When a court orders an alleged killer to be arrested and it notices that someone else tries repeatedly to kill ‘their killer’…. it would issue also an arrest warrant for the murderer ‘in spe’ of the indicted. Sounds logical but we see today that the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court fails to do so. He did not issue any public statement ordering the chiefs of NATO to stop their attempts at the life of someone who needs to face his judges here on earth.
Below is the concluding statement by the ICC Prosecutor at the press conference on Libya in The Hague on 16 May 2011:
My Office has not requested the intervention of international forces to implement the arrest warrants. Should the Court issue them and the three individuals remain in Libya, Libyan authorities have the primary responsibility to arrest them. Libya is a member of the United Nations and it has the duty to abide by Security Council Resolution 1970.
When the time comes, implementing the arrest warrants will be the most effective way to protect civilians under attack in Libya and elsewhere. As in any other criminal case, the execution of the warrants will have a deterrent impact for other leaders who are thinking of using violence to gain or retain power.