On 17 July 1998, 120 states adopted the Rome Statute as the legal basis for establishing the first permanent international criminal court. The International Criminal Court (ICC), which has its seat in The Hague, the Netherlands, was established to try the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and should consensus ever be reached on its definition, the crime of aggression.
The Rome Statute of the ICC came into force on 1 July 2002 after ratification by the requisite number of states. The ICC, governed by the principle of ‘complementarity’, is a court of last resort. The first case before the ICC began in January 2009.
Situations before the Court: Central African Republic; Darfur, Sudan; Democractic Republic of Congo; Uganda.
Ongoing trials
| Case: | Situation: | Trial started: | Starting date Defence: | Case Completed: | Judgment: | Presentation of the cases: |
| Thomas Lubanga Dyilo | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) |
26 January 2009 |
7 January 2010 | To be determined | To be determined | |
|
Germain Katanga |
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) | 24 November 2009 | To be determined | To be determined | Germain Katanga Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui | |
Awaiting trial / Pre-trial
| Case: | Situation: | Transferred to the ICC: | Initial appearance: | Confirmation of charges: | Start of trial: | Presentation of the cases: |
| Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo | Central African Republic (CAR) | 3 July 2008 | 4 July 2008 | (Crimes against humanity: murder and rape) (War crimes: rape; pillaging and murder). | 5 July 2010 | Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo |
| Bahr Idriss Abu Garda | Darfur, Sudan | Voluntarily appeared in reponse to a Court summons: 18 May 2009 | 18 May 2009 | Hearing: 19 October 2009 (War crimes: violence to life in the form of murder; intentionally directing attacks against a peacekeeping mission; pillaging). | To be determined | Bahr Idriss Abu Garda |
|
Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda)
|
Darfur, Sudan | Voluntarily appeared in reponse to a Court summons: 16 June 2010 | 17 June 2010 | 22 November 2010 | To be determined | Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus (Jerbo) Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain (Banda) |
Accused at large
| Case: | Situation: | Arrest warrant issued: | Alleged crimes: | Position: | Presentation of the cases: |
| Bosco Ntaganda | Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) |
22 August 2006 (under seal) 28 April 2008 (unsealed) |
Enlisting, conscripting and using child soldiers to actively participate in hostilities (war crimes). | Deputy Chief of General Staff for Military Operations of the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC) and commander of the Mouvement Révolutionnaire du Congo (MRC). | Bosco Ntaganda |
| Joseph Kony (The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen) | Uganda |
8 July 2005 (under seal) 13 October 2005 (unsealed) |
Crimes against humanity: sexual enslavement; rape; four counts of enslavement; five counts of murder; two counts of inhumane acts; and War Crimes: rape; six counts of attacking civilians; two counts of enlisting children; three counts of cruel treatment; five counts of pillaging; three counts of murder. | Commander-in-Chief of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). | Joseph Kony |
| Vincent Otti (The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen) | Uganda |
8 July 2005 (under seal) 13 October 2005 (unsealed) |
Crimes against humanity: sexual enslavement; four counts of enslavement; four counts of murder; two counts of inhumane acts; and War Crimes: rape; six counts of attacking civilians; two counts of enlisting children; three counts of cruel treatment; five counts of pillaging; four counts of murder. | Vice-Chairman and Second-in-Command of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). | Vincent Otti |
| Okot Odhiambo (The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen) | Uganda |
8 July 2005 (under seal) 13 October 2005 (unsealed) |
Murder and enslavement as crimes against humanity and three counts of murder, two counts of attacking civilians, two counts of pillaging and enlisting children as war crimes. | Deputy Army Commander and Brigade Commander of Trinkle and Stockree Brigades of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). | Okot Odhiambo |
| Dominic Ongwen (The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony, Vincent Otti, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen) | Uganda |
8 July 2005 (under seal) 13 October 2005 (unsealed) |
Three counts of crimes against humanity (murder, enslavement, inhuane acts) and four counts of war crimes (murder, cruel treatment, attacking civilians, pillaging). | Brigade Commander of the Sinia Brigade of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). | Dominic Ongwen |
| Ahmad Muhammad Harun ('Ahmad Harun') (The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman) | Darfur, Sudan | 2 May 2007 | Twenty counts of crimes against humanity and twenty-two counts of war crimes. | Former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of Sudan and current Minister of State for Humanitarian Affairs. | Ahmad Muhammad Harun |
| Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman ('Ali Kushayb') (The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman) | Darfur, Sudan | 2 May 2007 | Twenty-two counts of crimes against humanity and twenty-eight counts of war crimes. | Janjaweed militia leader. | Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Rahman |
|
Omar Hassan Ahmad al-Bashir |
Darfur, Sudan | 4 March 2009 | Murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape (crimes against humanity) and directing attacks against civilians and pillaging (war crimes). | President of Sudan. |
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