U.S. sanctions against its judges and prosecutors, contempt for its authority: attacks against the International Criminal Court continue relentlessly. National courts, however, have picked up the mantle in prosecuting international crimes and this movement has now become the true flagship of international criminal justice.
Switzerland, despite its historic role in advancing global anti-torture conventions, still lacks a national law criminalizing torture. Director of Civitas Maxima and laywer Alain Werner urges Parliament to correct this gap, aligning Swiss law with international standards to ensure accountability, justice, and protection for all.
On October 31, the Legal Affairs Committee of the National Council (CAJ-N) decided to continue its work on the preliminary draft of the federal law on the inclusion of torture in the Swiss Criminal Code, paving the way for its consideration by Parliament. This specific criminalization of torture responds to a concrete imperative: to enable Switzerland to prosecute torturers who seek refuge on its territory.
After over a decade of investigations, the Ghent Court of First Instance has closed the investigation against Martina Johnson, accused of war crimes during Liberia’s civil war. A hearing will now determine if the case goes to trial.
Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis’s suggestion to grant Vladimir Putin immunity for peace talks undermines international justice. Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima, warns that such a move, though legally possible, would violate Switzerland’s obligations to the ICC and weaken its credibility as a defender of international law.
Laye Sekou Camara, high-ranking member of the LURD group, has been sentenced on 11th September to 57 months in prison by the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. On 16 January 2025, he plead guilty to four counts of immigration fraud.
Israeli journalists, academics, and rights groups are documenting atrocities in Gaza, exposing mass civilian deaths, deliberate attacks, and use of human shields. Their evidence, corroborated internationally, forms a crucial record against impunity—ensuring these crimes cannot be erased, even amid political pressure to silence accountability.
On June 16 Civitas Maxima attended the “Strategies and prospects in prosecuting enforced disappearances: harmonizing the law and coordinating actors” seminar. This expert seminar aimed at better understanding the causes of enforced disappearances’ poor record of criminal convictions and formulating strategies to put in place to remedy this situation.
On 30 June 2025, the Audiencia Nacional, the Spanish court entrusted with jurisdiction over international crimes committed abroad, reopened the pre-trial investigation into international crimes allegedly committed by a Spanish national during the civil war that ravaged Sierra Leone from 1991 to 2002.
As war today seems to be the only agenda for some major powers, including a war against justice itself, all those who still uphold the values of international law must unite on the side of all victims, without discrimination, and support any genuine pursuit of justice, writes Alain Werner, director of Civitas Maxima.
