Due to COVID-19 restrictions, ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, presents her Office’s 21th report on the Situation in Libya to the UN Security Council, remotely through VTC ©ICC-CPI

By Gary Raynaldo         DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

UNITED  NATIONS  –   NEW  YORK  –  The International Criminal Court (ICC) said Libya remains under an obligation to arrest and surrender Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi to be tired at The Hague.  ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda briefed  the UN Security Council Monday ICC,  repeating The Hague-based war tribunal’s call  to Saif Gaddafi to immediately surrender to the competent Libyan authorities so that he can be transferred to the court.  On February 26, 2011, days after the start of the revolution that ousted Muammar Gaddafi, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 1970, giving the court a mandate over crimes against humanity, war crimes, and genocide committed in Libya since February 15, 2011. The ICC has issued arrest warrants against five individuals, including the son of Muammar Gaddafi, (Saif Gaddafi),  during its decade-long mandate.  ICC prosector Bensouda reminded the  UN Security Council that  a warrant for the “wilful fugitive of justice” Said Gaddafi, was still outstanding, and stressed the Libya continues to be under legal obligation to arrest and surrender him to the Court for trial.

“Justice delayed is justice denied”

-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda 

Accountability is an important step on the road to peace in Libya, the  ICC prosecutor told the Security Council.  Bensouda welcomed the country’s new interim government and other measures to bring long-sought peace and stability in the country, however, she maintained that no peace is possible without accountability for serious crimes committed on its soil.  In her final briefing to the U.N. Security Council on Libya,  Bensouda also said the ICC continues to receive “concerning information about ongoing crimes, ranging from disappearances and arbitrary detention to murder, torture and sexual and gender-based violence.

Bensouda said that unexecuted warrants of arrest for alleged crimes against humanity or war crimes, delay the process of justice, undermine accountability and ultimately prevent closure for victims. 

ICC warrants must be “executed in a timely fashion”, she said. 

The chief prosecutor also said that some believed to have committed grave crimes in Libya continue to escape justice, including Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, who allegedly executed 43 civilians as specified in two arrest warrants.

“The unwillingness of those in power in eastern Libya to transfer Mr. Al-Werfalli to the Court… has contributed to a climate of impunity”, she said, calling on Libya to investigate and provide the relevant information to the ICC.  

If confirmed, those murders constitute “a tragic example” of perpetrators escaping accountability for the most serious of crimes but “will not stop the ongoing investigation of the situation in Libya” –  Bensouda said.   She advocated for working jointly with the Security Council to advance accountability and international rule of law for atrocity crimes along with the peaceful settlement of disputes, which she said was central to the UN’s founding principles.

“My office will continue to deliver its mandate independently and impartially in Libya as it does in all situations where we have jurisdiction”, Bensouda stated.