Dear reader,

It’s a great pleasure to present the new issue of Maastricht Blog on Transitional Justice’s newsletter. I’d like to take this opportunity to make a few general observations about two of the issues that have caught my interest recently: the trial of the persons allegedly responsible for the massacre of 28 September 2009 in Conakry, Guinea; and the investigation and prosecution of persons allegedly responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine since February this year.

As pointed out in my post of 20 August 2021 during the repression of the protests at the National Stadium of Conakry, 156 individuals were assassinated or disappeared, 109 women were raped or victims of other forms of sexual abuse, and many other people were victims of torture, arbitrary arrest or acts of pillage. The investigation into this carried out by domestic authorities was closed in December 2017. It concluded 13 out of 15 suspects should face trial, but some 40 months later the trial had not yet started and no date for its commencement had been set. Against that background, I considered whether it would be high time for the ICC Prosecutor to conclude the preliminary examination of the situation in Guinea and to request the Pre-Trial Chamber authorisation to launch a full investigation of the Situation. However, things change fast. In July this year, the new government of Guinea (which seized power following the military putsch of 5 September 2021) ordered the competent authorities to start the prosecution of the accused this year. The date for the commencement of the trial was set for 28 September 2022. Of course, I am pleased that the victims and their relatives have renewed hope that the trial will take place, and that justice will have been done, hopefully in the near future. However, I would like to stress that, until Guinea provides the victims of the massacre with an adequate, effective and prompt reparation for the harm done, the rights of victims of serious human rights violations cannot be considered to have been fully satisfied. This has not yet happened, and it must happen soon.

Investigating and prosecuting war crimes are complex tasks. Undertaking such tasks when an armed conflict is ongoing and when a great deal of the evidence is in territory occupied by the military of the main perpetrators, makes the endeavour even more difficult. That is exactly the context in which the investigation of the war crimes committed in Ukraine since February this year is taking place. In this respect, you may remember the great deal of public attention generated by the opening of an ICC investigation into the situation in that country on 2 March 2022, whereas less attention was being given to the legal possibilities for investigating and prosecuting such crimes in Ukraine itself. However, one of MBTJ’s editors, Harriet Salem, did explore the possibilities in timely fashion and, if you have not yet read her very good post on the matter, I encourage you to do it now. As Harriet says, “not all roads should lead to The Hague”. Thank you for your continuing support to the Blog!

Fabián O. Raimondo,

Executive Editor Maastricht Blog on Transitional Justice

11 October 2022