'justice' - tagged features

Rachid Ramda went on trial this week in Paris for allegedly helping to fund a string of deadly terror attacks 12 years ago in the French capital. Prosecutors say the Algerian man was the financier of the 1995 subway bombings that killed eight people and injured 150. Ramda was based in Britain during the attacks, and was arrested soon afterwards at the request of the French authorities. He then spent 10 years in British custody while France and the UK argued over his extradition. 

Congolese victims can now take their Congolese torturers to court in France. This week the French Supreme Court overturned a stay on the case of the "disappeared of the Beach". In 1999, 350 refugees returning home to Brazzaville, in the Republic of Congo, were taken away by public authorities and "disappeared". Families of the victims, along with two survivors, started proceedings in French courts against some of the Congolese officials involved. The French Supreme Court's decision to allow the investigation to continue, affirms the concept of Universal jurisdiction. This means that for crimes involving torture, individuals can file a case in a foreign country for crimes committed abroad.