CJA

CJA welcomes Senator Feinstein’s proposed legislation to deter torture by the United States outlined in a letter sent to President Obama. CJA’s Executive Director Dixon Osburn said, “The United States strives to ensure that dictators and terrorists around the globe do not commit crimes against humanity, including torture; the United States should live up to those standards at home.” Click here to read more.

The genocide trial against former Guatemalan military dictator General Efraín Ríos Montt resumed briefly on January 5, 2015. The court suspended the trial after one of the judges recused herself. CJA stands with the Mayan-Ixil community and calls on the court to resume the trial expeditiously. Click here to read more.

CJA Legal Director Kathy Roberts discusses the new evidence presented in the Torture Report executive summary released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

CJA Staff Attorney Nushin Sarkarati took part in a panel discussion on victim participation in criminal proceedings at a side event for the Assembly of State Parties at the UN headquarters in New York. Drawing on CJA’s long history of representing victims directly in universal jurisdiction claims, Sarkarati explained how victim participation and testimony is essential to understanding the full breadth of human rights abuse and how participation in justice mechanisms is an integral part of the healing process for victim communities.

On December 10, 2014, CJA sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation to determine whether charges should be filed against any official who committed or authorized torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment based on the findings contained in the Senate Intelligence Committee’s study of CIA interrogation and detention practices after 9/11. Read the letter here.

CJA Executive Director Dixon Osburn discusses the Senate Intelligence Committee’s recent release of the Torture Report executive summary.

CJA praises Senator Dianne Feinstein’s leadership on the Senate Intelligence Committee for publishing a powerful executive summary of its findings based on a 6,000-page report on CIA interrogation and detention practices after 9/11. Click here to read more.

CJA organized a delegation to El Salvador to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Jesuits Massacre and to salute and support our in-country partners, who have been so crucial to CJA’s work in El Salvador for the last 10 years. We called upon the Salvadoran government to support CJA’s Jesuits Massacre Case and repeal the amnesty law so that justice can be pursued. Click here to read more.