(Article 6c of the Charter of the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg)
"Crime against humanity is the application of a doctrine denying a group of people their rights as human beings. It is not a crime one person commits against another person but the execution of a concerted plan to exclude some people from the human community."
Pierre Truche in Esprit Numéro 5, 1992
" Trials are not exclusively of people of recent generations Justice continues to be exercised, even against those whose cruelty has not yet been brought before the court." Emmanuel Levinas
Pierre Truche is respected by his peers as a competent, honest and loyal humanist. Since his nomination in July 1996 as First President of the Court of Cassation, he has become more outspoken about crime against humanity.
Pierre Truche was the public prosecutor at Klaus Barbie's trial, which took place in Lyon from May 11th to July 3rd, 1987. He did not yield "in front of what is inhuman therefore unacceptable"and demanded that the torturer of the Izieu children be sentenced to life imprisonment
The Hague International Criminal Court was created on May 25th, 1993, on the initiative of the U.N. Security Council. It is modeled on the Criminal Court for Rwanda, and has its own staff of police officers to lead investigations. The first trial of crimes against humanity committed in ex-Yugoslavia opened in June 1996.
" The Hague International Criminal Court can not be compared to the International Military Tribunal of Nuremberg, which only had to judge top-ranking officials. However, its purpose is not only to judge the "Tadic", declared a magistrate at The Hague.
and the responsibility of great powers"
Henri Leclerc is a criminal lawyer exercising in Paris. Since 1995, he has been the president of the League of Human Rights.
The League of Human Rights
The League of Human Rights has been in existence since 1898. Created
at the time of the Dreyfus Affair, the League was the very first modern
antiracist organization. Its purpose is to defend and to promote the principles
stated in the Declaration of Human Rights of 1789 and 1793, the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights. The League stresses the importance of resorting
to legal pursuits in support of lawful claims.
Criminal lawyer Alain Ottan, currently an officer of the committee of "Juristes sans frontières", was the president of the organization until July 1995. He associated with the public prosecutor in a court action against the Rwandan priest Wenceslas Munyeshayaka, which led to an investigation.
Juristes sans Frontières
This organization, devoted to the defence of human rights, is specifically
composed of legal professionals. ³Juristes sans frontières² has
set itself two main tasks: the struggle against impunity in the commission
of crimes against humanity and judicial cooperation and development in
countries where it is needed. As such, the organization was granted the
status of ³amicus curiæ² (friend of the Court) by the Hague International
Criminal Court.
Michel Massé is professor of criminal law at the ³Institut des sciences criminelles² of the Poitiers University Faculty of Law. His article, ³Le droit de Nuremberg,² appeared in various specialized magazines and was recently published in Le monde juif.
Roland Rappaport is a lawyer who specializes in the defence of human rights, union rights and the struggle against racism and all forms of discrimination.
He defended ³Refuznik² Nathan Chtaransky and pleaded before the military tribunal during the Algerian war. In 1987, he worked with the public prosecutor at Klaus Barbie's trial, acting as counsel for Léon Reifman and Sabine Zlatin. He also engaged legal proceedings against Faurisson. He went on different assignments as an observer: in Greece, under the rule of the military Junta, in pro-Franco Spain, and in Iran during the Shah's reign.
Roland Rappaport is the administrator and cultural advisor of the Musée-mémorial
des enfants d'Izieu.
Most of Bernard Latarjet's career has been in French cultural administration. From 1984 to 1987, he was the chairman of the Cinémathèque française. From 1987 to 1991, he was the director of the Fondation de France, then, special advisor to the Minister of Culture (1991-1992). From 1992 to 1995, he occupied a post at the Office of the President of the Republic, where he took care of cultural affairs and of ²Grands Travaux »*.
On April 30th, 1995, he became the president of the Association du Musée-mémorial
des enfants d'Izieu. Since February 1996, he has also been the president
of the Parc et Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris.
She is the commissionner of the permanent exhibition at the Musée-mémorial des enfants d'Izieu.
* a program of inaugural building projects undertaken by the State
