Human Rights Litigation

LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY

LAA strives to hold accountable all actors perpetuating the instability in Libya as well as entities implicated in gross human rights violations, sweeping human rights abuses, and war crimes – whether a Libyan citizen, militias, external backer, foreign national, or state-affiliated mercenary. To that end, LAA has consulted on a suit against a warlord and another on U.S. arms sales to a welldocumented human rights violator. LAA has also compiled evidence on the military academy bombing, the Tajoura detention centre airstrike, the Tarhuna mass graves, the activities of the Kremlin-linked Wagner Group, and a possible link between Erik Prince and Khalifa Haftar.

Image from 2020 Guardian article

MILITARY ACADEMY BOMBING

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

Image from 2018 Brookings article

RUBBLE FROM UAE AIRSTRIKE IN YEMEN

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

Image from Washington Post article

TARHUNA MASS GRAVES

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

Image from 2019 time article

TAJOURA DC AIRSTRIKE

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

Image from Radio Free Europe 2020 article

WAGNER GROUP IN LIBYA

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

Image from New York Times 2021 article

ERIK PRINCELIBYA CONNECTION

BBC investigation from UAE involved in killing 25+ unarmeds cadets

THE SUIT
AGAINST HAFTAR

LAA has been lead consultant on a lawsuit filed by attorney Faisal Gill on June 26, 2019 against Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar for his role in ordering and facilitating the deaths of several civilians who lost their lives during the Libyan National Army’s April 2019 Tripoli offensive.

On April 4, 2019, forces loyal to Haftar advanced on Tripoli and, through this offensive, are accused of indiscriminately launching rockets and targeting nonmilitary targets, civilians, and medical facilities. This indiscriminate shelling sets the foundation for the lawsuit against Haftar.

TIMELINE

CONSULTATIONS

We Are Confident That We Will Be Able to Prove Haftar’s Individual Culpability in the Lna’s Documented Record of Human Rights Abuses, and That the Surviving Family Members of Those Killed Will Receive Justice in the United States’ Courts.

Faisal Gill

Plaintiffs' Attorney

"Progress on any meaningful justice or accountability in Libya has, unfortunately, been slow-moving. Nonetheless, international mechanisms for documentation and investigation such as the Independent Fact-Finding Mission on Libya (FFM) and the International Criminal Court, as well as human rights organizations such as the Libyan American Alliance, Lawyers for Justice in Libya, and the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), have stepped in to fill the gaps and lay the necessary groundwork for future accountability."

Beth Van Schaack

United States Ambassador
at Large for Global Criminal Justice.

LEGAL ACCOUNTABILITY

On January 4, 2020, while 50 unarmed firstyear cadets practiced drills at Al-Hadba Military Academy in Tripoli, an explosion scattered the group, killing more than 25 cadets. United Nations (UN) envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame attributed the lethal drone strike to a country supporting Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA). LNA Spokesperson Ahmed al-Mesmari denied responsibility, but LNA Brigadier General Khalid al-Mahjoub stated that the LNA received information that militia groups were receiving training at the academy.

A BBC investigation found that the attack was executed by a Chinese Blue Arrow 7 laser-guided missile fired from a Chinesemanufactured Wing Loong II drone, and that at the time of the attack, Wing Loong II drones were present at one air base in Libya: Benghazi’s al-Khadim air base in the LNA-controlled eastern territory. A 2019 Final Report of the UN Panel of Experts found that the UAE had violated the UN arms embargo by sending Wing Loong drones and Blue Arrow 7 missiles into Libya, as well as providing military material to Haftar’s forces.

THE WAGNER GROUP IN LIBYA

A reliable body of information indicate that individuals associated with the Russian private military company, yet Kremlinlinked, Wagner Group have been present in Libya as mercenaries in support of Khalifa Haftar’s LNA. The Wagner operatives have advised and enabled Haftar’s 2019 Tripoli offensive through military material provision, paramilitary training, combat support (e.g. snipers), ISR, and deploying PMC personnel to key oil facilities. U.S. AFRICOM, UN fact-finding missions and final reports, and international media outlets have detailed the air support and covert operations of Russia in Libya vis-àvis the Wagner Group. These sources hold the group responsible for sniper attacks, indiscriminately mining civilian areas, and shooting detainees.

A recovered Samsung tablet believed to belong to Wagner operatives shed new light on the group’s operations in Libya – from troop movements to booby-trapping. The tablet had a map showing 35 locations where land mines were planted near civilian buildings, in areas abandoned by retreating eastern forces. By indiscriminately emplacing land mines, IEDs, and other unexploded ordnance in residential areas in Libya, there are reasonable grounds to believe that Wagner personnel and the LNA have violated the IHL principle of proportionality, and by failing to engage in mine clearance, Wagner personnel and the LNA have also violated the right to life.