Posted by The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, called for concrete measures to secure the arrest and surrender of suspects in Libya so that they can be tried in a fair and public hearing.
Bensouda expressed frustration at the lack of progress her office is making in Libya and said confidence in the ICC is undermined when warrants of arrest repeatedly fail to be executed.
Bensouda admitted that securing State cooperation in the arrest and surrender of suspects remains one of the greatest challenges faced by the ICC.
Bensouda’s made the remarks when she delivered a statement to the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Libya on Wednesday.
In 2011, the United Nations Security Council referred the situation in Libya to the ICC.
An investigation yielded three cases against five suspects and involved charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The five suspects were long-time Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, his son Saif, Abdullah Al-Senussi, Al-Tuhamy Khaled and Mahmoud Al-Werfalli.
The arrest warrant against Muammar Gaddafi was withdrawn in November 2011 due to his death. The case against Al-Senussi was declared inadmissible before the ICC.
Bensouda said that arrest warrants against three others have not been executed.
Bensouda insists that Libya remains under an obligation to arrest and surrender Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the ICC despite not being a State Party to the Rome Statute.
In April, the ICC rejected a case by Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi in which he challenged the admissibility of his case before the court. Gaddafi has since filed an appeal against the ruling.
Libya is currently experiencing its latest crisis where 443 people have been killed and at least 2,000 others wounded due to violence around Tripoli.
Source CGTN