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> Cases & Situations > Darfur

ICC's investigation into the situation in Darfur, Sudan was officially opened by the prosecutor on 6 June 2005 after being referred to the Court by the United Nations Security Council. Since the referral, three public arrest warrants have been issued against Ahmad Harun, Ali Kushayb and Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir. None of the three outstanding arrest warrants have been executed as the Sudanese government has openly defied and consistently refused to cooperate with the Court and the international community. A summons to appear was also issued for Bahr Idriss Abu Garda but Judges recently decided that his case would not go to trial at this stage. On 16 June, 2010, suspects Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohamed Jerbo Jamus arrived voluntarily at The Hague in response to summons to appear before the Court. Their confirmation of charges hearing is set for 20 November 2010.

Cases
There are four ongoing cases in the Court's Darfur investigation. Three of the suspects have still not been arrested, but two others voluntarily responded to summons to appear before the Court on 16 June 2010.

Case The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun ("Ahmad Harun") and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman ("Ali Kushayb"):
On 2 May 2007, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued arrest warrants for State Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Janjaweed militia leader Ali Kushayb for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Darfur in 2003 and 2004.

Case The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir: 
On 4 March 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in Darfur in the past five years. The warrant of arrest for Al-Bashir is the first ever issued for a sitting head of state by the ICC. On 3 February 2010, the ICC Appeals Chamber unanimously reversed Pre-Trial Chamber I's decision not to include the crime of genocide in the arrest warrant against President Bashir of Sudan. The Pre-Trial Chamber was directed to decide anew whether a warrant of arrest should be extended to cover the crime of genocide based on the correct standard of proof. On 12 July 2010, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a second arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups. It is the first arrest warrant issued by the ICC for counts of genocide. This second arrest warrant is added to the previous one issued in March 2009 against Al Bashir for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Case The Prosecutor v. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda:
On 17 May 2009, the ICC announced that Pre-Trial Chamber I had issued a summons to appear for rebel leader Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, for war crimes allegedly committed during attacks against African Union peacekeepers at the Haskanita military base in Darfur, Sudan in September 2007. It was the first time ICC Judges issued a summons to appear instead of an arrest warrant as they considered it a sufficient measure to ensure that the suspect would appear before the Court. Abu Garda appeared before the ICC on 18 May 2009. On 19-29 October 2009, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I held a public hearing to examine the available evidence against Abu Garda. On 8 February 2010, the Chamber declined to confirm the charges against Abu Garda, hence refusing to move his case forward to trial. Although Judges insisted that the case was of sufficient gravity, the Chamber established that it lacked evidence that Abu Garda participated in the common plan to attack the Haskanita base. The Prosecution requested to appeal the decision but his application was rejected by Pre-Trial Chamber I on 23 April 2010.

Case The Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus
On 17 August 2009, the ICC announced that Pre-Trial Chamber I had issued summons to appear for Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleg Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo). Banda and Jerbo are charged with three counts of war crimes allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September 2007, against the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), a peace-keeping mission stationed at the Haskanita Military Group Site (MGS Haskanita) in the locality of Umm Kadada, North Darfur. On 16 June 2010, the ICC announced the arrival of Banda and Jerbo at The Hague. Pre-Trial Chamber I set the date of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) for 22 November 2010.

Judges are also examining the Prosecutor’s application of 20 November 2008, for the issuance of warrant of arrest or, alternatively, summonses to appear for two other individuals who allegedly participated in the Haskanita attack.

Opening of the investigation
On 31 March 2005, the situation in Darfur, Sudan was referred to the ICC prosecutor by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593 (2005), “determining that the situation in Sudan continues to constitute a threat to international peace and security.”

The prosecutor subsequently received the document archives of the UN International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, as well as a sealed list of individuals named by the Commission as suspects of grave international crimes in Darfur, Sudan.

Following careful examination of thousands of documents from a variety of sources and interviews with over 50 independent experts, the prosecutor officially opened his investigation into the situation in Darfur on 6 June 2005.

As required under resolution 1593, the ICC Prosecutor has been reporting to the Council every six months on the progress of his investigation in Darfur.

Pre-Trial Chamber
The situation of Darfur, Sudan has been assigned to Pre-Trial Chamber I, which is composed of Presiding Judge Sylvia Steiner, Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng and Judge Cuno Tarfusser.

For additional information and to view the Court's latest decisions, visit the ICC website