From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Mon Jul 13 2009 - 08:42:55 EDT
Prosecutors appeal al-Bashir genocide decision
By Mike Corder
Associated Press Writer / July 7, 2009
THE HAGUE, Netherlands—Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have
appealed the tribunal's decision not to indict Sudan's president on charges
of waging genocide in Darfur, according to a document released Tuesday.
The court charged Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against
humanity in March for allegedly orchestrating a campaign of murder, torture,
rape and forced expulsions in Darfur province. But judges said there was
insufficient evidence to merit charging him with genocide.
Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state indicted by the world's first
permanent war crimes tribunal since it was established in 2002.
But Sudan's president defiantly refuses to recognize the court's
jurisdiction, and African Union leaders said Friday they would not arrest
and extradite him.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo rejected the stance Tuesday after meeting with
AU officials in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa for talks on Darfur.
"The AU is not a signatory of the charter," said Moreno Ocampo. "Individual
nations are."
He said 30 African nations have signed the court's founding document, which
obliges them to cooperate with the court.
"African leaders may make political statements but individual nations' laws
take precedence," Moreno Ocampo said.
Since the court indicted al-Bashir and issued an international arrest
warrant against him, he has traveled outside Sudan several times without
being arrested. The international court has no police force and relies on
countries to execute the arrest warrants.
The appeal filed Monday and released Tuesday said the judges who rejected
the three genocide charges were wrong in applying "an evidentiary burden
that is inappropriate for this procedural stage."
Prosecutors argued that they need only prove there are "reasonable grounds
to believe" al-Bashir was responsible for genocide when asking for judges to
file charges.
Instead, prosecutors said, the judges applied a too-high standard of proof
called 'beyond a reasonable doubt.'
Moreno Ocampo insisted Tuesday that if al-Bashir wants to put the charges
behind him he must beat them in The Hague.
"The only option is for al-Bashir to go to court and get an acquittal,"
Moreno Ocampo. "I have three years until I leave and after I leave, my
successor will be there for nine years. This will continue."
His appeal accuses al-Bashir of mobilizing the entire Sudanese state
apparatus with the aim of destroying a substantial part of the Fur, Masalit
and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur over more than six years.
Fighting in Darfur since 2003 has left up to 300,000 people dead and driven
another 2.7 million from their homes, the United Nations says.
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Associated Press Writer Samson Haileyesus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
contributed to this report
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