
Universal jurisdiction database
The universal jurisdiction database offers an overview of major criminal cases related to universal jurisdiction worldwide, as well as some cases of international crimes based on active or passive personality jurisdiction. These cases also feature in TRIAL International’s Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review (UJAR), published each year.
Unless stated otherwise, the cases in the database are not litigated by TRIAL International. While every attempt was made to ensure accuracy, information may be subject to change without notice.
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Sabri Essid
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 01.04.2022)
Facts
In August 2014, Islamic State (ISIS) fighters invaded Mount Sinjar, the stronghold of the Yazidis, a Kurdish-speaking religious minority in northern Iraq. Thousands were killed and thousands of women and teenage girls were kidnapped and sexually enslaved.
Sabri Essid allegedly took part in the attack as an ISIS fighter. His whereabouts are unknown.
Procedur...
Roger Lumbala
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 29.03.2022)
Facts
Roger Lumbala is a Congolese national. He is the former leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie-National (Congolese Rally for National Democracy, or RCD-N)
In 2003 the United Nations published a report implicating the RCD-N in crimes against humanity, including rape, summary executions, mutilation and cannibalism during the second civil war...
Gibril Massaquoi
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 29.03.2022)
Facts
Gibril Massaquoi is a Sierra Leonean national. He held a leading position within the RUF – a Sierra Leonean rebel group which had close ties to former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL). He was also the spokesperson and assistant to the group’s founder, Foday Sankoh.
The RUF invaded Sierra Leone in March 1999, with...
Christophe Ndangali
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 29.03.2022)
Facts
Christophe Ndangali was a teacher and intellectual in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He allegedly participated in the exclusion of Tutsis from the school system and called for the extermination of Tutsis.
Procedure
Ndangali and two other suspects were charged in Belgium with serious violations of international humanitarian law on 30 September 2020. Ndangal...
Séraphin Twahirwa
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 29.03.2022)
Facts
Séraphin Twahirwa led an Interahamwe militia (the youth organization of the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development) during the 1994 genocide. The militia is allegedly responsible for massacres of Tutsis in a central region of the country.
Procedure
Twahirwa and two other suspects were charged with serious violations of international humani...
Pierre Basabose
19.03.2021 - (Last modified: 29.03.2022)
Facts
Pierre Basabose is a businessman who was close to the Rwandan government during the 1994 genocide. He is suspected of having financed genocidal propaganda.
Procedure
Basabose and two other suspects were charged with serious violations of international humanitarian law on 30 September 2020. Basabose is currently detained in Belgium. He will be tried in Belgium...
Suleiman Al-Yusuf
28.07.2020 - (Last modified: 29.07.2020)
Facts
Suleiman Al-Yusuf is a colonel in the Syrian army. He was one of the nine high-level Syrian members of the security and intelligence forces in a Spanish case for alleged international crimes committed in in Syria since 2011.
On 17 February 2013, Abdulmuemen Alhaj Hamdo, a Syrian national born in Idleb, disappeared while delivering goods between the municipal...
Jalal Al-Hayek
28.07.2020 - (Last modified: 29.07.2020)
Facts
Jalal Al-Hayek is General in the Syrian army. He was one of the nine high-level Syrian members of the security and intelligence forces in a Spanish case for alleged international crimes committed in in Syria since 2011.
On 17 February 2013, Abdulmuemen Alhaj Hamdo, a Syrian national born in Idleb, disappeared while delivering goods between the...
Mohammad Al-Hajj Ali
28.07.2020 - (Last modified: 29.07.2020)
Facts
Mohammad Al-Hajj Ali is Major General in Syria. He was one of the nine high-level Syrian members of the security and intelligence forces in a Spanish case for alleged international crimes committed in in Syria since 2011.
On 17 February 2013, Abdulmuemen Alhaj Hamdo, a Syrian national born in Idleb, disappeared while delivering goods between the municipality...