يان برونك ينتقد استراتجية أوكامبو بشدة: لِمَ لم يطالب أوكامبو بتسليم ال51 أولاً حتى يصل البشير؟

Quote: March 10, 2009 • 2:05 am Jan Pronk: Strategy of ICC prosecutor is wrong [translation from Dutch daily _de Volkskrant] ‘Strategy prosecutor ICC is wrong’ INTERVIEW, by our reporter Marnix de Bruyne published 8 March 2009 21:34, last updated 21:37 AMSTERDAM - Former envoy to Sudan criticises the international arrest warrant against president Bashir. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has achieved the opposite of what he wanted with his request for an international arrest warrant against Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan. This is the opinion of Jan Pronk, former minister of Development Cooperation and former envoy to Sudan of Kofi Annan, the UN chief at the time. In 2006 he was expelled from Sudan. What are your most important objections to the arrest warrant against Bashir? ‘That the civilians in Darfur are now worse off than before it was issued. It was predictable that Bashir would expel the aid organisations from the country as a reaction. The aim of the ICC is to protect civilians against new crimes. Now that the civilians are left to their fate, the opposite is achieved.’ Should this not be blamed on the Sudanese government in the first place? Isn’t the ICC’s only task to determine whether the evidence justifies such a warrant? ‘Of course, at the end of the day, Khartoum is responsible. And the ICC can say: we are just doing our job, what the results are is not our business. But indicting a current head of state is unique, you don’t just do that. And chief prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo has applied the wrong strategy in doing this. ‘In 2004, Antonio Cassese was requested by the UN to see if genocide had been committed in Darfur. He found evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but not genocide. He also presented Kofi Annan with a list of 51 names of potential perpetrators. ‘A few months later, the Security Council ordered the ICC to investigate “Darfur”. What did Ocampo do in July of last year? He requested the court to indict [literally "summon" - WM] the president, for genocide even, and claims to be able to prove that Bashir himself ordered all outrageous acts. I doubt that. Bashir may be formally responsible as the head of state, but he is governing by engaging in all kinds of coalitions and is able to stay in power by turning a blind eye to many things. That is why it is as much the people below him who have blood on their hands.’ The judges of the International Criminal Court have determined that there are enough indications of Bashir’s involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity. Are you saying that they are unable to properly weigh the evidence? ‘The evidence in support of an arrest warrant does not have to be as hard as the evidence to convict someone. Maybe Moreno-Ocampo will surprise us during the trial. But that would surprise me. Moreno-Ocampo has not done any research in Sudan - after all, he received no cooperation - but only in Chad, where he talked to Sudanese refugees. That did not include any dissident general or minister who could provide him with important information: no high level defectors are known. ‘Moreover: no trial will be he;d, because Bashir will never end up in The Hague. He is safe in his own country. He does not like to leave it. He is reluctant to travel in general, also because he’s afraid of a coup d’etat behind his back. And in Africa he has nothing to fear, because he has the support of the African Union.’ In 2005, you said in [Dutch weekly] _Vrij Nederland_ that there was ‘no doubt at all’ that crimes against humanity had been committed in Darfur and that you were a ’strong supporter’ of indicting ‘political leaders’ at the ICC. You have changed your mind. ‘No, I have not. But I believe that Moreno-Ocampo should not have started with the president. Why didn’t he request an arrest warrant against the 51 suspects on Cassese’s list? By working his way up step by step, he would slowly have reduced Bashir’s space for maneuvering space. Now all those guilty persons at a lower level are aligning behind Bashir, if only because they are happy that they seem to be getting away with it. The arrest warrant has only strengthened Bashir’s position.’ Source: http://www.volkskrant.nl/buitenland/article1160603.ece منّي عن Source: http://sidgsudan.org/2009/03/10/jan-pronk-strategy-of-i...-prosecutor-is-wrong