The International Criminal Court prosecutor said today he had requested arrest warrants for Libya's Muammar Gadafy and his son Saif al-Islam for crimes against humanity.
Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said civilians were attacked in their homes, demonstrations were repressed using live ammunition, heavy artillery was used against funeral processions and snipers placed to kill those leaving mosques after prayers.
The prosecutor's office had received calls from senior officials in the Gadafy government in the past week to provide information. Prosecutors also spoke with eyewitnesses to attacks and assessed evidence from 1,200 documents, plus videos and pictures.
"We have strong evidence, so strong evidence," Mr Moreno-Ocampo said. "We are almost ready for trial."
"Col Gadafy ruled Libya through fear and Libyans are losing that fear now," he said.
The requests for arrest warrants follow UN Security Council referral of the violence in Libya to the Hague-based court in February and after Moreno-Ocampo said earlier this month he would seek three arrest warrants for the pre-determined killing of protesters in Libya.
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The office gathered direct evidence about orders issued by Muammar Gadafy himself, direct evidence of Saif al-Islam organising the recruitment of mercenaries and direct evidence of the participation of (Abdullah) al-Senussi in the attacks against demonstrators," Mr Moreno-Ocampo said at the ICC.
Abdullah al-Senussi, Libya's spy chief, is Col Gadafy's brother-in-law. Moreno-Ocampo said his office had documented how the three held meetings to plan the operations and that Gaddafi had used his "absolute authority to commit crimes in Libya".
Despite Nato bombing operations intended to protect civilians, Libya has been plunged into civil war, seriously complicating efforts to arrest ICC suspects.
In addition, the ICC has no police force and must rely on states to enforce any arrests -- a strategy which has failed to produce results in the case of Sudanese president Omar Hassan al-Bashir, who is wanted for genocide in Darfur.
Libya is not a member of the ICC, but Mr Moreno-Ocampo said Libyan authorities had primary responsibility to make arrests and that arrests are the best way to protect civilians.
"The international community must fully support the ICC in thoroughly investigating all allegations," Britain's foreign secretary William Hague said.
Richard Dicker, at New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the request for arrest warrants "is a warning bell to others in Libya that serious crimes there will be punished".
The ICC prosecutor has moved quickly in his investigation, with the request for arrest warrants coming just two and a half months after the Security Council referral.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo said the swiftness stemmed from global consensus that the crimes in Libya had to be investigated, although judges must decide whether there is enough evidence to issue warrants.
Mr Moreno-Ocampo added that persecution continues in areas under Col Gadafy control with forces arresting, imprisoning and torturing alleged dissidents. He added that some people have disappeared.
Prosecutors are also investigating allegations of mass rapes, war crimes committed by different parties and attacks against sub-Saharan Africans wrongly seen as mercenaries once the Libyan situation developed into an armed conflict.
Additional arrest warrants could be requested.
Initially, prosecutors will rely on a report from the UN Commission of Inquiry set up by the Human Rights Council. The commission is due to report on the situation on June 7th.
Reuters