The ICC has just released the advisory below. I will be in The Hague next week and plan to break from drafting to attend. Quite independent from the Bashir case per se, this issue of the standard of proof for inference at the arrest warrant stage is important for all future ICC cases. I will try and do a quick write-up of what happens on Wednesday. . . .
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Al Bashir case: Appeals Chamber to deliver on 3 February, 2010, its judgment on the Prosecutor’s appeal against the arrest warrant decision
On Wednesday, 3 February, 2010, at 10:30 a.m. (The Hague local time), the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court will deliver, in public session, its judgment on the Prosecutor’s appeal against the “Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest against Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir”.
In that decision dated 4 March, 2009, the majority of Pre-Trial Chamber I found that the material provided by the Prosecutor in support of his application for a warrant for the arrest of Omar Al Bashir failed to provide reasonable grounds to believe that Omar Al Bashir had the specific intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa groups. Consequently, the crime of genocide was not included in the warrant issued for the arrest of Omar Al Bashir.
On 6 July, 2009, the Prosecutor appealed the decision, in relation to that charge, submitting to the Appeals Chamber that the majority of Pre-Trial Chamber I erred when requiring that the existence of reasonable grounds to believe that the person has committed the alleged crime must be the only reasonable conclusion from the evidence presented by the Prosecutor.
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