Following its decision, dated 8 July, 2010, imposing an unconditional stay on the proceedings of the case The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) today, 15 July, ordered the release of the accused. According to the judges, an accused cannot be held in preventative custody on a [...]
The Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC has issued a second warrant of arrest against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, adding genocide to the charges against him. The Pre-Trial chamber considers, according to the ICC press-release, “that there are reasonable grounds to believe him responsible for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa [...]
Yesterday, Trial Chamber I of the ICC ordered a stay of proceedings in The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. The basis for that stay is that the fair trial of the accused is no longer possible due to non-implementation of the Chamber’s orders by the Prosecution. The judges had previously ordered the Office of the [...]
Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo), both suspected of having committed war crimes in Darfur, Sudan, arrived voluntarily today, 16 June 2010, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) following summonses to appear issued first under seal on 27 August, 2009, by Pre-Trial Chamber I. Both suspects will stay at [...]
In all the public pronouncements on the Kenya situation (and there have been many) from OCAMPO, and other agencies as revealed below by Mme Pillay, there seems to be a striking lack of legal thought from parties that are supposed to respect legal procedures.
There is a clear threshold test that has to be met in [...]
The ICLB’s Guénaël Mettraux has written an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune on the indictment of Judge Baltazar Garzon. It is available here, and reproduced below:
International Justice - For Others
On May 14, the Spanish General Council of the Judiciary suspended Judge Baltasar Garzón from his functions following his indictment on charges of [...]
Speaking at a conference in Uganda the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated that the ICC has forced governments to alter their behaviour in the eight years of its existence. Ban Ki-moon told a summit in Uganda discussing the Hague-based court that it had curtailed impunity and had broken new ground on victims’ rights.
“Few would have believed then [...]
Guest post by Professor Goran Sluiter, University of Amsterdam
On 25 May 2010 Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a decision establishing that Sudan has failed to comply with its obligations towards the Court and informing the Security Council thereof (ICC-02/05-01/07-57). The decision is of lamentable quality. It could not have been of worse timing, issued on the [...]
The Coalition for the ICC (CICC) has issued a collection of information and materials in advance of the Review Conference of the Rome Statute, to be held from 31 May to 11 June 2010 in Kampala, Uganda, including reports related to the Review Conference, the Coalition’s background paper in preparation to [...]
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court (CICC) has published its latest issue of The Monitor, the Coalition’s bi-annual journal on the ICC. It is available in English, Spanish and French at: http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/?mod=download&doc=12252
Follow this link to read an electronic copy of in English: http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/documents/monitor40_english_web.pdf
This issue of ‘The Monitor’ covers the upcoming Review Conference of the [...]
ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is due to travel to Kenya tomorrow to lead investigations into the violence that broke out following the December 2007 general elections. It is estimated that 1,300 people were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the weeks after the results of general elections were disputed.
As reported in [...]
Last week the Prosecutor at the ICC provided Judges with a list of 20 suspects in the 2007-2008 Kenyan election violence. On 3 March 2010, ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo provided Judges at the ICC with a list of 20 names of persons alleged to bear the gravest responsibility for the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007 [...]
ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo today announced the appointment of leading international law expert Tim McCormack as his Office’s Special Advisor on International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
“Professor McCormack has a worldwide reputation for his scholarship and expertise in International Humanitarian Law,” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. As Special Adviser to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), Professor McCormack will focus [...]
On 18 February 2010 the judges of Pre-Trial Chamber II at the ICC requested the Prosecutor to provide clarification and additional information in the process of assessing whether or not to authorise the Prosecutor to commence an investigation with regard to the situation in the Republic of Kenya.
On 26 November 2009, the Prosecutor [...]
Yesterday February 8 2010, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court issued a decision declining to confirm the charges in the case of The Prosecutor v. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda. He had been accused of planning the killing of 12 African Union peacekeepers in Darfur in 2007.
The Chamber was not satisfied that there was [...]
Prof. William Schabas blogged last week about the Appeals Chamber decision on the arrest warrant application in the case of President Al-Bashir of Sudan. He notes and discusses that on the appeal of the Prosecutor, it was held that the Pre-Trial Chamber imposed too rigorous a standard and the case has been returned for it [...]