Cairo, June 28: The Hague: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and his son could also face rape charges, International Prosecuter said.
The International Criminal Court is still trying to link Gaddafi, his son and his brother-in-law to rapes but it does not yet have enough evidence to do so, prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Tuesday.
It has evidence that rapes have taken place in Libya’s civil war, he said, but he cannot prove Gaddafi ordered them, he said.
The court issued arrest warrants Monday for Gadhafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, and his brother-in-law Abdullah al-Sanussi on other charges.
Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi is a close adviser to his father. His arrest warrant came two days after his 39th birthday. Al-Sanussi serves as Gaddafi’s head of intelligence.
The warrants are “for crimes against humanity,” including murder and persecution, “allegedly committed across Libya” from February 15 through “at least” February 28, “through the state apparatus and security forces,” the court said in a news release.
The court is not asking international forces operating in Libya to arrest the suspects, Moreno-Ocampo said, saying Libya has the primary responsibility to do so as a U.N. member.
And he insisted it was only a matter of time until Gadhafi was arrested, pointing out that Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic was finally seized more than 15 years after a warrant for his arrest was issued.
“The arrest warrants are not going away,” he said, noting that 161 warrants had been issued in connection with the Yugoslav wars of the early 1990s — and that 160 suspects have been seized.
—Source: Facenfacts