Initial appearance of Narcisse Arido scheduled for 20 March 2014
The initial appearance of Narcisse Arido before the single Judge of the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Cuno Tarfusser, is scheduled for Thursday 20 March 2014, at 10:00 (The Hague local time). Narcisse Arido was arrested in France on 23 November 2013 by the French authorities and transferred to the ICC detention centre on 18 March 2014.
During the initial appearance hearing, the single Judge will verify the identity of the suspect and the language in which he is able to follow the proceedings. He will be informed of the charges against him.
Background: On 20 November 2013, Judge Cuno Tarfusser issued a warrant of arrest for Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, his lead Counsel Aimé Kilolo Musamba, Jean-Jacques Mangenda Kabongo (a member of Mr Bemba’s Defence team and case manager), Fidèle Babala Wandu (a member of the DRC Parliament and Deputy Secretary General of the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo), and Narcisse Arido (a Defence witness) for offences against the administration of justice allegedly committed in connection with the case of The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, consisting of corruptly influencing witnesses before the ICC and presenting evidence that they knew to be false or forged. All suspects in this case are currently in the ICC’s custody.
Further information on this case is available here.
Decision convening a hearing for the first appearance of Narcisse Arido
Webstreaming of the hearing
The proceedings can be followed live on the ICC website at:
Attending the hearing
Journalists wishing to cover the hearing are kindly invited to request attendance via email to: [email protected]. All journalists must present a valid press card at the public entrance of the Court, located at Regulusweg (The Hague).
Members of the diplomatic corps, NGOs and other members of the public wishing to attend the hearing are kindly invited to request attendance via email to: [email protected]. Attendees must present a valid passport or valid ID with a photo at the public entrance of the Court, located at Regulusweg (The Hague).
Please note that individuals who do not confirm their attendance in advance cannot be guaranteed access to the hearing.
AV materials
Filming or photography is strictly prohibited inside the Court building. However pictures of the hearing will be posted on the Court’s Flickr account.
The entire hearing will be available for download on an FTP server in video (MPEG-4) and audio (MPEG-3) format, one hour after the hearing and for viewing on the official ICC YouTube Channel.
Media Centre
For media representatives wishing to use the Court’s media facilities, the media centre will open from 8:30 until two hours after the end of the hearing.
The area can seat up to 64 people and includes plasma TV screens; a Wi-Fi Internet service; cards (plug + play) for those without Wi-Fi capability in their PC or laptop; 6 computers with Internet access; and 7 telephones that may be used free of charge for internal calls. For external use, journalists are advised to purchase beforehand 0800 pre-paid phone cards available at newsagents and train stations. Please note that phone cards cannot be obtained in the vicinity of, or at the ICC.
Feed for the SNG trucks
SNG trucks can record the signal from the Courtroom from the distribution box placed in the media parking facilities (see below). Please note that there is no power supply available at the car park and that it is therefore necessary to have a generator.
Parking facilities
Parking facilities are available for media representatives at the Wegastraat car-park. Journalists attending are kindly invited to use the public entrance located on Regulusweg.
For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].
You can also follow the Court’s activities on YouTube and Twitter