Universal jurisdiction
Trying people wherever they are, whatever their nationality
Universal jurisdiction enables national judicial systems to try individuals, regardless of their nationality or the place where the crimes were committed. This justice approach deals with international crimes committed a long time ago, as during the civil wars in Liberia, or when no other jurisdiction, international or national, is able or willing to try them,, as in the case of Syria. As with the trials of Rwandans in several European countries (for genocide), the trial of Gambian Ousman Sonko (accused of crimes against humanity in Switzerland) or of Chadian Hissein Habré, tried and convicted in Senegal (for crimes committed in Chad in the 1980s). Discover universal jurisdiction through the news documented by our experts.
Syrian trial in Germany: the role of doctors and hospitals in the Assad regime’s prison system
In the Al-Khatib trial in Koblenz, Germany, a doctor testified about treating prisoners in the Syrian Secret Service’s Branch 251. He reported severe injuries, and deaths on an almost daily basis. But while he was tasked with improving inmates’ medical conditions, other testimonies have described hospitals as places of torture, and doctors as participants in […]
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