CJA

Notorious Haiti dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier died on October 4, 2014. His death cuts short a long overdue trial for crimes against humanity that held a glimmer of hope for his victims. Under Duvalier’s command, an estimated 300 to 4,000 political prisoners were held incommunicado in a network of prisons. Many died from torture, starvation, denial of medical care, or summary execution. With Duvalier’s death, his prosecution in Haiti will no doubt be closed, but Haiti’s reckoning with its troubled past must not end. Click here to read more.

Human rights leader Dixon Osburn has been named the new Executive Director of CJA. We are excited to welcome Dixon, an experienced, visionary leader with a long-life passion for, and commitment to, human rights. Dixon has more than 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur, leader, manager, political strategist, and fundraiser. Click here to read more.

La Audiencia Nacional española resolvió que los tribunales de España son competentes para investigar por terrorismo y por lesa humanidad el asesinato de cinco jesuitas españoles en 1989.

When Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier made a surprising return to Haiti in 2011 after a quarter-century in exile, some hoped the aging dictator would finally have to answer for the abuses of his regime. Instead, as one human rights activist said after news of Duvalier’s death on Saturday, he “cheated justice.”

Hace siete meses una reforma en España obligó al juez que ventila la causa contra los asesinos de los jesuitas a que solo los investigara por terrorismo y no por crimen de lesa humanidad, como originalmente el mismo juez lo había calificado. Asimismo, no podía juzgarlos por el asesinato de las víctimas salvadoreñas: uno de los sacerdotes, una empleada y la hija de esta. El máximo tribunal español ordenó hoy que el caso vuelva a tratarse como al inicio.

Hace siete meses una reforma en España obligó al juez que ventila la causa contra los asesinos de los jesuitas a que solo los investigara por terrorismo y no por crimen de lesa humanidad, como originalmente el mismo juez lo había calificado.

In 2003, CJA filed a lawsuit against former Salvadoran Air Force captain Alvaro Saravia for his role in the assassination of Archbishop Óscar Romero. Although we obtained a judgment against him in a U.S. District Court for crimes against humanity, Saravia fled and is now in hiding. In this beautiful op-ed, Mary Jo McConahay explains why Archbishop Romero deserves justice as much as sainthood.

Amidst all the developments in the Middle East, we could not allow the verdict rendered by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) in Case 002 to go unacknowledged. Case 002 involves two surviving Khmer Rouge defendants: Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea. As the evidence against these two was overwhelming, it comes as no surprise that the defendants were convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life imprisonment—a penalty with limited meaning when it comes to octogenarian defendants.

On August 7, 2014, the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Phnom Penh, known as the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), found Khieu Samphan and Nuon Chea guilty of crimes against humanity. The Court also awarded reparations to the 3,866 Civil Parties participating in the case. This is the tribunal’s first judgment against senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime for atrocities committed. CJA represents 45 U.S.-based Civil Parties before the ECCC. Click here to read more.