ICC Prosecutor urges conflicting parties in Libya to respect int'l humanitarian law
Abidjan, Côte d 'Ivoire (PANA) - The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensouda, on Tuesday urged "all parties and armed groups taking part in the fighting in Libya to fully respect the rules of international humanitarian law".
Prosecutor Bensouda expressed her deep concern over the escalating violence in Libya in the context of the resurgence of the conflict, which is rooted in the advancing Libyan National Army (NLA) on Tripoli and the related fighting against forces loyal to the Government of National Unity (GNU).
"As Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, I invite all parties and armed groups taking part in these conflicts to fully respect the rules of international humanitarian law. This includes taking all the necessary measures to protect the population and civilian infrastructure including schools, hospitals, and detention centers," said Bensouda.
She warned all parties to the conflict "not to commit crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, in particular, commanders to ensure that their subordinates do not commit crimes".
In a more direct threat, Bensouda warned that prosecution awaits anyone who incites to commit or commits such crimes, including by ordering, soliciting or encouraging the commission of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC or by contributing to any other way.
Furthermore, she also warned all military or civilian leaders, who exercise effective control, authority and command over their subordinates, that they could be held criminally responsible for the crimes committed by them.
"The law is clear in this respect: when superiors knew or should have known that crimes were committed and did nothing to prevent them from being committed or not taken all the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent or repress the execution, they can be held criminally responsible individually," said Bensouda.
She pledged to expand the scope of investigations and possible prosecutions to include other crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC, without contravening the principle of complementarity.
"No one should doubt my determination in this regard," she warned.
The Office of the Prosecutor is conducting a number of investigations in connection with the referral of the situation in Libya by the United Nations Security Council in resolution 1970 (2011) and in accordance with the mandate entrusted to it under the Rome Statute and continues to closely monitor events in this country.
Since 2011, three arrest warrants have been issued and not yet executed against Seif Al-Islam Kaddhafi, son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the former head of the Libyan Internal Security Agency, Al -Tuhamy Mohamed Khaled, and Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, commander of the Al-Saiqa Brigade operating around Benghazi.
-0- PANA BAL/IS/KND/VAO 17April2019
