III International Criminal Court (ICC)
| DOI | 10.1177/016934411102900109 |
| Published date | 01 March 2011 |
| Date | 01 March 2011 |
| Author | Desislava Stoitchkova |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 29/1, (2011) 121
III InteRnAtIonAl CRIMInAl CoURt (ICC)
D S*
e period June-December 2010 was eventful for the ICC. At the rst Review
Conference of the Rome Statute, which concluded i n Kampala, Uganda, on 11 June
2010, State Parties agreed on a denition of the crime of aggression wit hin the
jurisdiction of the C ourt. However, it wa s determi ned that the new ju risdictional
regime will rema in dormant until a positive decision by the Assembly of State Parties
in 2017 or one year aer t he acceptance of the new provisions by 30 States. Wh ile
these potentially far-reaching amendments were being introduced into the Statute, the
Court continued its work in relation to the situations a lready under its consideration.
It dealt with several Prosecutor’s applications for the i ssuance of arrest war rants and
summons to appear, target ing high-ranking ocia ls and other citizens of t he Sudan,
Kenya and the Democ ratic Republic of the Congo. e f uture of its rst-ever trial,
that of omas Lubanga Dyilo, once again came to hang by a thread whereas Defence
Counsel for Germain Katanga and Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo intensied eorts to
seek the dismiss al of their respective cases.
1. NEW ARREST WARRANTS AND SUMMONS TO APPEAR
Having secured a formal authorisation for the opening of a proprio motu investigation
into the Kenya situat ion,1 on 15 December 2010 the Prosecutor announced h is
intention to seek the voluntar y appearance of six individua ls before the Court.2 ey
are su spected of having played leading roles in the post-election violence that took
place in Kenya from 1 June 2005 to 26 November 2009. e suspects i nclude William
* Senior Programme Oc er, International Alert , London, the United Kingdom. e v iews expressed
here are those of th e author alone and do not represent Inter national Alert .
1 Situation in the Republic of Kenya , Decision Pursua nt to Article 15 of the Rome St atute on the
Authorisation of a n Investigation into t he Situation in the Republ ic of Kenya, ICC-01/09-19,
31 March 2010.
2 ICC Press Release, ICC-OTP-20101215-PR615, 15 December 2010, availab le at: www.icc-cpi. int/
NR/exeres/BA2 041D8-3F30-4531-8850-431B5B2F4416.htm. See also Situation in the Republic of
Kenya, Prosecutor’s Applic ation Pursuant to Ar ticle 58 as to Willia m Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono
Kosgey and Joshua A rap Sang, ICC-01/09-30-R ed, 15 December 2010 and Situati on in the Republic
of Kenya, Prosecutor’s Applic ation Pursua nt to Ar ticle 58 a s to Franci s Kirim i Muthaura, Uhuru
Muigai Kenyatta a nd Mohammed Hussein A li, ICC-01/09-31-Red, 15 December 2010.
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