THE CHIEF prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has said he has enough evidence to charge top Libyan officials with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Louis Moreno Ocampo said yesterday there were “reasonable grounds” to charge leading figures with a litany of crimes including arrests, torture, rape, machine-gunning of protesters and use of cluster munitions in urban areas.
Sources at The Hague say indictments against Col Muammar Gadafy and his cohorts are expected within weeks, in part to forestall any move by the international community to give the Libyan strongman immunity in exchange for stepping down.
“War crimes are apparently committed as a matter of policy,” said Mr Ocampo in a report to the United Nations Security Council. “Massive crimes are reportedly committed upon instruction of a few persons who control the organisations that execute the orders.”
The ICC was mandated to investigate Libya for war crimes by the security council on February 26th but, recently, British and US sources have indicated a willingness to give Mr Gadafy immunity and exile in a non-ICC state if he agrees to end a war that has ground into a stalemate.
Sources at The Hague say Mr Ocampo is keen to forestall that, and may argue the security council, having ordered him to investigate the case in the first place, should not now block high-profile prosecutions.
Certainly his investigators are not short of material. Mr Ocampo said there are credible estimates of 500-700 people killed by Mr Gadafy’s security forces in February alone. Mr Ocampo said he has evidence of atrocities stretching back to the first opposition protests in the capital, Tripoli, on February 15th, including the killing of demonstrators and torture and persecution of opponents in Tripoli and other key cities.
Up to five indictments are expected to be requested from Hague judges.
A particular focus of this investigation is allegations of rape by Gadafy's forces against both men and women. In Libya, investigators told The Irish Timesthey have spent weeks on the painstaking task of tracing victims of a crime regarded as shameful in what is a conservative society.
Investigators have found evidence of systematic rape by security forces in opposition towns which fell under occupation. Unconfirmed press reports say in some cases whole families were raped together.
Prosecutors are also focusing on alleged atrocities by opposition supporters, including claims angry mobs in Benghazi attacked African migrants accusing them of being mercenaries fighting for Gadafy. “A number of sub-Saharan Africans were allegedly arrested by the new authorities in Benghazi, and it is unclear whether they were innocent immigrant workers or prisoners of war,” says the report.
Mr Gadafy was not named in Mr Ocampo’s statement, but war crimes sources say his position as commander-in-chief and his harsh rhetoric make it very likely that he will top any indictments.
Bringing those indicted to court is likely to depend on a rebel victory, as the ICC has no police force to carry out arrests. Mr Ocampo won support yesterday from the rebels themselves, who said they would oppose any outside deal to give senior regime figures immunity.
“There must be no immunity,” said spokesman for the Transitional National Council, Jalal al-Gallal. “No one has the right to give him immunity except the families who lost loved ones.”
Mr Gallal said council members wanted Mr Gadafy indicted to act as a deterrent to others committing violent atrocities on Libyan soil. “If he is indicted, it will show you cannot become a dictator.”