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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰

@kevinjonheller.bsky.social
895 followers 225 following 639 posts

Professor of International Law & Security, University of Copenhagen, Centre for Military Studies. Academic Member, Doughty Street Chambers (UK). Arsenal, Bears, Magpies, All Blacks.

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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Cover and proofs! The book will be out next month in hardback, paperback, and e-book.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This is a really excellent piece on #NAZA in @vulture.com by Rachel Corbett. My thanks to her for the long conversation -- and for quoting me a bunch of times. www.vulture.com/article/naza...
vulture.com
NAZA Is Selling Out Theaters. Can It Influence The Hague?
Whether the film can advance the case for genocide may be more complicated than convincing viewers.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
PS: interested readers should check out my colleague @jessicadorsey.bsky.social's excellent post on the IIFFM report's approach to the principle of precautions. We disagree, I think, on the war crime issue. But I agree with her about IHL. opiniojuris.org/2026/09/18/u...
opiniojuris.org
UN Fact-Finding Mission on Iran: U.S. War Crimes and Precautions in AI-Enabled Warfare
[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law and Managing Editor of Opinio Juris.]The UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the …
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
The post will no doubt be unpopular, but I think careful doctrinal analysis is important -- and never more so than when an event attracts so much media attention. Critical comments welcome at OJ or here on Bluesky.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
New @opiniojuris.bsky.social: a long post explaining why, in my view, the IIFFM for Iran's new report fails to adequately justify its conclusion that the attack on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Primary School was a war crime. opiniojuris.org/2026/09/19/t...
opiniojuris.org
The Iran IIFFM’s Unconvincing War Crimes Analysis
The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran (IIFFM), created by the Human Rights Council, has released a new report. It’s a depressing read, painstaking…
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
New @opiniojuris.bsky.social: a long post by yours truly explaining why the OTP should immediately seek to confirm the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant, even if the confirmation hearing would be in absentia. #ICC #Israel #Palestine opiniojuris.org/2026/08/26/w...
opiniojuris.org
When Will the OTP Seek to Confirm the Charges Against Netanyahu and Gallant?
This is not a rhetorical question. The arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant were issued on 21 November 2024, 21 months ago. The next step is to confirm the charges contained in the arrest warr…
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
New by me @opiniojuris.bsky.social: a long(ish) post on whether the OTP could unilaterally withdraw the arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant. Spoiler: formally, no; practically, yes. #ICC #Israel #Palestine opiniojuris.org/2026/08/03/c...
opiniojuris.org
Can the OTP Can Withdraw the Netanyahu and Gallant Arrest Warrants?
In the wake of Prosecutor’s Khan’s removal from office, a number of people have asked me whether the current Deputy Prosecutors or the next Prosecutor could withdraw the arrest warrants…
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The Journal of International Criminal Justice has published a new article of mine, entitled "IHL-Compliant Genocide, Indirect (Co-)Perpetration, and Innocent Agents." Abstract below. If you don't have access and would like to read it, send me a message. academic.oup.com/jicj/advance...
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Bari Weiss doing what Bari Weiss does best.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
New from me @opiniojuris.bsky.social: after two years of prurient allegations of nonconsensual sexual conduct, the Bureau says the Prosecutor should be removed solely because of an inappropriate consensual relationship -- which the complainant has always denied. opiniojuris.org/2026/07/03/t...
opiniojuris.org
The Bureau’s “Serious Misconduct” Bait and Switch
For two years, selective leaks of information have led to a deluge of breathless media reports about the serious misconduct the Prosecutor allegedly committed against a member of his staff. I won&#…
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
No, it's not "critics" who "have argued that US actions on the soil of signatory countries could result in ICC proceedings." It's. In. The. Rome. Statute. This is not a debatable point. #ICC
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
In short: the Bureau wants the ASP to remove the Prosecutor for uncharged, uninvestigated conduct denied by the complainant. And it wants it to do so by majority vote -- even though the Bureau itself, whose role is to assist the ASP, had to find misconduct by 2/3. Remarkable.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
The Bureau is also trying to change the voting rules that it explicitly endorsed earlier this year -- now denying the ASP its right under the newly-adopted RPE to decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in serious misconduct. The two changes are obviously interconnected.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
This is a blockbuster by @sondosasem.bsky.social. After two years of reporting on allegations of rape and sexual assault, the Bureau is now trying to remove the Prosecutor solely on the basis of a consensual relationship the complainant herself denies. www.middleeasteye.net/news/exclusi...
middleeasteye.net
Exclusive: ICC bureau changes rules to lower threshold for Khan's removal
ICC decision to abandon its own procedures paper would deny its 125 member states an opportunity to determine whether prosecutor committed misconduct
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Reposted by Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰
Scott Horton @robertscotthorton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
This is because the constitution that Dan Patrick references is of the Confederate States of America.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Unfortunately for the Bureau and FIDH, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence are clear -- and trump any Bureau or ASP document.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
The Bureau apparently regrets putting on paper that the ASP will decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in misconduct, a vote the Bureau will likely lose. So now FIDH is leading efforts to mislead states and the public about the rules to make it easier for the Bureau to backtrack.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
And don't forget what @fidh-official.bsky.social said about the role of the Judicial Panel *before* it exonerated the Prosecutor. It has now completely changed its position for one reason and one reason only: the Panel didn't reach the conclusion FIDH wanted. www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/2025...
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Check out Rule 29(6). It *explicitly* contemplates a situation in which the ASP finds serious misconduct but then chooses not to remove the Prosecutor. Yet FIDH claims the ASP will not decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in serious misconduct. 🤷‍♂️
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
FIDH's claim, it's worth adding, not only dishonestly pretends Rule 29(8) doesn't exist, it also dishonestly cites Rule 29(6) in support of its false claim that the ASP cannot exonerate the Prosecutor.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This is also completely wrong: "the ASP is not deciding whether to exonerate the Prosecutor of serious misconduct." That option is expressly contemplated by new RPE Rule 29(8), which the ASP adopted by consensus last December. The ASP is the competent decision maker for Rule 29.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This "Q&A" gets the voting wrong. As I've explained, the new RPE require the ASP to decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in misconduct. A removal vote happens only if they find serious misconduct by a 2/3 vote of states present and voting. opiniojuris.org/2026/06/18/t...
opiniojuris.org
The Bureau Cannot Bind the ASP to a Finding of Serious Misconduct
There is a rumour circulating in ICC circles that the Bureau is having buyer’s remorse about a paper it drafted and adopted earlier this year concerning the procedure that would apply to the …
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This article gets the voting wrong. opiniojuris.org/2026/06/18/t...
opiniojuris.org
The Bureau Cannot Bind the ASP to a Finding of Serious Misconduct
There is a rumour circulating in ICC circles that the Bureau is having buyer’s remorse about a paper it drafted and adopted earlier this year concerning the procedure that would apply to the …
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Good journalists like Steph need to get this right -- especially given rumours that the Bureau is trying to quietly rig the outcome by eliminating the critical, and more difficult, first vote. opiniojuris.org/2026/06/18/t...
opiniojuris.org
The Bureau Cannot Bind the ASP to a Finding of Serious Misconduct
There is a rumour circulating in ICC circles that the Bureau is having buyer’s remorse about a paper it drafted and adopted earlier this year concerning the procedure that would apply to the …
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
This article gets the voting wrong. The ASP must decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in serious misconduct, a vote requiring 2/3 of states parties present & voting to vote yes. The ASP is not bound by the Bureau's political determination. See RPE 29, adopted by consensus last December.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Seconded.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 18/06/2026
New @opiniojuris.bsky.social: why the ASP has to decide for itself whether the Prosecutor engaged in misconduct, requiring the ASP to hold two votes, not just one on removal. opiniojuris.org?p=52321&prev...
opiniojuris.org
The Bureau Cannot Bind the ASP to a Finding of Serious Misconduct
There is a rumour circulating in ICC circles that the Bureau is having buyer’s remorse about a paper it drafted and adopted earlier this year concerning the procedure that would apply to the …
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
The new Big Lie is that the Bureau "investigated" the allegations. It did not. It simply decided they were true without ever actually hearing from the witnesses. And it did so for political, not legal, reasons -- hence its decision to disregard the actual judges it appointed.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
The Bureau did not investigate. The diplomats voted as they were instructed to do so by the governments they represent --- politics, not law. The only investigation was conducted by OIOS and, as the Panel of Judges repeatedly noted, OIOS did not make findings of fact on the allegations.
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Reposted by Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰
Janina Dill @janinadill.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
The list of countries threatened with U.S. military intervention is growing · Venezuela 🇻🇪 · Iran 🇮🇷 · Cuba 🇨🇺 · Greenland 🇬🇱 · Canada 🇨🇦 …just this year! Do they all want "Liberation"? No, I argue in @foreignaffairs.com
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Trump should have invoked the Hundred Years' War. Unfortunately, that would have required him to know what it is.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Rodrigo Duterte has apparently fired his defence attorney, Nick Kaufman. No official word on who will replace him. #ICC
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
@sondosasem.bsky.social interviewed Norway's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs about the ongoing misconduct investigation. He urges the Bureau to proceed with caution in terms of ignoring the unanimous no-misconduct finding of the Panel of Judges. www.middleeasteye.net/news/icc-sta...
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
I donated to Wikipedia. You should, too. donate.wikimedia.org
donate.wikimedia.org
Make your donation now - Wikimedia Foundation
Donate to the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that hosts Wikipedia and other crucial free knowledge projects. Each year, the generosity of the 2% of readers who donate allows us to expand the reac...
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Four words: Cesc Fabregas, ex-Arsenal.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
I've got one -- strangest interaction with a celebrity you have ever had. I will go first: James Gandolfini and I wanted to rent the same movie at the Blockbuster on Beverwil and Pico. There was only one copy. He graciously let me have it.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Favourite band ever. I accidentally crashed Danny Elfman's 50th birthday party at a club in Los Angeles. Ended up chatting with him for almost an hour -- it was an amazing evening! Then got to tell Jenna Elfman the crashing story when I ran into her in a bagel store near my house on Beverwil.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Devo The Cure Peter Murphy Oingo Boingo Black Flag Beastie Boys David Bowie Gang of Four Shriekback VNV Nation
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
Insightful @klassekampen.bsky.social article by Yngvild Gotaas Torvik about how politics and political pressure are driving the campaign to convince the Bureau to ignore the Panel of Judges' unanimous no-misconduct finding. Quotes me, Bill Schabas, and Eirik Bjørge. klassekampen.no/artikkel/202...
klassekampen.no
Advarer om rått maktspill i Haag
Mistanken om at dette er en politisk vendetta blir stadig tydeligere.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
This is a fantastic primer on when armed conflict starts and when it ends by the inimitable @mikeschmitt.bsky.social.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Check out my first-ever 🤡 emoji @opiniojuris.bsky.social, which I use to describe the US invoking the "unwilling or unable" test for self-defence to somehow legitimise invading Venezuela. opiniojuris.org/2026/05/20/a...
opiniojuris.org
A Truly Bizarre Invocation of the “Unwilling or Unable” Test
I haven’t written about the “unwilling or unable” test for self-defence against non-state actors in a while, largely because I’ve said all I have to say about why the test i…
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Koroma notes that the Bureau's repeated violations of applicable ICC/ASP rules make it likely that, if sanctioned or removed, the Prosecutor would win an appeal to ILOAT, resulting in possible reinstatement and substantial damages the Court can ill-afford to pay.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
Really important @sondosasem.bsky.social article for @middleeasteye-rss.bsky.social on an expert opinion submitted to the Bureau by Abdul Koroma, a former ICJ judge who has sat on the administrative tribunals of the World Bank and the African Development Bank. www.middleeasteye.net/news/icc-cou...
middleeasteye.net
ICC could be ordered to reinstate prosecutor if it removes him, judge argues
Former ICJ judge says any disciplinary process against Karim Khan would likely be overturned on appeal, with court also required to pay out substantial compensation
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
If accurate, this is huge news -- especially the #apartheid charge, which would be groundbreaking.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 17/05/2026
Note to readers: the ICC spokesperson not denying applications for arrest warrants have been filed means nothing. The Court would not acknowledge that applications had been filed. It would not acknowledge that applications has not been filed. End of story. There are no tea leaves here.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Not criticising. Just trying to correct the record. People are reading *way* too much into a very short answer to a question the Prosecutor didn't know Hasan would ask.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
And I wasn't criticising you! I was responding to Ralph.
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Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰 @kevinjonheller.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
The Prosecutor has not ruled out charges for genocide or for anything else. He has stated publicly no charges are off the table. Any other answer would have been irresponsible given that he been on voluntary leave for nearly a year and has not been involved in the ongoing investigation.
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Reposted by Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰
Bryan Based International Order 🇨🇦 @bryanpeeler.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
*stares in 9/11*
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Reposted by Kevin Jon Heller 🇺🇸🇩🇰
Brian Finucane @bcfinucane.bsky.social · 14/05/2026
Since September 2025, the U.S. military has been carrying out a campaign of premeditated, targeted killings against *civilians*—the boat bombings. So senior U.S. military officers and DoD officials claiming they care about CIVCAS rings a tad hollow.
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