Glossary

A

Acquittal (Verdict/decision): Official decision in a court of law that the defendant is not guilty of the crime(s) for which they were prosecuted.

Active personality jurisdiction (Jurisdictional basis): The competence of a State to pursue crimes committed abroad by one or more of its citizens.

Alleged crimes / charges: Alleged crimes: an investigation is opened on specific crimes but the suspect has not yet been formally indicted.

Charges: the suspect is formally accused by the prosecuting authorities of specific crimes.

(To display the crimes for which the accused was convicted or acquitted, tick the box “Convicted of” or “Acquitted of”.)

Amnesty (Legal issues): Legal measures that prevent the prosecution of individuals or groups of individuals for crimes committed before the adoption of the amnesty law.

Appeal (Status of the procedure): Appeal procedures in the State of prosecution. This filter does not apply to procedure before regional courts (for example the European Court of Human Rights) or international courts.

C

Case closed (Status of the procedure): The proceedings are officially closed and the verdict or decision is final.

Case dismissed (Verdict/decision): Formal decision to close a criminal prosecution or an investigation.

Children (Specific topics): A person who is a minor, meaning below the age of 18 (according to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). In the context of the filter “specific topics”, only cases where children were victims are selected for this filter.

Company (Individual/company): An entity with legal personality involved in business – commercial, industrial or financial – activities.

Compensation: Monetary sum for the victims ordered by a court of law as compensation for the harm they suffered.

Conviction (Verdict/decision): Official decision in a court of law that the defendant is guilty of one or several crime(s) for which they were prosecuted.

Country of commission: The country in which the alleged crimes were committed.
The number of results according to the filter “country of commission” is sometimes higher than the results with the “country of prosecution” filter because, for some cases, crimes were committed in several countries while the investigation or prosecution is carried out in one country only.

Country of prosecution: The country that is investigating or prosecuting the alleged crimes committed abroad.

Crimes against humanity (Alleged crimes/charges): Specific crimes committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population. These crimes include murder, torture, sexual violence, enslavement, persecution, enforced disappearance, etc. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity can also be committed in peacetime, and contrary to genocide, they are not necessarily committed against a specific national, ethnical, racial or religious group.

D

Detained (Status of the suspect): The suspect is sentenced to prison by a court of law, is in detention during the investigation or while awaiting the trial. This filter is also applied for suspended prison sentences or alternative measures to imprisonment such as surveillance through the use of an electronic bracelet. Individuals that were sentenced to jail and released at the end of their sentences are still in the category “detained”. The objective of this filter is to know in how many cases suspects are in pre-trial detention or defendants are sentenced to jail. For this reason, TRIAL International will not track the movements of individuals after they served their sentences.

E

Economic actor (Individual/company): A company or individual involved in commercial, industrial or financial business activities.

Enforced disappearances (Alleged crimes/charges): Enforced disappearance is the act of making someone disappear against their will, often suddenly. It therefore refers to the arrest, detention or abduction of a person, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the fate of that person. This filter is applied only when the crime of enforced disappearance is a stand-alone crime and not qualified as a war crime or a crime against humanity.

Environment (Specific topics): In the context of the filter “specific topics”, only cases have been selected where the harm to the environment is part of the crime committed and not only a consequence.

G

Gender of the suspect: As defined in the International Criminal Court Policy on the Crime of Gender Persecution of 2022, gender refers to sex characteristics and social constructs and criteria used to define maleness and femaleness, including roles, behaviors, activities and attributes. As a social construct, gender varies within societies and from society to society and can change over time. In the map, N/A refers to companies or unknown economic actors.

Genocide (Alleged crimes/charges): Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:

  • Killing members of the group;
  • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
  • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
  • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
  • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Immunity (Legal issues): Legal privilege granted to certain State officials barring their prosecution. Functional immunities are attached to the function (i.e. cover acts performed in an official capacity) and survives the end of office. Personal immunities are attached to the persons because of their position (i.e. all acts performed, whether in a private or official capacity) and last as long as the person remains in office.

Indicted (Status of the procedure): The suspect is formally accused by the prosecuting authorities of specific crimes.

J

Journalists (Specific topics): In the context of the filter “specific topics”, cases where the victims of the crime were reporters, correspondents, newspersons, bloggers and other professions related to the media were selected.

Jurisdictional basis: The basis on which authorities are competent to investigate or prosecute an individual or a company.

L

Length of the procedure: The time in years elapsed between the filing of the criminal complaint or the beginning of the investigation by the authorities (whichever happened first) and the first instance verdict or decision. If no first instance verdict or decision was issued yet, the length of the procedure is the time in years elapsed between the filing of the criminal complaint or the beginning of the investigation by the authorities (whichever happened first) and the year of the last update.

LGBTQIA+ (Specific topics): In the context of the filter “specific topics”, cases where the victims identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, asexual, or another minority sexual orientation or gender identity.

N

Nationality of the suspect: The country(ies) of nationality of the suspect.
(To display cases where the suspect has more than one nationality, tick the box “Multiple nationalities”.)

O

Other (Legal issues): Other legal issues that do not include amnesty, immunity or statute of limitations considerations.

Other charges (Alleged crimes/charges): Any criminal charge other than genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, enforced disappearances and aggression.

P

Passive personality jurisdiction (Jurisdictional basis): The competence a State has to pursue crimes committed abroad against one or several of its citizens.

S

Sexual crimes (Alleged crimes/charges): As defined in the International Criminal Court Policy Paper on Sexual and Gender-Based Crimes of 2014, the perpetrator committed an act of a sexual nature against a person, or caused another person to engage in such an act, by force, or by threat of force or coercion, such as that caused by fear of violence, duress, detention, psychological oppression, or abuse of power, or by taking advantage of a coercive environment or a person’s incapacity to give genuine consent. An act of a sexual nature is not limited to physical violence, and may not involve any physical contact — for example, forced nudity. Sexual crimes, therefore, cover both physical and non-physical acts with a sexual element.
In the context of this filter and in the absence of a definition of sexual crimes as stand-alone crimes, sexual crimes are qualified as an international crime (genocide, crime against humanity, torture and/or war crime) rather than a stand-alone crime.

Statute of limitations (Legal issues): A legal norm providing for a maximum timeframe within which criminal proceedings can be instituted or sentences enforced.

T

Torture (Alleged crimes/charges): Any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person directly or indirectly by somebody in an official capacity. This filter is applied only when the crime of torture is a stand-alone crime and not qualified as a war crime or a crime against humanity.

Tried in absentia (Status of the suspect): The trial is held without the accused being present.

U

Under extradition (Status of the suspect): The transfer of a wanted person by a State to another State for the purpose of prosecution or the execution of a sentence.

Under investigation (Status of the procedure): National prosecuting authorities are investigating the alleged crimes.

Universal jurisdiction (Jurisdictional basis): Under this principle, States have the option – and sometimes the obligation – to prosecute alleged perpetrators of international crimes who are on their territory, regardless of where the crimes may have been committed or of the nationality of the perpetrators and the victims.

V

Verdict / decision: A verdict or a decision of dismissal, conviction or acquittal. This verdict or decision is not necessarily final, an appeal procedure might be ongoing.

W

Wanted (Status of the suspect): The suspect is being searched for by authorities because of an alleged crime and is the subject of an arrest warrant.

War crimes (Alleged crimes/charges): War crimes are violations committed during war. To be qualified as war crimes, they must fulfil certain criteria of purpose and gravity, notably:

  • Existence of an armed conflict;
  • Nexus between the conduct and the armed conflict (the crime was committed in pursuit of the conflict’s aim);
  • Serious violation of international humanitarian law;
  • Criminal conduct engaging individual criminal responsibility.

Y

Year of the verdict (First instance) / decision: The year when a decision of dismissal of the case or a first instance verdict of conviction or acquittal was issued.

Year of the verdict (Second instance): The year when a second instance verdict was issued.

Year of the verdict (Third instance): The year when a third instance verdict was issued.