A/HRC/14/26
IV.
A.
Major developments in international justice
International Criminal Court
81.
The Special Rapporteur intends to follow developments in international justice
closely and to support efforts to strengthen the rules and procedures of these international
judicial institutions.
Situation in Darfur, Sudan
82.
On 3 February 2010, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court
(ICC) rendered its judgment in the case of The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad AlBashir on the Prosecutor’s appeal, reversing Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of 4 March
2009, to the extent that Pre-Trial Chamber I decided not to issue a warrant of arrest in
respect of the charge of genocide. The Appeals Chamber directed the Pre-Trial Chamber to
decide anew whether or not the arrest warrant should be extended to cover the charge of
genocide. The Appeals Chamber explained that it was not concerned with the question of
whether Mr Omar Al-Bashir is, or is not, responsible for the crime of genocide. Rather, the
Appeals Chamber addressed a question of procedural law, namely whether the Pre-Trial
Chamber applied the correct standard of proof when disposing of the Prosecutor’s
application for an arrest warrant. In its 4 March 2009, decision, Pre-Trial Chamber I
rejected the Prosecutor’s application in respect of genocide stating that it would issue an
arrest warrant for genocide only if the only reasonable conclusion to be drawn from the
Prosecutor’s evidence, based on “proof by inference”, was that there were reasonable
grounds to believe in the existence of genocidal intent. The Appeals Chamber found this
standard of proof to be too demanding at the arrest warrant stage, which is governed by
article 58 of the Rome Statute. This amounted to an error of law. The case has now been
remanded back to the Pre-Trial Chamber to reconsider whether there were “reasonable
grounds to believe” that Al-Bashir acted with genocidal intent.
83.
The confirmation hearing for Bahr Idriss Abu Garda, the Chair and General
Coordinator of Military Operations of the United Resistance Front, was held from 19 to 29
October 2009, during which the prosecutors alleged that Abu Garda controlled the Justice
and Equality Movement during the 2007 attacks, which resulted in the death of 12 African
Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) soldiers and several injuries. On 8 February 2009, the PreTrial Chamber I of the ICC issued a decision declining to confirm the charges against Bahar
Idriss Abu Garda. The Chamber was not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence to
establish substantial grounds to believe that Bahar Idriss Abu Garda could be held
criminally responsible either as a direct or as an indirect co-perpetrator for the commission
of the crimes with which he was charged by the prosecution. Abu Garda was charged with
three war crimes, namely violence to life, intentionally directing attacks against personnel,
installations, material, units and vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission, and pillaging,
allegedly committed during an attack carried out on 29 September, 2007, against the
African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS), a peacekeeping mission stationed at the
Haskanita Military Group Site (MGS Haskanita), in the locality of Umm Kadada, North
Darfur. The decision does not preclude the prosecution from subsequently requesting the
confirmation of the charges against Abu Garda if such a request is supported by additional
evidence. The prosecution can also submit a request to Pre-Trial Chamber I for leave to
appeal the decision on the confirmation of charges.
Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
84.
The trial against Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the alleged former leader of the National
Integrationist Front, and Germain Katanga, the alleged commander of the Patriotic
GE.10-12622
17
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