IJCentral: International Justice Central

Here we are in The Hague, with the Dutch Premiere of “The Reckoning” coming this evening, opening the Camara Justitia section of the Movies That Matter/Amnesty International Film Festival.  The festival organizers are anticipating a sold-out screening at the beautiful Theater Spui.  We were there last night for the opening of the festival, where Princess Mabel of the Netherlands introduced our friend Gini Reticker and Sugars Cooper, and Gini’s great film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” in which Sugars appears as one of the group of Liberian women that used non-violent resistance to fight for peace in Liberia when it was under the rule of Charles Taylor.  There were also several mentions of “The Reckoning” by the Mayor of The Hague and Festival Director Taco, which was an unexpected and pleasant surprise.

It’s ironic that Taylor is now locked up here in The Hague on trial under the jurisdiction of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (the ICC has loaned them their courtroom for the trial since it was deemed too dangerous to hold it in Sierra Leone), and that one of the subjects in “The Reckoning”, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is also locked up here and on trial.  In fact, Pamela Yates and Peter Kinoy and I went to the ICC yesterday to see the trial of Lubanga in session.  It’s always sobering and satisfying to see the wheels of justice turning.  I was thinking that it would be good to have a screening of “The Reckoning” at Scheveningen prison here in The Hague, where Lubanga, Taylor, Katanga, Ngudjolo and Bemba are all in custody, hopefully soon to be joined by al-Bashir and Kony - a rough gallery of warlords and rogue leaders.