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PRESS RELEASE: 17 January 2013
New
ICC Prosecutor repeats old
Prosecutor's mistakes
On 16 January 2012 the new Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, the successor of Luis Moreno Ocampo, announced that the Court was formally opening an investigation into alleged crimes committed on the territory of Mali since January 2012. ICCwatch director Marc Glendening has pointed out however that, in accepting this Malian self-referral, Fatou Bensouda is repeating an institutional mistake made by her predecessor, Luis Moreno Ocampo ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 1 September 2012
Change of ICC Chief Prosecutor changes nothing
The Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda has been sworn in as the International Criminal Court's new chief prosecutor, replacing the scandal-ridden and incompetent Luis Moreno Ocampo. ICCwatch Director Marc Glendening notes however:
"There are several clear reservations about Bensouda. While she has stated that she is ready to lead the fight against the world's worst war criminals, she did not mention that the ICC will ignore any crimes against humanity or war crimes committed by western or NATO forces in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere."
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PRESS RELEASE: 15 August 2012
Ocampo
goes, a corrupt & incompetent
court remains
Luis Moreno Ocampo's tenure as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has come to an end. His replacement as prosecutor, however, does not in any way disguise the reality that the Court remains a corrupt and incompetent institution ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 17 June 2010
ICC
Conference wants jurisdiction over Wars of Aggression .... except for members
of
UN Security Council!
The Review Conference of the International Criminal Court that concluded on June 12th in Kampala, Uganda voted to give the court potentially the right to prosecute political and military leaders who wage wars of aggression so long as this is sanctioned by the UN Security Council ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 11 June 2010
Anti-colonialist
group celebrates decision
not to sack 'Buffoon' ICC Chief Prosecutor
ICCwatch, a group established to monitor and criticise the work of the International Criminal Court, is celebrating the failure of its Review Conference, which ended on June 11th in Uganda, to remove the chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo. There had been speculation in the run-up to the event that a move would be made by some of the representatives of the chief donor countries to replace Mr Ocampo. Even the president of the ICC Assembly of State Parties (the body that oversees the work of the court), Ambassador Christian Wenaweser, has described Mr Ocampo as an "incompetent" and someone who "doesn't know how to write an indictment" ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 10 June 2010
ICC
Chief Prosecutor challenged to account for
'partisan' refusal to take action
against
Museveni regime
The refusal of the International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to open an investigation against President Yoweri Museveni and other government officials in relation to alleged atrocities committed by Ugandan government forces demonstrates the court's complete lack of impartiality, ICCwatch contends ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 19 March 2010
WHY
IS BOTSWANA BEHAVING AS
A EUROPEAN PUPPET?
There is growing concern about Botswana’s position regarding the attempts by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to indict, arrest and extradite Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with regard to the conflict in Darfur. The ICC, established in 2002, has increasingly come to be seen as a European Court. The ICC is overwhelmingly dominated and funded by Germany, Britain, France and Italy, Africa’s old colonial masters.
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PRESS
RELEASE: 3 March 2010
THE ICC: HALF A BILLION EUROS, FOR WHAT?
At a time when the European countries who account for over 60% of the ICC budget are facing the prospect of severe cutbacks in state expenditure because of the economic crisis, the spending of their expensive plaything the International Criminal Court is spiraling out of control. In yet another one of his ridiculous statements, the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo claims that the court is "proud ...
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PRESS
RELEASE: 19 February 2010
ICC
IN NEW THREAT TO HUMAN RIGHTS
Chief
Prosecutor wants to limit freedom of speech
In addition to claiming, without any democratic mandate, global jurisdiction, the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor now says he wants the power to indict individuals who engage in 'denial' of alleged international crimes.
Speaking at the United Nations in December 2009, Jose Manuel Ocampo, the ICC's top official, said that: "My office is considering the criminal responsibility of ...
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PRESS
RELEASE: 11 February 2010
ICC ECHOES DISCREDITED NEO-CON DARFUR 'GENOCIDE' ALLEGATIONS AGAINST SUDAN
In giving the International
Criminal Court the green light to proceed with the charge of genocide against
Sudan's President al-Bashir, the ICC appeal chamber has endorsed discredited Neo-Con
claims against the Sudan government.
In March 2009, the ICC pre-trial
chamber initially rejected the chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's demand that
the Sudanese president be charged with genocide. In doing so, it reiterated the
position of the United Nations, the African Union and the European Union, among
other observers of the Darfur situation, that there was no case for allegations
of genocide. The allegation of committing genocide is such an extraordinarily
serious accusation that those making it should be in possession of unambiguous
evidence before initiating legal action. However, Ocampo himself, by implication,
admits that he has failed to gather sufficient evidence against al-Bashir ...
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PRESS
RELEASE: 4 February 2010
WHY
WON'T THE ICC MOVE AGAINST
TONY BLAIR ON WAR CRIMES?
The
International Criminal Court's addition today of allegations of genocide against
President al-Bashir of Sudan following a decision by the International Criminal
Court's appeals chamber, will come as little surprise to observers of this largely
European-financed and politically dominated organisation.
It is no coincidence
that this announcement was made at a time when Tony Blair's illegal war against
Iraq is once again in the spotlight because of the Chilcott inquiry into Britain's
invasion of that sovereign country. It is extraordinary that the ICC prosecutor,
Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has so far refused to open any investigations into well-documented
allegations of war crimes committed by British forces during the course of the
occupation ...
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PRESS
RELEASE: embargo 02-07-2009
LUBANGA
TRIAL CASTS DOUBT OVER ICC'S
CAPACITY TO PROVIDE FAIR TRIALS
The International Criminal
Court's conduct of the trial of Thomas Lubanga from the Democratic Republic of
the Congo provides further concrete evidence that the Hague-based court is incapable
of staging a fair trial.
Mr Lubanga's defence counsel Catherine Mabille,
addressing the judges, on the second day of the trial last year said: "How
can we have a fair trial under [these] conditions?.... There has been a wholesale
abuse of the rules by the office of the prosecutor." Ms Mabille was referring
to ...
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PRESS
RELEASE: embargo 23 June 2009
LATEST
ICC REPORT REVEALS THAT COURT IS
UNDER EUROPEAN AND WESTERN CONTROL
The recently published
report of the Eighth Session of the International Criminal Court's Assembly of
States Parties substantiates the frequently made charge that
the court is
dominated by European and Western powers.
Of the contributions to the
ICC's approved budget for 2009 of 96.4 million euros, 57.2 million euros of assessed
contributions is accounted for by European countries. In addition, Australia,
Canada and New Zealand account for another 7.2 million euros. Japan, by the end
of the year, will have given 21.1 million euros and South Korea a further 3.1
million euros.
Of the European countries, Britain will have given by the
end of the year 9.5 million euros, France 9, Italy 7.1, Spain 4.2 and Germany
12.3 ...
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STATEMENT: 4 March 2009
SUDAN
APPLAUDED FOR
STANDING UP TO ICC
The decision by the government of Sudan to refuse to recognise the authority of
the International Criminal Court (ICC) and its dismissal of the court's arrest
warrant for president al-Bashir is to be applauded.
In adopting the position
it has, the government of Sudan is asserting the right to self-determination of
all nation-states and taking a stand against the dangerous trend towards undemocratic,
supranational governance ...
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PRESS RELEASE: embargo 25 February 2009
ICC
PROSECUTOR ACCUSED OF
CHILD SOLDIER HYPOCRISY
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has been challenged by ICCwatch to account for why he has not launched an investigation into the clear and all too well documented use of child soldiers by rebel forces in Darfur.
This is all the more puzzling because at present, Thomas Lubanga, a citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo, is on trial in The Hague for allegedly using young boys in his rebel movement ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 10 February 2009
INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT
CONDUCTING A MODERN DAY POLITICAL
'SHOW TRIAL' AGAINST
THOMAS LUBANGA
The current trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo in The Hague is turning into the equivalent of a Twentieth Century style political 'Show Trial', ICCwatch claims. The dice have been loaded outrageously from the start against the defendant.
First, the ICC prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, was revealed in July 2008 to have deliberately withheld evidence from Mr Lubanga's defence team which indicted his innocence. This information, described by the ICC's own Trial Chamber as 'exculpatory materials' - that is to say, evidence that cleared the defendant of wrong-doing - was kept from the defence in violation of article 54(1)(a) of the Rome Statute that established the ICC ...
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PRESS RELEASE: 18 December 2008
NEW
GROUP CALLS FOR POLICE TO INVESTIGATE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT PROSECUTOR
ICCwatch, a newly founded
organisation which monitors the Hague based International Criminal Court, has
asked the Dutch Public Prosecution Service to investigate whether Luis Moreno-Ocampo,
the ICC’s prosecutor, has broken the law.
It was revealed in July
2008 that Mr Moreno-Ocampo deliberately withheld from defence lawyers evidence
provided to him by the United Nations relating to Thomas Lubanga, a citizen of
the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) facing trial next year before the ICC ...
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ICCwatch
exists to monitor and provide a critique of the International
Criminal Court
and the broader movement towards transnational
governance.
The
experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY), together
with its Rwandan counterpart (ICTR), have left many real advocates of human rights,
democracy and international peace extremely anxious concerning the activities
of
the ICC.
ICCwatch
will also concern itself with the record and activities of the ICTY
and the
ICTR as they are part and parcel of the same supranationalist phenomenon.
The ICC is
a body that has been set up unilaterally by a group of nations and is not answerable
to any elected parliament or higher authority. It is a law unto itself and
the
western powers that have brought it into being. In
keeping with the politics of transnationalism, the officials of the ICC will enjoy
immunity from prosecution ...
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