The Legality of the Indictment of President Omar Hasen Al-Bashir By
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The Legality of the IndIndictmentictment of President Omar Hasen AlAlAl-Al---BashirBashir by the International Criminal Court Under International Law BYBYBY Takele Enkossa Addis Ababa University School of Graduate Studies Faculty of Law Addis Ababa January, 2010 www.chilot.me Table of Contents Pages Acronyms--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------v Abstract ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------vi Chapter One Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 1.1 Background ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1 1.2 Statement of the Problem --------------------------------------------------------------------4 1.2.1Research Questions -------------------------------------------------------------------------5 1.3 Objective of the Study -----------------------------------------------------------------------6 1.4 Scope of the Study -----------------------------------------------------------------------------6 1.5 Significance of the Study ---------------------------------------------------------------------7 1.6 Research Methodology -----------------------------------------------------------------------8 1.7 Organization of the Paper --------------------------------------------------------------------8 1.8 Limitation of the Paper ------------------------------------------------------------------------9 Chapter Two The International Criminal Court and Individual Criminal Responsibility ---------10 2.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------10 2.2 The Establishment of the International Criminal Court-----------------------------------11 2.3 Jurisdiction of the ICC-------------------------------------------------------------------------15 2.3.1 Subject Mater Jurisdiction --------------------------------------------------------------16 2.3.2 Temporal Jurisdiction--------------------------------------------------------------------17 2.3.3 Personal and Territorial Jurisdiction---------------------------------------------------17 2.4 Complimentarity of the Court----------------------------------------------------------------18 2.5 Structure of the Court -------------------------------------------------------------------------21 2.5.1 Judicial Section -------------------------------------------------------------------------21 2.5.2 The Office of the Prosecutor ----------------------------------------------------------22 2.5.3 The Registry -----------------------------------------------------------------------------22 2.6 Individual Criminal Responsibility under International law -----------------------------22 2.6.1 Criminal Responsibility of Heads of State under International law --------------26 i www.chilot.me 2.6.2 Individual Criminal Responsibility under the ICC Statute ------------------------30 2.7 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------32 Chapter Three Investigation and Prosecution under ICC ---------------------------------------------------33 3.1 Introduction-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------33 3.2 Investigation Process under the ICC Statute------------------------------------------------34 3.3 List of International Crimes Prosecuted by the Court ------------------------------------37 3.3.1 War Crimes-------------------------------------------------------------------------------39 3.3.2 Genocide----------------------------------------------------------------------------------41 3.3.3 Crimes against Humanity --------------------------------------------------------------44 3.4 Referring Situations to the Court (Trigger Mechanism) ---------------------------------46 3.4.1 Referral by State Parties --------------------------------------------------------------47 (i) Referral by Uganda ----------------------------------------------------------------48 (ii) Referral by the Democratic Republic of Congo -------------------------------49 (iii) Referral by the Central African Republic -------------------------------------50 3.4.2 Referral by the UNSC ----------------------------------------------------------------51 (i)The Darfur case---------------------------------------------------------------------52 3.4.3 Initiation by the ICC Prosecutor (Ex-Officio Initiation) -------------------------53 3.5 Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------55 Chapter Four The Legality of Indictment, the Pre-Trial Chamber I Decision and International Responses against Omar Hasan Al-Bashir’s Indictment -------------------------------56 4.1 Introduction -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------56 4.2 Sudan and the Darfur Conflict: an overview -----------------------------------------------58 4.3 List of International Crimes Lodged against Al-Bashir ----------------------------------62 (i) War Crimes ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------63 (ii) Genocide -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------65 ii www.chilot.me (iii)Crimes against Humanity ----------------------------------------------------------------68 4.4 The UNSC Resolution 1593 and other Subsequent Measures (Efforts) ---------------70 4.5 The ICC Investigation and Prosecution Process against Al-Bashir---------------------71 4.6 The Legality of the ICC Indictment ---------------------------------------------------------74 4.6.1 Legal Basis of the ICC to Indict Al-Bashir ----------------------------------------74 4.6.2 Jurisdiction of the ICC to Indict Al-Bashir-----------------------------------------77 (i) Ratione materiae-------------------------------------------------------------------77 (ii) Ratione tempories -----------------------------------------------------------------78 (iii) Ratione personae-----------------------------------------------------------------79 4.6.3 Issues of Admissibility ---------------------------------------------------------------79 4.6.4 Exhaustion of Local Remedy --------------------------------------------------------81 4.6.5 Whether Al-Bashir is Immune from Criminal Liability for Crimes Committed in Darfur? ----------------------------------------------------------------83 4.7 The Pre-Trial Chamber I Decision and the Arrest Warrant ------------------------------86 4.7.1 Contents of Arrest Warrant ----------------------------------------------------------88 4.7.2 Execution of Arrest Warrant ---------------------------------------------------------89 4.8 Obligation of States to Cooperate with the ICC’s Decision -----------------------------93 4.8.1 Obligation of State Parties under the ICC Statute --------------------------------94 4.8.2 Obligation of non -State Parties to the ICC Statute ------------------------------97 4.8.3 Obligation of Sudan to Arrest and Surrender Al-Bashir to the ICC ----------100 4.9 The Indictment and International Response ----------------------------------------------103 4.9.1 The African Union’s Position ----------------------------------------------------104 4.9.2 The Arab League’s Position ------------------------------------------------------111 4.9.3 Other’s Position --------------------------------------------------------------------113 (i) The Ethiopian Government’s Position----------------------------------------113 (ii) Other’s views--------------------------------------------------------------------114 4.10. Conclusion ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------115 5 General Conclusion ---------------------------------------------------------------------------117 Bibliography---------------------------------------------------------------------------------121 Annexes iii www.chilot.me ACRONYMS AU African Union AUPD African Union High Level Panel on Darfur AUPSC African Union Peace and Security Council CPA Comprehensive Peace Agreement CAR Central African Republic DRC Democratic Republic of Congo GOS Government of Sudan ICC International Criminal Court ICJ International Court of Justice ICTR International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda ICTY International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia ILC International Law Commission IMT International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg IMTEF International Military Tribunal of the Far East JEM Justice and Equality Movement LRA Lord’s Resistance Army NCP National Congress Party NGO Non Governmental Organization OAU Organization of African Unity PSC Peace and Security Council SCSL Special Court of Sierra Leone SLA/M Sudan Liberation Army/Movement SPLM Sudan peoples Liberation Movement TJRC Trust Justice and Reconciliation Commission UN United Nations UNGA United Nations General Assembly UNSC United Nations Security Council iv www.chilot.me Abstract In March 2005, the UN Security Council referred the situation in Darfur to the International Criminal Court (ICC). After investigating the case the prosecutor of the ICC made an application in July 2008 to the ICC requesting arrest warrant against Sudanese president Omar Hasan Al- Bashir for the crimes committed in Darfur since 2003. After the prosecutor’s application, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I issued arrest warrant on 4 March 2009 for the first time in the Court’s history against a sitting Head of State. The issuance of this arrest warrant raised a mixed reaction in favor