ICC expands scope of Ivorian war crimes investigation
New York, 24 Feb – (ANA) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced that it will expand the scope of its investigation into possible war crimes in Côte d’Ivoire from late 2010, to as far back as the start of the country’s civil war in 2002.
In a statement, the ICC said that three judges serving in one of its pre-trial chambers authorized an expansion of the investigation to cover any date of the presidential elections. “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 authorized an investigation,” the press release stated. “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.”
Last October, the ICC first authorized prosecutors to investigate alleged abuses committed in the aftermath of the 2010 election, when the incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to step down despite losing the United Nations-certified election to Alassane Ouattara. Deadly violence followed until Mr. Gbagbo was captured in April last year. In November of the same year, following an arrest warrant, Gbagbo was transferred by Ivorian authorities to The Hague in the Netherlands, where he is in the custody of the ICC. (ANA)
FA/ANA/24 February 2012---------