The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor, Karim Khan, has announced his plans to complete the investigations into war crimes committed in Libya by the end of 2025. This announcement came during his speech at the Security Council where he outlined a roadmap and plan of action to ensure justice for the Libyan people.
Khan aims to achieve this via two phases of proceedings. The first is to complete investigations between May 2024 and the end of 2025, while the second phase involves judicial proceedings. This includes the principle of complementarity, focusing on tracking and arresting suspects in collaboration with Libyan authorities.
The Prosecutor’s office has already made significant progress, with its Libya team completing over 18 missions, collecting more than 800 items of evidence, and gathering 30 statements in the last six months. Moreover, Khan emphasized the importance of continued and improved cooperation between the Libyan authorities and the international community. This co-operation has already led to multiple entry visas for his team and facilitated an official high-level visit by the Deputy Prosecutor.
The investigations by the ICC regarding Libya began in March 2011 and focused on alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes purportedly committed under the regime of Muammar Gaddafi back in February 2011. The case was referred to the ICC by the Security Council, given that Libya is not a signatory to the Rome Statute. These efforts have led to three cases so far, with five arrest warrants issued.
Khan, who has been the ICC Prosecutor since February 2021, had introduced a new strategic vision in April 2022 to tackle these issues.
More details on these developments can be found on JURIST – News.