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L’UA Demande L’avis De La JPI Sur Les Immunites…

L’Union Africaine(UA) cherche l’avis de la Justice Pénale Internationale(JPI) en ce qui concerne l’immunité du chef de l’Etat. La 30th session du sommet de l’Union Africaine des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement qui se terminé la semaine passé à Addis-Ababa avec l’organe régional acceptant de continuer avec une demande de chercher un avis consultatif de la plus haute juridiction de l’UA – la Cour internationale de justice – en ce qui concerne l’immunités des chefs d’Etat et de gouvernement et d’autres hauts fonctionnaires.

Le  mouvement vient après des années de bataille juridique autour de l’exécution des mandats d’arrêt de la CPI contre le président soudanais Omar Al-Bashir, qui a voyagé dans plusieurs pays africains qui sont parties au Statut de Rome, le traité constitutif de la CPI.

Plus récemment, les juges de la CPI a constaté que l’Afrique du sud a manqué faire droit aux obligations qui lui incombent en vertu du statut de Rome à arrêter Al-Bachir lors d’un visite en 2015. L’Union africaine est en faveur de la position de l’Afrique du sud que les obligations concurrentes selon le droit international coutumier ….obligations en vertu du droit de la CPI.

En demandant à son groupe africain à New York de placer immédiatement la demande d’avis consultatif de la Justice Pénale Internationale(JPI) à l’ordre du jour de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, l’Union africaine demande des précisions sur la relation entre l’article 27 du Statut de Rome(capacité officiel qui manque de rapport) et l’article 98 (coopération en ce qui concerne la renonciation de l’immunité et le consentement à céder) et les obligations des États parties à la CPI en vertu du droit international.

Allan Ngari, chercheur principal à l’Institut d’études de sécurité à Pretoria:

«Idéalement, les juges de la Chambre d’appel de la CPI devraient interpréter la loi fondatrice de la Cour avec finalité, mais une telle décision pourrait ne pas être perçue comme véritablement objectif par les États africains et l’UA qui ont remis en question la légitimité de certains travaux de la CPI. Particulièrement concernant le mandat d’arrêt contre le président Omar AL-Bashir du Soudan. S’il est correctement une victime d’un coup monté par l’AGNU, l’avis consultatif de la JPI offre l’occasion de résoudre les divergences d’interprétation de la  question des immunités de poursuites judiciaires pour les actuels chefs d’État devant la CPI et éventuellement les obligations correspondantes des États et des États non parties avec la coopération de la  CPI. Ces questions sont au centre des tensions entre les Etats africains et l’UA d’une part, et la CPI de l’autre. ”

L’UA a également chargé le groupe africain des États parties à la CPI de demander la création d’un groupe de travail sur la question des immunités et de la coopération allié, et d’exhorter la prochaine Assemblée des États parties  de la CPI à retirer de son ordre du jour la considération du Plan d’action sur les stratégies d’arrestation.

Le rassemblement des chefs d’Etat africains a également exprimé sa inquiétude profonde face à la décision de la CPI de juillet 2017 qui a jugé l’Afrique du Sud non conforme au Statut de Rome et a condamné l’ouverture de l’enquête de la CPI au Burundi en 2017.

S’adressant à l’ouverture du sommet, le président de la Commission de l’Union africaine, Moussa Faki Mahamat, a déclaré que 2018 serait l’année de la lutte contre la corruption et la réforme institutionnelle.

Le secrétaire général de l’ONU, Antonio Guterres, a également déclaré à l’ouverture du sommet que l’association entre l’Afrique et l’ONU était “solide et fondé sur des principes solides de droits de l’homme et de bonne gouvernance.” M. Guterres a également rencontré Al-Bashir en tant que les questions comme le force de maintien de la paix conjointe UA-ONU au Darfour.

 

AU seeks ICJ Opinion on Head of State Immunities

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AU seeks ICJ Opinion on Head of State Immunities

The 30th session of the African Union Summit of Heads of State and Government concluded this week in Addis Ababa with the regional body agreeing to move forward with a request to seek an advisory opinion from the UN’s highest court – the International Court of Justice – on the question of immunities of heads of state and government and other senior officials.

The move comes following years of legal wrangling around the execution of the International Criminal Court arrest warrants for Sudanese President Omar AL-Bashir, who has traveled to several African countries that are states parties to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding treaty.

Most recently, ICC judges found that South Africa had failed to comply with its obligations under the Rome Statute to arrest AL-Bashir during a 2015 visit. The African Union supports South Africa’s position that competing obligations under customary international law trump obligations under ICC law.

In instructing its African Group in New York to immediately place the request for the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly, the African Union is seeking clarity on relationship between Rome Statute Article 27 (irrelevance of official capacity) and Article 98 (cooperation with respect to waiver of immunity and consent to surrender) and the obligations of ICC states parties under wider international law.

Allan Ngari, Senior Researcher with the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria:

“Ideally, the judges of the ICC’s Appeals Chamber should interpret the court’s founding law with finality, but such a decision might not be perceived as truly objective by African states and the AU that have questioned the legitimacy of some of the ICC’s work, particularly with respect to the arrest warrant against President Omar AL-Bashir of Sudan.  If framed correctly by the UNGA, an Advisory Opinion of the ICJ presents an opportunity to resolve the differences in interpretation of the question of immunities from prosecution for sitting heads of state before the ICC and possibly the corresponding obligations on States and non-States parties with the cooperation regime of the ICC. These questions are at the heart of the tensions between African states and the AU on the one hand, and the ICC on the other.”

The AU also instructed the Africa group of ICC states parties to request the establishment of a working group on the question of immunities and related cooperation, and to urge the next Assembly of States Parties of the ICC to withdraw from its agenda the consideration of the Draft Action Plan on Arrest Strategies.

The gathering of African heads of states also expressed deep concern with the ICC’s July 2017 decision that found South Africa non-compliant with the Rome Statute and condemned the opening of the ICC investigation in Burundi in 2017.

Addressing the summit opening, African Union Commission chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat said that 2018 would be the year of the battle against corruption and institutional reform.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres also spoke at the opening of the summit, saying the partnership between Africa and the UN was “solid, and grounded on sound principles of human rights and good governance.”  Guterres also met with al-Bashir to discuss issues such as the joint AU-UN peacekeeping force in Darfur.

 

SOURCE; CICC- http://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/news/20180201/globaljustice-weekly-au-seeks-icj-opinion-head-state-immunities-witnesses-take-stand

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Boko Haram Suspects Go on Public Trial in Niger

Eighty-one people accused of fighting for Boko Haram went on trial in Niger on Thursday in a public court sitting, one of the first of its kind after closed-door trials of suspected insurgents were criticised by human rights groups.

Those on trial in a special international court in the capital Niamey come from Niger, Nigeria and Chad and are suspected of playing a role in Boko Haram’s near decade-long bid to create a caliphate in Nigeria.

The Islamist insurgency has spread beyond its roots in Nigeria, killing 20,000 and uprooting nearly 3 million in the Lake Chad region.

The Niamey trials follow closed-door Boko Haram trials, including in Nigeria where a court in October jailed 45 people to between three and 31 years in jail, but the government did not say what they were convicted of.

Open trials are meant to show that suspected fighters will be given due process, and could also help alleviate a conflict that has been stoked at times by the mistreatment of captives.

The death in 2009 of Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf in police custody is seen as one of the major triggers for the conflict.

The Niamey court will hear 22 separate cases over the next 10 days, following the trial of nearly 300 people on similar charges last year. In all, nearly 1,000 people are expected to come before the court.

SOURCE: MSN Newshttps://www.msn.com/en-za/news/africa/boko-haram-suspects-go-on-public-trial-in-niger/ar-BBIAZex

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Human Rights Situation in Mali Increases

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali MINUSMA and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) released a joint public report today on human rights and the peace process in Mali, the product of monitoring and analysis conducted during the interim period of the Peace Agreement.

Despite the signature of the Peace Agreement, the report finds that the human rights situation remains of concern.

Accordingly, the report published today finds that more than 600 cases of human rights violations and abuses were committed between January 2016 and June 2017. More than 800 other incidents involving unidentified armed elements and placing the lives of civilians at risk also occurred during the same period. In total, these acts of violence impacted more than 2,700 victims, including 441 individuals who were killed. The vast majority of victims were men and children.

More than 78 per cent of violations, abuses and other incidents putting the lives of civilians at risk involved signatory or non-signatory armed movements of the Peace Agreement, or unidentified armed elements. Perpetrators also include elements affiliated with Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine, and other similar groups. Malian State actors, primarily Malian defence and security forces, were involved in 20 per cent of these cases, while international forces, including MINUSMA, were involved in 2 per cent of them.

Various confrontations between signatory armed groups in Kidal region, the expansion of the activities of AQIM, Ansar Dine, and other similar groups, an increasing prevalence of armed robbery and other violent crime in the central regions of Mali, as well as counter-terrorism operations carried out by Malian defence and security forces, are the primary factors leading to human rights violations and abuses.

In this context, the Human Rights and Protection Division of MINUSMA has worked with Malian authorities and armed movements on issues related to the implementation of the Peace Agreement, in particular the issue of conflict-related detentions. Accordingly, the Division has monitored human rights violations committed against persons arrested and detained in the context of counter-terrorism operations.

The Division has also followed the issue of the fight against impunity, which is a cardinal element of any lasting peace process, including judicial procedures related to violations and abuses committed by armed movements between 2012 and 2013, as well as those involving Malian defence and security forces during their re-taking of Northern Mali beginning in 2013.

The report notes, however, that significant progress has been made in the area of transitional justice, with the establishment of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission, and the beginning of statement-taking from victims and witnesses of human rights violations and abuses.

“This report provides useful insights on the challenges and progress in the human rights situation in northern and central Mali,” noted the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and Head of MINUSMA, Mr. Mahamat Saleh Annadif, adding that “it also demonstrates that respect for human rights, far from being a generator of tension, may contribute, on the contrary, to creating an environment that is conducive to the implementation of the Peace Agreement.”

SOURCE; Relief webhttps://reliefweb.int/report/mali/despite-implementation-peace-agreement-human-rights-situation-mali-remains-concern

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ICC Prosecutor Renews call for Libyan Commander’s Arrest

The International Criminal Court prosecutor issued a renewed appeal Friday to Libyan authorities to arrest a Libyan commander wanted by the court for war crimes, after he was linked to a shocking video purported to show brutal killings.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement that she is deeply concerned by a twin car bombing in Benghazi that killed at least 34 people this week and that she is “equally appalled” by images purportedly showing commander Mahmoud al-Warfalli killing 10 people “in what appears to constitute retaliation” near the site of the bombings.

In a video that went viral on social media, the shooter, a man in military uniform, is seen standing before 10 blindfolded people in blue jumpsuits who are on their knees, hands tied behind their backs. He then opens fire with a machine gun, shooting each man in the head.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said the shooter appears to be Al-Warfalli.

The United Nations Security Council called on the court to begin investigating atrocities in Libya in 2011 as former ruler Moammar Gadhafi violently cracked down on protests against his regime. But the court still has yet to take custody of any suspect from the lawless country.

The court issued an arrest warrant for al-Warfalli in August 2017 on suspicion of involvement in the killings of 33 people in 2016 and 2017.

“I am dismayed that Mr. Al-Werfalli appears to remain in a position of command, and allegedly continues to commit crimes with impunity, despite an official statement from the General Command of the Libyan National Army in August 2017 that Mr. Al-Werfalli had been arrested and was under investigation by a military prosecutor,” Bensouda said.

She appealed to the chief of the Libyan National Army, Gen. Khalifa Haftar, “to heed my previous call to the LNA to work with the Libyan authorities to enable the suspect’s immediate arrest and surrender to the ICC.”

Bensouda said the “appalling cycle of violence and impunity in Libya cannot be allowed to continue for the sake of the Libyan people and the security and stability of the country and the region.”

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Baseline Meeting of African Civil Society Network on International…

On the 23rd to 25th of January 2018, the  Coalition for the International Criminal Court  (CICC)  together with the Nigerian Coalition for the International Criminal Court (NCICC) organized a baseline meeting of African Civil Society Network working on International Criminal Justice at Hotel Ibis Marcoury Abidjan. The aim of the meeting was to create a network of Civil Society  that would encourage the African government to  support the Hague based court.

The baseline meeting brought together not less than 15  African countries including leaders of national coalitions for the ICC in various African countries, Magistrates, Human rights groups and representatives from P.E countries and countries under investigation.

The meeting saw to an interactive round table session of members suggesting credible ideas on how to bridge the gap between the ICC and Africa. Participants also discussed the need to have in place a strong mechanism or institution that makes it possible to punish perpetrators of heinous and atrocious human rights violations and seek justice for victims of such violations.

 

“We are concerned that 20 years after the entry into force of the Rome Statute, many state parties are yet to enact legislation’s implementing the provisions of the Statute into their national laws. ” said Chino Obiagwu, chairman of the Nigerian coalition for the ICC in his opening remarks. “This network is a key means of raising awareness  among the African people and encouraging African governments to support the Rome Statute system”.

The meeting was supported by the Coalition for the International Criminal Court and hosted by the Ivorian Coalition for the ICC.

 

Pictures of the baseline meeting

 

Photos of the baseline meeting

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Terrorized Donbas Judges Pass 12 Times Fewer Sentences on…

Separatists” and Russian soldiers who commit crimes in the Donbas military zone get much lighter sentences than Ukrainian soldiers, and this has nothing to do with any difference in the gravity of their crimes, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group wrote.
A prominent expert in criminal law, Professor Mykola Khavronyuk, warns that the Ukrainian authorities are failing to ensure that justice is served in Donbas, despite apparently obvious solutions to some of the main problems, KHPG reports. The statistics revealed are certainly disturbing. In 2015, some 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers were convicted of violations of Ukrainian legislation on military service. This is in stark contrast to the 210 people convicted of crimes linked with separatism, terrorism or other activities of the self-proclaimed ‘Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics’ [DPR, LPR].
The judges now working in Donbas are partly intimidated, partly blackmailed. The number of both courts and judges has fallen significantly, and those who remain are often influenced by relatives remaining in areas under the pro-Russian militant control. The judges often pass sentences which are lighter than warranted out of fear both for themselves, and for their relatives. “This cannot be called independent and objective justice,” Khavronyuk says, adding that such rulings are much less just than in other parts of Ukraine. This will mean that after what he terms de-occupation, a huge number of investigators will be needed to probe crimes committed on the territory in question. Read also Donbas swap: Some from militant lists refuse to return to “LPR/DPR” Oleksandr Pavlichenko from the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union recalls cases where people linked with volunteer battalions have literally seized court premises, demanding that the judges pass the ruling they wanted. He knows of cases where the local authorities have become involved in putting pressure on the courts. On one occasion, the heating in the courtroom was switched off, and the security guards removed. Some judges openly state that they have a conflict of interests because of family in areas under militant control and therefore withdraw themselves from a case. This has led to a huge backlog, especially since many cases need to be heard by a panel of three judges. If just one withdraws him or herself, the court hearings cannot continue. Khavronyuk is generally very critical of Ukraine’s law enforcement bodies for failing to carry out justice as needed. He notes that the military prosecutor’s office, which was reinstated in 2014, is mainly concentrating on corruption crimes.

“They are for some reasons not taking on the investigation of the 1200 crimes about which the International Criminal Court recently reminded Ukraine”. he adds. Read also OHCHR reports 544 conflict-related civilian casualties in Donbas since Jan 1 The criticism expressed by Khavronyuk and human rights groups has been reiterated by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In its latest, 20th, report, it states that “Accountability for grave human rights violations in conflict-related cases remained elusive. Legal proceedings were plagued by ineffective investigations, politicization of cases with the involvement of high level officials and infringements on the independence of the judiciary. OHCHR documented substantial pressure exerted on judges in numerous cases”. The accounts already given by some of the 73 soldiers and civilian hostages recently freed from DPR / LPR captivity have only confirmed the doubts about the ‘legal remedies’ provided by the Kremlin-backed ‘republics’. The massive ‘sentences’ passed on blogger Edward Nedelyaev, religious scholar Ihor Kozlovskyy and many others for expressing their pro-Ukrainian position were evidently political, but there are also other sentences for real crimes which must also arouse concern. Read also As fighting intensifies, humanitarian aid for Ukraine faces severe cuts – Hromadske International OHCHR notes, for example, that “within structures in territory controlled by armed groups, arbitrary detentions and ‘prosecutions’ were compounded by the lack of recourse to an effective remedy. This is of particular concern given the ‘pronouncement’ of a second ‘death penalty’ by the ‘supreme court’ of the ‘Donetsk people’s republic’ in November.” As reported earlier, although Ukraine is only due to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court [ICC] in 2019, it has recognized the Court’s jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on the territory of Ukraine from February 20, 2014. While the Office of the ICC Prosecutor has already established that Russia’s invasion and occupation of Crimea constitute an international armed conflict, Russia’s major involvement in the conflict in Donbas turning this into “an armed conflict of an international nature” remains at the stage of investigation. It is both for this reason, and because of the clear need to ensure justice for the future reintegration of Ukraine, that Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies need to be investigating all killings, abductions, disappearances, cases of torture and ill-treatment and other crimes committed in Donbas. It should be stressed that this is regardless of which side is believed to have been involved, however civic organizations can also help the law enforcement bodies in gathering hard evidence of Russia’s control over the so-called ‘republics’, its direct military involvement, as well as its critical role in funding and arming the militants.

SOURCE:UNIAN: https://www.unian.info/society/2335943-terrorized-donbas-judges-pass-12-times-fewer-sentences-on-russia-backed-militants-than-on-ukrainian-soldiers.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ICC judges ‘prejudiced’ say lawyers for DR Congo’s Bemba

Former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba. AFP PHOTO / POOL / Michael Kooren

Lawyers for former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba Tuesday slammed his conviction for war crimes, accusing judges of “prejudice” and calling for the judgement to be scrapped.Bemba, 55, is appealing an 18-year jail term handed down by the International Criminal Court in June 2016 after judges found him guilty on five charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in atrocities committed by his troops in the Central African Republic (CAR).

Once the powerful leader of the Congolese Liberation Movement (MLC) and a wealthy businessman, the court said Bemba had failed to stop a series of rapes and murders by his soldiers in the CAR in 2002 and 2003.

But Bemba’s lawyer Peter Haynes told a hearing at the Hague-based ICC that trial judges chose to ignore much of the evidence presented by the defence.

“A hatchet was simply taken to the defence case,” Haynes told the five appeals judges.

“The trial chamber’s approach to evidence was unbalanced. For no articulated reason, the trial chamber ignored important evidence on central issues,” Haynes said.

This included the testimony of a retired senior French military officer, Brigadier-General Jacques Seara, who told judges that Bemba was not in command of his troops when they carried out the crimes.

Seara’s evidence was totally dismissed by the judges “notwithstanding his wealth of experience which entitled him to give evidence,” Haynes said.

“Simply put, the trial chamber deviated so substantially from the essential conditions of a fair trial that prejudice must be presumed,” he said.

“No trial judgement can be allowed to stand in such circumstances.”

Bemba’s case which opened in November 2010 was the first before the ICC to focus on sexual violence as a weapon of war, and the first to underline a military commander’s responsibility for the conduct of troops under his control.

In an appeal filed before the court, Bemba’s lawyers however said the judges’ “findings on effective control fall far outside established military doctrine and practice”.

Bemba’s trial “invented a theory of command responsibility which is a military impossibility”, his defence team said.

In a separate trial, Bemba was also sentenced in March last year to one year in jail and fined 300,000 euros for bribing witnesses during his main war crimes trial.

Bemba is expected to address the hearing, due to last until Monday.

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International Criminal Court May open Israel War Crimes Probe

Eastern Gaza City, six months after 2014's Operation Protective Edge (Aaed Tayeh/ Flash90)

Eastern Gaza City, six months after 2014’s Operation Protective Edge (Aaed Tayeh/ Flash90)

Israel’s National Security Council reportedly warned members of the Knesset’s powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week that the International Criminal Court could open an investigation at some point this year into the 2014 Gaza war and West Bank settlement construction.

Colonel Amit Aviram (res), a senior member of the committee, submitted to the Knesset committee a secret presentation entitled, “Strategic Situation Assessment for 2018,” Channel 10 news reported Monday.

One of the slides on security threats listed a concern that, in 2018, the prosecutor of the ICC in The Hague will move from the examination phase and open investigations into 2014’s Operation Protective Edge and construction in the West Bank,” the report said.

In addition, he reportedly warned that in the absence of peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, there is likely to be an increase in both attempts to delegitimize Israel and calls to boycott the Jewish state.

On December 4, 2017, the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, published a report, “Preliminary Examination Activities 2017,” in which she gave updates on preliminary examinations into Palestinian claims against Israel, launched in January 2015.

“In the past year, the Office has also progressed in its analysis of the alleged crimes committed by both parties to the 2014 Gaza conflict, as well as certain alleged crimes committed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since 13 June 2014,” she wrote.

Regarding Israel’s war against the Hamas terror organization in Gaza, she wrote, “The Office has sought to select incidents which appear to be the most grave in terms of the alleged harm to civilians and civilian objects and/or are representative of the main types of alleged conduct.”

In her conclusion, Bensouda wrote, “The Office has made significant progress in its assessment of the relevant factual and legal matters necessary for the determination of whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation.”

She said the assessment would continue with a view to reaching “conclusions on jurisdictional issues within a reasonable time frame.” However, she gave no indication as to whether she was likely to move beyond preliminary examinations to a full investigation or not.

Israel’s 50-day summer 2014 campaign against Hamas in Gaza originally began as a predominantly aerial campaign in response to repeated rocket attacks from the Strip, similar to the 2012 Operation Pillar of Defense. But after Hamas made use of its cross-border tunnel network to carry out attacks inside Israel, the focus shifted to tackling the subterranean threat.

A total of 74 people — 68 IDF soldiers, 11 of whom were killed in cross-border tunnel attacks; and 6 civilians — died on the Israeli side of the conflict. In Gaza, more than 2,000 people were killed, with Israel putting the number of civilians killed at approximately 50 percent, the rest being combatants. Gaza itself was badly damaged by the fighting.

In February 2017, the Knesset passed legislation allowing the Israeli government to expropriate private Palestinian land ex post facto, where illegal outpost homes had been built, provided that the outposts were established “in good faith” or had government support and that the Palestinian owners received financial compensation for the land.

However, Israel’s High Court of Justice has given the government until February to explain why the legislation should not be struck down on constitutional grounds.

SOURCE: ISRAEL TIMES

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Operation Python Dance: ICC Acknowledges Receipt of Petition by…

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has acknowledged receipt of a petition written against the Nigeria Army by a journalist following the invasion of the home of the leader of the civil rights group, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in an exercise codenamed Operation Python Dance which led to the killing members of the group as well as other members of the Afaraukwu community in Umuahia LGA of Abia State last year.

The petition written on September 24, 2017 to the Chief Prosecutor at the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, by Mr. Ahaoma Kanu, an award-winning journalist with National Daily Newspaper, decried the deployment of military personnel to the country home of the IPOB leader leading to killings, torture and human rights abuses perpetrated by soldiers of the Nigeria Army and the Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Tukur Buratai and called for an investigation and prosecution of the personnel involved in the well documented incident which occurred on September 16, 2017.

In a letter dated January 3, 2018 with reference number, OTP-CR-413/17, the Head of Information and Evidence Unit in the office of the Prosecutor, Mark P. Dillon, acknowledged receipt of the letter and accompanying documents while notifying the petitioner that the petition has been duly entered into the communications register of the Prosecutor’s office.

The letter, a copy which was made available to newsmen, reads in parts, “This communication has been duly entered in the communications register of the office. We will give consideration to this communication, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.”

The letter went on to note that the acknowledgment does not mean that an investigation has been opened, or that an investigation will be opened by the Office of the Prosecutor.

Dillon assured the petitioner that as soon as a decision is reached, “we will inform you, in writing, and provide you with reasons for the decision.”

source: The Nigerian Voice

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