Angelina Jolie +

Congo warlord guilty beyond doubt – ICC prosecutors

AMSTERDAM Aug 25 (Reuters) – A Congolese warlord accused of conscripting, training and arming hundreds of child soldiers is guilty beyond “any possible doubt” of war crimes, prosecutors told the International Criminal Court on Thursday.

In the debut trial of the ICC, prosecutors this week began summing up evidence against warlord Thomas Lubanga and a verdict is expected early next year.

The permanent war crimes court in The Hague is where Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and his son Saif al-Islam could eventually go on trial if captured, and where there is mounting pressure to bring to trial those responsible for crimes against humanity in Syria.

But the ICC faces numerous hurdles. Its budget is under pressure and it has no international police force to arrest war crimes suspects, so some of its prize targets remain at large.

Lubanga’s trial has been bogged down in procedural and other issues, leading to criticism about the length of trials, and lack of results.

Lubanga’s alleged crimes took place during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 1998-2003 conflict. He was handed over to the court in 2006 and went on trial in 2009.

Actress Angelina Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR, watched Thursday’s proceedings from the public gallery, as a team of prosecutors rattled off evidence from witnesses including former child soldiers identified by number rather than name for their own protection.

“I am attending it just as a concerned citizen of the world who cares about children,” Jolie said. “This is such an extraordinary moment for international justice, but more than that, for all the children around the world. I think the results of this case may hopefully make a difference in the lives of so many boys and girls.”

The court was shown video footage of Lubanga dressed in military uniform and flanked by his top commanders addressing children at a training camp. Urging the recruits to fight, he told them he had come to encourage them and that they were “blessed” to be enlisted and trained.

“This video is a taped confession by Thomas Lubanga,” said Fatou Bensouda, deputy prosecutor, adding that Lubanga systematically recruited children under the age of 15 as soldiers.

“They were used to fight in conflicts, they were used to kill, rape, and pillage,” she said.

Other witnesses whose evidence was cited described how child recruits were taught combat tactics, given uniforms and weapons, and sent off to fight.

One described an entire unit of children under the age of 15 who served as bodyguards, another said he saw children as young as nine or 10 at Lubanga’s residence, armed with Kalashnikovs, while another described how young girls were raped by fellow soldiers or handed over to commanders to be their sex slaves.

Lubanga, an ethnic Hema, has denied charges he enlisted and conscripted children under 15 to his Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) movement to kill members of the rival Lendu tribe in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

He says he was a politician rather than a warlord, and had never played an active role in the UPC’S militia. (Reporting by Sara Webb, Svebor Kranjc, and Aaron Gray-Block, editing by Rosalind Russell)

(Reuters) – Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie was close to tears as she received a special award during an unannounced visit to Sarajevo’s film festival Saturday with partner Brad Pitt.

“I will start crying if you don’t stop,” Oscar-awarded Jolie told the audience who gave her a standing ovation at the city’s National Theater.

Jolie chose Bosnia’s 1992-95 war as the setting for her first film as a director. “In the Land of Blood and Honey” is due to be released in December.

She has also visited Bosnia as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N.’s refugee agency UNHCR and funded the construction of several houses for returnees in eastern Bosnia.

Festival director Mirsad Purivatra presented Jolie with a heart-shaped award when she appeared at the closing ceremony.

“Tonight we are giving the honorary Heart of Sarajevo to a great artist, not only for the great impact she has in the world of cinema but also for persisting and her active engagement in the complexities of the real world we live in,” Purivatra said.

Jolie, dressed in a long peach dress, stood on stage with eyes full of tears waiting for the clapping to die down.

“I told Brad in the car I was afraid I was going to cry,” she said, her voice breaking.

Jolie’s film tells the story of a love affair between a Bosniak (Bosnian Muslim) woman and a Serb, who were on opposite warring sides during the conflict.

She planned to shoot parts of the film in Sarajevo and engaged a local crew. But she had to move to Budapest after some female victims of sexual violence objected to details in the plot and Bosnian authorities canceled a filming permit.

“I am so honored to be here at this festival,” Jolie said after receiving the award. “There is no greater example of the strengths of the artists and the festival that began during the war and grew stronger every year.”

The Sarajevo film festival was launched toward the end of the Bosnian capital’s 43-month siege by Bosnian Serb forces.

Jolie presented Austrian actor Thomas Schubert with the award for the best actor for his role in the film “Atmen,” directed by Karl Markovics.

Atmen, about a young offender searching for his mother, was also named best film in the festival.

Romanian actress Ada Condeascu won the prize for best actress for her role in the film “Loverboy.

Angelina Jolie travels to Cambodia and recounts the journey that changed her life in the latest chapter of the Louis Vuitton “Core Values” campaign.

The 36-year-old actress returned to Cambodia in her role as a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Goodwill Ambassador, raising awareness of the dangers of landmines, and subsequently adopted her eldest son Maddox from a Cambodian orphanage. In 2005, she was awarded Cambodian citizenship by King Norodom Sihamoni for her humanitarian and conservation work in the country through the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which she established in 2003.

FYI: Angelina’s fees for this campaign are being donated to charity.
jastjard.com

(CNN) — Actress Angelina Jolie, a longtime goodwill ambassador for the U.N. refugee agency, arrived in southern Turkey on Friday to visit Syrian refugees, a high-profile trip focusing attention on misery faced by ordinary citizens who have escaped violence in turbulent Syria.

Jolie, who is scheduled to visit the Altinozu refugee camp, arrived at the airport in Hatay and was greeted by officials, according to the state-run Anatolian Agency.

Hatay provincial officials had vans for the trip to Altinozu, and “toys unloaded from the plane were loaded to one of the vans in her convoy,” the agency reported.

More than 9,600 Syrian men, women, and children have fled their country for Turkey to escape violence, including a military offensive in the Jisr al-Shugur area.

Refugees at Altinozu are housed in warehouses at an old tobacco factory, and they staged a demonstration at the camp in solidarity with the many anti-government demonstrations occurring across the border in Syria.

They held up signs that said “Our military is killing its own people, please make it stop,” “U.N., help us please” and people chanted “stop killing children” and other anti-regime slogans.

Jolie was named a goodwill ambassador for the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees in early 2001 and has visited more than 20 countries “to highlight the plight of millions of uprooted people and to advocate for their protection.”

The U.N. office said her interest in “humanitarian affairs was piqued in 2000 when she went to Cambodia to film the adventure film ‘Tomb Raider.’”

Jolie has won numerous acting awards, including a best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted.”
CNN.com

Angelina Jolie comes out to support Brad Pitt at the premiere of his latest film, The Tree of Life, on Tuesday (May 24) at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in L.A.

The 35-year-old actress paired her Jenny Packham one-shoulder gown with Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Stuart Weitzman heels. Brad, 47, suited up in Tom Ford and wore David Yurman DY620 frames.
justjared

Angelina Jolie threw on a white suit yesterday to join her Kung Fu Panda 2 buddy Jack Black at a photo op in LA. They were joined by another costar and a panda as well, and Angelina was even photographed getting her makeup touched up by a pro between snaps. The duo is just getting started promoting their much-anticipated sequel, which arrives in theaters May 26. Showing off the film will take Angelina and Jack to France next month, so they can appear at the Cannes Film Festival. Brad Pitt will also make the trek, as his project Tree of Life is also bound for the cinema event. The city will be especially star studded this year, with Penelope Cruz and Johnny Depp bound for the Riviera, too, in order to debut Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Brad has lately been bouncing back and forth between California and New Orleans, so that he can finish up work on Cogan’s Trade. He was near his family on the West Coast this week, though, and Brad had time for a theater date with Angelina on Wednesday to see God of Carnage.
popsugar.com