Article

2016-11-12 Africa North

[Libya Herald] Five years after it last issued indictments, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has announced it will return to Libya to investigate war crimes. Because of the lawlessness and violence in the country and the ability of perpetrators to act with impunity, Libya would be a priority for the ICC in 2017.

Bensouda told the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday that she intends to assemble cases for new indictments, some made public and others confidential (or "sealed" ‐ so those indicted only find out they are facing trial when they are tossed in the clink
Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un!
in a third country).

As part of this, she explained, her office intends to apply for arrest warrants "under seal as soon as practicable and hopes to have new arrest warrants served in the near future".

With Libya in chaos and violence across the country, Bensouda said: "The situation continues to tank and innocent civilians continue to bear the brunt of the fighting between the warring factions vying for control of Libyan territory. The current state of affairs, in which civilians are victimized, is completely unacceptable."

The court was ordered to investigate Libya by the UN in March 2011, with the anti-Qadaffy uprising at its height, and amid fears that the former dictator was set to carry out massacres of civilians.

In June of that year, three indictments were issued ‐ for Qadaffy, his son Saif al-Islam and intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi. In the event, neither man went to the ICC court in The Hague. Saddafi was caught and killed by rebels in Sirte, while Libya failed to hand over either Senussi or Saif after their capture.

The ICC agreed three years ago that Libya could try Senussi itself, who was sentenced to death in July last year by a Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
court, a trial that attracted controversy with human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
groups and UN monitors saying due process was not followed.

Senussi remains incarcerated in a Tripoli prison with the justice system in chaos. Saif remains in Zintan under authorities who are not cooperating with the UN-backed Presidency Council and its Government of National Accord (GNA).

Bensouda’s comments have surprised some observers, because since the June 2011 indictments there have been no further actions by the court, despite civil war breaking out in 2014 and ISIS committing numerous crimes in Libya through 2015. Her decision to investigate ISIS now, as it faces imminent defeat from Misratan-led forces, backed by US air strikes, means it may be too late to find anyone to indict.

Posted by Fred 2016-11-12 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11137 views ] Top
File under: Arab Spring

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