The International Criminal Court from its very beginning has taken a great delight in prosecuting only Africans. I will be serializing an article on the African indictees. In all there are about twenty-five Africans who have been indicted by the ICC.These is courtesy of the New African Magazine, May 2012 edition.
President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan.
He was indicted on March 4, 2009 on five counts of crimes against humanity and two counts of war crimes with regard to the situation in Darfur, Sudan. On July 12, 2010, he was additionally charged with three counts of genocide. He is accused of intending to partially destroy the Fur, Masalit, and the Zaghawa ethnic groups by killings, "causing serious bodily or mental harm," and "deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about physical destruction".
Bahr Abu Garda of Sudan.
Indicted on May 7, 2009 on three counts of war crimes also with regard to the situation in Darfur, Sudan. He was accused of being criminally responsible for murder, pillaging, and "intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, materials, units, and vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission". On February 8, 2010 Pr-trial Chamber 1 ruled that the charges against him would not be confirmed and all charges against him were dropped.
Abdallah Banda of Sudan
On August 27, 2009, he was indicted on three counts of war crimes. He faces similar charges to Garda. Banda voluntarily appeared before the Court on June 17, 2010 and the case against him is currently in the pre-trial stage.
Jean-Pierre Bemba of DR Congo
Jean Pierre Bemba was indicted on May 23, 2008 on two counts of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes with regard to the situation in the Central African Republic. On June 10, 2008, the arrest warrant was replaced with an amended version that charged him with three counts of crimes against humanity and five counts of war crimes. He is alleged to have led the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo (MLC), a Congolese rebel movement, into the Central African Republic when his assistance was sought by CAR president Ange-Felix Patasse to fight off a rebellion led by Francoise Bozize. Bemba was accused of allowing his soldiers to rape, torture, murder and inhumanely treat civilians. He was arrested in Belgium on May 24, 2008 and transferred to the Court on July 3, 2008. His trial began in November 22, 2010 and is ongoing.
To be continued.............
I BELIEVE SINCERELY THAT THIS COURT ALTHOUGH IS BIASED AND SERVE TO SATISFY THE DESIRES OF THE WEST, THE BEHAVIOUR OF SOME OF OUR AFRICAN LEADERS LEAVE MUCH TO BE DESIRED. AFRICANS MUST AVOID THINGS THAT DRAG THEM TO SUCH WESTERN CREATED COURTS.
ReplyDeleteNow that an African has been made the Chief Prosecutor, expect more of her brothers and sisters from the continent to be dragged to the ICC.
ReplyDelete