By , THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Over half the member states of the International Criminal Court defended the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal on Tuesday in a diplomatic response to a U.S. threat of sanctions against its employees earlier this month.Slideshow A joint statement drafted by Costa Rica and Switzerland was backed by 67 out of 123 of the ICC’s members, the first effort to show a united front among members from all continents.“We reconfirm our unwavering support for the court as an independent and impartial judicial institution,” it said. The ICC was an “integral part” of the...…By , THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Over half the member states of the International Criminal Court defended the world’s only permanent war crimes tribunal on Tuesday in a diplomatic response to a U.S. threat of sanctions against its employees earlier this month.Slideshow A joint statement drafted by Costa Rica and Switzerland was backed by 67 out of 123 of the ICC’s members, the first effort to show a united front among members from all continents.“We reconfirm our unwavering support for the court as an independent and impartial judicial institution,” it said. The ICC was an “integral part” of the...WW…

By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lawyers acting for Afghans wounded by bombardment by Dutch troops in 2007 on Monday told a Dutch district court that the soldiers had failed to distinguish between military and civilian targets and used disproportionate force.The four Afghans and relatives of a fifth who has since died are suing the Dutch state in civil court for compensation for what they say are war crimes in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province.“The (Dutch) state has failed in upholding the fundamental distinction between military and civilian targets,” lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld told Dutch judges in the...…By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lawyers acting for Afghans wounded by bombardment by Dutch troops in 2007 on Monday told a Dutch district court that the soldiers had failed to distinguish between military and civilian targets and used disproportionate force.The four Afghans and relatives of a fifth who has since died are suing the Dutch state in civil court for compensation for what they say are war crimes in Afghanistan’s Uruzgan province.“The (Dutch) state has failed in upholding the fundamental distinction between military and civilian targets,” lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld told Dutch judges in the...WW…

By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...…By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...WW…

By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...…By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...WW…

By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...…By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Prime Minister Mark Rutte’s government resigned on Friday, accepting responsibility for wrongful accusations of fraud by the tax authorities that drove thousands of families to financial ruin, often on the basis of ethnicity.The cabinet would remain in place for now in a caretaker capacity to manage the coronavirus crisis, Rutte said. He then rode his bike to King Willem-Alexander’s 17th century baroque Huis Ten Bosch palace in The Hague to discuss his resignation.An election has already been scheduled for March 17 at the end of Rutte’s third term.“This is about...WW…

By Stephanie van den BergTHE HAGUE (Reuters) - The U.N.-backed Lebanon Tribunal on Friday sentenced a Hezbollah member convicted of conspiring to kill former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing to five terms of life imprisonment.Salim Jamil Ayyash was found guilty in August of homicide and committing a terrorist act over the deaths of Hariri and 21 others in the attack on Beirut's waterfront.The trial was conducted in absentia and Ayyash remains at large. Three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence."The attack was intended to spread terror in...…By Stephanie van den BergTHE HAGUE (Reuters) - The U.N.-backed Lebanon Tribunal on Friday sentenced a Hezbollah member convicted of conspiring to kill former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri in a 2005 bombing to five terms of life imprisonment.Salim Jamil Ayyash was found guilty in August of homicide and committing a terrorist act over the deaths of Hariri and 21 others in the attack on Beirut's waterfront.The trial was conducted in absentia and Ayyash remains at large. Three alleged accomplices were acquitted due to insufficient evidence."The attack was intended to spread terror in...WW…

By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lawyers for the United States on Monday asked judges at the United Nations’ highest court to dismiss a case brought by Iran seeking to lift sanctions.Lawyer Marik String said Iran had wrongly introduced a subject uncovered by a 1955 bilateral pact, the Treaty of Amity, which Tehran cites as the basis for going to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.It was “an inescapable reality”, he added, that the real aim of Iran’s legal suit is to restore a 2015 nuclear pact opposed by the administration of President Donald Trump.“The measures...…By THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Lawyers for the United States on Monday asked judges at the United Nations’ highest court to dismiss a case brought by Iran seeking to lift sanctions.Lawyer Marik String said Iran had wrongly introduced a subject uncovered by a 1955 bilateral pact, the Treaty of Amity, which Tehran cites as the basis for going to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.It was “an inescapable reality”, he added, that the real aim of Iran’s legal suit is to restore a 2015 nuclear pact opposed by the administration of President Donald Trump.“The measures...WW…

By AMSTERDAM, June 8 (Reuters) - Defence lawyers in the trial of the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on Monday will request more time to prepare as public hearings resumed following delays caused by the coronavirus lockdown.Five judges sat between glass dividers, and lawyers and family members were spread out as part of social distancing measures. A maximum of 30 people would be allowed into the courtroom.Four defendants went on trial in March following nearly six years of investigations by a team of international investigators from the Netherlands,...…By AMSTERDAM, June 8 (Reuters) - Defence lawyers in the trial of the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine on Monday will request more time to prepare as public hearings resumed following delays caused by the coronavirus lockdown.Five judges sat between glass dividers, and lawyers and family members were spread out as part of social distancing measures. A maximum of 30 people would be allowed into the courtroom.Four defendants went on trial in March following nearly six years of investigations by a team of international investigators from the Netherlands,...WW…