Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) says a report on its “preliminary examinations’’ concerning allegations of crimes against humanity in Nigeria will be published by December.
Moreno-Ocampo spoke to reporters on Wednesday in New York concerning its assessment of the Jos crisis.
Following the 2010 Jos riots, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a rights group based in Nigeria, wrote to the ICC asking it to investigate the riots for potential crimes against humanity.
Hundreds of people were reportedly killed in the spates of violence that engulfed communities in the city.
The ICCs Chief Prosecutor maintained that one year after his office received the request for investigation, the situation was still being analysed to see if a case should be opened.
Moreno-Ocampo defended the procedure on the situation, saying “normally it is an internal process’’ but because of
the interest on the issue, a report should be expected before the end of the year.
“I have three duties to represent the victims in trial and to carry out investigations and before that to conduct preliminary examinations in order to establish if a situation should be presented to the court or not.
”So, in these first areas we are not in an investigation yet (in Nigeria). We are trying to analyse if the legal requisite it has with the Rome Statute apply to the situation and this is the area where Nigeria is.’’
Moreno-Ocampo said the report would be ready during the 10th Session of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC at the UN headquarters New York from Dec. 12 to Dec. 21.
Nigeria which ratified the Rome Statute on Sept. 27, 2001, has never had a judgement or matter brought before the court.
The ICC, which is based in The Hague, is the first permanent international court set up to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
The Court can try cases involving individuals charged with war crimes committed from July, 2002.
The Security Council, the ICC Prosecutor or a State Party to the court can initiate proceedings at the court, but the ICC only acts when countries themselves are unwilling or unable to investigate or prosecute.