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ICC prosecutors appeal decision not to charge Sudan president with genocide

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday appealed the court's decision not to charge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with genocide. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that the evidentiary standards imposed by the Pre-Trial Chamber in advance of their March indictment was an improper interpretation of Article 58 of the Rome Statute. Moreno-Ocampo urged the Appeals Chamber either to order the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on genocide charges under Article 6, or to remand the case with instructions on the proper standard for determining whether "reasonable grounds" exist. In March, the Pre-Trial Chamber issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir, charging him with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The warrant has been controversial, with Egypt, Sudan, the African Union and others calling for the proceedings against al-Bashir to be delayed, and African Union leaders agreeing last week not to cooperate with the ruling. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has previously urged al-Bashir to comply with any ICC decision, but al-Bashir has said that that he and his government will disregard the ICC's ruling. Al-Bashir is accused of systematically targeting and purging the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa, three Arabic-speaking ethnic groups, under the pretext of counterinsurgency since 2003.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on July 07, 2009 (boomark / email).