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| Africa Horn |
| ICC prosecutor seeks to add genocide to Bashir charges |
| 2009-03-14 |
| The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court filed an application Friday to appeal the absence of genocide charges on an arrest warrant issued against Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, as the three aid workers held hostages in Darfur were set free. "Killings, as a matter of law and as a matter of fact, are not the only way to commit genocide," the prosecution argued in documents filed with the court, referring to the judges' decision not to include genocide on the warrant. The ICC issued a warrant for Bashir's arrest last Wednesday on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Darfur -- its first-ever warrant for a sitting head of state. It failed to include three genocide charges as had been requested by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. "The majority decision (of the judges who issued the warrant) has misunderstood the prosecution's arguments pertaining to the test to be applied (for genocide)," states the application, published on the ICC website. "The decision contains fundamental errors." |
| Posted by:Fred |