On March 14, 2025, a Finnish court sentenced Russian mercenary Voislav Torden — formerly known as Yan Petrovsky — to life in prison for war crimes committed during Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. A panel of three judges unanimously convicted Torden for his part in the ambush, murder, and mutilation of Ukrainian soldiers and the dissemination of harmful images online.[1]

On March 4, 2025, the United States Supreme Court heard an oral argument concerning the lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against seven major gun manufacturers and a gun wholesaler. The Court indicated that it will likely rule against Mexico in its goal to hold the defendants liable for violence.

On March 19, 2025, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine released its latest report, finding that enforced disappearances committed by Russian authorities in a widespread and systematic manner against the civilian population in the context of their full-scale invasion of Ukraine amount to crimes against humanity.^[1]

A new report by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory paints a picture of Israel’s military operations in Gaza, documenting widespread destruction and unprecedented levels of reproductive violence and gender-based crimes.[1] The report, presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2025, marks the first time a UN body has concluded that Israel committed acts falling under the legal definition of genocide, citing the deliberate destruction of Gaza’s reproductive healthcare infrastructure and targeting of Palestinian women and children.

On March 21, 2025, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an interim final rule limiting the existing beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) to require only entities previously defined as “foreign reporting companies” to report BOI. The interim final rule exempts entities previously defined as “domestic reporting companies” from the reporting requirements. They no longer have to report BOI to FinCEN or update and correct BOI previously reported to FinCEN.

The Trump administration’s decision to deport hundreds of Venezuelans to a prison designed to hold terrorists in El Salvador on March 15, 2025, has caused a widespread debate over the legality of the deportation and the scope of the president’s power. Trump has justified his actions by appealing to the Alien Enemies Act, a wartime law created in 1798 to provide the president with the power to imprison and deport noncitizens during times of war. Since its establishment, the act has only been used during the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II, and many question whether Trump was justified in invoking it.[1] In an official statement, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, claimed that “A single judge in a single city cannot direct the movements of an aircraft carrier full of foreign alien terrorists who were physically expelled from U.S. soil.”[2] However, it remains unclear whether Trump has the authority to violate the orders of a federal judge and deport immigrants to a foreign country.

On March 21, 2025, an English court denied Moldovan businessman Veaceslav Platon bail on extradition proceedings. Moldova has requested his extradition over an alleged $22 billion money laundering conspiracy.[1]

On March 5, 2025, the Justice Department, FBI, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and Departments of State and Treasury announced their collective campaign to target the insidious cyber-crimes of twelve Chinese nationals. These individuals spanned several organizations and worked to suppress criticism of the PRC abroad and loot private data. The hackers were working as either contractors or employees of Anxun Information Technology Co. Ltd. (also known as “i-Soon”) and were members of Advanced Persistent Threat 27 (“APT27”).[1] The two public officials involved in the scheme came from the People’s Republic of China’s (“PRC”) Ministry of Public Security (“MPS”) and allegedly directed the hackers to conduct “computer intrusions” and steal data—for which the MPS paid handsomely.[2] The Department of Justice (“DOJ”) alleges that the hacking scheme was composed of a network of private companies, with the hope that the PRC would be shielded from culpability. Victims of the hacking include “U.S.-based critics and dissidents of the PRC, a large religious organization in the United States, the foreign ministries of multiple governments in Asia, and U.S. federal and state government agencies, including the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) in late 2024,” with some being singled out by the MPS for targeting.[3]

On March 18, 2025, Europol launched a new edition of its report – published on January 15, 2025 – on “The changing DNA of serious and organised crime.”[1]

On March 17, 2025, the United States Department of Justice informed Michael Schmid, president of the European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation (EUROJUST), that the United States is withdrawing from the International Center for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine.[1] Almost simultaneously, the Trump administration ended its support for the database on war crimes in Ukraine.