Complementarity: Contest or Collaboration? - FICHL
Complementarity: Contest or Collaboration? - FICHL
Complementarity: Contest or Collaboration? - FICHL
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>Complementarity</strong> and the Exercise of Universal Jurisdiction f<strong>or</strong><br />
C<strong>or</strong>e International Crimes<br />
charged several suspects with genocide, and requested their extradition. In<br />
November 2006, at least two of the eight defendants were arrested in Guatemala,<br />
but on 17 December 2007 the Constitutional Court of Guatemala<br />
refused to acknowledge that a Spanish court has jurisdiction to put them<br />
on trial. 141<br />
On 22 February 2008, the Spanish Cabinet approved the second extradition<br />
of Ricardo Taddei to Argentina. Taddei had <strong>or</strong>iginally been<br />
handed over to the Argentine auth<strong>or</strong>ities on 26 April 2007, but as a result<br />
of this new decision he can now also be put on trial f<strong>or</strong> the additional<br />
crimes of illegal arrest and t<strong>or</strong>ture committed in Argentina during its dirty<br />
war period. 142<br />
On 23 September 2009, the Spanish police arrested an Argentineb<strong>or</strong>n<br />
commercial pilot, Julio Alberto Poch, wanted in connection with the<br />
deaths of 1,000 people during his South American country‟s “Dirty War”<br />
period between1976 and 1983. He was <strong>or</strong>dered extradited to Argentina by<br />
the High Court on 20 January 2010.<br />
On 2 March 2010, Spanish police have arrested an alleged Serbian<br />
war criminal known as the “Monster of Grbavica” and wanted f<strong>or</strong> the<br />
murders of m<strong>or</strong>e than 100 people during the Bosnian war. Veselin Vlahović<br />
was detained on Monday near his home in the eastern town of Altea<br />
as part of an investigation into a gang which was carrying out burglaries<br />
in Spain.<br />
Thirteen other investigations have also been opened in the last couple<br />
of years, a number of them dealing with Chinese and American officials.<br />
One of the investigations in respect to China was opened in 2006<br />
involves the commission of genocide during the occupation in Tibet in<br />
tional Tribunal‟s Decision in Guatemalan Generals: Unconditional Universality is<br />
Back”, JICJ, 2006, vol. 4, no. 3, 586-594; Paul Scott, “The Guatemala Genocide<br />
Cases: Universal Jurisdiction and Its Limits” , Journal of Int‟l and Comp. Law, 2009,<br />
vol. 9. This wide interpretation of universal jurisdiction was curtailed by the Spanish<br />
legislat<strong>or</strong> on 15 October 2009 by limiting jurisdiction to those offenses committed by<br />
<strong>or</strong> against Spaniards, <strong>or</strong> where the perpetrat<strong>or</strong>s are in Spain but only f<strong>or</strong> prospective<br />
investigations.<br />
141 “Guatemalan officials dodge genocide extraditions”, Reuters, 17 December 2007.<br />
142 YIHL, 2008, vol. 11, 562.<br />
<strong>FICHL</strong> Publication Series No. 7 (2010) – page 54