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Darfur: ICC Prosecutor to Present Second Case to the Judges in the Darfur Situation; Related Media and Opinion Articles

11 July 2008

Dear friends,

Please find below a digest containing information on recent developments related to the International Criminal Court's investigation in Darfur, Sudan.

This digest includes an announcement that the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will submit on Monday, 14 July 2008 to the Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I regarding evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years and a number of media reports.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on potential and current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

Best regards,

CICC Communications
[email protected]

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I. ICC MEDIA ADVISORY

This document has been produced by the ICC- OTP. The CICC Secretariat distributes it as part of its mandate to keep member organizations and individuals informed about developments related to the ICC. The documents do not reflect the views of the CICC as a whole or its individual members.

"ICC Prosecutor to present second case to the Judges in the Darfur situation on 14 July," The Hague, 10 July 2008

Document filed under ICC-OTP-20080710-MA20-ENG

Also available in Arabic at http://www.icc-cpi.int/library/press/pressreleases/ICC-OTP-20080710-MA20-ARA.pdf

"On Monday 14 July, Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will submit to the Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber I his evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years. The filing will be public and a summary there of will be made available. After submitting the filing to the Judges the Prosecutor will brief the press together with Deputy Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda.

II. RELATED MEDIA COVERAGE

i. "ICC prosecutor likely to seek arrest for Bashir," by Patrick Worsnip, Reuters, 11 July 2008, http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnN11346387.html

"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is likely to seek the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir in a new war crimes case he will open on Darfur on Monday, a senior European diplomat said on Friday.

The prosecution said on Thursday Luis Moreno-Ocampo would submit to judges 'evidence on crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years' and seek to charge an individual or individuals, but gave no details..."


ii. "Sudan leader to be charged with genocide: First attempt by international tribunal against sitting head of state," by Colum Lynch and Nora Boustany (The Washington Post), 11 July 2008, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25632013/


"The chief prosecutor of the Internationals Criminal Court will seek an arrest warrant Monday for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity in the orchestration of a campaign of violence that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians in the nation's Darfur region during the past five years, according to U.N. officials and diplomats.

The action by the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo of Argentina, will mark the first time that the tribunal in The Hague charges a sitting head of state with such crimes, and represents a major step by the court to implicate the highest levels of the Sudanese government for the atrocities in Darfur.

... 'I will present my case and my evidence to the [ICC] judges, and they will take two to three months to decide,' Moreno-Ocampo said in an interview Wednesday, referring to a pretrial panel made up of judges from Brazil, Ghana and Latvia. 'We will request a warrant of arrest, and the judges have to evaluate the evidence.'

The ICC does not issue formal indictments, but simply presents its charges to the pretrial chamber and asks it to issue an arrest warrant for a suspect..."

iii. "Sudanese head of state threatened with an accusation of committing genocide by the ICC" by Philippe Bolopion with Stéphanie Maupas, Le Monde, La Haye, 11 July 2008, http://www.lemonde.fr/archives/article/2008/07/11/le-chef-de-l-etat-soudanais-menace-d-une-accusation-de-genocide-par-la-cpi_1072508_0.html (French)

"The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno-Ocampo, intends to request an arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir on Monday July 14th for atrocities committed over these past five years in Darfur, according to information gathered from the United Nations and the ICC. In particular, the Prosecutor is accusing the Sudanese president of 'crimes against humanity' and of 'genocide' in Darfur....

It will be up to three judges on the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber, whose deliberations can take up to two to three months, to decide whether the evidence put forward by the Prosecutor constitute reasonable grounds for issuing an arrest warrant....

In front of the Security Council on 5 June, Mr. Ocampo clearly accused Khartoum. 'In order to plan and commit crimes of this nature, on this scale, over such a long time, the criminals had to mobilize and coordinate the entire apparatus of the State, from the security services to public information services, including the judicial system,' he was saying....

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch has been calling for an investigation to be opened against Sudanese president since 2005. According to its president, Mr. Dicker, because the accusation of genocide proved difficult to demonstrate through the press, the prosecution will have to establish 'the intention to destroy a community on the basis of its nationality, its ethnicity or its religious convictions.'

(Translation is informal and Provided by CICC Secretariat)


iv. "A decision which risks embarrassing the region, beyond Darfur" by Jean-Philippe Rémy, Le MONDE, 11 July 2008, http://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2008/07/11/une-decision-qui-risque-d-embraser-la-region-au-dela-du-darfour_1072509_3212.html#ens_id=1067666 (French)

"By targeting the head of the Sudanese state, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is running the risk of ricocheting into a much larger area. The first potential collateral victim: the negotiation process between the people in power and the Darfuri rebel groups....

The other potential victim of this decision could be the hybrid UN-AU force, UNAMID, charged with supporting the return to peace in Darfur. Since its conception, UNAMID was up against the hostility of Khartoum, who managed to sap its first version by excluding the participation of the western blue helmets, believing that these would constitute a 'neo-colonialist' force in Sudan....

The Sudanese government, the rebels of Darfur and also Chad, 'exit door' and a means of fall-back and gaining provisions for the latter, are all threatening military operations...."

v. "ICC prosecutor to unveil new case on Darfur," Agence France Presse, 10 July 2008, http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/newsmlmmd.346d1467568d14724d3c9db7269dec52.251.html


"International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will unveil a new case involving crimes in Sudan's Darfur region next week and name suspects, his office said Thursday.

Moreno-Ocampo will submit evidence on July 14, the office said in a statement, adding that it would cover 'crimes committed in the whole of Darfur over the last five years.'

The prosecutor would 'summarise the evidence, the crimes and name individual(s) charged', it said.

The tribunal will then decide whether to issue arrest warrants or summons for the individuals to be named..."

vi. "International Criminal Court to announce details of new Darfur case next week," by Mike Corder (Associated Press via International Herald Tribune), 10 July 2008, http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/10/europe/EU-International-Court-Darfur.php

"A prosecutor will present evidence to judges Monday of crimes committed throughout the Sudanese region of Darfur in the past five years and name one or more new suspects, the International Criminal Court said Thursday. The court did not say who will be identified as a suspect in the document or give any details of the charges.

...[The]Hague-based court is unlikely to get its hands on any new suspects any time soon. The court has no police force to execute arrest warrants, and the Sudanese government has rejected the court's authority and vowed not to hand over suspects.

Thursday's announcement came a day after seven soldiers in a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force were killed in an ambush by hundreds of heavily armed fighters riding horses and SUVs in the deadliest attack on the international mission since it deployed this year.

Moreno-Ocampo already has given clear indications that he is aiming for senior government officials with his latest Darfur investigation..."

vii. "International court likely to seek arrest of Sudan's president for war crimes in Darfur: Bashir refuses to hand over attack suspects to ICC Aid workers prepare for possible state backlash," by Julian Borger (The Guardian - London), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/11/sudan.warcrimes

"The prosecutor at the international criminal court is widely expected to seek the arrest on Monday of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, for war crimes committed in Darfur.

...Legal sources and human rights activists said last night said they expected the prosecutor to name Bashir. One source with links to both the ICC and the Khartoum government said yesterday: 'It's going ahead on Monday.'

Reports from Khartoum said that security was being stepped up in the Sudanese capital in anticipation of an announcement, while aid workers were making contingency plans to evacuate non-essential personnel in the event of a government backlash against the international community.

ix. "ICC prosecutor to open new Sudan case," by Emma Thomasson (Reuters), 11 July 2008, http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTHO05890320080711?sp=true

"The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is poised to seek the arrest of top Sudanese officials -- possibly even the president -- on Monday as he opens a new war crimes case on Darfur.

...U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon declined to say who would be named or what the consequences might be for the struggling U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur, which lost seven soldiers in an attack by unidentified militia on Tuesday.

'Peace without justice cannot be sustainable,' he told a news conference at the United Nations. 'I will have to assess all the situations when there will be an announcement by the ICC.'

...Speculation is rife that he could even target Sudan's president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who has said Sudan would cooperate with the ICC over his dead body.

Sources in the aid community in Sudan say security is being increased ahead of Monday's expected announcement and preparations made for non-essential staff to leave Darfur....."

x. "The Pursuit of Justice vs. the Pursuit of Peace,"by Lydia Polgreen and Marlise Simons (New York Times), 11 July 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/11/world/africa/11sudan.html?ref=africa

"When Luis Moreno-Ocampo, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, reported to the United Nations Security Council last month, he painted a dire tableau of death, rape and dispossession in Darfur, saying the entire state apparatus was involved in a five-year campaign of terror there. His target, it seemed, was Sudan's president.

On Thursday, the prosecutor's office said it had prepared its second case involving war crimes in Darfur, a region of Sudan. Now analysts, diplomats, aid workers and United Nations officials are bracing for the increasing likelihood that Mr. Moreno-Ocampo will ask the judges for an arrest warrant for the president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

The indictment of a sitting head of state in a war-torn country would not be unprecedented: Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia and Charles Taylor of Liberia were both charged by international war crimes courts while in office...."

xi."Darfur genocide charges will be sought," by Maggie Farley, LA Times, 11 July 2008,
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-fg-sudan11-2008jul11,0,1844339.story

"The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor will ask judges to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan next week on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, diplomats and an official close to the case said Thursday.

The prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, issued a statement Thursday announcing that he would submit evidence of crimes committed against civilians in Sudan's western region of Darfur over the last five years, though he will wait until Monday at the pretrial chamber to name names.

...If the judges issue an arrest warrant, Sudanese President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir would be the first sitting or former head of state to be charged with genocide by the 6-year-old international court in The Hague.

... 'I swear to God, I swear to God, I swear to God, we will not hand over any Sudanese to the International Court,' Bashir recently told a gathering of Sudan's Popular Defense Forces.

Moreno-Ocampo's strategy is risky, human rights groups and diplomats say. Besides potentially alienating the head of state who controls U.N. access to Darfur and triggering a retaliation, proving the crime of genocide is very difficult, said Richard Dicker, director of the International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch..."

III. UN SPOKESPERSON ON THE ICC AND AL BASHIR

"Transcript of UNSG Press Conference at UN Headquarters," 10 July 2008,
http://7thspace.com/headlines/286523/transcript_of_press_conference_by_secretary_general_ban_ki_moon_
at_united_nations_headquarters_10_july_2008.html

"...Question: There's no secret now that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo will make a referral to the judges of the ICC on Monday morning. Al-Arabiya just broke the news that it is going to be President of the Sudan al-Bashir and that he will be indicted on a number of counts -- not indicted, but he will ask for indictment on a number of counts on crimes against humanity and one count of genocide. You just stated that you will continue working impartially and cooperatively with all parties. If this is to happen and the President of the Sudan is indicted, who are you going to talk to and how worried are you about the United Nations operation in the Sudan? Because the Ambassador of the Sudan just gave us a live interview commenting on the breaking news, saying that all options are on the table, including kicking out the United Nations operation from the Sudan. And I know you are meeting him tomorrow. What will you be saying to him?

Secretary-General: First of all, as Secretary-General, I am not in a position to mention anything officially before there would be any official announcement by the ICC. In principle, I believe that peace and justice should go hand in hand. Justice can be a part of the peace process, but peace without justice cannot be sustainable. This is a ground principle in which I believe, but I will have to assess the whole situation when there is an announcement by the ICC. But I have not yet been officially informed by the ICC.

Question: How worried are you about your force if there is this announcement? We know about the referrals already. It has already been announced by the ICC. They already gave a news circular about it. But if this is to happen to a very high official -- we believe according to a very well-informed source, it is the President -- how worried are you about the operation of the United Nations, especially taking into account the attack that took place yesterday? How worried are you about the whole operation?

Secretary-General: I am sure that I will have an opportunity to engage in, have this press stakeout, or conference, when it really becomes effective.

...Question: Mr. Secretary, I know you've condemned what happened in Sudan yesterday, but, hello, let's take a look at it. I mean, you had 200 Janjaweed militia, SUVs being used, horseback; they don't act just on their own....Do you see this as a direct challenge to you and the United Nations system with an International Criminal Court moving closer to maybe making it even more difficult for your dialogue efforts there?

Secretary-General: I would underscore the independence of a judicial process, this very important one. As I said, justice and peace should go hand in hand. What I would like to say is that I am not in position to comment on anything once -- Still I have not officially been informed of any intention or any decision of the ICC on this...."

IV. OPINION

i. "The ICC should not indict Omar al-Bashir" Op-ed by Jonathan Steele
(Guardian), 11 July 2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/11/sudan.unitednations

"The list of practical problems that would flow from an indictment of Sudan's president is long and far outweighs the benefits....

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor appears to be on the verge of a fateful decision: whether to issue an indictment against Sudan's president Omar al-Bashir for his alleged activities in Darfur. The indictment, if it comes as expected on Monday, still has to be upheld by an ICC tribunal. The next stage would be for the Security Council to decide what action to take to implement an arrest warrant. Even if vetoed, as it probably would be by either Russia or China or both, the existence of an ICC arrest warrant in itself would make it hard for Bashir to travel abroad. Perhaps more importantly, it would put huge pressure on officials of foreign governments to stop their contacts with Sudan's president, and by extension, with the Sudanese government. Even though everyone is innocent until proved guilty, it would be odd for governments to deal with a man and a regime that have been put under such a conspicuous cloud of suspicion.

Who would benefit from this? Almost no one. The conflict in Darfur is too complex and the attempts to resolve it are too delicate for so one-sided and blunt an approach. The two previous cases where incumbent presidents were indicted by international courts (though not the ICC) were very different from Sudan... "

ii. "War Crimes Indictments Threaten The Peace," Strategy Page, 11 July 2008, http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/sudan/articles/20080711.aspx

"It's shaping up to be a long, hot Summer for the Sudanese government. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is about to indict, and attempt to arrest, the president of Sudan, for genocide (all that unpleasantness in Darfur in the south). Normally, Sudan could depend on its ally (and business partner) China to keep such do-gooders at bay. But China is hosting the Olympic Games next month, and many anti-genocide groups are using the Olympics to put pressure on China to do the right thing in Sudan (and not run interference for the Sudanese leaders liable to war crimes prosecution). This is likely to cause the Sudanese leadership to dig in, and try desperate measures (like tossing peacekeepers out of Darfur and resuming the war with the southern rebels.)..."

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ICC:

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The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also endeavour to respond to basic queries and to raise awareness about the ICC's trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the ICC. However, individual CICC members may endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of their efforts.

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