Law professor and barrister Philippe Sands has appeared in some high profile international human rights trials involving the likes of Chilean dictator General Augusto Pinochet, and the wars and genocides in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.
Sands is the author of 16 books about international law including Lawless World: America and the Making and Breaking of Global Rules (2005), Torture Team: Rumsfeld's Memo and the Betrayal of American Values (2008) and East West Street: On the Origins of Genocide and Crimes against Humanity (2016).
In his latest book The Ratline he traces the story of a senior Nazi, Baron Otto Gustav von Wächter, who presided over the killing of hundreds of thousands of Jews in Galicia (including some of Sands' relatives) before disappearing after the Second World War, and dying in mysterious circumstances in Italy.
And it’s a story with a New Zealand dimension too. Sands was to appear at the Auckland Writers’ Festival (now cancelled) next month, and hopes to attend next year’s festival.
Philippe Sands Photo: Hachette
