Articles : LAW.com: Debevoise Pro Bono Team Advise on War Crime Charges for Tigray Survivors in Germany

Eight survivors of the 2020-2022 conflict in Tigray, Ethiopia, including a former humanitarian aid worker and a former interim government official, have filed a criminal complaint in Germany accusing 12 senior Ethiopian and Eritrean government officials and military officers of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

A Debevoise & Plimpton team of seven led by Catherine Amirfar, co-chair of the firm’s International Dispute Resolution and Public International Law Groups, are providing pro bono counsel to Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), an independent, non-profit group of human rights lawyers and jurists who work for justice in fragile and conflict affected areas. Amirfar, a member of the Debevoise managing council, is overseeing six associates.

Debevoise and LAW are working with the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights and Berlin-based criminal law firm Oehmichen International.A criminal complaint has been filed with the German federal public prosecutor as many of the survivors now live in Germany and because authorities have successfully used the principle of universal jurisdiction to prosecute crimes that occurred in Syria, Gambia, and Iraq.

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