Christopher Black is a controversial lawyer and political activist based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has been involved in high-profile human rights cases investigating alleged war crimes in Rwanda (see Rwandan Genocide) and the former Yugoslavia.
Black has written several articles about the 1994 conflict in Rwanda, arguing that its standard interpretation as a genocide of the country's Tutsi population is misleading and fraudulent. He notes that the Tutsi-led Rwanda Patriotic Front had been conducting a rebellion in the country since 1990, and alleges that the RPF was responsible for the 1994 plane crash which killed the Hutu presidents of Burundi and Rwanda. Black also argues that many of the deaths which occurred in the resulting upheaval were perpetrated by RPF members, rather than by the extremist Hutu groups which have generally been held responsible for the country's descent into chaos.
Black is currently defending Augustin Ndindiliyimana , the former head of Rwanda's National Force, before an international tribunal in Tanzania. He and other defence lawyers went on strike in early 2004, claiming that the tribunal was being used by the United States of America for political ends and that a fair hearing was impossible.
Black has also criticized the detainment of Slobodan Milosevic at the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. He has met with Milosevic on many occasions, and claims that he is completely innocent of the charges raised against him. On one occasion, Black argued that Milosevic had been consistently committed to a multi-ethnic Yugoslavia during his time in government.
Black has also argued that the leaders of NATO should themselves be brought before the tribunal for war crimes, and has described former tribunal leader (and current Canadian Supreme Court justice) Louise Arbour as an unindicted war criminal, because of her apparent cooperation with NATO leaders during the 1999 bombing of Serbia. Black also helped to create the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM), although he does not have a formal role at Milosevic's trial.
In addition to his legal career, Black helped establish the Unemployed Workers' Council in Toronto in 1996. He has also campaigned for political office as a candidate of the Communist Party of Canada and its provincial affiliate, the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario. His electoral record is as follows:
External Links:
- [1] "Racism, Murder and Lies in Rwanda"
- [2] "NATO Forces behind International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague"
- [3] "Louise Arbour: Unindicted War Criminal" (co-written with Edward S. Herman)
