Newcomer to prosecutors' walk of fame

JAMESTOWN, New York –  The name of Fatou Bensouda is now part of a prosecutors' walk of fame.
As depicted in the photo above, Bensouda, who was sworn in as chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court this past June, yesterday placed a brick bearing her name in the pathway leading to the steps of the Robert H. Jackson Center here.
Thus opened the 6th annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, which runs through tomorrow and live webcasts of which are available here.
A brick also was placed in the name of another prosecutor whose mandate began earlier this year, Norman Farrell of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon; as Farrell could not attend, IHL Dialogs organizer David Crane did the honor.
Bensouda and Farrell thus joined a host of esteemed prosecutors, including officers of all the post-Cold War tribunals, as well as some persons who prosecuted at Nuremberg.Two of them also are depicted above: next to Bensouda is James Johnson, formerly the Deputy Prosecutor at the Sierra Leone court and now the head of the Jackson Center; behind her is H.W. William Caming, lead prosecutor in the Ministries Case litigated in the subsequent Nuremberg trials.
The location for this walk of fame is apt, for Jackson, as blogreaders well know, took leave from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1945 to serve for a year as Chief U.S. Prosecutor before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.
Following the ceremony, attendees were treated to a discussion of the Charles Taylor case, conducted by the four persons who led the investigation and prosecution of that case when they were, in turn, Prosecutor of the Sierra Leone court: Crane, Sir Desmond de Silva, Stephen Rapp, and Brenda Hollis. Keep watch at the Jackson Center website for the video of this event; it was fascinating, and will make a great teaching tool.

Prosecutorial parlance

Snippets from comments by international prosecutors at the recent International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, subject of posts by cosponsoring IntLawGrrls:

The forced enlistment and use of children in armed conflicts is, I believe, one of the most serious crimes within the jurisdiction of the court.

-- Fatou Bensouda (left), Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, on the charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, defendant in the ICC's 1st trial, which, as IntLawGrrls have posted here and here, has been suspended over a dispute respecting disclosure of witness-preparation information.

Be sure to ask countries to support the tribunal. There is a tendency to think, 'Let's move on. Let's take the countries into the international community. We are saying, 'There can be no compromise. There can be no alternative to bringing the fugitives to justice.'

-- Serge Brammertz (right), Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, disagreeing with proposals to allow the European Union admission of Serbia even though indictees like former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladić remain at large.

My sense is that it is a completely traumatized nation, so it is extremely important that this period be put to rest so that the community can move on.

-- Andrew T. Cayley (left), on the work of the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, for which he serves as International Co-Prosecutor.

We are losing experienced staff, staff with institutional memory, and we are finding some of the essential tasks are not being done. This is especially the case with the writing of judgments.

-- Bongani Majola (right), Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, echoing a complaint that, as posted, ICTY President Patrick Robinson has made, with respect to the Yugoslavia Tribunal, to the U.N. Security Council.

All of the news coverage did come back in the end to the conflict, to the horrible things that happened, and so I think that was very much a good thing to see.

-- James Johnson (right), Prosecutor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, on publicity that attended the conflicting testimony that celebrity witnesses Naomi Campbell and Mia Farrow recently gave respecting conflict diamonds that the defendant before the court, former Liberian President Charles Taylor, is alleged to have given Campbell.