Côte d’Ivoire: the ICC Judges expand the scope of the investigation to the 2002-2010 period
Posted by African Press International on February 23, 2012
Situation: Côte d’Ivoire
On 22 February 2012, Pre-Trial Chamber III of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to expand its authorisation for the investigation in Côte d’Ivoire to include crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court allegedly committed between 19 September 2002 and 28 November 2010.
The Chamber considered that the violent events in Côte d’Ivoire in this period (including the events since 28 November 2010) are to be treated as a single situation, in which an ongoing crisis involving a prolonged political dispute and power-struggle culminated in the events in relation to which the Chamber earlier authorised an investigation. Concentrating on the most significant of the samples of incidents, the Chamber concluded that there is reasonable basis to believe that, in the course of these events, acts of murder and rape that could amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity were committed.
The Chamber had, on 3 October 2011, granted the Prosecutor’s request to commence an investigation in Côte d’Ivoire with respect to alleged crimes committed since 28 November 2010, as well as with regard to crimes that may be committed in the future in the context of this situation. In that decision, Pre-Trial Chamber III, composed of Judges Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi (presiding), Adrian Fulford and Elizabeth Odio Benito, requested the Prosecutor to revert to the Chamber with any additional information available to him on potentially relevant crimes committed between 2002 and 2010. On 4 November 2011, the Prosecutor complied with the Chamber’s order.
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