I just came across a short note on Prof. William Schabas' blog that a complaint was lodged on 30 July by two Sudanese NGOs concerning an op-ed of the ICC Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on the arrest warrant against Sudanese President Al-Bashir.
On 12 July, Pre-Trial Chamber I issued a second arrest warrant against Al-Bashir, this time including charges of genocide. These charges had earlier been rejected in a 4 March 2009 ruling, but the decision was overturned in January 2010 by the Appeals Chamber which found the standard set by the Pre-Trial Chamber to be excessive. Hence, the issue went back to the Pre-Trial Chamber which now added genocide charges. For Al-Bashir to be convicted of genocide, the Prosecutor must now prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the genocidal crimes took place and that Al-Bashir was responsible for them.
A few days after the confirmation of the genocide charges, Chief Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo published an op-ed in The Guardian. This op-ed contained misleading statements and gave the wrong impression that the ICC had already made a legal finding that genocide was committed. That the op-ed has also been cricicized on Prof. Schabas’ blog and one may wonder what interest the Prosecutor has to further raise expectations on an already complicated case.
Most recently, two Sudanese groups, the Sudan Workers Trade Unions Federation and the Sudan International Defence Group have requested the Pre-Trial Chamber “to review the public statement made by the Prosecutor as recorded in the Guardian Newspaper article and to determine what order should be made in the circumstances”. The NGOs are represented by two well-known lawyers, Sir Geoffrey Nice QC and Rodney Dixon. The two groups claim they have wide public support while the BBC previously reported that others believe that they act as government proxies.
The request was brought under Rule 103 of the ICC’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence. This means that the Chamber may, if it considers it desirable, invite such a submission, but it does not have to.
Certainly a development to watch.