It should not be too difficult, even in the current circumstances, for the International Criminal Court to collect evidence to be able to charge the Libyan leader with crimes against humanity, according to a Maltese judge.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and close collaborators, who will be investigated for alleged crimes against humanity, were put “on notice” yesterday by the chief prosecutor at the ICC.
Luis Moreno-Ocampo said he would investigate allegations that peaceful protestors had been attacked by pro-Gaddafi forces since February 15 in various localities across Libya. He said the investigation would be impartial and warned opposition forces that they too would be investigated.
According to Judge Carmel Agius, who sits on the UN’s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the ICC would probably start building its case by establishing contact with sections of the Libyan population that are not living in Gaddafi-controlled areas.
Libya, like other countries including the US, does not recognise the ICC and it is unlikely that the chief prosecutor will be given permission to enter the country.
This prospect has elicited criticism that the investigation could be based only on allegations reported by the media.
However, Judge Agius dismissed this argument insisting the ICC had its own ways and means of obtaining evidence and confirming it.
“Some information can be furnished by the intelligence services at foreign embassies in Libya apart from other means, which cannot be divulged,” he said.
Although it was not absolutely necessary for the prosecutor to be on the ground, he added, in the current circumstances if the office had people in Libya gathering information it would not even say so.
If the ICC eventually indicts Col Gaddafi and his aides with crimes against humanity, questions will be raised about the court’s effectiveness in bringing them to justice given past experience.
Sudan’s President Omar al Bashir, who is indicted for crimes against humanity in the Darfur region and who has an international arrest warrant hanging over his head, is still a free man in his country.
Judge Agius acknowledged that Col Gaddafi may still be a free man in his country unless the current regime was removed, however, he insisted things could change.
“The former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic was president one day and in the dock another. Similarly, Liberia’s Charles Taylor who was in comfortable exile in Nigeria suddenly found that the international arrest warrant was executed and had to face prosecution,” he said.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com