United Nations, New York, USA, May 26 2016 – Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), speaks to journalists after briefing the Security Council at its meeting on the situation in Libya today at the UN Headquarters in New York.
Photo: Luiz Rampelotto/EuropaNewswire
United Nations, May 26 2016
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) called upon the Libyan Government of National Accord to “immediately arrest and surrender Mr Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court.”
Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi is the second son of late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and is currently in the custody of Zintan rebels, allied, but not a part of the Government of National Accord.
In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council, Fatou Bensouda said “I encourage the Government of National Accord to give priority to devising effective plans and strategies to address atrocity crimes, and to invest in the relevant national institutions responsible for such critical work.”
She reminded the Council’s Members that “Libya remains under a positive legal obligation to immediately arrest and surrender Mr Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court, a fact noted by this Council in Resolution 2238.”
Bensouda urged the Government of National Accord “to prioritise transfer of Mr Gaddafi to its own custody and facilitate his surrender to the Court.”
She explained that since the “Libyan government has already indicated that they do not have custody of Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi and therefore are not able to make him available to the ICC”, her office has applied to the Pre-Trial Chamber to serve the warrant of arrest and to request his [Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi] surrender from the Zintan rebels.”
Pending Pre-Trial Chamber’s approval of her request, Bensouda asked the Security Council to “adopt appropriate measures to ensure the compliance” should Zintan militia headed by Ajmi al-Atiri fail to cooperate and deliver Gaddafi to the Court.
Source: UNTV, EuropaNewswire Photo