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Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (Int'l Crim. Ct.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2020

Jonathan P. Worboys*
Affiliation:
Jonathan P. Worboys is a Barrister, Visiting Lecturer in Public International Law at King's College London and former Assistant-Legal Adviser at the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Extract

On April 12, 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a decision pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute of the ICC (Rome Statute) refusing to authorize an investigation into the situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (the Decision).

Type
International Legal Documents
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by The American Society of International Law

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References

ENDNOTES

1 See further, paragraph 1 of the Request for Leave to Appeal the Decision: https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_03060.PDF.

2 Article 15(5) of the Rome Statute reads: “The refusal of the Pre-Trial Chamber to authorise the investigation shall not preclude the presentation of a subsequent request by the Prosecutor based on new facts or evidence regarding the same situation.”

3 On 17 September 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC granted in part the request of the Prosecutor for leave to appeal the Decision. See https://www.icc-cpi.int//Pages/item.aspx?name=pr1479.

4 Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorisation of an Investigation into the Situation in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan [hereinafter Decision], ICC-02/17, ¶ 5 (Apr. 12, 2019), https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_02068.PDF.

5 Id. ¶ 15.

6 Id.

7 Id. ¶¶ 20, 22, 24.

8 Id. ¶ 89; Public redacted version of “Request for authorisation of an investigation pursuant to article 15, ¶¶ 364–372, https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2017_06891.PDF.

9 Decision, supra note 6, ¶¶ 45-69.

10 Id. ¶ 66.

11 Id. ¶¶ 66, 91.

12 Id. ¶¶ 66, 92.

13 Id. ¶¶ 66, 95.

14 Id. ¶ 96.

15 See further, Request for Leave to Appeal the Decision, ¶ 1: https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_03060.PDF.

16 See Decision Pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome Statute on the Authorization of an Investigation into the Situation in the Republic of Kenya, ICC-01/09, ¶ 63 (Mar. 31, 2010), https://www.refworld.org/pdfid/4bc2fe372.pdf.

17 See e.g., Dov Jacobs, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber rejects OTP request to open an investigation in Afghanistan: some preliminary thoughts on an ultra vires decision, DovJacobs (Apr. 12, 2019), https://dovjacobs.com/2019/04/12/icc-pre-trial-chamber-rejects-otp-request-to-open-an-investigation-in-afghanistan-some-preliminary-thoughts-on-an-ultra-vires-decision.

18 Decision on the Prosecution and Victims’ Requests for Leave to Appeal the Decision, ICC-02/17, ¶¶ 34, 39 (Sept. 17, 2019), https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_05649.PDF.

19 See Corrigendum of order scheduling a hearing before the Appeals Chamber and other related matters, ICC-02/17 OA OA2 OA3 OA4 (Sept. 27, 2019), ¶ 3, https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_05785.PDF.

20 Decision, supra note 6, ¶ 25.

21 See e.g., Kevin John Heller, Can the PTC Review the Interests of Justice?, Opinio Juris (Apr. 12, 2019) http://opiniojuris.org/2019/04/12/can-the-ptc-review-the-interests-of-justice.

22 The end of Article 53(1) reads: “If the Prosecutor determines that there is no reasonable basis to proceed and his or her determination is based solely on subparagraph (c) above, he or she shall inform the Pre-Trial Chamber.” Article 53(3)(b) Rome Statute then reads: “In addition, the Pre-Trial Chamber may, on its own initiative, review a decision of the Prosecutor not to proceed if it is based solely on paragraph 1 (c) or 2 (c). In such a case, the decision of the Prosecutor shall be effective only if confirmed by the Pre-Trial Chamber.”