Maandelijks archief: juni 2019

Extraterritorial liability for corrupt practices

On 13 June 2019, I was invited to speak in The Hague at the book launch of the new Commentary on the UN Convention against Corruption (Oxford University Press 2019, edited by Cecily Rose et al.). For this book, Friederycke Haijer and I (both Ucall) wrote a commentary to the jurisdictional article of the Convention (Article 42 UNCAC). At the launch, I addressed the question whether a state could hold a person liable for ‘extraterritorial’ corrupt practices – practices that largely take place outside the regulating state. I argue that, in principle, it can do so, but that extraterritorial liability is not limitless. Especially expansive US enforcement practices, which are based on only a tenuous US connection, may amount to jurisdictional overreach.   Lees verder

Challenges of universal jurisdiction: the Argentinian Complaint against Franco-era crimes and the lack of cooperation of the Spanish judicial authorities

In October 2018, the Central Criminal Court of the Spanish National Court (Audiencia Nacional) rejected the admission of two international rogatory commissions requested by the Argentinian courts in relation to the investigation of crimes against humanity. The alleged crimes relate to torture, murder, forced disappearance of persons and abduction of minors committed in Spain during the Francoist regime in the period between 15 July 1936 and 15 June 1977. These crimes are being investigated in Argentina under the principle of universal jurisdiction. This post analyses the legal arguments posed by the judicial authorities in Argentina and Spain to admit or reject the investigation into crimes against humanity committed during Franco’s dictatorship. Lees verder