In November 2019, The Gambia instituted proceedings against Myanmar alleging violations of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) through “acts adopted, taken and condoned by the Government of Myanmar” against the Rohingyas, a principally Muslim and stateless ethnic group, which has lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar. It also requested the indication of provisional measures to protect the Rohingyas’ rights, which were ordered in January 2020.[1] Exactly one year later, Myanmar raised four preliminary objections to the ICJ jurisdiction and the admissibility of the Application. The ICJ gave its judgment, rejecting them all, in July 2022.[2] The purpose of this note is to offer an overview of Myanmar’s objections in the order examined by the ICJ.

On July 25, 2022, Colombia’s Special Jurisdiction for Peace (JEP) charged 19 former members of the army, one state official, and two civilians with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The JEP determined that the members of the 16th Brigade killed 303 innocent people in 218 incidents between 2005 and 2008 in the Casanare department.

On July 22, 2022, the Portuguese media announced that on July 15, 2022 the Central Department of Investigation and Prosecution (DCIAP) for Portugal’s Office of Public Prosecutions has finalized new charge sheets in two cases connected to the defunct Espíritu Santo group, with respect to financing by Banco Espíritu Santo (BES) to its subsidiary in Angola, Banco Espíritu Santo Angola (BESA).[1]

On June 21, 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU, the EU Court) delivered its long-awaited judgment interpreting the Passenger Name Record   (PNR) in the context of both the EU and Belgian legislation.

On July 15, 2022, a Swedish court convicted Hamid Nouri of international war crimes and human rights abuses related to the death of prisoners of Gohardasht prison in 1988 at the orders of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and current President Ebrahim Raisi, he has been sentenced to life in prison.  Nouri was lured into Sweden and prosecuted under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows any national court to prosecute atrocities regardless of where they are committed.

According to official documents released on June 16, 2022, the EU and the U.S. are to set up an “informal expert group” aiming to “improve the practical implementation” of agreements on mutual legal assistance and extradition.

On July 13, 2022, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), which included an amendment to the Establishing New Authorities for Business Laundering and Enabling Risks to the Security Act (ENABLERS Act).  The latter would add to 31 U.S.C. § 5312 categories of service provides in the code’s § 5337(a) regulations.  It would require the U.S. Treasury to classify and require persons performing financial advice, forming entities, processing  payments, rendering investment advice, servicing trusts, and attorneys and accountants providing certain types of work to conduct anti-money laundering due diligence.

On July 6, 2022, after two days of intense debate, the Belgian Parliament voted 79 to 41 to ratify the prisoner transfer treaty with Iran.[1]

On July 19, President Biden signed a new executive order meant to deter hostage taking and wrongful detentions and help bring Americans wrongfully detained abroad back home.  The executive order builds on the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-taking Accountability Act, which spelled out who is considered wrongfully detained, and expanded tools to help free American hostages.

On July 15, 2022, Sezgin Baran Korkmaz arrived in Utah in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.  He is facing an indictment in Salt Lake City, charging him with laundering more than $133 million in illegal proceeds through bank accounts he controlled in Turkey and Luxembourg.  The April 2021 superseding indictment alleges that the proceeds concern a scheme organized in Plymouth, Utah, by Jacob Kingston, Isaiah Kingston, and Levon Termedndzhyan to defraud the U.S. Treasury by filing false claims for more than $1 billion in tax credits allegedly for the production and sale of biodiesel by their company, Washakie Renewable Energy LLC.[1]