Milosivec Trial

Ni hao,

Here is a webpage from BBC detailing the Tribunal for Solobodan Milosivec. Remember, his trial was supposed to set precedent for how the ICC tries leaders of countries accused of War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, etc.

Also, keep in mind that he died during his trial, so we (as well as the actual ICC) have an incomplete precedent set.

I suggest that both the defense and prosecution uses this to get ideas as how they plan their defense and attack strategies.

We will start our trial next week! So, today, the defense team needs to meet with me and the prosecution and witnesses can just prepare.

Mr. Gibson

PS - If The Magic are playing the Suns, would they put all their big guys in or all their small guys? Why? Who would they focus on? Vice versa for the Magic (sorry football fans...I don't have any good analogies about Man U or Arsenal).

Pictures from Libya and Egypt

Check this out...

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/04/20/a_life_less_ordinary_the_photographs_of_chris_hondros?page=0,0

War journalism is a dangerous business. This is the final work of Chris Hondorus, a journalist for Foreign Policy Magazine.

Mr. Gibson

The Latest on Libya

From the New York Times - It gives a good idea of what's going on with the case against Qadaffi and complications to it. Notice the correction at the bottom. Even the writers at The New York Times are unsure about what exactly is happening. So, keep your heads up! This is a difficult project and so far you all are navigating treacherous waters very smoothly with little help from me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/17/world/africa/17rebels.html?_r=1&hp

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7Rvz-u9LGwByfYfspxhxi-8lY2w?docId=d91b063acd1d4fbb862ab9102e4cacc8

Taiwan's Nuclear Energy

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/04/17/coren.taiwan.nuclear.plants.cnn?hpt=C2

BEGINNING OF OUR TRIBUNAL

Good morning,

As of today, we will spend the remainder of class time working on our ICC Tribunal. Please read the following...

Rules: The Rules and Procedures used in our tribunal will be based off of Article 15 of the Statute of the Tribunal, which went into effect on 14 March 1994 and was amended 25 July 1997.

Statute: Our Statute is based of the Rome Statue, which entered into force 1 July 2002.

http://untreaty.un.org/cod/icc/index.html

Tribunal: The official name of our tribunal is "The International tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Human Rights Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Libyan Arab Jamahirya since 2011, established by Security Council Resolution 1925 of 12 April 2011.

Jia you,

Mr. Gibson

PS - Overview of Libya so far - http://www.haguejusticeportal.net/eCache/DEF/12/377.html

PS 2 - UN Law links (Rome Statue and ICC) - http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html

PS 3 - I made the UN Security Resolution up. They haven't actually made it that far yet for various reasons that relate to the conflict. I can explain more during class if you are curious.

Propaganda, PR, and Politics

Interesting article about Qaddafi, Propaganda, Politics and PR: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/06/libya.gadhafi.image/index.html

Latest News out of Libya: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/07/libya.war/index.html?hpt=T1

PS - Have you been paying attention to Libya lately? You might get some good stuff if you are.

Midterm Exam

Ni hao, Seeing as how we will miss next weeks' class, it's time to start thinking about our Midterm. Our Midterm will have two parts. One will be done as a group and must befinsiehd two weeks from today on April 13th.

1.) On April 15th, you must present your MUN Proposal to Teacher David, me, and any other administrators who need to know. This is not for a grade. However, if you are not ready, there will be no MUN. You have two weeks to cross all the t's and dot all the i's.

2.) On the day of the Midterm, you must do the following things either as a group or as an individual. This is for a grade.

Defense - Mr. Gibson will pretend he is your "Lawyer." You must present your defense to me. Your defense must be based upon the Rome Statute and the amendments and information found herehttp://www.icty.org/sections/LegalLibrary/Defence. Also, I suggest you come up with a strategy and then look through what the court can and can not do to strengthen your defense. This will require you to look through everyone else's information.

Prosecution - Mr. Gibson will pretend he is the "Judge." You must bring formal charges to me and an explanation of who will do what during the trial. See Part Four "Investigations of Rights and Subjects," Part Five "Pre-Trial Proceedings," and Part 6 "Proceedings Before Trial Chambers" herehttp://www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/Rules_procedure_evidence/IT032Rev45_en.pdf in order to have an idea of what you should get finished before our trial.

Witnesses - Mr. Gibson will be the "Grand Jury." You must tell me your story. If I can verify it, then you will be admitted as a good witness to the trial. This requires you to read Part Three "Organization of the Tribunal" Under Rule 34 here at http://www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/Rules_procedure_evidence/IT032Rev45_en.pdf. After that, just make sure that you can verify your own testimony.

PS - You can come up with extra witnesses. You all need at least two. This requires all of you to do research, write papers, and prepare to make an oral presentation to me.

I will check your work during class time, so it's in your best interest to finish this before you come to class in two weeks. That way, if you are unsure of what to do, you can ask me before Midterms.

On the day of Elective Midterms, all you will do is turn in your paper and present your defense to your lawyer, formal charges to the judge, or testimony to the Grand Jury. As always, email me if you need some help.

Jia you,

Mr. Gibson