Are two warrants of arrest better than one? The second warrant of arrest against Al-Werfalli and the ICC practice

Introduction

 

On 4 July 2018, the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC, or ‘the Court’) issued a warrant of arrest for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, a Libyan national, commander in the Al-Saiqa Brigade, for his alleged criminal responsibility for the war crime of murder of ten people on 24 January 2018, in Benghazi, pursuant to article 8(2)(c)(i) of the Rome Statute. The warrant follows a previous one for the same person, which is still pending and was issued on 14 August 2017 with reference to seven incidents, occurred from 3 June 2016 until 17 July 2017 in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in which 33 persons were murdered.

The present post aims at analyzing the second warrant of arrest, by comparing it with the ICC relevant practice. It will argue that it is unclear why the Court decided to issue a second warrant at all and that issuing a second warrant carries the risk of engulfing the work of the Court without bringing any advantages.

 

The warrants of arrest against Al-Werfalli and the ICC practice

The ICC jurisdiction over the situation in Libya has been triggered by the UN Security Council, which on 26 February 2011 unanimously adopted resolution 1970and referred the situation since 15 February 2011 to the Prosecutor of the ICC.  On 3 March 2011, the Prosecutor announced her decision to open an investigation in the situation in Libya.  The Security Council adopted Resolution 1970 acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter and ‘taking measures under its Article 41’, which provides that ‘[t]he Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to apply such measures’. Thus, although Libya is not a party to the Rome Statute. following the first warrant of arrest, in 2017 the Court could request Libya to cooperate in the arrest and surrender of Mr. Al-Werfalli.

On 1 May 2018, the Prosecution submitted, under seal, a request to amend the first warrant of arrest, pursuant to article 58(6) of the Rome Statute which reads as follows:

The Prosecutor may request the Pre-Trial Chamber to amend the warrant of arrest by modifying or adding to the crimes specified therein. The Pre-Trial Chamber shall so amend the warrant if it is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the person committed the modified or additional crimes’ [emphasis added].

Yet, on 4 July 2018 the Pre-Trial Chamber ‘consider[ed] it appropriate to issue a second warrant of arrest pursuant to article 58(1) of the Statute to complement the First Warrant of Arrest, rather than amend it pursuant to article 58(6) of the Statute’.[1]

Under Article 58(1) Rome Statute,

the Pre-Trial Chamber shall, on the application of the Prosecutor [emphasis added], issue a warrant of arrest of a person if, (…) it is satisfied that: (a) There are reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court; and (b) The arrest of the person appears necessary: (i) To ensure the person’s appearance at trial; (…) or (iii) Where applicable, to prevent the person from continuing with the commission of that crime or a related crime which is within the jurisdiction of the Court and which arises out of the same circumstances.

 

Thus, under this provision, the Pre-Trial Chamber should issue a warrant of arrest only when the Prosecutor makes a request to this effect. However, in the present case, the Prosecutor did not make a request for a new warrant, but for amendments to the first one so as to include the charges relating to the crimes committed on 24 January 2018. Could the Prosecutor’s request for amendments form the basis of the second warrant of arrest issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber on 4 July 2018? Nothing in articles 56 and 58 ICC Statute suggests so. Moreover, if one looks at the ICC practice, the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue a second warrant of arrest against Mr. Al-Werfalli has a number of flaws.

First, no previous case can offer a justification about why the Pre-Trial Chamber has issued a second warrant without any explicit request by the Prosecutor. The ICC has already issued a second warrant of arrest against the same person with respect to Mr. Al-Bashir in 2010 and to Mr. Bosco Ntaganda in 2012. As for the former, the second warrant of arrest was issued after the Appeals Chamber had concluded that the Chamber had acted ‘erroneously in rejecting the application for a warrant of arrest in relation to the counts of genocide on the basis that the existence of genocidal intent of the suspect was “only one of several reasonable conclusions available on the materials provided by the Prosecution”.’[2]  The decision to issue a second warrant of arrest, therefore, ‘only amend[ed] the First Decision to the extent necessary to implement the Appeals Decision and neither a re-assessment of the materials originally supporting the Prosecution’s Application, nor the analysis of materials other than those [were] warranted’.[3] In other words, there had been no need of a new request by the Prosecutor, and the decision to issue a second warrant of arrest, instead of amending the first one, was probably due to practical reasons. The arguments raised in relation to the immunities of incumbent Heads of State could indeed apply, mutatis mutandis, in this case. In particular, one could consider the nature of the crime of genocide[4]and of the obligations arising from the Genocide Convention, which might add on the obligations arising from a referral by the UN Security Council.

As for Mr Bosco Ntaganda, the issuance of a second warrant of arrest against him came after an explicit request of the Prosecutor, who in fact contended ‘that the arrest of Bosco Ntagandais necessary at this stage within the meaning of Article 58(1)(b) of the Statute, both to ensure his appearance at trial and to ensure that he does not obstruct or endanger the investigation, and further to seek compliance with the arrest warrant already in force.’[5]While it is unclear why the Prosecutor asked for a second warrant to be issued, instead of amendments to the first one, there is no doubt that in this case, the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber followed an explicit request of the Prosecutor.

Second, no warrant of arrest- be it the first or the second one- has ever proved effective. The issuance of this warrant of arrest appears to be justified, as it was in the case against Mr Ntaganda,[6]by the need to seek compliance with the arrest warrant already in force: the Chamber declared being, ‘satisfied that Mr Al-Werfalli is unlikely to cooperate with a summons to appear, within the meaning of article 58(7) of the Statute, considering that the First Warrant of Arrest remains unexecuted.’[7]However, it is unclear why and how a second warrant of arrest should be complied with, when the first one hadn’t. While Mr. Ntaganda surprisingly decided to surrender voluntarily,[8]Mr. Al-Bashir is still at large and keeps on travelling to states both parties[9]and not parties to the ICC Statute (see, e.g., here and here).  Being well aware of these precedents, the Prosecutor might have opted for a request to amend the first warrant of arrest against Mr. Al Werfalli, instead of asking for a new warrant.

In the case of Mr. Al-Werfalli, a second warrant of arrest against the same person seems to be even more unmotivated as, although relating to different incidents, in both cases, Al-Werfalli is charged with murder as war crimes. Thus, the necessity of issuing a second warrant could not be grounded on the possible distinct obligations arising from different international instruments, as some may argue in relation to the second warrant issued against Mr. Al-Bashir. Nothing in the ICC practice therefore suggests that a second warrant could ‘ensure the person’s appearance at trial’ under article 58(1)(b)(i) ICC Statute.

Lastly, as clearly admitted by the Pre-Trial Chamber I,[10]in the case of Mr. Al-Werfalli the mere existence of a first warrant pending against him did not deter him from keeping on committing international crimes. Thus, it is unclear how the condition under article 58(1)(b)(iii) Rome Statute could be met in relation to the second warrant.

In sum, the issuance of a warrant of arrest could risk engulfing the work of the Court, without getting any advantages out of it.

 

Conclusion 

The rationale behind the decision of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I to issue a second warrant of arrest against Mr. Al-Werfalli is unclear and the ICC practice concerning second warrants of arrest (namely, against Mr. Al-Bashir and Mr. Ntaganda), does not provide any clarification. Indeed, the second warrant against Mr. Al-Bashir was the consequence of the decision of the Appeals Chamber reversing the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber not to include charges of genocide in the first warrant. Furthermore, in that case, the decision of issuing a second warrant could be related to the obligations arising from the Genocide Convention, which could justify having two separate pending warrants. The second warrant against Mr. Ntaganda was issued after an explicit request by the Prosecutor and concerned different international crimes. When it comes to Mr. Al-Werfalli, however, the ICC Prosecutor had submitted a request to amend the first warrant, and it is therefore unclear how the Pre-Trial Chamber I used the request to issue a second warrant, which is notably relating to the same category of crimes of the first one. Moreover, the ICC practice offers some evidence that the issuance of a second warrant of arrest cannot favour in any way the execution of the first warrant, or make cooperation by states more likely, nor could it per se deter the continuing commission of international crimes. Thus, it remains unclear why the Pre-Trial Chamber I decided to issue this second warrant at all, and its decision’s compliance with article 58 (1) ICC Statute, might possibly constitute a ground for appeal in the future.

 

 

[1]Pre-Trial Chamber I, ‘ Second Warrant of Arrest’ in the Case of The Prosecutor v. Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli(4 July 2018) ICC-01/11-01/17, at para 7.

[2]The Appeals Chamber, ‘Judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the “Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest against Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir”’ in the Situation in Darfur, Sudan
The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir  (3 February 2010) ICC-02/05-01/09-OA, at para. 1.

[3]The Pre-Trial Chamber I, ‘Second Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest’ in the Situation in Darfur, Sudan The Prosecutor v. Omar  Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir  (12 July 2010) ICC-02/05-01/09 , at para 2.

[4]Dapo Akande, ‘ICC Issues Warrant of Arrest for Bashir on charges of Genocide’ (EJIL: Talk!, 12 July 2010)https://www.ejiltalk.org/icc-issues-warrant-of-arrest-for-bashir-on-charges-of-genocide/#more-2433accessed 20 August 2018.

[5]Office of the Prosecutor, ‘Second Corrigendum of the Public Redacted Version of Prosecutor’s Application under Article 58 filed on 14 May 2012 (ICC-01/04-611-Red)’ in the Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (16 May 2012) ICC-01/04-611-Red-Corr2, at 143.

[6]Pre-Trial Chamber II, ‘Decision on the Prosecutor’s Application under Article 58’ in the case of The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda (13 July 2012) ICC-01/04-02/06, at para 80.

[7]Pre-Trial Chamber I, ‘ Second Warrant of Arrest’ in the Case of The Prosecutor v. Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli(4 July 2018) ICC-01/11-01/17, at para 36.

[8]H.D., ‘A surprising surrender’ (The Economist, 19 March 2013) https://www.economist.com/baobab/2013/03/19/a-surprising-surrenderaccessed 20 August 2018.

[9]See, e.g., Dapo Akande, ‘ICC Reports Kenya and Chad to the UN Security Council over Bashir’s Visits’ (EJIL: Talk!,28 August 2010) https://www.ejiltalk.org/icc-reports-kenya-and-chad-to-the-un-security-council-over-bashirs-visits/accessed 20 August 2018; Dapo Akande, ‘The Bashir Case: Has the South African Supreme Court Abolished Immunity for all Heads of States?’ (EJIL: Talk!,29 March 2016) https://www.ejiltalk.org/the-bashir-case-has-the-south-african-supreme-court-abolished-immunity-for-all-heads-of-states/accessed 20 August 2018.

[10]Pre-Trial Chamber I, ‘ Second Warrant of Arrest’ in the Case of The Prosecutor v. Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli(4 July 2018) ICC-01/11-01/17, at para 36. See also Pre-Trial Chamber II, ‘Decision on the Prosecutor’s Application under Article 58’ in the case of The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda (13 July 2012)ICC-01/04-02/06, at para 80.