By Matthew Russell Lee
UNITED NATIONS, May 4 -- With International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo at the UN on Wednesday on Libya, Inner City Press asked him about the UN Panel of Experts report describing tens of thousands of civilians killed in the final stage of the conflict in Sri Lanka.
Ocampo said dismissively that he would not read it. He said he is the prosecutor for 115 ICC member states. Sri Lanka is not a member. Ocampo said that asking him about the Sri Lanka report is like asking a United Kingdom prosecutor about alleged crimes outside his responsibility.
While this level of indifference seems strange for a self-styled proponent of international justice and an end to impunity, Inner City Press asked Ocampo, what about people described in the report who are dual citizens of countries which are members of the ICC, like Palitha Kohona, joint Australian citizen involved in the so-called White Flag killings of surrenderees.
We have received something on that, Ocampo acknowledged, apparenlty referring to the filing that also describes and questions the role of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff Vijay Nambiar. “We are checking that,” Ocampo said. We'll see.
Inner City Press also asked Ocampo about a statement by South Africa in the Security Council, that he should look at NATO as well, if it has gone beyond the Council resolutions.
Ocampo said he would await the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Libya, which heard allegations by the government there. Other journalists followed this one up, but Ocampo went no further.
Ocampo mentioned Ahmed Harun, an ICC indictee for war crimes in Darfur whom the UN flies around in UN helicopters, at least twice. But no question to Ocampo on the UN's actions with Harun were taken at the press conference.
Afterward, Inner City Press asked Ocampo about the UN flying Harun around. “They are debating that in the UN,” Ocampo said. Actually, the UN has repeatedly defended flying Harun to Abyei, even after violence followed his visits.
Now Harun is accused of sending militias to commit murder in the home village of his political opponent in South Kordofan, the deputy governor. Ocampo mentioned a UN rule about only dealing with ICC indictees if absolutely necessary. Then he was gone.
