The Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Luis Moreno Ocampo, has asked the court to issue 3 arrest warrants for members of the Libyan leadership for crimes against humanity.

By Richard Walker and Geraldine Coughlan

Ocampo said he has "direct evidence" that three persons are the most responsible for the crimes committed in Libya, based on evidence collected in his first investigation.

The three top suspects include Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al Islam and Libya's head of espionage, Abdullah al Senussi. "We have such strong evidence, such direct evidence, we're almost ready for trial," Ocampo told a news conference.

Three pronged approach

The swift ICC move comes in spite of continued NATO efforts to bomb Moammar Gaddafi into submission, and international diplomatic energies put into pushing him into exile. Leading some to question the point of arrest warrants when a prosecution under international law seems the least likely outcome.

One reason is that with arrest warrants issued, ICC signatory states will be obliged to arrest the three men. This assumes they would have been unwise enough to visit ICC member countries in the first place.

Deterrent

The best answer may lie in something ICC deputy chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told International Justice in a recent interview when asked how she measured success for the court: “I think definitely convictions, but also the ICC’s ability to be able to deter… to prevent crimes from even taking place is a level of success for us”.

Luis Moreno Ocampo will be hoping to send a strong message to the Libyan military today that violence against the civilian population will have consequences in law.

Rule of law

However, there is much criticism of US involvement in NATO attacks against Libya, while the US refuses to ratify the 1998 Rome Statute, establishing the ICC. Nevertheless, the US backed the UN Security Council’s unanimous decision to refer the situation in Libya to the ICC. Supporters of the court regard the US approach to Libya as being contradictory. The most frequently made observation is: - 'if one UN member state acts unilaterally, then others will do the same – with the end result that the entire UN system, based on the rule of law, will collapse.'