THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - The inauguration of a permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) is "a corner stone in the development of international law", said Ivo Josipovic, a Croatian expert on international criminal law
who was a candidate for ICC judge.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 11 (Hina) - The inauguration of a permanent
International Criminal Court (ICC) is "a corner stone in the
development of international law", said Ivo Josipovic, a Croatian
expert on international criminal law who was a candidate for ICC
judge. #L#
The ICC inauguration is taking place in The Hague on Tuesday in the
presence of Dutch Queen Beatrix and UN Secretary-General Kofi
Annan.
Eighteen elected judges will assume office after taking a solemn
oath before Assembly of States Parties chairman, Prince Zeid Ra'ad
Zeid Al-Hussein.
"The ICC inauguration has a historical significance, it is a corner
stone in the development of international law, especially
international criminal law. For the first time, a universal
criminal court is being established for trying the gravest crimes
stipulated by international law," Josipovic told Hina by telephone
from The Hague, where he is attending the inauguration.
The agreement on the ICC has so far been signed by 139 countries and
89 have ratified it, including Croatia.
The Court's Assembly of States Parties elected in early February 18
judges of a total of 43 candidates. It followed strict criteria of
gender, regional and expert representation. According to the
number of votes he received, Josipovic came 19th.
The ICC is expected to start functioning late this year as the only
permanent court for individual liability for war crimes, including
genocide, crimes against humanity and aggression. The court will
have authority to process only crimes committed after July 1, 2002,
when the Rome Statute of the establishment of the ICC came into
effect.
The United States, Russia and China are the only countries of great
power to have refused to accept the ICC's authority.
The U.S. believes that because of its status as a super power and the
wide international presence of American soldiers and officials, it
will become an easy target of ideologically motivated indictments.
Former president Bill Clinton signed the Statute, but his
successor, George W. Bush, withdrew the signature.
The United Nations has so far established the International Court
of Justice dealing exclusively with disputes between countries and
criminal tribunals for war crimes committed in the former
Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Cambodia and Sierra Leone. After the
establishment of the ICC, there will no longer be a need for the
founding of ad hoc tribunals.
The ICC will not have precedence over national courts and will only
take over cases when national courts will not be able to investigate
or prosecute serious crimes.
The countries which ratified the Rome Statute may extradite to the
court their or foreign citizens who committed a crime on their
territory. Everybody can stand trial, including heads of state and
down the hierarchy ladder who ordered, knew about or covered up a
crime.
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