Beth S. Lyons has been a criminal defence attorney for 30+ years, practicing almost exclusively in Legal Aid programs in New York City (trial and appellate levels) and in the international courts and tribunals. She currently is one of the counsel representing Mr. Dominic Ongwen, a former child soldier abducted into the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), who is being prosecuted at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the crimes of the LRA. She also was a defence counsel in an “Article 70” case at the ICC, and was a counsel in a matter related to the Kenya cases at the ICC.
Beth was a defence counsel in three cases at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). In February 2014, she and Lead Counsel Chief Charles A. Taku (with their defence team) won an acquittal in the Appeals Chamber for their client, Major F.X. Nzuwonemeye, in the Prosecutor v. Ndindiliyimana (“Military II”) case.
Since 1997, she has served as an Alternate Representative to the U.N. in New York for the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) and is an Associate Member of its Bureau. See, IADL’s website.
In 2003, Beth was an Invited Expert to the first ICC Seminar on Defense Issues. She has made presentations and published on international criminal law, including fair trial, challenges to the ICTR and international justice, and joint criminal enterprise; truth and reconciliation commissions (South Africa and East Timor); and business accountability for human rights violations. Her review of Professor Nancy Combs’ excellent book, Fact-Finding Without Facts: The Uncertain Evidentiary Foundations of International Criminal Convictions, appeared in the Journal of Genocide Research in September 2011.
International Criminal Defence and Human Rights 