The Center for Justice and Accountability


CJA Submits Testimony to U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on Crimes Against Humanity
June 24 , 2008 - CJA submitted written testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law in the hearing "From Nuremberg to Darfur: Accountability for Crimes Against Humanity." CJA summarized the gaps in the current criminal human rights statutory framework and the importance of enacting crimes against humanity legislation for survivor communities and for future prosecution of perpetrators. We also reviewed instances where crimes against humanity has been used successfully in the U.S. civil context against human rights abusers from Chile, Haiti and Peru. The full testimony is available here. More information about CJA's policy and legislative work is available here.


PERUVIAN HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSER ORDERED TO PAY $37 MILLION
March 4, 2008 - A federal judge in Miami ordered former Peruvian Major Telmo Hurtado Hurtado to pay $37 million in damages to plaintiffs Teofila Ochoa Lizarbe and Cirila Pulido Baldeon and the estates of their deceased family members who were killed during the infamous Accomarca Massacre of 1985 in Peru. This is the first time that anyone has been held to account for atrocities committed in connection with the Accomarca Massacre. A trial on damages was held in February where courageous testimony was provided by the plaintiffs who witnessed Hurtado and his troops murder 69 civilians in the remove mountain village of Accomarca. Major Hurtado appeared in court by order of the judge in a prison jumpsuit and shackles. He is currently being held in an immigration detention center while he fights deportation to Peru. Major Hurtado refused to participate in the proceedings. Read the full press release on the damages award. Para español, pulse aquí. Read more about the cases against Telmo Hurtado Hurtado and Juan Rivera Rondón.


CJA Defendant Liu Qi Resurfaces in Olympic Role
April 2008- CJA defendant Liu Qi is in the news again as the Chairman of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Committee. China's poor human rights record has been the subject of much recent media attention. Liu Qi's role as a human rights abuser has received less attention. In 2004 a federal court in California entered a declaratory judgment against Liu Qi for violations of the rights of five CJA clients to be free from torture, arbitrary detention and other abuses. At the time, Liu Qi was the Mayor of Beijing. CJA's clients are Falun Gong practitioners who were tortured and beaten by Beijing police under Liu Qi's authority. Liu Qi has been an outspoken opponent of religious freedom in China and vowed to "crush" the Falun Gong; he also made other statements indicating his active participation in authorizing the abuses. Click here for more on the case CJA is deeply disturbed that the U.S. Olympic Committee is embracing Liu Qi as opposed to condemning his involvement in human rights abuses.


CJA Wins The Thomas J. Dodd prize

October 1, 2007 - CJA received the Third Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights. Previous honorees include Louise Arbour, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights; South African Justice Richard J. Goldstone; Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of Ireland and Tony Blair. Photos of the award ceremony are available here.

CJA VICTORY LEADS TO HISTORIC RECOVERY FOR MASSACRE SURVIVORS IN HAITI

May 21, 2008 - On May 16, victims of the infamous Raboteau Massacre in Haiti received over $400,000 in court-awarded damages. The historic recovery is the result of a 14-year struggle fought by the victims and their families in the courts of Haiti and the United States. In 2000, CJA partner Bureau des Avocats Internationaux secured a judgment against over 50 soldiers and death squad leaders responsible for the massacre.

CJA successfully enforced that judgment in Florida state court against Colonel Carl Dorélien, a former member of the Haitian High Command who had command responsibility for the massacre. Dorélien's presence in the United States became known when he won $3.2 million in the Florida State Lottery. This recovery represents the remainder of Dorélien's lottery winnings.

A full press release on the recovery is available here. More information on CJA's case against Colonel Dorélien is available here.

ConstantHome

CJA DEFENDANT Found Guilty in Mortgage fraud scheme

July 25, 2008 - Emmanuel Toto” Constant, the former leader of Haiti’s notorious death squad known as FRAPH, was found guilty on all six felony counts against him related to a criminal mortgage fraud scheme. Constant faces a maximum of 15-45 years in prison.

A former defendant in a CJA case (Doe v. Constant), in 2006, Constant was found liable for torture, crimes against humanity and the systematic use of violence against women, including rape, for the purpose of terrorizing the Haitian population during the early 1990s.

Constant was indicted in July 2006 on criminal mortgage fraud charges by the New York Attorney General. In May 2007, CJA intervened in the case to prevent Constant’s immediate deportation to Haiti. Our Haitian partners urged us to intervene because of the fear that Constant would increase instability in Haiti and because of the lack of an independent judiciary. As a direct result of that intervention, the court refused to accept a 1-3 year plea agreement advocated by the government.

For more information on the criminal judgment, click here. For daily chronicles on the criminal trial, please visit the site of CCR. More information on CJA's case against Constant is available here.

Harold Koh Francisco Soberon

Domestic & International Human Rights Advocates Honored at CJA's 2008 Annual Dinner

May 13 , 2008 - CJA's Annual Dinner sold out for the second year in a row! The event was held at the City Club in San Francisco and honored Harold Hongju Koh, Dean of the Yale Law School and Former Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and Francisco Soberón, a driving force behind the prosecution of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and president of the Association for Human Rights in Peru (APRODEH).

Photos from the dinner are available here.

SPANISH JUDGE HEARS TESTIMONY FROM EXPERT WITNESSES AND SURVIVORS IN THE GUATEMALA GENOCIDE CASE

February 5, 2008 - Judge Santiago Pedraz took testimony today in Madrid from genocide survivors on abuses committed by the Guatemalan military during their campaign of terror perpetrated against the Mayan population of Guatemala in the 1980s. The witnesses, represented by CJA and the Spanish Association for Human Rights, traveled from Guatemala to Madrid at great personal risk after the Guatemalan courts’ recent refusal to grant Spain’s extradition request for the named defendants, all former Guatemalan officials, in the Guatemala Genocide Case.

Read CJA's press release on the testimony. Para español, pulse aquí.

Read more about the Guatemala Genocide Case.