Time For Justice

On 4 October 2024, the Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court granted the Prosecutor’s request to unseal six arrest warrants issued in Libya on 6 April 2023 and 18 July 2023 against six suspects. The arrest warrants concern war crimes allegedly committed in Tarhunah, including murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence and rape. Three of the six suspects are prominent members of the Al Kaniyat militia that controlled Tarhunah from 2015 to June 2020, when government forces ousted them from the city. Three other suspects were in the Libyan security sector and were associated with the Al Kaniyat militia at the time of the alleged crimes. Since June 2020, hundreds of bodies have been exhumed from mass graves in and around Tarhunah, allegedly victims of the Al Kaniyat militia.
The Chamber’s decision to issue and unseal the six warrants is an important moment in the collective work of the Court to deliver justice and accountability for crimes committed in Libya. 
Through its investigations to date, the office has received a wide range of credible information indicating that Tarhunah residents have been subjected to crimes amounting to war crimes, including murder, outrages upon personal dignity, cruel treatment, torture, sexual violence,...