The Charles Taylor judgement will be central to the 3rd International Defense Conference on International Criminal Law which will be held in Montreal on 29 September 2012

MONTREAL, April 30, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - On April 26, Charles Taylor was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Sierra Leone between 1996 and 2002. He became the first African head of state to be convicted by an international criminal court. This historic judgement may not represent a victory for international criminal and raises many questions. The alternate judge at the trial, El Hadji Malick Sow, criticised the verdict since it would discredit international criminal justice. Informed observers criticize the neocolonial nature of international justice. Only Africans are charged at the International Criminal Court (ICC) while three members of the Security Council do not accept the jurisdiction of the ICC. A central conference theme is "Justice for whom".

Several aspects of international criminal justice: political issues, evaluation of evidence, investigations, will be discussed by specialists and experienced attorneys, such as Dr Fannie Lafontaine, Professor at the Faculty of Law at Laval University and renowned British barrister, Courtenay Griffiths, Q.C., Counsel for Charles Taylor.

attorney John Philpot  514 272 9150 [email protected]