YouSaid · the spoken record

Serge Brammertz

lines on the record: 34
first: 2020-06-08
most recent: 2020-12-14
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“In conclusion, my Office is pleased that courtroom proceedings have now resumed and congratulates all Mechanism staff for making this possible despite the COVID-19 pandemic. We are undertaking all efforts to expeditiously complete our work and look forward to the delivery of three judgments in the first half of next year. The search for the remaining six fugitives indicted by the ICTR continues to be a critical priority. My Office is grateful for the strong support it receives from some Member States, but we are deeply concerned that the lack of cooperation from others significantly hinders our efforts. In order for that work to be successfully completed, it is critical for the Security Council to send an unmistakable message that Member States should treat the matter as an urgent priority and offer my Office their full cooperation.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“My Office continues to work closely with the International Committee of the Red Cross and national missing persons authorities. We can report that our efforts have produced significant results. Through that cooperation between international and national organizations, just a few weeks ago a new mass grave for Kosovo Albanian victims was found at Kizevak, Serbia, where exhumations are now under way. Similarly, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, assistance from my Office contributed to locating four new grave sites during the reporting period. More than two decades after the end of the conflicts, 10,000 families are still waiting to learn the fate of their loved ones. Accounting for all missing persons is a humanitarian imperative.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“During the reporting period, we also handed over to Montenegrin authorities a requested dossier concerning more than 15 suspects who can now be investigated for serious crimes, including sexual violence. Those developments present an important opportunity for the States concerned to clearly demonstrate their commitment to full accountability, particularly with respect to senior- and mid-level suspects who have enjoyed safe haven and impunity up to now. My Office will continue to engage directly with our counterparts to support further investigations and prosecutions. Diplomatic support from the European Union and other partners will remain critical. Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of the search for missing persons in the former Yugoslavia.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“First, the arrest of Félicien Kabuga has brought renewed attention to continuing national efforts to prosecute alleged génocidaires. Arrests conducted by Belgian and Dutch authorities in September and October, respectively, demonstrate both that international cooperation is essential and that justice can be achieved in courtrooms around the world. My Office continues to urge full cooperation with the work of the Prosecutor General of Rwanda as he seeks to account for hundreds more fugitives who remain at large. Secondly, my Office continues to strengthen our direct support to national prosecutors in the countries of the former Yugoslavia. As a result of our efforts, a number of important complex case files have been transferred to Croatia and Serbia.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“But the absence of effective cooperation continues to set back our work and prevent the completion of this critical residual function. As my Office works to resolve the challenges we face, the firm support of the Council will be vital. Member States should understand that, when my Office requests their cooperation, we are acting with the authority given to us by the Security Council. All of us owe nothing less to the victims and survivors of the 1994 genocide. My Office’s third strategic priority is to assist national jurisdictions prosecuting international crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. We also provide support to authorities searching for persons still missing as a result of the conflicts. I would now like to briefly update the Council on three important developments.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“In that regard, effective investigations would need to begin with the acknowledgment that a fugitive is known to have sheltered in Zimbabwe and has deep, long-standing connections with Zimbabwean persons. Similarly, my team and I will need to return to Kampala to engage in open and frank discussions about the urgent steps needed to remedy long-standing issues. Authorities have acknowledged that a fugitive obtained an official Ugandan passport, but our requests for investigation records and access to persons of interest have not been answered after more than a year. My Office is determined to account for the remaining fugitives as quickly as possible so that our tracking activities can finally be brought to an end. I know the Council fully shares and supports that goal.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“Let me therefore make this request today to the representative of South Africa to empower operational services — particularly police and prosecutors — to work directly with us on a day-to-day basis and truly give them his Government’s full political and diplomatic support, as well as the resources they require to help us. I am prepared to visit Pretoria in the new year to discuss our further cooperation and agree on a clear joint strategy and operational arrangements. That would also send the right message to other capitals. I previously mentioned my Office’s efforts to engage with Zimbabwean authorities, and I intend to travel to Harare soon for further discussions. To move cooperation in the right direction, we would expect to see a more proactive approach by the Zimbabwean task force.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“How can it be that South Africa refused to arrest Kayishema two and a half years ago based on a refugee file that, it is now claimed, does not exist? Why did the authorities not take obvious measures after being informed that an internationally wanted fugitive indicted for genocide was present in their country? Despite a United Nations warrant calling for Kayishema’s immediate arrest, South African authorities did not provisionally detain him or put him under any surveillance to prevent his escape. Yet what remains most important is that we move forward and finally secure Kayishema’s arrest.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“The Foreign Affairs and Justice Ministries convened a number of joint meetings with responsible officials, but the Department of Home Affairs, which has responsibility for key information, did not attend as scheduled. My Office was then again requested to send last week another mission to specifically meet with the Department of Home Affairs and receive the outstanding documents. To our great surprise, on the last day of the mission, Home Affairs representatives informed us that Kayishema’s refugee file and fingerprints do not exist. That is difficult to understand. I report those facts to explain why, despite all my Office’s efforts, Kayishema remains at large. The situation raises many questions.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“It is important to note that my Office has reliable information that Kayishema was present in South Africa as late as October and November 2019, only a few weeks before South Africa reported in the Security Council that the arrest operation was unsuccessful. Little has improved since then. A year ago, after the failed arrest, my Office submitted an extensive request for assistance detailing information that we required to continue the pursuit of Kayishema. Our request has yet to be satisfactorily answered. Two months ago in October, it was agreed that my Office would send a technical team to Pretoria to finally receive the requested material.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“That was confirmed by South African authorities via INTERPOL in August 2018. We immediately submitted an urgent request for assistance to South Africa seeking his prompt arrest. We were therefore surprised to be informed that because Kayishema had been granted refugee status in South Africa, he could not be handed over to the Mechanism. The excuse was withdrawn months later and replaced with a new argument that South Africa lacked a legal basis to cooperate with the Mechanism. After 16 months of intense negotiations, in December 2019, South Africa finally submitted the United Nations arrest warrant for execution, which a local magistrate approved. However, by then Kayishema could no longer be found.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“Initially, militias surrounded the church and launched an attack, including by throwing hand grenades into the packed building. While many were wounded and killed, the refugees resisted, forcing the attackers to retreat. Determined to murder those innocent civilians, local leaders, including Kayishema, brought a bulldozer to the church grounds. In an act of unimaginable brutality and sacrilege, the bulldozer was used to demolish the church with the refugees still inside. More than 1,500 were crushed to death. Survivors who escaped were hunted down and killed. Kayishema fled from justice and remained a fugitive for years, but almost three years ago my Office finally located him. Relying on records and sources, my Office concluded in early 2018 that Kayishema was living in Cape Town.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“As I reported to Council members earlier this year (see S/2020/527, annex 2), my Office identified Kabuga’s likely location following an intensive analysis of telecommunications and other data. Thanks to efficient cooperation from French authorities, Kabuga was arrested just a few months later on 16 May 2020. However, the story of the other — Fulgence Kayishema — is that he remains at large following South Africa’s failure to provide effective cooperation over the past two and a half years. My Office alleges that Kayishema, the local police inspector, played an important role in the 16 April 1994 massacre at Nyange Church. In the days leading up to the massacre, 2,000 Tutsi civilians — women, men, children and the elderly — sought refuge in the church.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“With regard to my Office, we remain firmly focused on completing the remaining ad hoc judicial activity as quickly as possible. We look forward to receiving judgments in three cases by the end of May 2021, which will mark important steps towards the achievement of our goals. With respect to the remaining fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), my Office has viable leads and is implementing our strategies, with a particular focus on Protais Mpiranya, who will be tried by the Mechanism upon his arrest. In the last three years, my Office confirmed the death of Augustin Bizimana and located two other fugitives. The Council knows the story of one of them — Félicien Kabuga.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“The prosecution is also meeting its pretrial obligations. The initial appearance of Kabuga was held on 11 November in The Hague. Disclosure of material to the defence is already under way. We will file a request for leave to amend the indictment by 15 January and will adhere to further deadlines set by the pre-trial judge. My Office would like to extend its gratitude to the Government of Rwanda for its strong cooperation in relation to the Kabuga case. Our requests for assistance are being promptly and fully answered, and we are being granted swift access to witnesses and documentary records. The efforts of Rwandan authorities are having a direct and positive impact on the expeditious preparation of that case for trial.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“In Turinabo et al., my Office expeditiously presented its witness evidence in only six weeks, consistent with the directions of the single judge. We are now preparing to respond to the defence cases and then make our final submissions. The presentation of evidence in the Stanišić and Simatović retrial has been completed. The Prosecution team is working quickly to prepare its final trial brief and closing oral arguments. In our newest case, Kabuga, our work has proceeded well. By August, only two and a half months following the arrest, we established a team in Kigali to prepare the case for trial. We are in the process of contacting witnesses, and the team is reviewing the evidence collected. Travel restrictions and other pandemic-related restrictions are posing challenges that we are working to overcome.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“Yet my Office has maintained full business continuity and is achieving important results inside and outside the courtroom. I would also like to express my appreciation to President Agius and Registrar Tambadou. As principals, we have worked closely together this year to lead the Mechanism through the challenges it has confronted. I can say without hesitation that cross-organ cooperation is at its highest level in years. In relation to our trials and appeals, I am pleased to report that in-court proceedings recommenced in late August, only five months after the pandemic forced the Mechanism to shift to remote working. My Office presented its oral appellate arguments in Mladić, and we are now awaiting the judgment in that case.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“I thank you, Sir, for this opportunity to remotely address the Security Council about the activities of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. My written report (see S/2020/763) provides details about our activities and results during the reporting period in relation to our strategic priorities. Today I would like to highlight a few important issues. At the outset, I would like to bring to the Council’s attention the continued commitment of the staff of the Office of the Prosecutor, who remain fully focused on completing our important work despite the disruptions and difficulties resulting from the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The past nine months have been a test for all of us.”
2020-12-14 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/1236 (2020) · source
“In this regard, my Office welcomes the recognition by the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) of our commitment to the Security Council’s vision of the Mechanism as “a small, temporary and efficient structure”. OIOS has also favourably assessed our work and innovative methods, including our flexible deployment of staff to address the dynamic level of ad hoc judicial activity while maintaining lean staffing. We are grateful for the continued support of the Security Council in all our efforts.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“As recent events have proven once again, with timely and effective cooperation from Member States, these fugitives can be arrested. My Office is preparing several requests for assistance and will be contacting relevant Member States to seek support. It is as critical now as ever before that a clear message be sent that not only is cooperation with my Office a legal requirement, it is, even more so, a moral obligation to the victims and survivors. Furthermore, we remain committed to completing our other functions efficiently and effectively. We have ensured full business continuity in an effective manner, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and we continue to actively litigate our ongoing cases and provide full support for war-crimes justice in national courts.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“My Office calls upon all officials and public figures in the region to act responsibly and put the victims and civilian suffering at the forefront of all activities marking these anniversaries. They should publicly condemn the denial of crimes and glorification of war criminals, rather than support them with public rhetoric and funds. Twenty-five years later, a break with the rhetoric of the past is long overdue, and leadership in favour of reconciliation and peacebuilding is urgently needed. In conclusion, with the arrest of Félicien Kabuga and the confirmation of the death of Augustin Bizimana, two of the three major Rwandan fugitives have been accounted for. My Office is now firmly focused on locating the remaining major fugitive, Protais Mpiranya, as well as the five other ICTR fugitives who remain at large.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“It has been our consistent experience that she and her team carry out their responsibilities professionally and ethically, and we trust that they will continue to prosecute all those responsible for war crimes, without regard to ethnicity or official status. While this example is particularly pronounced, throughout the region the climate of denial, glorification and politicization has a chilling effect on prosecutors and judges and undermines the rule of law. This year will mark the twenty-fifth anniversaries of many notable crimes and events from the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, including the Srebrenica genocide. These anniversaries should be solemn moments to commemorate the victims and to condemn with one voice those responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“Others continue to deny that the crimes were committed with the intent to destroy the Tutsi group in whole or in part. The denial of crimes and glorification of convicted war criminals are also pervasive throughout the former Yugoslavia. And regrettably, denial and glorification are often driven or supported by politicians and public officials throughout the region. I have previously reported on political interference in war-crimes justice in the former Yugoslavia. Just last week we witnessed an alarming example of such interference in Bosnia and Herzegovina. My Office has always fully supported the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and its current Chief Prosecutor.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“This achievement is in large part due to our staff, whose members have continued to fully perform their responsibilities despite significant challenges. With the arrest of Félicien Kabuga, it is also important to remind ourselves that the prosecution of alleged war criminals is not the end of the justice process. For the victims and survivors in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, it is vitally important that the crimes they suffered be recognized and acknowledged. Unfortunately, as I have repeatedly reported to the Council, the denial of crimes and glorification of convicted war criminals remain immense challenges. Among Rwandan diaspora communities in particular, there are still concerted efforts to deny the Rwandan genocide. Some promote revisionist accounts that minimize the scale of the genocide.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“We have continued to file and respond to a significant number of motions. We have taken the opportunity to move forward in other areas of responsibility, including the preparation of trial submissions in Turinabo and our final trial brief in Stanišić and Simatović. And in Mladić, our team has continued its preparations so that it will be able to present oral submissions as soon as the appeal hearing is scheduled. My Office has also continued to respond to requests for assistance from national authorities. In the reporting period, we received a high volume of requests for assistance, and we fully expect that an even larger volume of requests will be received in future. The Office of the Prosecutor has therefore effectively ensured full business continuity despite the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and remote working arrangements.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“With regard to our trials and appeals, my written report provides details on all our activities during the reporting period. I would like to reiterate our commitment to undertaking all steps under our control to expedite the completion of these proceedings. In the light of the global coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the resumption of courtroom proceedings in the Prosecutor v. Maximilien Turinabo et al., Stanišić and Simatović and Mladić cases will be determined by the respective Chambers. My Office has underscored our willingness to consider all possibilities in resuming hearings as soon as possible. The point I would like to emphasize now is that while proceedings in court have been suspended, my Office has continued to fully litigate all our cases outside the courtroom.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“We continue to engage with the South African authorities and trust that they will promptly and fully respond to our ongoing requests. My Office has reported the many other challenges we are facing in obtaining cooperation, but many of our requests have been ignored and unanswered. The African Union (AU) has encouraged all its member States to cooperate with my Office to arrest the remaining fugitives, echoing the Security Council’s repeated calls. My Office trusts that, moving forward, all AU member States will make our requests for assistance a priority and ensure that we receive the support we need to complete our important mandate. The victims and survivors of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda deserve nothing less than our collective best efforts.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“Finally, the results are a tribute to the skill and dedication of the staff of the Office of the Prosecutor, which continually demonstrates the highest standards of professional excellence. We must now redouble our efforts to locate and arrest the remaining fugitives. The last few weeks have created significant momentum. Together we can capitalize on that and send a clear message that all ICTR fugitives will be accounted for. My Office continues to actively pursue promising investigations. We have credible leads on the whereabouts of all six fugitives. As Kabuga’s arrest clearly demonstrates, the element critical to our further success will be cooperation from Member States. Regrettably, it is now clear that if we had had timely and effective cooperation in August 2018, one more fugitive would have been arrested.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“In turn, members of the Council and other States Members of the United Nations assisted us in obtaining the intelligence and information we needed to move our investigations forward. The list of Member States that provided particularly important assistance is long, but each deserves recognition. Therefore, on behalf of my Office, I would like to specifically thank the law enforcement and judicial authorities in Austria, Belgium, the Republic of the Congo, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Rwanda, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States for their contributions, as well as EUROPOL and INTERPOL. Together, we again demonstrated the impressive results that can be achieved through international cooperation.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“Subsequently, we conducted extensive investigations to exclude the possibility that the remains belonged to any of Bizimana’s male maternal relations. Accordingly, we concluded that Bizimana is deceased, and in the near future will be filing a motion to officially terminate the proceedings against him. Those successes were the results of our collective efforts. Of course, our first thoughts must be with the victims and survivors of the genocide. Their demand for justice is our raison d’être. Their trust and support make our work possible. The Security Council’s role was decisive. It provided its full support to our renewed efforts over the past several years and repeatedly called upon all Member States to provide cooperation in the search for the fugitives.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“In a related development, on 22 May I announced that my Office had confirmed the death of another major ICTR fugitive — Augustin Bizimana, former Minister of Defence in the interim Government, alleged to have been a senior leader of the 1994 genocide. The confirmation of Bizimana’s death was similarly the result of our revised strategy and intensified efforts in the last few years. Having reviewed all available intelligence, we assessed that it was likely that Bizimana was deceased. We then actively worked to verify this hypothesis. With the assistance of the United States Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory and the Netherlands Forensic Institute, late last year we determined that human remains found in Pointe-Noire, the Republic of the Congo, matched reference samples obtained from Bizimana’s mother.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“By collating and analysing a wealth of data obtained from national authorities, we were able to identify a pattern in the family members’ movements centred on a specific residential area in Asnières- sur-Seine, near Paris. We then approached French authorities, who confirmed our intelligence and were able to identify the specific location where Kabuga was believed to be hiding. Together, we planned a sophisticated, coordinated arrest operation, which was successfully executed on the morning of 16 May. I would like to extend our deepest appreciation and thanks to France and its authorities for their exceptional cooperation, particularly the Central Office for Combatting Crimes Against Humanity, Genocide and War Crimes and the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Paris Court of Appeal.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“That arrest was the culmination of my Office’s revised tracking strategy and intensified efforts since 2016. As I previously reported to the Council, we shifted from reacting to leads from human sources that proved unreliable to a more proactive, analysis-driven investigation. We further developed specific strategies for each fugitive. For Kabuga, our efforts for the last several years focused on his family members living in Western Europe, who we concluded were very likely to be Kabuga’s support network. By investigating and excluding unviable leads, we increasingly focused our attention on possible locations in Belgium and France. Earlier this year we had a major breakthrough.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source
“I thank you, Sir, for this opportunity to address the Council about the activities of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. My written report provides details about our activities and results during the reporting period in relation to our strategic priorities. Today, I would like to highlight a few important issues. The most significant development since my last report (see S/PV.8681) is that we have now accounted for two of the three major fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). On 16 May, Félicien Kabuga, one of the most wanted fugitives, alleged to have been a leading figure in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, was arrested in Paris by French authorities.”
2020-06-08 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/2020/527 (2020) · source