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ICC orders trial chamber to reconsider al-Bashir genocide charges

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

[JURIST] The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday reversed a Pre-Trial Chamber decision that denied the application for an arrest warrant on genocide charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The court emphasized that the reversal was procedural in nature, and did not address the substantive question of whether al-Bashir is responsible for genocide. In its March 2009 decision, the Pre-Trial Chamber required the prosecution to demonstrate al-Bashir's genocidal intent using the "proof by inference" standard. The Appeals Chamber held that the standard used was inappropriate for the arrest warrant phase, which is governed by Article 58 Rome Statute, but declined to enter a finding of genocidal intent or to order the Pre-Trial Chamber to issue a genocide warrant for al-Bashir, as requested by ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. The case has now been remanded back to the Pre-Trial Chamber to reconsider whether there was "reasonable grounds to believe" that al-Bashir acted with genocidal intent. ICC prosecutors appealed the decision not to charge al-Bashir with genocide in July. The warrant, which charges al-Bashir with seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, 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 not to cooperate with the 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 February 03, 2010 (boomark / email).