Yekatom and Ngaïssona case: ICC Presidency constitutes Trial Chamber V
On 16 March 2020, the Presidency of the International Criminal Court (ICC) constituted Trial Chamber V, which will be in charge of the case of The Prosecutor v. Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona. Trial Chamber V is composed of Judge Bertram Schmitt, Judge Péter Kovács and Judge Chang-ho Chung.
Trial Chamber V will be in charge of the conduct of the trial in this case. The Chamber will hold status conferences, confer with the parties and participants in order to set the date of the trial and adopt the procedures necessary to facilitate the fair and expeditious conduct of the proceedings.
Background: The arrest warrant for Alfred Yekatom was issued on 11 November 2018 and unsealed on 17 November 2018. He was surrendered to the ICC on 17 November 2018 and appeared for the first time before Pre-Trial Chamber II on 23 November 2018. The arrest warrant for Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona was issued on 7 December 2018. He was arrested by the authorities of the French Republic on 12 December 2018 and transferred to the ICC detention centre on 23 January 2019, upon completion of necessary national proceedings. His initial appearance before Pre-Trial Chamber II took place on 25 January 2019. On 20 February 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II joined the Yekatom and Ngaïssona cases.
The confirmation of charges hearing was held on 19-25 September and 11 October 2019.
On 11 December 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II partially confirmed the charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity brought by the Prosecutor against Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona and committed them to trial. The public redacted version of the decision on the confirmation of charges was published on 20 December 2019.
On 11 March 2020, Pre-Trial Chamber II rejected the Prosecution's Request for Reconsideration of, or alternatively Leave to Appeal, the "Decision on the confirmation of charges against Alfred Yekatom and Patrice-Edouard Ngaissona", thereby concluding the proceedings in the case before that Chamber, and ordering the Registrar to transmit the Decision Confirming the Charges and the record of the proceedings to the Presidency. The record of the proceedings before Pre-Trial Chamber II and the Decision Confirming the Charges were transmitted to the Presidency by the Registrar on 13 March 2020.
Mr Yekatom and Mr Ngaïssona are in the Court's custody.
For more information on this case, click here
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]
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