Alex Preve

Can USG personnel be held liable, under ICL, for aiding and abetting war crimes committed by the Saudi coalition in #Yemen? My piece follows great scholarship from @kevinjonheller and @oonahathaway law.georgetown.edu/international-…

🔴 #BREAKING | 🇲🇽 🇺🇸 Five families file a civil lawsuit in the U.S. against former Nayarit prosecutor Edgar Veytia for acts of torture. The extraterritorial case has been activated under the Torture Victim Protection Act (TVPA). Read our full statement.

📢 PRESS RELEASE ⚖️ Argentina Court issues arrest warrants for genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the Rohingya community On 13 February 2025, a federal criminal court in Buenos Aires, Argentina ordered arrest warrants against 25 Myanmar government officials for the crime of #genocide and crimes against humanity committed against the #Rohingya community between 2012 and 2018. This is the first time that arrest warrants have been issued against the Myanmar military for the crime of genocide, following the horrific “clearance operations” in 2017 that led to the death of at least 10,000 people and left 700,000 Rohingya forcibly displaced. Seven brave Rohingya witnesses, six of whom are women including survivors of severe sexual violence in Myanmar, gave critical evidence in this case in 2023, supported by @LegalActionWW. When LAW spoke to these witnesses today, they were overwhelmed with a sense of hope seeing that their efforts culminated into an important step towards justice for their community. "I feel happy to hear about the [arrest warrants] decision because we know the perpetrators well, and we must ensure that they are punished for their actions. Who would have thought that we, the Rohingya women, would be taking the Myanmar military to the court one day… The loss we have endured can never be undone but justice must be sought so that if not us, our future generations can return to our homeland. Even today, our people continue to face oppression in Myanmar and are forced to flee. If those responsible for these atrocities are not held to account, they will continue to harm us.” - said one of the survivors Haseeba* who testified before the court in Buenos Aires. The arrest warrants order by the Argentine Court includes senior military leaders including the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Min Aung Hlaing, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, Soe Win, and the former commander of the Western Command, Maung Maung Soe, as well as low-ranking officials identified as direct perpetrators of the crimes. This landmark order follows the 28 June 2024 request for arrest warrants from the Prosecutor Guillermo Marijuán, to seek statements from the identified perpetrators under Article 294 of the Argentinian Code of Criminal Procedure. This investigation under the principle of universal jurisdiction, was initiated following a complaint filed by the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK (BROUK) in November 2019. Argentina is now expected to request INTERPOL’s Red Notices for these identified individuals. Once the Red Notices have been issued, other countries will be able to execute these arrest warrants and extradite these individuals to Argentina to face a preliminary hearing. “LAW has been constantly fighting alongside Rohingya survivors for their justice for more than eight years. Through their phenomenal courage and bravery, the witnesses have shown the enormous impact that their voices can have in ensuring that accountability efforts move forward despite all the hurdles. This is a historic step that challenges the impunity and perceived invincibility enjoyed by the Myanmar military for not only its crimes against the Rohingya but also its ongoing crimes against civilians across the country.” said @AntoniaMulvey, Executive Director of LAW. This development has arrived in the backdrop of the @IntlCrimCourt Prosecutor’s recent application for an arrest warrant for the Commander-in-Chief, Min Aung Hlaing, and the anticipated International Court of Justice (@CIJ_ICJ) hearings in Gambia v. Myanmar case later this year – demonstrating a pivotal moment, which must be leveraged by the international community to isolate the military regime in #Myanmar and challenge its ongoing reign of violence and the entrenched #impunity. 👉🏼 Download full press release: bit.ly/4b2KZGN

My message of support for justice & accountability for atrocities in #Burma. Additionally our thoughts are with those still affected by Typhoon Yagi. The U.S. stands ready to assist those in need. @USAsiaPacific

While the @UN #CyberOEWG is in full swing in New York, #Ukraine announced it had deleted the entire tax database belonging to #Russia’s Federal Tax Authority. Assuming it's true, would such a cyber operation be lawful under #IHL? My newest for @ejiltalk: ejiltalk.org/nothing-is-cer…

Election of Professor Sarah H. Cleveland to the International Court of Justice - United States Department of State state.gov/election-of-pr…

An important episode in which @lindsaysfreeman highlights the submissions of @hrcberkeley to the ICC OTP Re cyber war crimes. There are open questions for ICC judges, incl. whether civilian data constitutes a civilian object for purposes of an attack under #ihl (I say yes)

This is a timely article on the need to update Ch. 16 of the DoD Law of War manual to reflect areas of #ihl that have become less “unsettled” in the #cyber context since Dec. 2016. Hats off to Emily Bobenrieth for excellent analysis

NEW: The International Criminal Court at the Hague will now investigate and prosecute any hacking crimes that violate existing international law, just as it does for war crimes committed in the physical world. wired.trib.al/pS80F08

An excellent article by @DuncanHollis and @chris4short_ on Costa Rica's position paper re: application of IL to cyberspace. As an enrollee in the @CyberLawInt Executive Course, it's fascinating to read where there is state consensus vs. divergence lawfaremedia.org/article/a-vict…

The 2023 Elie Wiesel Act Report details U.S. efforts to address genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity around the world. It illustrates our whole-of-government actions to prevent and respond to atrocities. Read more: state.gov/2023-report-to…

@BCFinucane @StateDept @StephenPomper @S_R_Anders I think some determinations create political momentum for pursuing accountability, e.g., US's genocide determination re: Darfur created political momentum that allowed US to refrain from vetoing UNSC referral of situation to ICC, as Todd Buchwald notes ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Todd_Bu…

@BCFinucane @StateDept As @StephenPomper and @S_R_Anders have noted, the formal determination by L (1) triggers treaty obligations (as to genocide and war crimes) and (2) frees political officials to use the terms freely. #2 seems to be the more important consequence in practice

@BCFinucane Brian — isn’t it more accurate to say that the Bolton letter reflected the US’s “intention … not to become a party to the [Rome Statute]” pursuant to Article 18(a) of the VCLT? To be clear, I think we should ratify Rome Statute, but the term “unsign” is misleading IMO

This is excellent news and an important step forward in the US’s relationship with the #ICC and its efforts to facilitate accountability for atrocity crimes committed in Ukraine

Hamilton & Curling discuss responsibilities of social media companies under Section 230 of CDA, incl. recent suit brought by Rohingya against Meta in ND Cal. I discussed the Rohingya suit in a recent article for @TL_Blog: tlblog.org/doe-v-meta-and…

@bechamilton & Rosa Curling have published a brilliant article on @just_security about Meta’s failure to invest the necessary resources to moderate/remove extremist content outside of US & Canada: justsecurity.org/84982/facebook…

The US can start by: (1) criminalizing crimes against humanity and broadening jurisdiction for torture and genocide, (2) prioritizing prosecutions of substantive human rights and atrocity crimes cases, and (3) better supporting accountability efforts in foreign & int'l courts.

Published today on @just_security, my piece about how the new Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act improves the prospects of accountability for atrocity crimes in US courts. But the US can and should do much more to support international justice. justsecurity.org/84737/closing-…

TLB is excited to feature a guest post by Vivek Krishnamurthy (@vivekdotca) on global injunctions against US tech companies,esp. the Equustek v. Google case and its aftermath. @AnupamChander @alexanderwpreve @DavidSloss6 @andrewkwoods tlblog.org/throwback-thur…

I would highly commend the article. Thanks for a great podcast!

This could disrupt Ukraine’s effort to establish an int’l commission to adjudicate claims for compensation arising out of Russia’s actions. Frozen Russian assets could also be imp’t leverage in post-war settlement negotiations.

@steve_vladeck @BobbyChesney @NSLpodcast not sure if you take audience topic requests, but I would love to hear your take on the recent SFRC Resolution designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism