Scholars have raised deep concerns on the impact of terrorism legislative framework on individual liberty and liberal doctrines of law. Through an empirical research in courtrooms, it is aimed to examine the implementation of terrorism laws and the emerging role of national courts as transnationalized actors: how these courts reinforce, protect, and promote certain political goals and visions in the context of terrorism.
Beginning in 2017, Prof Weill has been conducting ethnographic research within French terrorism trials in a project financed by the French Ministry of Justice (2017-2019) and Open Society Justice Initiative (2018/ Courtwatch).
One of the most remarkable things about this trial was that it worked like two processes running in parallel, barely connected, as a platform for the victims, but a weak criminal case. During the “truth commission” element of the trial, victims recounted the horrors of the attacks. The criminal responsibility element of the trial, on the contrary, seemed to be much less linked to these events, with those on trial being markedly far removed from the facts recounted by the victims. This suggests that there may be things to learn from the domain of transitional justice where both criminal justice, truth-telling, and accountability settings are to be taken in to account.
In 2020, AUP students observed the historic Charlie Hebdo trial in conjunction with Professor Weill's Law and Conflict class and produced this magazine.
Beginning in 2017, Prof Weill has been conducting ethnographic research within French terrorism trials in a project financed by the French Ministry of Justice. The research is conducted as part of a multi-disciplinary research group including Christiane Besnier (anthropologist), Antoine Mégie (political scientist ) and Denis Salas (judge).
During this project we observed terrorism proceedings before criminal and administrative courts and initiated students form Sciences po Paris and Paris 2 to do trial monitoring. We submitted a report to the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. This project was financed by Open Society Foundation and OSJI (2019-2020).
Sharon Weill, “Military Courts and Terrorism: The 9/11 Trial before the Guantanamo Bay Military Jurisdiction”, in B. Saul, Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism (Edward Elgar, 2020).