Prosecutor v. Gaddafi

In June 2011, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi (defendant). Gaddafi was accused of committing crimes against humanity throughout Libya in violation of the Rome Statute. The ICC issued the arrest warrant after finding that Gaddafi had directed his militia to murder civilians for protesting against his regime in the cities of Benghazi, Misrata, Tripoli, and others. In November 2011, Gaddafi was apprehended in Libya by the Zintan militia. In May 2012, Libya filed in the ICC an admissibility challenge, pursuant to the Rome Statute, in which Libya questioned whether the ICC should hear the case. Libya requested that the ICC postpone Gaddafi’s surrender so that Libya could investigate Gaddafi for his crimes. The ICC prosecutor (plaintiff) opposed the challenge. Libya informed the ICC that it would likely pursue murder, torture, incitement to civil war, misuse of authority, unjustified deprivation of liberty, and other charges against Gaddafi. Additionally, Libya informed the ICC that its government was considering enacting a law to punish international crimes. In submitting the admissibility challenge, Libya stated that it had begun investigating Gaddafi for financial crimes and then expanded the investigation to serious crimes committed against the person in violation of Libyan law. While the ICC considered Libya’s challenge, Libya attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure Gaddafi’s transfer from the Zintan militia’s custody into the government of Libya’s custody.