The Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC today partly approved the request for an arrest order for President Al Bashir of Sudan. The warrant, requested by the Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, relate to charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes but not genocide as requested by the prosecutor. In a press conference held today, the Registrar reiterated that the Court’s decision is purely legal and not political, as asserted by some critics, while arguing that peace is not achievable without justice and that the reason for excluding the crime of genocide from the warrant is partly down to the high threshold inherent in the definition of genocide to intent to destroy a group “in whole or in part”. The warrant is immediately effective.
The decision is bound to be met with both disapproval and praise and more debate will undoubtedly follow. We have previously covered the issue here, here and here.
Filed under: ICC, International Courts, International Criminal Law, international justice
