The Difficulties of Exercising Extraterritorial Criminal Jurisdiction: The Acquittal of a Dutch Businessman for Crimes Committed in Liberia

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 211-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Larissa van den Herik

AbstractReports of the NGO Global Witness in which the implication of the Dutchman Kouwenhoven in the civil war in Liberia was exposed served as the lead for the Dutch Prosecution Office to start a criminal case against this national. In June 2006, the Dutch businessman Guus Kouwenhoven was convicted in first instance for the violation of an arms embargo, but acquitted of the count on war crimes. On appeal, Kouwenhoven was fully acquitted of all charges. In its judgment quashing the prior conviction, the Dutch Court of Appeal heavily criticized the Public Prosecutor and observed that the case against Kouwenhoven was built on quicksand. Even though not based on universal jurisdiction, the case does illustrate the inherent complexities of exercising extraterritorial criminal jurisdiction. A remarkable aspect of the case is that the Court of Appeal evaluated the evidence presented in a fundamentally different way than the Court of First Instance had done. This might be related to the inherent difficulties of assessing “foreign evidence”. In this note, it is argued that when adjudicating such foreign cases, national judges being unfamiliar with the historical and cultural setting in which the alleged crimes took place, should call upon experts on the region to assist in the evaluation of the evidence. In terms of substance, the case leads to interesting questions as to how charges of illegal arms trade do and should relate to charges of complicity in war crimes.

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 636
Author(s):  
Heppi Florensia ◽  
Mety Rahmawati

Criminalization of the offender especially in the perpetrators of children under age is as a sanction that tells implied to someone who performs acts meet certain conditions. Often in prosecuting a criminal case the Public Prosecutor is wrong in deciding what articles should be imposed on the perpetrator. As one case of Supreme Court verdict No.774K/PID.SUS/2015 with 16-year-old defendant Dicky Pranata prosecuted by the Prosecutor with Article 340 of the Penal Code juncto Article 56 of the Criminal Code is a criminal act of premeditated murder, in which the elements of Article 340 of the Criminal Code are not fulfilled the defendant's self but the existence of other crimes Article 181 of the Criminal Code of disappearance committed by the defendant. The defendant was sentenced to 10 years in prison at the District Court, while the defendant was released from the sentence of the Court of Appeal and Cassation. The problem in this research is whether the act of the perpetrator fulfills the elements in Article 340 juncto Article 56 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code juncto Article 1 paragraph (3) SPPA Act and Article 181 of the Criminal Code? How to base criminal offenses in the Supreme Court ruling case No.774K/PID.SUS/2015? The researcher examines the problem with normative juridical method. Based on the analysis result that the defendant is not proven to commit element of crime Article 340 KUHP, but the existence of criminal act Article 181 of Criminal Code which has been done by defendant.


Author(s):  
Ol'ga Anatol'evna Zayceva

The subject of this research is the activity of the public prosecutor in court hearing. Methodological framework for this article is comprised of the dialectical, logical, formal-legal, and hermeneutical methods. The normative base consists of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, criminal procedure legislation, and local normative acts that regulate participation of the prosecutors in the judicial stages of criminal proceedings. Attention is focused on the theoretical and applied questions of participation of the public prosecutor in preliminary hearing and judicial investigation. The article reviews opinions of the scholars on participation of the prosecutor in court hearing, as well as the specificity of the prosecutor's work at the stage of state prosecution in court. The author substantiates the importance of preparedness of the public prosecutor to state prosecution, including fundamental examination of all materials pertaining to a criminal case for successful prosecution in the court of first instance. The conclusion is made that the effectiveness of state prosecution depends on the quality of preparedness of the prosecutor to court proceedings, which alongside the appropriate order of investigation of evidence, sufficiency and coherence of evidence, allow the public prosecutor to make the closing arguments.


1995 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 377-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Oakley

Two recent successful appeals to the Privy Council from the Court of Appeal of New Zealand have once again emphasised the importance of proprietary claims in conferring priority in insolvency over the claims of the general creditors of a bankrupt. Attorney-General for Hong Kong v. Reid1 concerned land in New Zealand purchased with the proceeds of bribes accepted by a Hong Kong Public Prosecutor as an inducement to exploit his official position to obstruct the prosecution of certain criminals. The Privy Council imposed a constructive trust where the Court of Appeal of New Zealand had, in accordance with precedent,2 denied one and thus enabled the Government of Hong Kong to recover the land in priority to any other creditors of the Public Prosecutor. In Re Goldcorp Exchange3 concerned the liquidation of a gold-dealer which had offered its purchasers the option of leaving their gold in its custody as “non-allocated bullion”.


Crisis ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mustafa Bilici ◽  
Mehmet Bekaroğlu ◽  
Çiçek Hocaoğlu ◽  
Serhat Gürpınar ◽  
Cengiz Soylu ◽  
...  

Summary: Objective: Studies of completed and attempted suicide in Turkey are based on data of State Institute of Statistics (SIS) and emergency clinics of the large hospitals. This study seeks (1) to find, independent of the SIS and hospital data, the annual incidences of completed and attempted suicide in Trabzon, Turkey; (2) to examine the associated factors between the incidence of completed and attempted suicide. Method: The data are derived by using a method specially designed for this study. Data sources include emergency clinics in all hospitals, village clinics, the Forensic Medical Center of Trabzon, the Governorship of Trabzon, “mukhtars” (local village representatives) of neighborhoods, the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Trabzon, the Police Headquarters and Gendarmerie, and the local press organs. Results: The incidences of completed and attempted suicide per 100,000 inhabitants turned out to be 2.60 and 31.5, respectively, whereas the SIS reported the incidence of completed suicide to be 1.11 per 100,000 inhabitants in Trabzon in 1995. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that SIS data are inadequate for suicide research in Turkey. Our findings show that the risk of completed and attempted suicide is high in young, unmarried, and unemployed persons, and that these groups must be carefully evaluated for suicide risk. The study highlights the need for culture-specific research on suicidal behavior in Turkey.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Datuk Assoc. Prof. Dr. Wan Ahmad Fauzi Wan Husain

This article attempts to explore the Islamic interpretation within the legal framework of the Malayan indigenous sovereignty. The position of Islam within the country’s legal framework became important when the Court’s decision in Che Omar Che Soh vs the Public Prosecutor, made the sovereignty of the Malay Rulers as a parameter in interpreting Islam within the context of Article 3 of the Federal Constitution. This is a qualitative study applying the legal history design. The findings showed the indigenous sovereignty was sourced from the Islamic teachings which had not been dissolved despite the introduction of the doctrine of advice by the British. Besides, the agreement made between the Malay Rulers and the British retained the indigenous sovereignty despite of various policies introduced by the British throughout their interference in Malaya which was subjected to the old Malayan Constitution. In conclusion, the accurate interpretation of Islam should be based on the al-Qur'an and al-Sunnah because it is in line with the principle of the indigenous sovereignty inherited from the Malay Sultanate of Malacca.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
pp. 167-176
Author(s):  
Pascal Marichalar ◽  
Gerald Markowitz ◽  
David Rosner

On February 4, 1970, in the Fouquières-lès-Lens coal mine in northern France, sixteen miners were killed in a gas explosion (“firedamp,” grisou in French). This was an accident like many others before it, yet with a relatively high number of fatalities. The public prosecutor concluded, as usual, that there was no case against the publicly owned mine. No investigation was to be carried out. The accident had been the work of fate, of bad luck.


2019 ◽  
Vol 181 ◽  
pp. 568-704

Economics, trade and finance — Economic sanctions — Liberia — UN Security Council Resolutions 1343 (2001) and 1408 (2002) — Implementation of arms embargo under Dutch law — Whether sanctions regime violatedInternational criminal law — Difference between perpetrator and accomplice liability — Complicity in war crimes — Requirement that defendant promoted or facilitated the commission of war crimes — Conditional intent — Whether defendant consciously accepted the probability that war crimes would be committed in connection with his material support — Risk of doing business with a government engaged in international criminal activityInternational criminal law — Evidence — Admissibility and weight of witness statements — Factors relevant to assessing witness statements obtained in post-conflict environment — Coercion of witnesses — Whether inconsistencies in witness statements requiring acquittalInternational criminal law — Circumstances excusing unlawful conduct — National emergency — Whether violations of arms embargo and laws and customs of war justified by right to self-defence under international lawJurisdiction — Universal jurisdiction — War crimes — Prosecution of a Dutch national for offences committed abroad — Whether conduct of investigation by Dutch authorities making prosecution inadmissible — Whether amnesty scheme in Liberia barrier to prosecution — No violation of fair trial rightsWar and armed conflict — Existence of armed conflict — Whether armed conflict international or internal — Limited gap between norms applicable to international versus non-international armed conflict — Whether violations of laws and customs of war giving rise to individual criminal liability under Dutch law — The law of the Netherlands


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 201-216
Author(s):  
Hurip Agustina ◽  
Dadang Suprijatna ◽  
Aal Lukmanul Hakim

Crime embezzlement car rentals are lately often devastating car rental owner. This is an issue where the meaning of a rule of law if the crime committed community can not be followed by the rule of law, such as crimes by way of evasion is one of the types of crimes against human wealth which is stated in Article 372 of the Criminal Code, which is a crime that does not exist inexhaustible, both from the bottom layer to the top layer of society can also be committing a criminal act embezzlement is a crime that originated from the existence of a trust in others, and that trust is lost because of the lack of an honesty. It is stated that the crime of embezzlement have a problem that is closely linked to attitudes, moral, mental, honesty and trust humans as individuals. The purpose of this study are as follows: 1) To determine and analyze the occurrence of the crime of embezzlement car rental. 2) To know and analyze the application of Article 372 of the Criminal Code the crime of embezzlement in the rental car. 3) To know and analyze the efforts of the police in preventing crime of embezzlement car lease. This study uses normative juridical approach that is used to make the description clear, systematic, transparent and precise about the facts / specific nature of the area and population which is then analyzed to obtain the desired facts. Criminal offense embezzlement rental car can be imprisoned if they meet the overall elements of the offenses charged by the public prosecutor and the offender accountable for his actions. If the offender does not meet one of the elements of which the accused, then it can not be convicted. The elements of criminal responsibility are: 1) committing illegal or criminal acts; 2) for the criminal should be able to be responsible; 3) to have a fault; 4) absence of an excuse. The conclusion from this study is the adoption of Article 372 of the Criminal Code in criminal offenses of embezzlement car rental where the incidence of criminal acts committed tenants for the rented goods belonging to the owner of the rental rights because of misuse or abuse of trust in which the crime of embezzlement are set in the provisions of Article 372 of the Criminal Code.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 42-48
Author(s):  
E. Yu. Boyko

The article is devoted to the directions of improvement of appeal proceedings in the civil process, identified in the analysis of legislation and practice of its application, in connection with the reform of the judicial system. The author not only considers the questions of implementation of the court of appeal of its powers, justifies the need for disclosure of criteria allowing the direction of the court of appeal the case for a new trial in the court of first instance, the limits of choice in the exercise of judicial discretion outside of the petition of appeal, the improvement of term of making a petition of appeal, eliminate of the term “appeal determination”, enshrined in the law of procedure of familiarization with the act court of appeal and its further complaints, but also indicates ways of solving them.


2019 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 297-319
Author(s):  
Rudi Sudirdja

In Indonesia, the provision of in absentia in the Money Laundering Crime Law raises problems if the crime act is originally conventional crime act. Conventional crime act should be handled based on the provisions of the Indonesian Criminal Law Procedures Code. On the one hand, the Money Laundering Crime Law regulates the provisions of the court in absentia and, on the other hand, the Indonesian Criminal Law Procedures Code does not recognize trial in absentia. This study covers the issue. To be precise, it reveals the possibility of a conventional crime act that is charged with the Money Laundering Crime Law to be tried in absentia based on the principle of formal legality. In addition, it discusses the strategy of prosecution of money laundering crime act in trial in absentia for cases that are originally conventional crime act based on the principle of due process of law. This study used analytical description research specifications and the normative juridical method. The data was collected through a document study. In accordance with the approaches, the data were analyzed in qualitative-juridical manners. This study concludes several points. The first, based on the principle of legality of formal law, the implementation of trial in absentia against general criminal acts cannot be carried out. The second, based on the principle of due process of law, the prosecution strategy in trial in absentia fur such cases are that (1) the prosecution of money laundering crime and original crime must be done separately; (2) the public prosecutor must delay the transfer of original criminal acts to the court until the accused is found and presented; (3) the indictment must be prepared in a single form; (4) the indictment must draw legal facts about the original crime; and (5) the public prosecutor can prove the legal facts about the original crime in the element of ‘assets resulting from the crime’ in the money laundering offense.


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