BOOK REVIEW: International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability – In the Court’s Shadow

International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability – In the Court’s Shadow, Patryk I. Labuda, Oxford University Press, 2023, 368 pages, £110

Complementarity has emerged as a byword for international criminal law’s preoccupation with domestic accountability.… But the word complementarity, derived from the Rome Statute, designates not merely the ICC’s institutional design vis-à-vis states. More importantly, it has come to embody diverse assumptions, expectations, and beliefs about how international and domestic actors should interact with one another in the anti-impunity project. One especially prominent idea is that international tribunals exist not just to hold trials but also to cast a shadow over states and to serve as a ‘catalyst’ for the domestic rule of law. (p. 258)

Complementarity, positive complementarity, and to a lesser extent, court shadow or shadow of the court are words and phrases of malleable and nebulous substance. Their invocation inspires as much as they perplex. Injected into the lexicon of international criminal law practice and procedure, these words and phrases have become ubiquitous, if not indispensable, when considering the works of the International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs). Lately, positive complementarity – the notion that the International Criminal Court (ICC) should be engaging national jurisdictions in prosecutions of international crimes and encouraging states to prosecute cases domestically when possible (shifting enforcement of international criminal law from ICTs to domestic courts)  seems to be dominating at conferences and legal writings, often referenced in regards to the court’s shadow (a multi-definitional phase, ranging from positive affects to swords of Damocles).

When the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) were established by the United Nations Security Counsil (UNSC) with primacy as to who would be prosecuted, it was understood that once these courts ceased to operate, anti-impunity trials would have to continue through domestic courts. Of course, it was also understood that before cases under ICTY and ICTR jurisdiction could be transferred to or allowed to proceed in domestic courts, significant legal and judicial reforms would be required.  Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW: International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability – In the Court’s Shadow”

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BOOK REVIEW – HELENA STAR – an Epic Adventure Through the Murky Underworld of International Drug Smuggling

HELENA STAR an Epic Adventure Through the Murky Underworld of International Drug Smuggling, Stewart Riley, Robert D. Reed Publishers, 2021, 228 pages, $17.95

I was never known for having a great bedside manner when meeting with clients. I wasn’t going to be their social worker. Some attorneys in my view get too close to their clients. I tried to avoid that. I was not their friend. I was their lawyer. Becoming good friends with one’s client eliminates perspective and may color one’s objectivity. I was not about to invite a client home for dinner while his future was in my hands, even my white-collar clients. 

Under cover of dark on 4 April 1978, the Joli, a sleek electric blue 61-foot racing yacht with swollen sails gracing its 90-foot masts is rapidly, perhaps too rapidly, headed towards the nearly exhausted 161-foot freighter, the M/V Helena Star, in the high seas of the North Pacific, some 70 miles off the coast of Washington State and British Columbia. As the skipper of the Joli approached the Helena Star, it becomes obvious that the purpose of the rendezvous – offloading “Colombian Gold” – is too dangerous at that location; calmer waters were needed to compensate for the incompatibility of the two vessels for offloading the precious and very illegal cargo. Nearly two weeks later, the US Coast Guard would board and seize the Helena Star about 140 miles from the coast of Washington State laden with 37 tons of marijuana, valued at the time at around $74 million.

Enter Stewart Riley for the defense for Helena Star Captain Roman Rubies. The subtitle may seem like a plot-spoiler, but this little gem is about much more – an intriguing story that entertains as much as it instructs us defense lawyers. Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW – HELENA STAR – an Epic Adventure Through the Murky Underworld of International Drug Smuggling”

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Book Review: Kennedy’s Avenger – Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby,

Kennedy’s Avenger – Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby, Dan Abrams & David Fisher, Hanover Square Press, 2022, 400 pages, $17.99

May I thank this jury for a verdict that is a victory for bigotry.…


I want to assure you we will appeal this to a court where there is justice and impartiality. This is one of the most shocking things I’ve seen in my lifetime. We have a little bit of Russia…. The festering sore that is now the most shocking place in the nation. If the venomous infection spreads throughout the country, God save us all!!!…. I hope the people of Dallas are proud of this jury … this is a kangaroo court, a railroad court and everybody knew it…. We are back a thousand years. The jury has made this city a shame forever… You talk of the shame of Dallas; now you see it in full glory.


I can’t shake hands with you, judge. You’ve got blood on your hands.


Melvin Belli, on hearing the verdict in The State of Texas v. Jacob Rubenstein, (p. 349)

At 8:22 p.m., after hearing 66 witnesses over a 10-day period, including complex testimony from a dozen or so medical and mental health experts, the jury begin hearing closing arguments. Melvin Belli, lead defense lawyer for Jacob Rubenstein alias Jack Ruby, began his closing argument at midnight. Minutes after 1:00 am Judge Joseph Brantley Brown, Sr., gave final instructions. The jury of eight men and four women, selected over 14 intense days of voir dire and a fair amount of crystal gazing, deliberated for two hours and nineteen minutes later that morning.

In the jury room, with little discussion or debate, the jurors had agreed unanimously that Jack Ruby was guilty of murder. They agreed unanimously he was sane when he shot Lee Harvey Oswald. They agreed unanimously that he was sane at the present time. They agreed unanimously that he had committed murder with malice. When they began deliberating the sentence, however, the initial vote was nine to three for the death penalty. (p. 351)

Death it was.

Ruby shot and killed Lee Harvey Oswald who shot US President John F. Kennedy.

As detectives escort a handcuffed Oswald through the basement of the Dallas Municipal Court Building, dozens of journalists, anxiously waiting to get a glimpse of Oswald, shout questions. Ruby, a Dallas striptease nightclub owner, is in the scrum. With neither finesse nor concealment, Ruby pulls out his gun and fires, letting Oswald have it in the gut.

The shooting is captured in film, still photos, and national television. Next to the shooting of President Kennedy two days earlier on 22 November 1963 (also captured on national television), this is the most celebrated news event in Dallas, a.k.a. Big D. Those who do not witness it live on television later see it again and again and again on the news.

Conspiracies to this day run amok. Was Ruby Oswald’s collaborator? Was he a pinko commie (communist) like Oswald? Did Ruby kill Oswald to silence him? Was Ruby part of or connected to the mafia underworld that might have been behind President Kennedy’s assassination?

The actus reas was never seriously in dispute. Ruby’s means rea was. Did he act with malice? If yes, he faced death. If not, he faced a maximum of five years in prison. Death is different. Good, qualified, experienced defense lawyers tend to play it safe when imposing the death penalty is in the jury’s (or judge’s) hands. With suicide, accident, natural causes, and self-defense not available as defenses, Ruby had two viable defenses: acting without malice – killing Oswald in a moment of insanity or passion (acting in the heat of passion), and insanity – not appreciating the difference between right and wrong when he shot Oswald, not being capable of understanding the consequences of his actions. The former a partial defense, the latter a complete (affirmative) defense. Continue reading “Book Review: Kennedy’s Avenger – Assassination, Conspiracy, and the Forgotten Trial of Jack Ruby,”

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Book Review: Raylan, Desert Star, The Boys From Biloxi, and Golden Age Bibliomysteries

Raylan, Elmore Leonard, William Morrow, 2012, 228 pages, $15.53

Desert Star, Michael Connelly, Little-Brown, 2022, 395 pages, $10.99

The Boys from Biloxi, John Grisham, Penguin Random House, 2022, 464 pages, $18.00

Golden Age Bibliomysteries, Otto Penzler, editor, Penzler Publishers, 2023, 426 pages, $17.95

Being at a beach without a good crime novel is like showing up to a party in no mood for partying.

Whether pulp fiction, short crime stories, or who-done-it mysteries, nothing better vacates the mind while on vacation from the drudgery, grind and toll of plowing through disclosure material, expert reports, witness statements, or the ever so très fashionable open-source material with all its foundational challenges.

Occasionally (or not so occasionally) we indulge in the guilty pleasure of reading a fast-paced page-turner during our busy schedules when we should be working or getting a proper rest before a busy day ahead. This pleasurable diversionary frolic is frequently followed with ex post facto lament, much like that experienced after decadently enjoying a nutrition-less, calorie-dense, artery-clogging, fast-food favorite. Not so when we leave for the beaches or the mountains or wherever you escape to when court is in recess or when vacation leave arrives with all the promises of rest, relaxation, and revelry. Continue reading “Book Review: Raylan, Desert Star, The Boys From Biloxi, and Golden Age Bibliomysteries”

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BOOK REVIEW: Martial Arts – The Lessons

Martial Arts – The Lessons, Tomislav S. Perić, Gregson & Lestrade, 2021, 222 pages, $14.95

Taking action, I believe, is the most significant and common stumbling block we all confront. For most of us, inertia reigns supreme and, in fairness, having a whimsical dream or desire doesn’t really require action. It’s when a thought or idea passes beyond the daydreaming phase that we need to give it serious consideration. Martial Arts – The Lessons, pp. 209-210

In these dog days of summer, and while in the back of our mind the end of our vacation is rapidly approaching, I thought I would wait for the slew of reviews that I have in the pipeline and steer you to some lighter reading. The selection is motley. Most are fast-paced novels with trial advocacy or ethics tips worth pondering over.  But if you are like me and sense the end of the summer as the time to give some serious consideration as to how or what the remainder of the year should yield, let me start with an amuse-bouche review of a nonfiction gem: Martial Arts – The Lessons,  by Tomislav S. Perić. Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW: Martial Arts – The Lessons”

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Guidance to English Museums for Responding to Restitution and Repatriation Cases: Are the winds blowing in the direction for the return of the Parthenon Marbles?  

Sometimes, stripping back the complexities to think about issues on a human level can be helpful in overcoming the fear of difficult conversations, or of ‘making mistakes’ which can otherwise hinder progress towards resolution. It is important to be alert to the possible sensitivities of claimants, and to the deep sense of hurt and alienation which some of them may feel. It is also worth remembering that the cost to a claimant of bringing a claim – both financially and emotionally – can often be very significant. Equally it is important to establish whether the claimant has standing to make the claim, and whether they are entitled or authorised to do so.


Restitution and Repatriation: A Practical Guide for Museums in England, p. 2.

As I finished reading the recently released Restitution and Repatriation Cases: A Practical Guide for Museums in England, unconsciously, I found myself humming the first lyrics of the 1977 song Love is in the air, substituting love for change:

Change is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Change is in the air
Every sight and every sound Continue reading “Guidance to English Museums for Responding to Restitution and Repatriation Cases: Are the winds blowing in the direction for the return of the Parthenon Marbles?  “

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Book Review: The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, by Prof. Catherine Titi

The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, Catherine Titi, Springer, 2023, 311 pages, €171.19

One may perhaps have some reason for amassing gold and silver; in fact, it would be impossible to attain universal dominion without appropriating these resources from other peoples, in order to weaken them. In the case of every other form of wealth, however, it is more glorious to leave it where it was, together with the envy which it inspired, and to base our country’s glory, not on the abundance and beauty of its paintings and statutes, but on its sober customs and noble sentiments. Moreover, I hope that the future conquers will learn from these thought not to plunder the cities subjugated by them, and not to make the misfortunes of other peoples the adornment of their own country.


Polybius of Athens (writing before 146 BCE), as quoted in ICJ Judge Charles de Visscher, International Protection of Works of Art and Historic Monuments, 823 (1949).

It would, I think, now be universally accepted, certainly by the People of Ireland, and by the people of most modern States, that one of the most important national assets belonging to the people is their heritage and knowledge of its true origins and the buildings and objects which constitute keys to their ancient history.


Supreme Court of Ireland, Chief Justice Finlay, Webb v. Ireland, 1988, I.R. 353.

The fate of the Parthenon marbles in the “Elgin Collection” and the merits of their return have been debated ever since Elgin’s agents excised them from the Parthenon on the Acropolis at Athens. Such is the nature of the discussion about the return of cultural property that numerous studies on the topic start with a question purportedly about ownership. Who owns history? Who owns antiquity? Who owns the past? In reality. The questions are aspirational. What they really mean is: who should own antiquity? Or who should own the past? While the questions about ownership and return are legal, the answer to them have been built around a debate.


The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, p. 21.

During a recent visit to London, the proprietorship of the Parthenon Marbles came up in a conversation. I argued that the marbles – which the Brits kept referring to as the “Elgin marbles” – must be returned to Greece. The Brits argued that the marbles were bought by Britain from Elgin, and therefore must remain in the British Museum. Predictably, my interlocutors, who, indecently, were highly educated, learned, if you will, were either misinformed or uninformed of some of some critical facts. In any event, it did not seem to matter much since as one of them put it, Greece would lose on legal grounds because of undue delay, estoppel, implied waiver, or laches in asserting ownership and making a legal claim for redress. Another canard among many peddled over the years, which, as my good friend Michael Vickery, the eminent historian would put it, is part of the Standard Total View (STV): repeating and re-repeating what has been heard as unquestionable truths without questioning the original source. Since 1836, Greece in one form or another has repeatedly requested and demanded the return of the marbles, only to be rebuffed by Britain. Simply because Greece never brought a lawsuit against Britain but has tried repeatedly and uncompromisingly to resolve the matter diplomatically does not mean that Greece has abandoned its claim or has unduly delayed its claim.  Greece had partially gained its independent around 1828. While still in the midst of liberating the rest of modern-day Greece, it nonetheless acted with significant alacrity in requesting the return of the marbles from a then-empire (Britain) that it depended on in gaining its full independence. Continue reading “Book Review: The Parthenon Marbles and International Law, by Prof. Catherine Titi”

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Book Review: The Kosovo Specialist Chambers The last resort for justice in Kosovo?

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers The last resort for justice in Kosovo?, by Maria Stefania Cataleta and Chiara Loiero, LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2021, 180 pp.

A universal value is stymied by particularistic thinking. It is a matter of experience that in all societies torn by violence – but indeed even in societies at large – persons are unable to think in a reciprocal and equal way under the polar star of the Kantian imperative. On the contrary, they view persons having committed even most heinous crimes under the lens of political considerations of a particularistic nature. Thus, a person is a national hero or a war criminal according to the side where a person stands. The same acts can for the same person be heroic or criminal according to whether they are done by friends or by foe. During the Bosnian war, the communities in the former Yugoslavia reasoned more than largely on such fault lines.… There seems to be an inability of a greater number of persons to attach to the acts and only to the acts, and to condemn them from whichever side they come when they are criminal.  Robert Kolb, Preface 

In an exquisitely cogent preface, Robert Kolb, Professor of Public International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Geneva, distills the particularistic nature of ad hoc or hybrid international(ized) criminal tribunals and courts, which, in part, due to political considerations, are incapable of delivering unqualified/objective local acceptance. This is not necessarily because of the quality of justice – though there is much that can be said about the unevenness in charging and the more-than-the-occasional unimpressive qualifications of some judges – but because, to use an aphorism, acceptance or rejection of the judicial process and results is dependent on whose ox is being gored. Continue reading “Book Review: The Kosovo Specialist Chambers The last resort for justice in Kosovo?”

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BOOK REVIEW: NO SELL DEAD – A Tale of Cambodia

NO SELL DEAD – A Tale of Cambodia, by James Jennings, Molecular Press, 2018, 240 pages, $ 15.00

Don’t underestimate the exhaustion of simply surviving a regime like Democratic Kampuchea. You are physically spent, but mentally and spiritually drained as well. The mind has no time for complications, dual loyalties, cover stories, anything like that. (p. 238)

Lukas Bellwether had a career behind him as an international criminal lawyer. Not such a long career, but long enough to have set himself up with London’s world consultants and experts who get invited to international legal gatherings. Dermott Vann was a senior conference interpreter. This was not the first time that the two friends had met for dinner during a global congress.

Thus, we are introduced to the protagonist and one of the many multi-dimensional characters in this Cambodian crime fiction, which is as multifaceted as Cambodian culture itself. As for the story, here’s a tease: The not-so-extraordinary international criminal lawyer Lukas Bellwether runs into Dermott Vann, a senior interpreter, at a conference in Yangon. Bellwether, who at this stage of his career is more of a conference lecturer (self-importantly fancied as consultant – another one of those canny nuances), is there to make a presentation. Vann is there to interpret. When they occasionally meet at conferences, they customarily indulge in drinks and dinner to catch up. Only this time, Vann unexpectedly goes into convulsions as they stroll the streets of Yangon. Death by poison. Bellwether is off to find the truth. Continue reading “BOOK REVIEW: NO SELL DEAD – A Tale of Cambodia”

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Book Review: 2034

2034, by Elliot Ackerman and Admiral James Stavridis, Penguin Press, 2021, 303 pages, $27.00

Her adversary had made his move. Her move would come next. But was the torpedo aimed at the Wén Rui, or at her ship? Who was the aggressor? No one would ever be able to agree. Wars were justified over such disagreements.… Who was to blame for what has transpired on this day wouldn’t be decided anytime soon. The war needs to come first. Then the victor would appropriate the blame. This is how it was and always be. This is what she was thinking when the torpedo hit.

Realistic, scary, timely.

On 1 July 2021, Chinese Communist party leader Xi Jinping warned that heads would be bashed if any foreign forces attempted to bully China. Xi’s warning was, if you will, a naked threat to the US should it attempt to interfere with China’s ambitious goal to control and exploit the South China Sea, which it claims to own from the tip of China to as far south as James Shoal off the tip of the Borneo coast of Malaysia, exclusively. States in the region such as Japan, Vietnam, and the Philippines beg to differ. But as famously recorded by Thucydides, the Athenians, when offering the Melians an ultimatum to surrender and pay tribute to Athens or be destroyed, had a simple message that continues to resonate in geopolitics: the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.((Thucydides, The History of the Peloponnesian War, 5.89 (δυνατὰ δὲ οἱ προύχοντες πράσσουσι καὶ οἱ ἀσθενεῖς ξυγχωροῦσιν)) Realpolitik at its rawest. No use quibbling about morality or fairness or legality. Continue reading “Book Review: 2034”

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