Prosecutor presses inner circle on Gaddafi arrest

Moammar Gaddafi The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court urged Moammar Gaddafi's own aides Tuesday to arrest the Libyan leader and turn him over for trial on murder and persecution charges or risk prosecution themselves. As battles raged through a fifth month between Gaddafi's forces and rebels backed by Nato air strikes, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was optimistic that Gaddafi's regime would be over within two or three months.
On Monday, the court issued arrest warrants for the Libyan leader, his son Seif and intelligence chief Abdullah Al Sanoussi for crimes against humanity. But the court has no police force, and relies on the law enforcement agencies of the 115 countries that ratified the court's founding statute.
Libya is not a member, but Moreno-Ocampo advised Gaddafi's inner circle to arrest their leader. They "can be part of the problem and be prosecuted or they can be part of the solution - work together with other Libyans and stop the crimes," he told reporters at the court.
Nato forces operating in Libyan skies have no mandate to arrest suspects, he said. And Nato itself has said it does not want to put combat forces on the ground. The prosecutor said the other option for arresting Gaddafi is through the rebels fighting to end his more than four decades in power.
The court's enforcement problems were underscored this week by the trip to China by Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir, who was charged last year by the international court with genocide in Darfur. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, which authorised the court to investigate the Darfur conflict.
"China is not a signatory of the ICC ... and we reserve our opinion on the ICC's prosecution of Al Bashir," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told a news conference in Beijing. The United States also is not a signatory to the court's statute.
But Moreno-Ocampo is confident the international consensus to remove Gaddafi is stronger than in the case of Darfur and he was upbeat about his chances of getting Gaddafi.
"If we have enough energy within the states, in two, three months it's game over," he said.
Even if it takes much longer to detain Gaddafi, Moreno-Ocampo insisted he will eventually be tried.
He cited the arrest last month of former Bosnian Serb military chief Ratko Mladic after 15 years on the run as an example of how internationally wanted suspects almost always end up in court.
"It's a matter of time. See what happened with Mladic," Moreno-Ocampo said. "Bashir's destiny is to face justice, Gaddafi will face justice. The arrest warrants are not going away."
Speaking in Cambodia, where the trial of four Khmer Rouge leaders has just begun, US war crimes ambassador Stephen Rapp agreed that the long-awaited Cambodian trials and Mladic's arrest sent a clear signal: "If you commit these crimes, there will be consequences."
Regime rejects charges
Gaddafi's regime has rejected the court's authority and dismissed the charges as politically motivated.
"This court is nothing but a cover for the military operations of Nato," said Justice Minister Mohammad Al Qamudi. "The ICC does not really mean anything for us Libyans because we are not party to it and because it's merely a political tool for exerting pressure and political blackmail against sovereign countries. ... It has become clear that it's a tool of imperialism."
Journalists based in Tripoli were taken Tuesday to the town of Bani Walid, 120 kilometres southeast of the Libyan capital. About 200 pro-government supporters, mainly women, arrived on buses, chanting and firing automatic rifles into the air in support of Gaddafi.
One demonstrator, Baga Omar Zibeida, 55, an English teacher, criticised the ICC decision, saying the Libyan leader had done nothing wrong. "How can they arrest him? For what? What has he done?" he asked.