Sunday, October 10, 2010

ICC in the Media, Update #8

As we posted earlier, this week the ICC judges decided to lift the stay on proceedings and allow the Lubanga trial to continue. This decision was shortly followed by a statement from the ICC Prosecutor saying that victims can rest assured that Lubanga will have a full trial and will be held accountable if the judges so decide. Lubanga has been charged with using child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, although he denies these allegations. In other news, the ICC President Sang-hyun Song said in an interview on Tuesday that he is "very optimistic and hopeful" that the United States will join the International Criminal Court. He cited the increased cooperation with the Court under the Obama administration as a positive sign. However, due to the difficult realities of U.S ratification including approval by the Senate, he said that he did not expect U.S. ratification for a number of years. Photo credit: BBC News.

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