CIJA and BSI organise UK visit for Donetsk war crimes prosecutors
A delegation of senior war crimes prosecutors from Donetsk region in Ukraine has arrived in London today to discuss their work to investigate and prosecute crimes relating to culture, cultural property and heritage. The visit forms a part of a joint project led by Blue Shield International (BSI) and The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA)
A delegation of senior war crimes prosecutors from Donetsk region in Ukraine has arrived in London today to discuss their work to investigate and prosecute crimes relating to culture, cultural property and heritage. The visit forms a part of a joint project led by Blue Shield International (BSI) and The Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA).
The visit will bring together prosecutors from the Donetsk Regional Prosecutor´s Office and various representatives of the UK law enforcement and relevant ministries including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). It marks the culmination of a 12-month, DCMS funded, assistance initiative delivered by BSI and CIJA to support the Office of the Prosecutor General at both national and regional level, strengthening capacity to investigate and prosecute crimes against heritage and cultural identity.
Donetsk region has been among the areas most affected by damage to cultural sites, including museums, religious buildings and historic landmarks. For the past year, the project partners have worked on real-time investigations and cases to address those crimes. Protecting cultural heritage is critical for safeguarding identity, history and collective memory. Efforts to investigate and prosecute crimes against heritage are therefore an essential component of broader accountability processes. By strengthening legal capacity and international cooperation, initiatives such as this programme aim to ensure that the protection of cultural heritage remains a central pillar of justice and reconstruction.
Sabri Essid convicted in absentia France for genocide against Yezidis: CIJA testified on IS enslavement policies
On Friday 20 March, Sabri Essid was convicted for genocide and crimes against humanity against the Yezidis. The Cour de Assises in Paris found Essid guilty of direct perpetration of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against two Yezidi women and children in Syria. He was also convicted of complicity in genocide for participating in the transfer of an enslaved Yezidi woman and her children in Syria.
On Friday 20 March, Sabri Essid was convicted for genocide and crimes against humanity against the Yezidis. The Cour de Assises in Paris found Essid guilty of direct perpetration of genocide and crimes against humanity committed against two Yezidi women and children in Syria. He was also convicted of complicity in genocide for participating in the transfer of an enslaved Yezidi woman and her children in Syria.
Presiding judge Marc Sommerer noted that “Essid became part of the criminal network repeatedly buying and reselling a very large number of Yezidi victims” and that IS had specifically targeted the Yezidi minority for its religious beliefs.
An expert from the Commission for International Justice and Accountability testified at length to the court, alongside the detailed testimony of two Yezidi victim plaintiffs and civil parties. The expert evidence focused on IS enslavement policies and general modus operandi, drawing on evidence collected by CIJA’s Syrian and Iraqi investigators since 2014 and analysed in a 440-page legal brief on the Enslavement of Women and Children by Islamic State in Northern Iraq and Syria.
Using IS internal documents, the testimony demonstrated that IS operated a highly organised, well-regulated slave trade, where the extermination and enslavement of ‘non-believing peoples’ such as the Yezidis was one of the criminal means through which IS sought to establish an Islamic Caliphate in Iraq and Syria and implementing its fundamentalist interpretation of Sharia.
Based on detailed analysis, and at least 12 IS documents which establish IS enslavement policy, the expert outlined five distinct steps of the IS criminal plan:
(i) Massive military operations included the Yezidi homeland in Sinjar as well as other ethnic minorities;
(ii) Detention and separation of women and children and their categorisation into groups;
(iii) Systematic distribution of women and girls to individual slave owners as sabaya (so-called female spoils of war);
(iv) Extensive regulation of the slave trade across the IS military and administrative apparatus between 2014 and at least October 2017;
(v) Complete control exercised by IS members over the sexual activities and reproduction of enslaved women and children.
At the conclusion of the five-day trial, Essid was convicted of direct perpetration of genocide of serious bodily or mental harm as well as crimes against humanity of enslavement, imprisonment, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts carried out against two Yezidi women and their children. He was also convicted for complicity for the participation in the transfer of a Yezidi woman and her children from one site of enslavement to another which amounted to genocide of serious bodily or mental harm.
This judgment marks France’s first genocide conviction for crimes committed against the Yezidis by IS. It follows other recent convictions of IS members for genocide against Yezidis, including of Taha al-J. in Germany and Lina Ishaq in Sweden. CIJA supported each of these cases.
Samir Ousman al-Sheikh convicted for torture, immigration and naturalisation fraud
On 16 March 2026, Samir Ousman al-Sheikh was convicted by the US Central District Court for California for three counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture carried out in his role as the Head of Adra Prison.
On 16 March 2026, Samir Ousman al-Sheikh was convicted by the US Central District Court for California for three counts of torture and one count of conspiracy to commit torture carried out in his role as the Head of Adra Prison. CIJA has assisted US in their investigation into Samir Ousman al-Sheikh since 2021, responding to six RFAs with 71 pages of Regime documents, an analytical report and 75 redacted witness interviews which confirmed his role and responsibilities as Head of Adra Prison between 2005 2008, Governor of Deir ez-Zour and Head of the Deir ez-Zour Security Committee in 2011. CIJA also hosted one office briefing for prosecutors in the case.
The Future of International Criminal Law in a Changing World
On 05 March 2026, CIJA and Temple Garden Chambers hosted a panel discussion, “The Future of International Criminal Law in a Changing World,” at The London Library in what was a thoughtful and engaging evening.
On 05 March 2026, CIJA and Temple Garden Chambers hosted a panel discussion, “The Future of International Criminal Law in a Changing World,” at The London Library in what was a thoughtful and engaging evening.
Speakers included:
Sir Howard Morrison KCMG CBE KC - Former Judge at the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, former President of the ICC Appeals Division, and currently the UK adviser on war crimes to Ukraine.
Nerma Jelacic - Director of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability and former Head of Communications at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Rodney Dixon KC - Barrister at Temple Garden Chambers, co-author of Archbold International, and counsel in leading cases before the ICC and ICJ.
Andrew C. CMG KC - Barrister at Temple Garden Chambers, former ICC Principal Trial Lawyer, and International Chief Prosecutor of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia.
The discussion was chaired by Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers.
The Torontonian podcast: A brother’s search for justice in Syria
CIJA’s Executive Director Bill Wiley joined The Torontonian Podcast, where he discussed the moral and physical courage of CIJA’s Syrian investigators, who spent 14 years collecting evidence of the Assad regime’s brutality during the civil war.
Listen here: https://torontonianpodcast.ca/ep207/
CIJA’s Executive Director Bill Wiley joined The Torontonian Podcast, where he discussed the moral and physical courage of CIJA’s Syrian investigators, who spent 14 years collecting evidence of the Assad regime’s brutality during the civil war.
Listen here: https://torontonianpodcast.ca/ep207/