Jairaj Sahota

Jairaj Roger Sahota is the first Solicitor Advocate to appear as counsel in a war crimes trial in the Hague and specialises in international and domestic criminal law, human rights and public international law. He has featured in many high-profile criminal trials representing defendants from professional backgrounds and advised in “impact cases” that raise novel or difficult issues of fact or law with an international, political or civil liberties component. 

Jairaj has acted as counsel in two Head of State trials including the Prosecutor v Prlic at the Yugoslav Tribunal and the Prosecutor v Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He has received judicial praise for his advocacy in the Hague. The Prlic case is one of the most complex criminal prosecutions ever staged, involving six accused charged with 26 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, related to approximately 70 crime sites allegedly committed by Bosnian Croats against Bosnian Muslims in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 18 November 1991 to 1994. In the course of a five year trial concluding in 2011, 9,800 exhibits were tendered, generating more than 1,000,000 pages of evidence and the testimony of 400 witnesses considered.

Mr Taylor, the former President of Liberia faced 11 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over his alleged role in the civil war in neighbouring Sierra Leone. Jairaj also acted as duty counsel for Zdravko Tolimir, the Head of Intelligence for the Bosnian Serb army reporting directly to Ratko Mladic.

In his domestic practice Jairaj has been involved in a wide range of serious and complex domestic murder, fraud and terrorism cases. The most notable of these included the Stanstead Hijacking case, the trial of Dr Peter Green and the prosecution of a CPS official accused of passing sensitive information to a defendant.  Other reported cases include R v Budai (racist jury).

Jairaj has written and lectured on criminal law issues and has been involved in the work of the management committees of the Association of Defence Lawyers practising before the ICTY, the London Criminal Courts Solicitors Association and Solicitors Association of Higher Courts Advocates.

Selected Documents and Media

Website and blog - www.rogersahota.com

Guardian article quote 03 June 2011  

Pusic closing speech 24.02.2011 

Pusic closing speech - extracts

Pusic 98 bis Submissions – 30.01.2008

Taylor pre-trial Brief Public version

Taylor Motion Vacate Venue

Law Society Gazette – Taylor Trial Plea

Notable Cases

International

Prosecutor v Prlic. International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugloslavia (“UNICTY”). Prosecutor v Charles Ghankay Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (“SCSL”). Prosecutor  v Tolimir. UNICTY. Duty Counsel. 

Domestic

R v Safi. The Stansted hijacking case.
R v Land. Allegation of misconduct in public office. The Accused was a former Crown Prosecution Service employee accused of passing confidential case information to a defendant.
R v Dr G. The defence of a GP accused of patient misconduct in a case that later triggered a public enquiry concerning the processing of patient complaints.
R v Downes & Others. Construction industry Inland Revenue fraud.
R v Teenan. Solicitors’ accounts fraud.
R v Budai. Prostitution and people trafficking.
R v S and Others. Allegation of importation of cocaine valued at £10,000,000 uncovered after joint UK – FBI- Dutch “sting” operation.
R v S and R v L. Murder – Self-defence and diminished responsibility.