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The Hague, 5 June 2008
ICC-OTP-20080605-PR319-ENG
Arabic version
Today in New York,
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo
informed the United Nations Security Council that he will
present in July a second Darfur case before the ICC judges.
“The entire Darfur
region is a crime scene. For 5 years, civilians have been
attacked relentlessly. In their villages. Then into the camps.
They cannot return. Their land has been usurped. To plan and
commit such crimes, on such a scale, over such a period of time,
the criminals had to mobilize and coordinate the whole state
apparatus, from the security services to the public information
bureaucracies and the judiciary. Cover up of crimes by Sudanese
officials, pretending that all is well in Darfur, blaming crimes
on others, is a characteristic of the criminal system at work.
We have seen it before, in Rwanda, in the former Yugoslavia, in
my own country Argentina during the military dictatorship’.
“The victims are
being attacked by the Sudanese officials who have to protect
them. If the international community is persuaded to look away
and fails to recognize the situation for what it is - the
execution of a massive criminal plan to destroy entire
communities in Darfur - it would be a final blow to the
victims.” The Prosecutor said, asking the UNSC to issue a
statement requesting full cooperation of the Sudanese with the
Court.
He also mentioned
that one year after the first arrest warrants were issued by the
ICC, the Government of Sudan has not complied with Resolution
1593, has not arrested Ahmed Harun and Ali Kushayb, a militia
Janjaweed leader. They remain free and involved in criminal acts
against civilians in Darfur.
“They are fugitives
from the ICC” the Prosecutor said. ‘Ahmed Harun is still
Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs; he is a member of
the committee overseeing the deployment of UNAMID peacekeepers.
Impunity is not an empty word. Ahmed Harun is attacking
civilians; he is hindering the delivery of aid and the
protective functions of the peacekeepers. The international
community is sending firefighters and the Government of the
Sudan is promoting the arsonist’ added Luis Moreno Ocampo.
“As long as Harun
and Kushayb remain free in Sudan, the criminal system will
remain at work. Girls will continue to be raped. Schools will
be attacked. Land will be usurped. Entire groups will
disintegrate. Impunity emboldens the criminals.”
The International
Criminal Court is an independent, permanent court that
investigates and prosecutes persons accused of the most serious
crimes of international concern, namely genocide, crimes against
humanity and war crimes if national authorities with
jurisdiction are unwilling or unable to do so genuinely. The
Office of the Prosecutor is currently investigating in four
situations: The Democratic Republic of Congo, Northern Uganda,
the Darfur region of Sudan, and the Central African Republic,
all still engulfed in various degrees of conflict with victims
in urgent need of protection
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