Netherlands

AMSTERDAM, June 27 (Reuters) - European policing agency Europol said on Tuesday that the takedown of Encrochat, an underground company that offered criminals supposedly secure encrypted communications, led to more than 6,500 arrests and 900 million euros ($980 million) in seized assets.

The system had an estimated 60,000 users when it shut down abruptly in June 2020, and Europol revealed the following month that law enforcement officials had been intercepting users' communications for months.

16 June 2023; MEMO: Hamas called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that a "legal remedy" is given to the Palestinian victims of the Israeli occupation's "terrorism", a statement issued on the movement's official website said.

On the occasion of the ICC's new strategic plans for the years 2023-2025, Hamas urged the court to "demonstrate progress in the Palestine case."

AMSTERDAM, June 16 (Reuters) - It is "highly likely" that the collapse of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine was caused by explosives planted by Russians, a team of legal experts assisting Ukraine's prosecutors in their investigation said in preliminary findings released on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Ukraine of destroying the Kakhovka dam as a Western-backed tactic to escalate the conflict.

Ukraine is investigating the blast as a war crime and possible criminal environmental destruction, or "ecocide".

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday he is opening a preliminary probe in Congo after the African nation asked him to investigate alleged crimes in its North Kivu province since January last year.

13 June 2023; MEMO: One hundred and thirty-five prominent figures and several human rights groups have sent a letter today to Karim Khan, urging the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to discharge his duty and address the ongoing breaches of international humanitarian law committed by the state of Israel against Palestinians living under its occupation.

AMSTERDAM, June 13 (Reuters) - A Dutch intelligence agency tipped off the CIA about an alleged Ukrainian plan in June 2022 to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, Dutch national broadcaster NOS reported on Tuesday.

The NOS report, which was compiled with help from leading German media outlets, did not identify its sources.

It said that the Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD had warned the CIA of the existence of such a plan, leading to a warning from Washington to Kyiv not to attack the pipeline.

VOLKEL AIR BASE, Netherlands June 12 (Reuters) - Ukrainian pilots could begin training to fly U.S.-manufacture F-16 fighter jets as soon as this summer, the Dutch defense minister has told Reuters, a first step toward supplying Kyiv with a powerful, long-term capability in its war with Russia.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — United Nations judges have declared an 88-year-old Rwandan genocide suspect unfit to continue standing trial because he has dementia and said they would establish a procedure to go on hearing evidence without the possibility of convicting him.

The majority decision published Wednesday by judges at the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals means no guilty verdict can be reached in the trial of Félicien Kabuga, one of the last fugitives charged in connection with the 1994 genocide.

THE HAGUE, June 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has increased prison sentences on two top former Serbian security officials.

Jovica Stanišic and Franko Simatovic were convicted of training death squads accused of ethnic cleansing during the break-up of Yugoslavia.

They will serve 15 years instead of the 12 they were originally given in 2021.

The court’s final verdict on the former Yugoslavia is also the first to prove a direct link between the Serbian state and a campaign of ethnic cleansing.

AMSTERDAM, May 20 (Reuters) - The member states of the International Criminal Court on Saturday said they are "deeply concerned" by Russia's decision to place a court prosecutor and several judges on a wanted list.

The ICC's British prosecutor, Karim Khan, has been added to the Russian Interior Ministry's wanted list, state-owned news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing the ministry's database.