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ICC chief prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Darfur rebel leaders

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

[JURIST] Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo on Thursday formally asked ICC judges to issue arrest warrants for the leaders of rebel groups in Sudan's Darfur region. Ocampo had said last Friday at a meeting of states party to the ICC treaty that he would seek the warrants. The arrest warrants sought relate to a deadly September 2007 attack by anti-government rebels in Darfur against African Union (AU) peacekeeping troops. Speaking of the rebels, Ocampo told the ICC judges: They planned, led their troops and directed the attack which killed 12 peacekeepers, severely wounded 8 others, and completely destroyed AMIS facilities and property, directly affecting aid and security for millions of people of Darfur who are in need of protection. Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) promised Thursday to cooperate with the ICC, but denied that any of their leaders were the subjects of the warrants. The warrants are the prosecutor's third line of inquiry into war crimes in Darfur, following the issuance of arrest warrants last year for former Sudanese Minister of the Interior Ahmed Muhammad Harun and former militia leader Ali Kushayb, and the prosecutor's application last July for the issuance of an arrest warrant for Sudan President Omar al-Bashir for war crimes committed in Darfur.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on November 20, 2008 (boomark / email).