Judges have convicted a Congolese warlord of snatching children from the street and turning them into killers.
The ruling is the International Criminal Court’s first judgment 10 years after it was established in The Hague as the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.
Thomas Lubanga did not react as presiding Judge Adrian Fulford read out the verdicts Wednesday. He now faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment….
[blockquote] The ruling is the International Criminal Court’s first judgment 10 years after it was established in The Hague as the world’s first permanent war crimes tribunal.[/blockquote] Well, at least they can’t be accused of a rush to justice.[blockquote] Human rights advocates said the guilty verdicts against Lubanga should stand as a clear deterrent to armies around the world not to conscript children[/blockquote] Right. You know … like in Syria. Oh, wait.[blockquote] The court has no police force of its own and has to rely on states to enforce its arrest warrants.[/blockquote] Hrmmm. I wonder if that might be a problem. A court without jurisdiction attempting to enforce a law without police. Hrmmm.[blockquote] So far, all seven of the investigations launched by the court are in Africa.[/blockquote]Oh, I see. It’s jurisdicition is Africa. Only African armies will be deterred by this judgment. Wait a minute. Seven?! Seven whole investigations in ten years? [blockquote] Congo handed over Lubanga [/blockquote] So, the Gov’t of Congo gave one of its political enemies over to the ICC for prosecution. Well, when you have no jurisdiction and no police force, I guess you find defendents where you can. Wouldn’t want anyone suggesting that the ICC was a huge waste of money, now would we? It seems the Gov’t of Congo got its money’s worth anyhow.
Wouldn’t it have been easier to stand the man up against a wall and shoot him? Yes. Would justice have been served? Yes, it would. Heck, the Gov’t of Congo even had standing to prosecute him first. So why do we have to spend money legitimizing an illegitimate court whose ony purpose seems to be prosecuting Africans from countries that are too weak to resist?
carl
Why you want any court to have it’s own power of enforcement? Europeans have no understanding or appreciation of separation of powers.