Christopher Black is an international criminal lawyer and political activist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in high-profile human rights cases investigating alleged war crimes in Rwanda (see Rwandan Genocide) and the former Yugoslavia. Motto: Ut Incepit Fidelis Sic Permanet (Latin: Loyal she began, loyal she remains) Official languages None Flower White Trillium Tree Eastern White Pine Bird Common Loon Capital Toronto Largest city Toronto Lieutenant-Governor James K. Bartleman Premier Dalton McGuinty (Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 106 24 Area Total... Human rights are rights which some hold to be inalienable and belonging to all humans. ... In the context of war, a war crime is a punishable offense under International Law, for violations of the laws of war by any person or persons, military or civilian. ... The Rwandan Genocide (French: Génocide au Rwanda) was the massacre of an estimated 800,000 to 1,071,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, mostly carried out by two extremist Hutu militia groups, the Interahamwe and the Impuzamugambi, during a period of about 100 days from April... Yugoslavia (Jugoslavija in Latin, Југославија in Cyrillic, English: Land of the South Slavs) describes four political entities that existed one at a time on the Balkan Peninsula in Europe, during most of the 20th century. ...

Career

Relating to the Rwandan Genocide

Black has written several articles about the role of the ad hoc war crimes tribunals as instruments of US war policy and regarding the 1994 conflict in Rwanda, arguing that its standard interpretation as a genocide of the country's Tutsi population is misleading and fraudulent. He notes that the Tutsi-led Rwandese Patriotic Front had been conducting a war of aggression from Uganda against Rwanda with U.S. and British support since 1990, and alleges that the RPF was responsible for the 1994 plane crash which killed the Hutu presidents of Burundi and Rwanda. Black also argues that many of the deaths which occurred in the resulting upheaval were perpetrated by RPF members, rather than by the extremist Hutu groups which have generally been held responsible for the country's descent into chaos. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... Look up Genocide in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Tutsi are one of three native peoples of the nations of Rwanda and Burundi in central Africa, the other two being the Twa and the Hutu. ... The Rwandese Patriotic Front or Rwandan Patriotic Front, abbreviated as RPF (also often referred to as FPR from French: Front patriotique rwandais), is the current ruling political party of Rwanda, led by President Paul Kagame. ... This article is about the year. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

Black is currently defending Augustin Ndindiliyimana, the former head of Rwanda's Gendarmerie or National Police Force, before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania. He and other defence lawyers went on strike in early 2004, claiming that the tribunal was being used by the U.S. for political ends and that a fair hearing was impossible. He has been the subject of several death threats as a result of his work at the Rwanda tribunal and the subject of threats and intimidation from the current RPF Rwandan regime. Augustin Ndindiliyimana (born 1943) is a former Rwandan general. ... Wanted poster for the ICTR The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is a court under the auspices of the United Nations for the prosecution of offenses committed in Rwanda during the genocide which occurred there during April, 1994, commencing on April 6. ... Arusha Clocktower Arusha with a view of Mount Meru This article refers to the city of Arusha. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Motto: (traditional) In God We Trust (official, 1956–present) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington, D.C. Largest city New York City Official language(s) None at the federal level; English de facto Government Federal Republic  - President George W. Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence - Declared - Recognized...

Relating to the former Yugoslavia

Black has also criticized the detainment of Slobodan Milošević at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. He has met with Milošević on many occasions, and claims that he is completely innocent of the charges raised against him. On one occasion, Black argued that Milošević had been consistently committed to a multi-ethnic Yugoslavia during his time in government. Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević Slobodan MiloÅ¡ević   (IPA Serbian Cyrillic: Слободан Милошевић) (Požarevac, 20 August 1941 – The Hague, 11 March 2006) was President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia. ... The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), is a body of the United Nations (UN) established to... Arms of The Hague Flag of The city of The Hague. ...

Black has also argued that the leaders of NATO should themselves be brought before the tribunal for war crimes, and was one of a group of Canadian lawyers who laid war crimes charges against all Nato leaders and officers in 1999 for the bombing of Yugoslavia. He has described former tribunal chief prosecutor, and current head of the UN Human Rights Commission, Louise Arbour, as an unindicted war criminal, because of her cooperation with NATO leaders during the 1999 bombing of Serbia and because, as Chief Prosecutor at the Rwanda War Crimes Tribunal she stopped the investigation into the murder of the Hutu Presidents of Rwanda and Burundi on April 6th 1994 when their plane was shot down by anti-aircraft missiles after she learned that the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) were responsible.^{[citation needed]} He states she stopped the investigation on the orders of the USA. Black also helped to create the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milošević (ICDSM), is a vice-chair of that committee and is chair of its legal committee, although he does not have a formal role at Milošević's trial. NATO 2002 Summit in Prague The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation[1] (NATO), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, the Atlantic Alliance or the Western Alliance, is an international organisation for collective security established in 1949, in support of the North Atlantic Treaty signed in Washington, DC, on 4 April 1949. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ...

He has also assisted the legal team of Dr. Seselj, the head of the Serbian Radical Party, also held in detention by the ICTY.

Politics and other work

In addition to his legal career, Black helped establish the Unemployed Workers' Council in Toronto in 1996. He has also campaigned for political office as a candidate of the Communist Party of Canada and its provincial affiliate, the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario. 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. ... The Communist Party of Ontario is the Ontario, Canada provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada. ...

In 2003 he travelled to Beijing, China and The Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea with a team of American lawyers to meet with Korean lawyers in Pyonyang and subsequently co-authored a report on conditions in the DPRK. He states that the DPRK is a progressive, socialist country deserving the support of all progressive peoples around the world. He is also a member of the Committee To Defend the Cuba Five. He contributed a chapter on Central Africa and a chapter on North Korea in the Atlas Alternatif published by Les Temps des Cerises in Paris, 2006, a broad survey of the struggle against global imperialism since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

He has been invited to speak on the ad hoc war crimes tribunals and international criminal law in Britain, Canada, the United States, Russia, Cuba, Yugoslavia, Germany, The Netherlands, and France and has been interviewed on the BBC, CBC, CNN, ABC and various other media regarding international law and justice. He is a member of the American Association of Jurists, and the National Lawyers Guild of America. He graduated from McMaster University, Hons B.A. Summa Cum Laude and Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, LL.B. and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He speaks English, French and Swahili. McMaster University is a medium-sized research-intensive university located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, with an enrollment of 18,238 full-time and 3,836 part-time students (as of 2006). ... Osgoode Hall Law School of York University was established by The Law Society of Upper Canada in 1889. ... York University, located in Toronto, Ontario, is Canadas third-largest university. ... The Law Society of Upper Canada (LSUC) is responsible for the self-regulation of lawyers in the province of Ontario. ...

External links

• Racism, Murder and Lies in Rwanda, article by Black
• NATO Forces behind International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague
• Louise Arbour: Unindicted War Criminal (co-written with Edward S. Herman)
• The Dallaire Genocide Fax: A Fabrication
• Who Killed Agathe, The Death Of A Prime Minister