“Cooperation underpins efforts to deliver justice to the victims”: the ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, meets a government delegation from the Central African Republic
Today, 31 October 2014, at the seat of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the ICC Prosecutor, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, met Mr Gabriel Faustin M'bodou, the Minister for Justice with responsibility for judicial reform and human rights of the Central African Republic (CAR), and Mr Maurice Dibert-Dollet, the CAR's Attorney-General. They discussed the issue of the CAR's cooperation with the Court, particularly in relation to the new investigation opened on 24 September 2014.
Following the meeting, the Prosecutor, Mrs Bensouda, and the Minister signed the first amendment to the 18 December 2007 Cooperation Agreement between the Court and the CAR, which guarantees continued judicial cooperation between the CAR and the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) in relation to its new investigations.
Subsequent to the amendment being signed, an operational working meeting was held between the delegation and OTP staff assigned to the investigation.
Background: In February 2014, following escalating violence in the Central African Republic, the OTP opened a new preliminary examination to assess whether or not the criteria for opening an investigation had been met. On 30 May 2014, the country's transitional government decided to refer the situation to the OTP, requesting that the Prosecutor investigate alleged crimes falling within ICC jurisdiction committed on its territory since 1 August 2012. Based on this independent and comprehensive analysis, the Prosecutor concluded that an investigation was warranted, making an announcement to this effect on 24 September 2014. The investigation is now in progress.
This is the second time that the Court has opened an investigation in the CAR, a State Party to the Rome Statute since 3 October 2001. The first investigation, opened on 22 May 2007, focused on alleged crimes committed in 2002 and 2003 in the context of an armed conflict between the government and rebel forces. Today, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo stands accused before the ICC of crimes against humanity and war crimes.