ICC Drops War Crimes Case Against Sudan Rebel Abdallah Banda
THE HAGUE_Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have terminated proceedings against Sudanese rebel leader Abdallah Banda, ending a long-running war crimes case after prosecutors said they no longer believed they could secure a conviction, according to a decision made public on Thursday.
Banda had faced three counts of war crimes over his alleged role in a deadly 2007 attack on an African Union peacekeeping base in Sudan’s Darfur region. The case had remained pending for years while Banda remained a fugitive.
The decision followed a request by ICC prosecutors to withdraw the charges, arguing that developments in the evidence meant there were no longer reasonable prospects of obtaining a conviction at trial.
In a written filing, prosecutors said two key witnesses were no longer considered credible and that testimony from a new witness could help exonerate Banda. They added that an independent analyst who reviewed the evidence supported their assessment that the case could no longer be proved beyond a reasonable doubt.
The judges, however, expressed reservations about the prosecution’s request. In their ruling, they said prosecutors had not demonstrated that the evidentiary basis supporting the confirmed charges had deteriorated to the extent that the case could not proceed to trial.
Despite those concerns, the judges concluded that allowing the trial to continue with prosecutors unwilling to present the case would be incompatible with the court’s responsibility to ensure a fair and efficient judicial process. They therefore approved the request to terminate the proceedings.
Prosecutors acknowledged that ending the case would affect the 103 victims who had waited more than 15 years for justice over the attack on African Union peacekeepers. They nevertheless maintained that ethical and legal obligations required them to discontinue the prosecution once they determined that a conviction was no longer reasonably attainable.
The ruling comes at a challenging period for the ICC. The court has faced political pressure from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, while Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan is due to face a vote by the court’s 125 member states regarding his future in office following allegations of sexual misconduct, which he has denied.
The Darfur conflict, which began more than two decades ago, resulted in widespread allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. An estimated 300,000 people were killed and around 2.7 million displaced during the violence, much of which was attributed to the Janjaweed militias.
Former Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir remains wanted by the ICC on charges including genocide, but he has not been transferred to The Hague despite being removed from office and detained in Sudan.
ICC prosecutors have said they continue to investigate alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the ongoing conflict in Darfur. The court has warned that the humanitarian situation in the region continues to deteriorate, with famine, attacks on civilians and strikes on hospitals and humanitarian infrastructure remaining major concerns.
