Author: Sandra Werther

Sandra Werther is a final year law student at the University of Bonn where she is also a student research assistant at the Institute for Public International Law. She studied at the University of Sevilla and participated in the International Criminal Court Moot Court Competition in 2018. She is assistant editor of GPIL.

German Court Sentences IS Wife to Ten Years’ Imprisonment for Letting a Five-year-old Enslaved Yazidi Girl Die

Published: 9 November 2021 Author: Sandra Werther

The Munich Higher Regional Court handed down its verdict in the worldwide first indictment for a crime against the Yazidi minority on 25 October 2021. The court sentenced German national Jennifer W to ten years’ imprisonment for crimes against humanity by enslavement resulting in death and for membership of a foreign terrorist organisation, as well as aiding and abetting attempted murder and attempted war crimes. (more…)

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Resignation of the German judge from the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals: a wake-up call for international criminal justice

Published: 11 June 2020 Authors: Stefan Talmon and Sandra Werther

On 22 December 2010, the UN Security Council established the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunal (IRMCT) to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) following the completion of those tribunals’ respective mandates. The IRMCT continues the jurisdiction, rights and obligations, and essential functions of the two Tribunals – including the trial of fugitives who are among the senior leaders suspected of being most responsible for crimes – after the closure of the Tribunals. It has two branches, one branch for the ICTY with its seat in The Hague and one branch for the ICTR with its seat in Arusha. The Mechanism has a roster of 25 independent judges who, as a rule, exercise their functions remotely, away from the seats of the branches of the Mechanism. The judges are elected by the UN General Assembly from a list submitted by the UN Security Council. Judges are elected for a term of four years and are eligible for reappointment by the Secretary-General after consultation with the Presidents of the Security Council and of the General Assembly. (more…)

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