Mali government requests ICC investigation

The Government of Mali submitted that the Malian courts are unable to prosecute or try the perpetrators. The Malian delegation also provided documentation in support of the referral.This follows the cabinet decision to refer the issue to the ICC and is in line with the 7 July 2012 request to the ICC by the ECOWAS Contact Group of Mali (composed of Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria and Togo) to “launch the necessary enquiries in order to identify the perpetrators of these war crimes and to initiate the necessary legal  proceedings against them.”

The ICC prosecutor confirmed that the ICC had been following events in Northern Mali and instances of killings, abductions, rapes and conscription of children were reported by several sources, She reminded all actors of ICC jurisdiction over Rome Statute crimes committed on the territory of Mali or by Malian nationals. She  stressed that the deliberate destruction of the shrines of Muslim saints in the city of Timbuktu may constitute a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome Statute. She said that her office would make an assessment of the situation in Mali and whether the criteria for an ICC investigation under the Rome statutes can be established. She will then make a decision in due course.