War Crimes Prosecutor Reed Brody on Epstein Files, Duterte's ICC Case & Ukraine War Anniversary

War crimes prosecutor Reed Brody joins Democracy Now! to discuss a number of ongoing human rights issues, including the international fallout of the so-called “Epstein files,” the International Criminal Court case against former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, the Russian invasion of Ukraine — now marking its fourth anniversary — and more.

Transcript

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, Democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman with Juan González. We end today’s show with the longtime war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. He has been closely following a number of stories that revolve around law and accountability, from the international fallout over the Epstein files to this week’s hearing in the Hague on whether former Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte should stand trial before the International Criminal Court to today, this fourth anniversary of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Reed Brody is a member of the International Commission of Jurists and author of To Catch a Dictator: The Pursuit and Trial of Hissène Habré. Reed, let’s begin with the arrest of Peter Mandelson, the former British ambassador to the United States, accused of passing confidential government information to Jeffrey Epstein while he was serving as Britain’s trade secretary. His arrest comes days after the also arrest of the former Prince Andrew. Neither of them are being charged for abuse of minors or girls and women, though the emails are, to say the least, stunning and horrifying between them and Jeffrey Epstein after he was known to abuse children. But talk about what is happening abroad and what is happening here at home as a result of the fallout from the Epstein files.

REED BRODY: It’s really crazy how you have throughout Europe all of these heads rolling and all of these arrests and relatively little accountability in the United States. I think one of the reasons we are seeing all of these Epstein-related arrests across Europe is that prosecutors and police are generally independent of political power. The Metropolitan Police did not have to ask anybody to go in and arrest Peter Mandelson or the former Prince Andrew. In the United States, the federal prosecutors and the FBI are only going to investigate those people who Donald Trump wants investigated, and so there is no prosecutorial independence in the United States. There have been calls for special counsel to investigate the Epstein affair.

AMY GOODMAN: Here?

REED BRODY: Yeah. That would be what would normally happen if there is a conflict of interest. But of course we know that in Trump’s first term when Jeff Sessions appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel, he was fired. So there’s not going to be a special counsel. There is not going to be investigations of political figures here. Because the Justice Department in the United States has been acting like Donald Trump’s private law firm. I get asked all the time in Europe, “Why isn’t there more accountability here in the United States?” And I think that’s one big reason.

I also think the class issue that Ro Khanna is always talking about, how these are billionaires who abuse working-class women—I think that resonates more in European society somewhat than in American societies. But I think this cannot be the end of the affair, so to speak, for the Epstein files. We are going to see this continue.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Reed, there was a panel of independent experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council that has actually called for an independent and impartial investigation of the alleged sex crimes contained in the Epstein files. The panel said, “So grave is the scale, nature, systematic character and transnational reach of these atrocities against women and girls that a number of them may reasonably meet the legal threshold of crimes against humanity.” The importance of this effort? And do you think it has any prospects?

REED BRODY: There can be international investigations. The problem is that the actual files, the actual power to call witnesses and to get to the bottom of this is here in the United States. It’s with federal authorities. Of course some states now can take up the slack. In New York State, there is no statute of limitations for the worst sex crimes, so you could see state prosecutors taking this up.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to turn for a moment—we’re trying to get a lot of issues in these few minutes—to the ICC hearing at the Hague around the Filipino president, Duterte, who was arrested and being held there.

REED BRODY: This is a monumental event for the Philippines. The former head of state, the former president, these are confirmation of charges hearings to determine whether he should stand trial for having allegedly ordered and instigated the extrajudicial killing of alleged drug dealers. Thousands, potentially tens of thousands, of Filipinos have been killed.

Ironically, speaking of double standards, these are the same crimes which Donald Trump has presumptively committed by the strikes that you reported earlier, in the Caribbean—the extrajudicial execution without due process of alleged drug dealers. But Rodrigo Duterte is in the Haque and Donald Trump is in the White House.

I think this is also a watershed moment for the International Criminal Court to have a former head of state in the dock. In 24 years and at a cost of probably $3 billion, the International Criminal Court has never successfully captured and prosecuted and convicted any state official anywhere, much less a former head of state. So Rodrigo Duterte probably thought he was home free.

But you also have a number of other people who have been indicted by the ICC: Vladimir Putin, Benjamin Netanyahu, Min Aung Hlaing of Myanmar. So a bunch of former heads of state out there but they haven’t been brought in. The International Criminal Court does not have a police force. So this is a major moment for international justice and for the ICC.

JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Reed, we only have about a minute left, but I’m wondering, the world is marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. There are no signs of it stopping soon. President Trump promised on day one he’d end the war. Here a year later, it is still not ended. Why does peace seem so out of reach?

REED BRODY: I think this is a policy on both sides, really, of endless war. Talking about accountability, actually the Russian invasion and Russian crimes in Ukraine have led to probably the most coordinated international justice response in history. The International Criminal Court has indicted Vladimir Putin and his minister for child affairs for thousands of Ukrainian children who were kidnapped.

You have four other—the former chiefs of staff and defense minister and two generals who have been indicted for attacking Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure. You have tens of thousands of war crimes cases going through the Ukrainian courts. And you have the recently created Special Tribunal on Aggression Against Ukraine that may prosecute Russian leaders for the worst crime that was committed, which was the invasion of Ukraine. All these accountability things are moving forward, but peace doesn’t seem anywhere closer than it did four years ago.

AMY GOODMAN: We want to thank you, Reed Brody, longtime war crimes prosecutor and member of the International Commission of Jurists.

As we end today’s show, fallout from the BAFTA Awards ceremony in London Sunday is growing. That’s Britain’s equivalent of The Oscars. Filmmaker Jonte Richardson has quit, the judge and the awards, citing the organization’s handling of a racist incident during the ceremony when Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo presented the award for best visual effects. A Tourette syndrome campaigner shouted the N-word. The BBC failed to edit out the word from the broadcast which aired two hours after the live show, while cutting the phrase “Free Palestine” from Wales Davies’ acceptance speech, one of the award winners.

Jonte Richardson wrote on LinkedIn, “After considerable soul-searching, I feel compelled to withdraw from the BAFTA emerging talent judging panel. The organization’s handling of the unfortunate Tourette’s N-word incident last night at awards was utterly unforgivable. I cannot and will not contribute my time, energy and expertise to an organization that has repeatedly failed to safeguard dignity.”

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