trials Ruled Illegal
The US supreme court ruled today that the US president, George Bush, overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

Charles Taylor Flown to The Hague to Face War Crimes Trial
· Ex-Liberian president was held in Sierra Leone jail · Charges relate to backing for brutal rebel group

Former Liberian Leader Will Be Held in British Jail If Convicted of War Crimes
The British government yesterday broke the international deadlock over the war crimes trial of the former Liberian president Charles Taylor by offering to imprison him if he is found guilty.

Demonstrations Threaten Nato-led War Games
US marines who were preparing for Nato-led war games in the Ukrainian region of Crimea left amid acrimony yesterday after weeks of protest against the military bloc left doubts as to whether the exercises would take place at all.

Protests Threaten Nato War Games
US marines who were preparing for Nato-led war games in the Ukrainian region of Crimea left amid acrimony on Monday after weeks of protest against the military bloc left doubts as to whether the exercises would take place at all.

EU Halts Serbia Entry Talks Over Mladic
The European Union today broke off talks on EU membership for Serbia and Montenegro over Belgrade's failure to deliver the Bosnian Serb military leader Ratklo Mladic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

EU Tells Serbia: No Mladic, No Entry
The European Union today suspended membership talks with Serbia over its failure to deliver the Bosnian Serb military leader Ratklo Mladic to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Mladic is the UN tribunal's second most wanted war crimes suspect from the Yugoslav wars after Radovan...

Q&A: Charles Taylor and Liberia's Civil Wars
Who is Charles Taylor? The former warlord and president of Liberia has appeared in court in Sierra Leone to deny committing war crimes and crimes against humanity...

Taylor Pleads Not Guilty to War Crimes
The former Liberian president, Charles Taylor, appeared before a UN-backed war crimes court in Freetown, Sierra Leone today to face 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Liberia Takes First Step to Bringing Taylor to Justice Over War Crimes
· Extradition request to end years of exile in Nigeria · Former leader indicted for mass murder and rape

Closure Perhaps, But No Justice
Milosevic's death ends a brutal chapter in Balkan history but robs the world of a chance to try him on war crimes charges.

Serbian War Criminal Kills Himself in Hague Prison
Milan Babic, a central figure in the early stages of the Serbian wars against the rest of Yugoslavia, killed himself at the weekend while detained at the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

To Brussels ... Via The Hague
The fate of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted for war crimes, will determine Serbia's future in Europe, writes Ian Black.

EU Delivers Ultimatum on Mladic's Arrest to Serbia
The EU threatened to call off talks with Serbia yesterday unless the genocide suspect General Ratko Mladic was arrested and sent to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague for trial.

Serbian General Still 'at Large'
The chief UN war crimes prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, said today that the Serbian General Ratko Mladic "remains at large".

Hunt for Mladic
· Day of rumours blamed on political infighting · Bosnian Serb commander faces war crimes charges

Mladic Arrest Operation 'under Way'
An operation was underway tonight to capture the fugitive Serbian general Ratko Mladic - one of the world's most wanted war crimes suspects ...

Ratko Mladic 'arrested'
There were disputed reports tonight that Serbian general Ratko Mladic, a top war crimes ...

Don't Blame the Weapons
What's new about knife crime? This campaign to raise awareness is a ludicrous waste of time.

Serbian Officials Close in on Key Massacre Suspect
The arrest of a Bosnian Serb military commander indicted for the 1993 massacre at Srebrenica "has never been closer", it was claimed today. A Serbian security official told the Associated Press that police had intercepted a call from Ratko Mladic, the second most wanted war crimes suspect...

Dutch Dealer Gets 15 Years for Chemical Sales to Saddam
A Dutch businessman was yesterday jailed for 15 years after a court in The Hague found him guilty of complicity in war crimes for selling chemicals to Iraq that Saddam Hussein's regime used in lethal gas attacks on Kurdish villages.

Body of Genocide Witness Found in River
· Accused former Rwanda minister feared for his life · War crimes tribunal would have heard key evidence

War Crimes Suspect, 88, Freed After Judge Doubts Evidence
· Ex-captain admits his unit massacred Slovaks · Further trials in doubt after confusion of witness

Capture of War Crimes Suspect Paves Croatia's Way to Eu Entry
· Tribunal coup as fugitive general arrested in Spain · Accused of killing 150 and expelling 150,000 Serbs

Croatian War Crimes Suspect Arrested in Canaries
A Croatian general wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal for the mass murder of Serbs has been arrested in the Canary Islands, the UN chief prosecutor said today. Ante Gotovina, considered a hero by a section of the Croatian public, had been on the run since he was indicted by the UN...

Cheney 'may Be Guilty of War Crime'
· Vice-president accused of backing torture · Claims on BBC by former insider add to Bush's woes

Behind the Phosphorus Clouds Are War Crimes Within War Crimes
We now know the US also used thermobaric weapons in its assault on Falluja, where up to 50,000 civilians remained.

Dutch Man on Trial for Genocide
The first EU citizen to face charges of complicity in genocide and international war crimes went on trial in the Netherlands yesterday accused of aiding Saddam Hussein to gas the Kurds of Halabja almost 20 years ago.

The Push for War Crimes Prosecutions Has Allowed Murderers to Remain in Britain
The push for war crimes prosecutions has allowed murderers to remain in Britain, says Jon Silverman

The Media Are Minimising Us and British War Crimes in Iraq
The reporting of the Iraqi death toll - both in its scale and account of who is doing the killing - is profoundly dishonest.

Investigation Urged After Israeli Officer Avoids Arrest
Scotland Yard was urged yesterday to launch a criminal investigation into officials at the Israeli embassy in London who helped a retired Israeli general wanted in Britain for war crimes to escape arrest.

Israeli Evades Arrest at Heathrow Over Army War Crime Allegations
· Retired general tipped off after judge issues warrant. · Ex-commander accused of demolishing Gaza homes.

Give Up, Wife Urges Karadzic
The wife of Europe's most wanted man, the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, yesterday for the first time called on him to surrender to the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Bosnians Spurn Straw's Plan for Reconciliation
British attempts to use the upcoming anniversary of the worst war crime in the former Yugoslavia to unite all sides in the wars in mutual forgiveness have collapsed, receiving an angry rebuff from the Bosnian Muslim leadership.

Briton Named As Buyer of Darfur Oil Rights
A millionaire British businessman, Friedhelm Eronat, was named last night as the purchaser of oil rights in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the regime is accused of war crimes and where millions of tribespeople are alleged to have been forced to flee, amid mass rapes or murders.

Full House for The Hague's War Crimes Unit
Remand unit fills up as tribunal lays hands on more fugitives from former Yugoslavia, although big three remain at large.

British Soldiers Face War Crimes Charges
Father tells of grief that followed death of Iraqi while in custody.

Serb General Surrenders to War Crimes Trial
The Serbian officer who commanded the Kosovo campaign in 1998-99 is expected in the Netherlands today where he is to be taken into custody awaiting trial on charges of overseeing the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Albanians.

Iraqi President Will Not Sign Death Warrant for Saddam
Iraq's new rulers split yesterday over whether to execute Saddam Hussein if he is convicted of war crimes, with President Jalal Talabani facing calls to resign if he refuses to sign a death warrant.

America Backs Down on Darfur Inquiry
The international criminal court was poised to launch a war crimes investigation yesterday into the mass murder and rapes in the Darfur region of Sudan, after international pressure forced the US to withdraw its objections.

The Fugitive Who Stands in the Way of Croatia's Eu Entry
Brussels has shelved talks with Zagreb after renegade intelligence officials wrecked a UK-led effort to capture its chief war crimes suspect.

EU Delays Croatian Entry Talks
The EU postponed membership talks with Croatia yesterday because it has failed to do more to track down General Ante Gotovina, a key war crimes suspect.

Russians Accused of Sheltering War Crimes Suspects
Bosnian Serbs who allegedly took part in the Srebrenica massacre are being protected by Russia's secret services, say intelligence sources.

Kosovo Government Falls As Prime Minister is Indicted for War Crimes
The unstable Balkan province of Kosovo braced itself for a bout of unrest last night when the prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, was indicted for war crimes by the international tribunal in The Hague and his government collapsed.

Kosovan Prime Minister Resigns
The prime minister of Kosovo announced his resignation today, saying the UN war crimes court had indicted him for his alleged part in atrocities during the 1998-1999 conflict against Serb forces.

Find Fugitive General Within 10 Days, Croatia Told
UK driving hardline policy on war crimes suspect as concerns grow that both sides will be the losers.

UN Report Calls for Darfur War Crimes Trials
Sudan's government and the Arab Janjaweed militia are not guilty of genocide, but committed mass killings, torture, rape and other crimes meriting trial before the international criminal court (ICC), a UN report said today.

World Briefing: War Crimes Indictment Could Push Teetering Kosovo to Edge
The possibly imminent indictment for war crimes of Kosovo's prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, threatens to provoke a new crisis in the breakaway Serbian province that was invaded by British and other forces in 1999 and remains under uneasy UN and Nato control.

Ashdown Orders New Crackdown in Bosnia
Nine sacked as governor targets Serbian war crimes suspects.

War Crime Trials Will Start Next Week
War crimes trials will begin next week for some of Saddam Hussein's most senior deputies, Iraq's prime minister, Ayad Allawi, said yesterday.

War Crimes Cause Eu Rift Over Croatia
Britain and Germany are at loggerheads over Croatia's push to join the EU, a week before a summit is supposed to set a date for the start of membership negotiations.

After 800 years, church leaders are still making bones over claim to saintly relics
Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians were last night locked in dispute over an 800-year-old war crime and a box of 1,600-year-old bones that was meant to have brought them a giant step closer to reunification.

Serbia Accused of Blocking War Crimes Trials
British defence officials have conceded that military action to bring Serb and Croat war crimes suspects to trial would probably fail because of the sophisticated support network surrounding them.

Milosevic Lawyers Ask to Be Dismissed
Europe's most important trial was thrown into uncertainty yesterday when the two British lawyers defending Slobodan Milosevic against 66 war crimes charges tendered their resignations. The two barristers, Steven Kay and Gillian Higgins, said the former Yugoslav president's refusal to deal...

Hundreds of Kurds Found Buried in Iraq Mass Graves
US investigators preparing war crimes trials against Saddam Hussein and his deputies have uncovered the bodies of hundreds of Kurdish men, women and children in the first forensic exhumation of a mass grave in Iraq.

A Scary Night in Brixton
When Michael Howard went on the prowl for a quick-hit crime story he didn't let the facts get in his way.

Iraqis Want Elections
Yes, the invasion was illegal. But war crimes are still being committed. Kofi Annan's declaration that the US and British attack on Iraq was illegal will renew the pressure on Tony Blair over the war.

Milosevic Barred From Conducting Own Defence
The long-running trial of Slobodan Milosevic reached a turning point at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague yesterday when the three judges hearing the case ordered the accused to accept a defence lawyer despite his fierce resistance. The ruling put an end to more than two years of Mr...

Milosevic Refusal to Take Medicine Puts Trial at Risk
Slobodan Milosevic is refusing to take the medicine prescribed for his high blood pressure by UN doctors at his cell, jeopardising his trial for war crimes in what prosecutors said yesterday was a calculated attempt to delay the trial still further. Two independent and confidential...

Everyone to Blame But Me, Says Milosevic
Slobodan Milosevic yesterday launched his defence as the first European head of state accused of genocide by blaming everyone but the Serbs and himself for the bloodbath of Yugoslavia's disintegration. In a four-hour speech at the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague 30 months...

Guantánamo Hearings Begin
Bin Laden driver is first to face war crimes charges. Osama bin Laden's Yemeni driver will today become the first Guantánamo Bay prisoner to stand before a US military commission to face war crimes charges, in proceedings that have been denounced as unfair by human rights groups and American military lawyers.

US Abuse Could Be War Crime
Red Cross says Tipton Three may have a case. Repeated abuses allegedly suffered by three British prisoners at the hands of US interrogators and guards in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba could amount to war crimes, the Red Cross said yesterday.

Milosevic Forced to Accept Defence Counsel
Slobodan Milosevic is fit to continue standing trial but may not be well enough to represent himself, the war crimes tribunal in The Hague ruled yesterday. The three judges made it clear that the former Serb president may be forced accept a defence counsel, because the burden of doing it...

Health Fears Halt Milosevic Trial
The war crimes trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic was adjourned today after his ill-health prompted a judicial review of the way the trial is being conducted. Mr Milosevic, who is conducting his own defence, had been expected to deliver a political tirade today as part...

Obituary: Judge Richard May
He made his mark in the International War Crimes Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, presiding over the trial of Slobodan Milosevic.

Croatia Builds Goodwill in Serb Villages
Handing in war crime suspects and welcoming home refugees opens door to EU membership.

Karadzic 'will Be Handed Over Soon'
Radovan Karadzic could be arrested and transferred for trial in The Hague by the end of the month, the UN's chief prosecutor for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia said.

Africa War Crimes Trials Open in Freetown
Sierra Leone's first war crimes trials began to bring to justice yesterday the perpetrators of one of Africa's most brutal conflicts. The tribunal, jointly run by the UN and the Sierra Leonean authorities, will try those it thinks are most responsible for the atrocities committed in the...

War Crimes Trials Open in Freetown
Sierra Leone's first war crimes trials began yesterday to bring to justice the perpetrators of one of Africa's most brutal conflicts. The UN tribunal will try those it thinks are most responsible for atrocities committed in the 10-year civil war in which 50,000 people were killed ...

Israeli Minister Attacks Home Demolitions
The Israeli army resumed its assault on Rafah refugee camp yesterday as a member of Ariel Sharon's cabinet caused a storm when his criticism of house demolitions as "inhumane" was interpreted as comparing the Israeli army's actions to Nazi war crimes. A week into Operation Rainbow, which...

Iraqis Lose Right to Sue Troops Over War Crimes
Military win immunity pledge in deal on UN vote.

Hague Rules Srebrenica Was Act of Genocide
The 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica was a deliberate attempt by Bosnian Serb leaders to exterminate part of the Muslim community, rule appeal judges in a crucial case at the international war crimes tribunal.

Hague Rules Srebrenica Was Genocide
The 1995 massacre of Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica was a deliberate attempt by Bosnian Serb leaders to exterminate part of the Muslim community, rule appeal judges in a crucial case at the international war crimes tribunal.

Milosevic Calls Blair and Clinton to The Hague
Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton top the list of more than 1,600 witnesses called by Slobodan Milosevic for his war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The former Yugoslavian president has refused to enter a plea in his ongoing trial, or even recognise the validity of the court...

Chief Judge Sidelined at War Crimes Court
The UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone has barred its president, Geoffrey Robertson QC, from judging cases involving rebels because of the appearance of bias against them. The ruling at the weekend defied calls to dump the London-based human rights lawyer but it sidelined him from...

UN War Crimes Judge Defies Calls to Resign
Sierra Leone court to rule on 'biased' British barrister.

War Crimes Court Opens in Freetown
The UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone opened its new courthouse yesterday, but was left guessing about whether its president will step down because of alleged bias against some defendants. UN and government officials joined Geoffrey Robertson QC at the ceremony in the capital,...

War Crimes Qc Under Pressure to Quit After Bias Claims
One of Britain's leading human rights lawyers, Geoffrey Robertson QC, came under intense pressure last night to quit his post as president of the UN-backed war crimes court in Sierra Leone because of alleged bias against some defendants. Three fellow judges told Mr Robertson to decide by...

War Crimes Trial Begins in Serbia
The watershed war crimes trial of six men accused of the massacre of 192 Croatian prisoners of war today opened in a court in Serbia. The case is the first of its kind to be heard in the country since the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague allowed war crimes suspects to face trial in the...

US Helps Iraq Prepare for War Crimes Trials
A team of US legal experts left for Iraq at the weekend to help build the case for Saddam Hussein and other members of his fallen regime to be tried for war crimes. They were the first of about 50 investigators and prosecutors from the justice department and agents from the FBI and Drug...

Karadzic 'has Safe Haven' in Belgrade
Serbia sheltering 15 war crimes suspects, says Hague prosecutor.

War Crime Suspects May Avoid Tribunal
Some war crimes suspects in the former Yugoslavia are likely to escape international justice because of a drive by Washington, with strong British backing, to curb the powers of Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Under American plans to...

Serb Chief Stands Trial for Genocide
One of Bosnia's most important war crimes trials opened yesterday, when Bosnian Serb leader Momcilo Krajisnik went on trial in the Hague accused of helping to mastermind the ethnic cleansing and persecution that left 250,000 people dead and forced two million more from their homes. Four...

Serbian Election Victory for War Crimes Suspect's Party
Nationalist extremists led by a suspected war criminal in custody in The Hague scored a clear victory in general elections in Serbia yesterday, dealing a huge setback to the prospects for stable democracy and western-oriented policy in the Balkan state. The Serbian Radical party led by...

War Crime Suspects Go for Win in Serb Poll
Line-up reflects defiance and denial of events of the 1990s.

Milosevic's 'warning' on Massacre
Slobodan Milosevic warned Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general, not to kill Muslim civilians at Srebrenica in 1995 but was ignored, according to the former Nato commander Wesley Clark. Gen Clark described to the UN war crimes tribunal how he discussed the massacre with Mr Milosevic,...

Bush: Saddam's Fate in Iraqis' Hands
· Prisoner 'moved to Qatar'
· Ex-leader 'tried to negotiate'
· Iran prepares war crimes case

17 Years for Srebrenica Massacre
A former Bosnian Serb army commander was jailed for 17 years by the Hague war crimes tribunal yesterday after confessing to his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims. Dragan Obrenovic, one of two former commanders to admit his role in the massacre, pleaded guilty...

Bosnian Muslim Officers Face War Crimes Tribunal
Two high-ranking Bosnian Muslim officers went on trial for war crimes at the Hague tribunal yesterday in a case prosecutors said would prove all sides committed atrocities in the Balkan conflict. Enver Hadzihasanovic, 53, a former general, and Amur Kubura, 39, a brigade commander, have...

French Row Over Rights for Unborn
French feminists, doctors and the leftwing opposition reacted furiously after the conservative majority in parliament passed a bill making it a crime to cause a pregnant woman to miscarry against her will. A Socialist MP, Jean-Yves Le Bouillon, said the bill was "the first step towards...

War Crimes Charges for Rwandans
Four former senior Rwandan officials went on trial in Tanzania yesterday accused of playing important roles in the 1994 genocide of 800,000 people, including training militias and drawing up lists of people to be killed. It is the second trial in a month to feature former cabinet...

Karadzic 'gave Order' for Mass Killing of Muslims From Srebrenica
Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, issued direct orders to kill Muslim prisoners evacuated from Srebrenica in 1995, the war crimes tribunal in The Hague heard yesterday. Miroslav Deronjic, a former official of the Serb Democratic party, said that Mr Karadzic - who is still...

Dentist Accused of War Crimes
Milan Babic, the bespectacled dentist who led the Serb rebel insurgency into a lost four-year war in Croatia a decade ago, was indicted for war crimes yesterday.

Owen Rails at Milosevic Over Failure to Sway Serbs
Slobodan Milosevic fatally failed to pressure fellow Serbs to end the Bosnian war, Lord Owen, the former president's old negotiating partner told the UN war crimes tribunal yesterday. But he depicted Mr Milosevic, facing genocide charges for his role in the war, as a pragmatic nationalist...

Serb Cabinet Defies Hague Tribunal's Arrest Orders
The Serbian government yesterday refused to arrest four senior police and army officers wanted by the Hague tribunal on war crime charges, saying that doing so would turn the police and army against it. "Serbia would be left without a real army and police if the generals go to the Hague,"...

Croatian Pm Lobbies Blair for Softer Line on Wanted War Crimes Suspect
The Croatian prime minister Ivica Racan is being blocked from taking his country into EU membership by a British ultimatum to hand over a war crimes suspect.

Seven Us Marines Enter Monrovia As Taylor Challenges War Crimes Court
Helicopters drop first US troops into Liberia, but President Bush warns that larger force will not follow the seven marines until Liberian president has left the country.

Liberia Tries to Block War Crimes Charges
The Liberian government has asked the world court to prevent Sierra Leone pursuing war crimes charges against Liberia's embattled president, Charles Taylor. According to a statement issued today by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Netherlands, Liberia has asked it to order...

Life Term for Bosnian Serb War Chief
Official escapes genocide charge but jailed for extermination. The UN war crimes tribunal yesterday acquitted a Bosnian Serb official of genocide but gave him an unprecedented life prison term for acts of extermination, murder and persecution.

Greeks Accuse Blair of War Crimes in Iraq
Athens lawyers' Hague case names PM, Straw and Hoon.

Saddam regime will be tried for war crimes, party reveals
Saddam Hussein and his key lieutenants are to face a new war crimes court, one of the parties in Iraq's new power-sharing council announced yesterday.

Belgium to Scrap War Crimes Law
Human rights groups accused Belgium of caving in to the US yesterday after the country's centre-left government said it would scrap a war crimes law which has upset Washington and Tel Aviv. The 1993 law, which allowed Belgian courts to try cases of war crimes committed by anyone, anywhere...

Taylor gives his terms for quitting
President Charles Taylor of Liberia, indicted for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone and besieged by rebel forces, will stand down if the case against him is dropped, one of his ministers said yesterday.

Liberian President Gives His Terms for Quitting
President Charles Taylor of Liberia, indicted for war crimes in neighbouring Sierra Leone and besieged by rebel forces, will stand down if the case against him is dropped, one of his ministers said yesterday. As the UN prepared to evacuate refugees from the capital, Monrovia, Mr Taylor's...

Belgium Gives in to Us on War Crimes Law
Belgium has bowed to US pressure and agreed to limit the scope of its controversial war crimes law. American officials signalled that the changes might defuse a row which has led to the threatened boycott of Nato's Brussels headquarters and soured relations between the two countries...

Serbs Seize War Crimes Suspect
Snatch squad arrests colonel who said he would never be taken alive.

US Threatens Nato Boycott Over Belgian War Crimes Law
The bitter dispute between the US and Europe over Iraq burst into the open again yesterday when the US threatened Belgium with a boycott and Germany and France registered protests at the UN about Washington's continued opposition to the international criminal court. The US defence...

US Threatens to Boycott Belgium Over War Crimes Law
The bitter dispute between the US and Europe over Iraq burst into the open again yesterday when the US threatened Belgium with a boycott and Germany and France registered protests at the UN about Washington's continued opposition to the international criminal court. The US defence...

US Plays Aid Card to Fix War Crimes Exemption
The US is turning up the heat on the countries of the Balkans and eastern Europe to secure war crimes immunity deals for Americans and exemptions from the year-old international criminal court. In an exercise in brute diplomacy which is causing more acute friction with the European Union...

War Crime Vote Fuels Us Anger at Europe
The US has bitterly attacked European leaders for trying to stop the UN security council voting tomorrow to renew America's exemption from prosecution by the new war crimes tribunal. The Bush administration has accused the EU of "actively undermining" American efforts to protect its...

War Crimes Charge for Liberian Leader
Panic swept through the Liberian capital, Monrovia, yesterday after President Charles Taylor was indicted by a UN-backed court for crimes against humanity during the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Fearing clashes, thousands of people reportedly fled their homes. The charges,...

US soldiers face war crime charge
The family of a Spanish television cameraman killed when a US tank opened fire on the Palestine hotel in Baghdad during the Iraq war has asked a Madrid court to extradite and bring war crimes charges against three US soldiers.

Milosevic Prosecution Given 100 Days
Judges at UN war crimes trial set deadline.

Let's Hear It for Belgium
An attempt to try Tommy Franks for war crimes in a Belgian court has outraged the US. Belgium is becoming an interesting country. In the course of a week, it has managed to upset both liberal opinion in Europe - by granting the far-right Vlaams Blok 18 parliamentary seats - and illiberal opinion in the US.

Americans split over marine's 'war crimes'
A US marine under investigation for war crimes, after he told his local newspaper that he had executed an Iraqi soldier, has become a cause célèbre in his home town, Las Vegas, and has announced his intention to become a policeman.

Franks may face war crimes charge
Belgium is coming under pressure from the US to block a potentially explosive war crimes case against General Tommy Franks, commander of coalition forces in Iraq.

War crimes accused dies, 84
General Janko Bobetko, Croatia's former army chief and the most senior Croat to be indicted for war crimes by the tribunal in the Hague, died yesterday in Zagreb aged 84.

Rorke's Drift battle was war crime scene
It is one of the glories of British military history. A garrison of just over 100 men, including sick and wounded, holding out against an army of 3,000 Zulus.

Sharon Made Safe By Belgian Vote on War Crime Law
The attempt by Palestinians to have the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, tried in Belgium for war crimes seems to have been finally ruled out by a Belgian parliamentary vote to water down the contentious legislation involved. The law, which gives judges the right to hear cases of war...

Iraqi leaders could face war crime trials over suicide attacks, rights groups warn
Rights organisations supported the US government yesterday in condemning the use of suicide bombings as a strategy in Iraq, saying they constituted a breach of the Geneva convention.

Compromising Justice
Belgium is poised to water down a controversial war crimes law that has caused the country no end of diplomatic embarrassment, writes Andrew Osborn.

“Criminal’s Accomplice”
(A one act/one scene play with a potentially horrific end.)
Setting: A War Crimes Tribunal, somewhere in Europe.
Actors: Three Judges; an international war crimes Prosecutor; a Court...

International Criminal Court sworn in
Eighteen judges promised to act "impartially and conscientiously" when they were sworn in yesterday as members of the world's first permanent war crimes court.

Ex-president of Bosnian Serbs Jailed
Biljana Plavsic, once known as the "Iron Lady of the Balkans", was sentenced to 11 years in prison yesterday for her part in some of the gravest crimes of the Bosnian war. Plavsic, 72, is the former president of the Bosnian Serb republic and the most senior politician from former...

'Iron Lady' Jailed for Bosnia War Crimes
Biljana Plavsic, the former Bosnian Serb leader known as the "iron lady", has been jailed for 11 years by the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague. Plavsic had pleaded guilty to the persecution of Muslims and other non-Serbs in Serb-dominated areas of Bosnia during the 1992-1995 war. She...

Pastor Who Led Tutsis to Slaughter is Jailed
Seventh Day Adventist and doctor son herded families into church, then called in the butchers. A Rwandan Seventh Day Adventist pastor and his son who had a church roof removed to expose Tutsi refugees to Hutu attackers were convicted of genocide by the UN war crimes tribunal for Rwanda yesterday.

Yahoo! cleared in Nazi case
A Paris court yesterday cleared the internet giant Yahoo! and its former president of condoning war crimes and crimes against humanity when it allowed Nazi memorabilia to be sold on its auction sites.

Women judges dominate world's new war crimes court
Justice came of age in spectacular fashion in New York last week when women bagged six of the top seven judicial seats on the new International Criminal Court.

Former Serb President Denies Crimes Against Humanity
The former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, who last week surrendered to the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague, today pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity in his first appearance before the court. A one-time ally of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, Mr...

Serbian Leader Surrenders to Hague Tribunal
The Hague war crimes tribunal netted one of its biggest fish yet yesterday when the former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic surrendered himself for trial. Mr Milutinovic, charged with war crimes committed during the Serb crackdown in Kosovo in 1999, flew to the the Hague voluntarily...

Ex-Serbian President to Appear at Un Tribunal
Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic today flew to the Netherlands to surrender to the UN tribunal in the Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes in Kosovo. Mr Milutinovic, who was Serbia's president from 1997 until last month, has denied he had any control over Serb-led...

Ex-Serb president to appear at UN tribunal
Former Serbian president Milan Milutinovic today flew to the Netherlands to surrender to the UN tribunal in The Hague, where he faces charges of war crimes in Kosovo.

Belgium May Revive Sharon War Crimes Case
Belgium is to make changes to its internationally contentious global war crimes legislation which risk resurrecting a politically sensitive case against the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon. Belgium gave itself the right in 1993 to try cases of war crimes committed by anyone, anywhere...

Sierra Leone Haunted By 'silent War Crimes'
Widespread and systematic sexual violence during a decade of war in Sierra Leone was committed on a far larger scale than the highly visible amputations for which the country became notorious, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch. "Sexual violence has remained Sierra Leone's...

US rethinks plan for postwar Iraq
The Bush administration has prepared a post-war scenario for Iraq, envisaging an 18-month military occupation, with soldiers in control of oil fields, and war crimes trials for Saddam Hussein and his inner circle, it emerged yesterday.

Retiring Serb Leader Faces Tribunal
Indicted war criminal's immunity ends. The Serbian president and alleged war criminal Milan Milutinovic came under pressure yesterday to join his former boss Slobodan Milosevic in the Dutch detention cells of the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague.

Yugoslavia 'will not send documents'
Yugoslavia is withholding documents crucial to Slobodan Milosevic's trial, prosecutors at the Hague war crimes tribunal have complained.

Michael Billington Watches Milosevic at the Hague
Theatre critic Michael Billington watches a virtuoso performance as the Serb dictator takes centre stage at the Hague in part two of our series on the most significant war crimes trial since Nuremberg.

Planning for life after Saddam: 50 opposition groups - and the US
They came, deep in discussion, often arm-in-arm, along the narrow corridor to the conference arena: a beturbanned Shia cleric in flowing brown robes debating Saddam's war crimes with a sharp-suited former general of the Republican Guard;

War crimes confession by woman of 72 makes history
Legal history will be made tomorrow when a 72-year-old woman - a self-confessed perpetrator of horrifying war crimes in Bosnia - will be sentenced by a tribunal in The Hague.

Court Lets Reporters Stay Silent
Journalists will only be compelled to testify in war crimes trials in future if they can help resolve "a core issue".

Kissinger, 79, Returns From the Political Grave
Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state who has been accused of war crimes by his critics, was yesterday appointed by George Bush to head the investigation into the September 11 attacks. It represents the latest in a series of moves by the president to rehabilitate previously...

Milosevic Must Stay in Detention, Un Prosecutors Insist
Slobodan Milosevic's hopes of having his trial adjourned for a year on the grounds of ill-health suffered a setback yesterday when UN war crimes prosecutors signalled they would fight to keep their greatest prize behind bars. The former president of Yugoslavia who is the defendant in the...

US Afghan Ally 'tortured Witnesses to His War Crimes'
The United Nations has found evidence that a leading Afghan warlord and strong ally of the US tortured witnesses to stop them testifying against him in a war crimes inquiry.

Israelis Fear War Crimes Arrests
The Israeli government has ordered an urgent assessment of whether its politicians and soldiers could face arrest and trial for war crimes while travelling abroad. The move follows a report by the justice ministry that singled out Britain, Spain and Belgium as the most likely to prosecute...

Amnesty calls for arrest of Israelis for war crimes
Amnesty International has called on Britain and other signatories to the Geneva conventions to put on trial Israeli soldiers "responsible for war crimes" in Jenin and Nablus earlier this year.

War crimes trial delayed as Milosevic taken ill
Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial was today postponed after the former Yugoslavian president complained of exhaustion. The presiding judge, Richard May, said Mr Milosevic required medical attention but added that he was concerned about the effect that further delays would have on the trial.

Sharon puts hardliner in defence post
Ariel Sharon has named as his new defence minister a former army chief of staff who is under investigation by Scotland Yard for alleged war crimes in the occupied territories.

Suicide attacks 'are war crimes'
The international campaign group Human Rights Watch has accused suicide bombers of committing crimes against humanity by attacking Israeli civilians, and called for the leaders of the Palestinian factions responsible to face trial.

Every doc shall have its day
The ninth Sheffield documentary film festival ended successfully yesterday after screening more than 70 documentaries over seven days. The exotic spectrum of offerings spanned the world from Japan to Africa by way of Hull, and embraced subjects as serious as Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes and as flippant as a journey around the M25.

East Timor War Crimes Inquiry
UN investigators have dug up the bodies of two Timorese fighters in an investigation into war crimes allegations against Australian SAS troops. The bodies were buried in a mass grave on the outskirts of the East Timorese capital, Dili, and were exhumed at the end of August. They are...

Milosevic Tried to Build Greater Serbia, Trial Told
Slobodan Milosevic wanted to carve a "Greater Serbia" out of the ruins of Yugoslavia, the first head of state to testify at the Hague war crimes tribunal said yesterday. Stipe Mesic, the president of Croatia, took over the rotating Yugoslav presidency in July 1991 shortly before Tito's...

General Hypocrisy
Zagreb dispatch: Croatia is playing a dangerous game by defying the United Nations war crimes tribunal, writes Ian Traynor.

Croatia refuses to hand over general accused of war crimes
Croatia is engaged in a high-risk showdown with the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague after refusing to hand over a former army chief indicted for war crimes against Serb civilians and wounded soldiers in 1993.

Guantanamo Britons Still a Threat, Says Us
Seven Britons imprisoned by American troops in Guantanamo Bay still pose a threat to the international community, a US diplomat said in London yesterday. Pierre-Richard Prosper, ambassador at large for war crimes issues, said no time scale had been established for trials of the suspects...

Fight to Put Papon Back in Jail Begins
An attempt to put the war criminal Maurice Papon back in prison began yesterday on government orders, amid street protests and reports that the former Vichy official, jailed for crimes against humanity, was faking his illness. Papon, 92, was imprisoned for 10 years in 1998 for his role in...

Milosevic Protests As Curtain Falls on First Act of His Trial
Slobodan Milosevic ended the first part of his historic war crimes trial yesterday as he began it: dismissing "fabricated" charges and complaining about his treatment by the Hague tribunal. As UN prosecutors completed their case on Kosovo, the former Yugoslav leader demanded the right to...

Milosevic's Army 'shot Baby in Village Massacre'
Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial heard a Yugoslav soldier describe yesterday how he took part in the massacre of a group of Kosovan Albanian civilians which included a baby who "screamed unbelievably loudly" after being shot. In one of the most harrowing accounts given to the Hague...

Minister Vows to Bring Accused War Criminals to Justice
August 30: Two notorious Bosnian Serbs accused of war crimes will not escape justice despite Nato's embarrassing failure to capture them, a senior government minister has said in an interview with Guardian Unlimited Politics.

BBC Reporter Stands Up to Milosevic
The BBC correspondent Jacky Rowland faced a withering cross-examination from Slobodan Milosevic at his war crimes trial yesterday but she insisted that the corporation's coverage of the Kosovo conflict was impartial and objective. Rowland, who also reported for the Guardian from the...

Defiant Milosevic Back in Court
Slobodan Milosevic heard a witness's harrowing account of a massacre in Kosovo as the first stage of his historic war crimes trial in the Hague resumed yesterday after a month's adjournment. The former Yugoslav president, who turned 61 last week, looked healthy and relaxed, even through...

East Europeans Torn By International Court Row
Trapped in the middle of the increasingly rancorous dispute between the US and the EU about international justice, the countries of eastern Europe are in a quandary about how to respond to the intense US pressure to give American citizens immunity from war crimes prosecutions. While...

Knives drawn in row on war crimes court
The row about the International Criminal Court took a new turn yesterday when the US accused the EU of "inappropriate" behaviour in trying to press countries seeking EU membership not to do private deals with the US exempting its soldiers from prosecution by the court.

'Serbia has betrayed my father'
As Milosevic is tried for war crimes, the devoted daughter who fired shots on his arrest tells how she is rebuilding her life.

Israeli peace protesters may face treason charge
Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is trying to stamp out dissent over army actions on the West Bank by ordering an inquiry into whether a peace group committed treason by telling officers they could be charged with war crimes.

John Jones: Toothless in Gaza
Was Israel's assassination of Salah Shehada a war crime and, if so, can any court try it? Israel's "targeted killing" of the head of the military wing of Hamas in Gaza this week unleashed a storm of protest, for the missile fired into a densely packed residential block at midnight killed not only Salah Shehada but also 15 other people, including nine children, and injured some 150 others. The result could hardly have been unexpected.

Milosevic takes heart as trial adjourns
Slobodan Milosevic may have a bad heart but he was still keeping up a furious pace yesterday, cross-examining a key prosecution witness and trying the judges' patience until the last moment before his war crimes trial began its welcome summer break.

Trial told of Milosevic heart risk
Slobodan Milosevic faces a severe risk of heart attack and needs close medical attention and rest from his marathon trial for war crimes and genocide, the Hague court said yesterday.

No Trial for Poles Who Killed Jews in 1941
A war crimes investigator said yesterday that he was closing his inquiry into a wartime massacre of Jews in south-eastern Poland, but would not be bringing charges, despite a finding that local people had played the "decisive role".

Judges Decide Belgian War Crimes Law Cannot Be Used to Try Sharon
Ariel Sharon, Israel's prime minister, cannot be tried in Belgium on war crimes charges relating to the massacre of Palestinians 20 years ago, a court ruled yesterday. Three appeal judges in Brussels said the case, brought by relatives of those killed by Lebanese Christians, could not...

UK caught up in row over war crimes court
British soldiers in Afghanistan won immunity from prosecution. America's dogged opposition to the new international criminal court grew more aggressive yesterday when Britain was laid open to charges of hypocrisy for having negotiated an agreement to protect its own troops in Afghanistan from war crimes prosecutions.

Bosnia may try 50 war criminals
About 50 war crimes suspects from Bosnia may be tried locally when the country establishes its own war crimes court, to take some of the pressure off the Hague tribunal, the chief prosecutor of the UN tribunal said yesterday.

New film accuses US of war crimes
A former chairman of Amnesty International yesterday called for an independent investigation into claims that US troops tortured Taliban prisoners and assisted in the disappearance of thousands of others in the war in Afghanistan.

Secrecy May Rule Out Star Witness in Milosevic Trial
United Nations prosecutors may not call a star witness in Slobodan Milosevic's trial for war crimes in Kosovo because the US is insisting that he can give evidence only behind closed doors. In a move which has underlined mounting concerns about Washington's attitude to international law,...

'Gentle' Karadzic will not surrender
Hope that the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic was prepared to surrender to the Hague UN war crimes tribunal, fed by news that his wife had made contact with the military stabilisation force in Bosnia, was diminishing yesterday.

Confident Milosevic Turns on His Accusers
As war crimes trial rolls on, witnesses are suffering fresh trauma.

International criminal court could flounder on issue of immunity
The news that two more Serbs have voluntarily joined Slobodan Milosevic at the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague underscores the growing role of international courts.

Wanted Serbs Submit to War Crimes Tribunal
Two senior Serb figures wanted in connection with alleged war crimes in the Balkans surrendered yesterday to the United Nations tribunal in the Hague. Milan Martic, a politician who led Serb rebel forces against Croatia's breakaway from the former Yugoslavia in the early years of the...

Court Warned Not to Pressurise Journalists
War correspondents' lives will be at risk if the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague persists in forcing a journalist to give evidence against a Bosnian Serb accused of genocide, the British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC said yesterday. In the first case of its kind, a former...

UN to Press on With Jenin 'war Crimes' Report
The UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, is to go ahead with a report on allegations of war crimes in the Jenin refugee camp, despite Israeli rejection of a fact-finding mission approved by the security council. Instead of sending investigators to the West Bank town, Mr Annan will ask Israel...

US Threat to Wreck Treaty System
The US will today threaten to undermine the entire system of international treaties when it withdraws from plans for a court that will act as the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal. The decision is likely to provoke anger from the international community, and provide further...

Kissinger Admits Possible Errors on Vietnam
Henry Kissinger yesterday responded to calls for his arrest for allegedly aiding and abetting war crimes by admitting that mistakes were "quite possibly" made by the administrations in which he served. As the former US secretary of state told an audience of British business leaders at the...

Serb Army Chief Gives Himself Up
The Yugoslav army commander who led the Serbian forces in Kosovo is expected to surrender to the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague this morning. He is charged with ordering massacres and deporting 800,000 ethnic Albanians. General Dragoljub Ojdanic is likely to be followed...

Tatchell Fails in Attempted Arrest of Kissinger
Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell today lost a court battle to have Henry Kissinger arrested in London on allegations of war crimes in Vietnam. His bid was the second request concerning the former US secretary of state to be turned down this week. Baltasar Garzon, the...

World in brief
Skiers lost in Alps avalanche | Earthquake shakes US | General to surrender for war crimes charges | Russians ban bishop | Refugees riot

Belgrade sets war crimes deadline
The Yugoslav government published a list of 23 suspects wanted by the UN war crimes tribunal in the Hague yesterday and called on them to agree to give themselves up within three days.

Evidence of Israeli contempt for Geneva convention
The accusation from British and Palestinian politicians that Israel has been involved in war crimes raises questions about the extent to which its military incursion into the occupied territories may have broken the terms of the Geneva convention.

Jerusalem Suicide Bomber Kills at Least Six
Explosion destroys bus - Bush: Powell's mission will continue - Israel accused of war crimes

Serbian War Crimes Suspect Shoots Himself
Serbia's police chief during the Kosovo campaign was fighting for his life last night after attempting suicide in front of the federal parliament building in Belgrade hours after MPs had adopted a law allowing the extradition of war crimes suspects to the UN tribunal in the Hague. Vlajko...

Belgrade ready for war crimes deal
The Yugoslav parliament is set to adopt a war crimes law in an emergency measure tomorrow that would clear the way for sending fugitives to the UN Hague tribunal and lift a freeze on US aid.

Serbia Offers to Arrest President
Serbia issued arrest warrants yesterday for its president, Milan Milutinovic, and three other former aides to Slobodan Milosevic, hours before the US deadline for it to cooperate with the Hague war crimes tribunal or forfeit $120m in aid. The justice minister, Vladan Batic, said it was up...

Kremlin angered by war crimes proposal
The Russian government has registered anger at foreign suggestions that there should be an international role in the prosecution of those responsible for human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Spy row pits US against Serbs
Arrest of diplomat linked to 'smoking gun' that could convict Milosevic. A bitter row has broken out between the United States and Yugoslavia over the arrest of an alleged CIA agent hunting for secret army files that could link Slobodan Milosevic directly to Balkans war crimes.

Milosevic: West Fuelled Nationalism
The west attempted to dominate eastern Europe by stirring up nationalist hatred in multiethnic states such as Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, Slobodan Milosevic claimed today. Speaking from the dock on the final day of his opening address to the UN war crimes tribunal in...

Milosevic Faces War Victims in the Hague
The historic war crimes trial in The Hague is a haunting experience for Ed Vulliamy, who was one of the first to expose to the world the horror of the Serb warlords' torture camps.

Sharon Cannot Be Tried in Belgium, Says Court
A controversial Belgian court case against the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, appeared to be over before it had begun last night after the international court of justice ruled that past and present government leaders cannot be tried for war crimes by a foreign state. Mr Sharon has...

Milosevic Blames West for War Crimes
Slobodan Milosevic continued his rebuttal for a second day today against charges of mass deportations and murders in the Balkans. The former Yugoslav president, who is standing trial for war crimes including genocide, accused Nato of massacring refugees during the bombing of Kosovo...

Milosevic Attacks Nato 'lies'
Slobodan Milosevic today launched his defence against war crimes charges, justifying his actions in the Balkans as a "struggle against terrorism". The former Yugolsav leader, the first head of state called to justice before an international tribunal, claimed that he was a victim of...

Defiant Milosevic Counters War Crimes Charges
Slobodan Milosevic opened the case for the defence today against charges that he masterminded a ruthless campaign of murder and expulsion in the Balkans in his quest to create a "greater Serbia". The former Yugoslav leader began with a sharp attack against the Nato bombing of Kosovo, a...

Milosevic Diatribe Gets Short Shrift
Slobodan Milosevic was silenced by the Hague tribunal on the second day of his trial for genocide and crimes against humanity yesterday, and bluntly told that his views on its legality were "irrelevant". Richard May, the British judge presiding over the most important war crimes case...

Milosevic Speaks Out on Court's Legality
Slobodan Milosevic today made his first comments at his war crimes trial, challenging its legitimacy and that of his arrest. Mr Milosevic, who is facing charges of murdering and oppressing non-Serbs in a series of Balkan wars, had a chance to speak after a two-day presentation of the...

UN Shows Graphic Film at Milosevic Trial
UN prosecutors today screened graphic film footage of gaunt prisoners in Bosnian prison camps at the start of the second day of the war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic. With the prosecution's opening statement lasting longer than expected, it was unclear whether Mr Milosevic would have...

Milosevic War Crimes Trial Begins
The most important war crimes case since the Nazi trials at Nuremberg - the trial of the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic - opened this morning in the Hague with the words of chief UN prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte: "Today as never before we will see international justice in action...

Rwandan Priest Turns Himself in
A Catholic priest accused of slaughtering parishioners during Rwanda's 1994 genocide has abandoned a church sanctuary in Tuscany and surrendered to a UN war crimes tribunal in Tanzania. Father Athanase Seromba faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for allegedly helping to...

Will Milosevic Start Taking His Trial Seriously?
Next week, in the biggest war crimes trial since Nuremberg, Slobodan Milosevic will step into the dock at the Hague charged with crimes against humanity. So far he has shown only disdain for the court, but with a team of top legal brains behind him, is he about to take it seriously? Ian Black reports.

On-trial Milosevic May Call on Clinton and Blair
Slobodan Milosevic may try to call Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and other Nato leaders to testify before the Hague war crimes tribunal, lawyers for the former Yugoslav president indicated yesterday.

Sharon case 'strong' despite assassination
Lawyers seeking to prosecute the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, for war crimes said yesterday that their case was still strong, despite the assassination of a key witness. The Lebanese warlord Elie Hobeika was blown up at his Beirut home on Thursday, two days...

French general fined for army torture book
Paul Aussaresses, the French resistance hero and retired general who brought into full light the army's use of torture and summary execution during the Algerian war of independence in a book published last year, was fined €7,500 (£4,622) yesterday for condoning war crimes...

Sharon witness blown up in Beirut
A potential key witness in the Belgian war crimes case against the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was blown up outside his house in Beirut yesterday, together with three bodyguards. Elie Hobeika, a Lebanese warlord involved in the massacre of more than 1,000 Palestinians in the...

Unique court to try killers of Sierra Leone
The United Nations and Sierra Leone's government yesterday agreed to establish a unique war crimes tribunal to try those most responsible for atrocities in a civil war noted for its horrific treatment of civilians, particularly children. The announcement in Freetown came days after the...

Milosevic attacks Hague tribunal
Slobodan Milosevic launched a blistering attack on Britain yesterday as the Hague war crimes tribunal finalised arrangements for his historic trial, due to start next month. Checking his watch to display contempt as the UN court discussed witnesses and evidence relating to charges over...

Lots of wars on terror
President George Bush has cemented unlikely friendships over the last months. Not even war crimes during Ramadan could shake his partnership with Pakistan's General Pervez Musharraf. Nor could his insistence on pursuing military supremacy in space disrupt his chemistry with the Russian premier,...