Malawi referred to UN Security Council over refusal to arrest Bashir

by admin
Dec 11, 2011

The International Criminal Court announced on Monday, it was referring Malawi to the UN Security Council for its failure to arrest Sudanese President, Omar al-Bashir who is wanted for his part in the Darfur genocide.

The ICC's pre-trial chamber concluded that "the Republic of Malawi failed to cooperate with the court by not arresting and surrendering Omar Al Bashir to the court during his visit to Malawi" and "decided to refer the matter to both the United Nations Security Council and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute."

Rejecting Malawian President's assertion that African leaders should not be tried at the Hague for crimes committed on African soil, the ICC judges noted,

"immunity for heads of state before international courts has been rejected time and time again dating all the way back to World War I."

"Giving the examples of international prosecutions against Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor, Muammar Gaddafi, Omar Al Bashir and Laurent Gbagbo, the chamber noted that initiating international prosecutions against heads of state have gained widespread recognition as accepted practice."

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