News releases

By refusing to give prosecuting authorities the necessary means, Switzerland takes the risk of becoming a safe haven for war criminals and torturers. The Swiss Coalition for the International Criminal Court has submitted a petition to the Swiss Government today, asking for the creation of a war crimes unit tasked with investigating and prosecuting authors of genocides...

Geneva, 15 February 2012. The United Nations Human Rights Committee recently condemned Algeria in two separate cases of enforced disappearances. In November 1994, Mr. Kamel Djebrouni, 31 years old, was abducted from his home in Algiers by a group of soldiers. He has not been seen since. In May and in November 1996, the brothers Djamel and Mourad Chihoub were arrest...

Geneva, 10 February 2012 Hundreds of perpetrators of serious human rights violations in Nepal remain free. The possibility to hold them accountable for their crimes is inexistent as the main Nepalese parties agree to grant a blanket amnesty for most crimes perpetrated by both State and Maoist forces during the armed conflict that ravaged Nepal between 1996 and 2006....

n November 2011, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child issued its Concluding Observations concerning the Democratic Republic of Congo and Thailand, setting forth a series of recommendations in line with what TRIAL had called for in its alternative reports submitted in April and August 2011. In April and August 2011, TRIAL had submitted to the Committee two re...

In its January/February 2012 issue, the Global Journal ranked TRIAL within the Top 100 best NGOs worldwide. The Global Journal is a new journal which takes a fresh look at global governance, issues and players from Geneva and New York. TRIAL is very proud to have achieved this after only 10 years of existence. Giorgio Malinverni, TRIAL's president, states: "This award...

In November 2011, the Committee against Torture issued its Concluding Observations concerning Sri Lanka, Bulgaria and Germany, setting forth a series of recommendations in line with what TRIAL had called for in its alternative reports submitted in September 2011. In September 2011, TRIAL had submitted to the Committee three reports the core of which was a critical...

Sarajevo / Geneva 15 December 2011 In December 2011 TRIAL (Swiss Association against Impunity), seven associations of relatives of missing persons, five associations working on the subject of women victims of rape or other forms of sexual violence during the war and four associations or federations of associations of former concentration camp-detainees submitted a...

Since January 2011, Switzerland disposes of a thorough legal arsenal for prosecuting war criminals and other torturers present on Swiss territory. But the practical means available in this respect are clearly insufficient as criminals often use Western countries as a refuge and manage to stay there without any worries. Consequently, Switzerland should set up a special...

A sole candidate for the TRIAL Presidency. But what a candidate! Giorgio Malinverni, who recently retired from his post as Judge at the European Court of Human Rights, will in all likelihood become the next President of TRIAL. Giorgio Malinverni, was born in 1941. He carried out his studies at the universities of Fribourg and Geneva.In 1980, he was appointed Pro...

Following various assertions published in the media in connection with the Khaled Nezzar case, TRIAL wishes to clarify the following: 1. TRIAL (Swiss association against impunity) is an independent, apolitical and non-confessional organisation and has consultative status before the United Nations Economic and Social Council. The main objective of TRIAL is to put th...

Bern/Geneva/Berlin, 13.09.2011 According to media reports today, Jagath Dias, a former Sri Lankan General suspected of having committed war crimes, was stripped of his diplomatic status. The Society for Threatened Peoples (STP), TRIAL (Swiss association against impunity) and ECCHR (European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights) welcome this decision. However,...

Geneva/Bern, 22nd September 2011 Following a criminal complaint brought by TRIAL (Swiss association against impunity) and the Society for threatened peoples (SPM) against the Sri Lankan Deputy Ambassador to Switzerland, Jagath Dias, for war crimes, the Swiss Federal Attorney General has decided that a criminal investigation will be launched if Mr. Dias were to come...