Aliyekuwa mgombea uchaguzi kupitia Chama cha Demokrasia na Maendeleo CHDEMA Tundu antipas Lissu amejitokeza na kutolea ufafanuzi kadha kuhusu kuwepo au kutokuwepo kwa kesi huko mahakama ya uhalifu ICC dhidi ya Serikali ya Tanzania baada ya uchaguzi mkuu 2020.
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Dar es Salaam. Chadema Vice Chairman and party’s presidential candidate in the 2020 General Election Tundu Lissu yesterday clarified that the opposition party hasn’t filed a case at The Hague- based International Criminal Court (ICC) because it lacks the legal mandate to do so.
He said member states who are signatories to the Rome Statues and the ICC chief prosecutor were the only ones with the legal mandate to file cases at the court with its residency in the Netherlands.
However, Mr Lissu, who was speaking during a virtual debate said the process could face serious challenges from members of the United Nations Security Council that have VETO powers.
In his clarification, Mr Lissu said Chadema has submitted evidence on incidents that could qualify as crimes against humanity that have been committed targeting members of the opposition.
However, Attorney General (AG), Prof Adelardus Kilangi, recently denied to have been aware of the ICC processes referred to by Chade- ma’s national chairman Freeman Mbowe.
Yesterday, Mr Lissu said the ICC, which was established in 1999, registered four types of cases includ- ing those related to genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.
“It is up to the chief prosecutor to determine whether our evidence conforms to Article 7 and 17 of the Rome Statute that describe types of crimes and whether they have suf- ficient gravity,” he said.
He said sufficient gravity is measured by the number of victims, the quality of crime and the type of defendants.
“Therefore, we have listed inci- dents of killings, assassination attempts that targeted me in Dodo- ma, disappearances, remands and wounding as well as providing the quality, perpetrators and their state- ments for the chief prosecutor to determine,” he said.
He added, “However, these are preliminary stages, the case is not expected today or tomorrow because there are procedures that have to be followed first.”
Detailing on procedures, the former president of the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) said upon being satisfied with evidence, the chief prosecutor may travel to the country for further gratification.
However, the prosecutor would finally be required to seek for the approval of the United Nations Security Council that has 15 members, with the UK, US, Russia, France and China holding VETO powers.
“The challenge is that all the five members with VETO powers are supposed to accept in order for the case to be filed, which is really a huge challenge,” admitted the former firebrand Singida East lawmaker.
According to him, apart from demand for immense support, claimed offenses have to be substantiated because not all killing incidents are crimes against humanity. He said crimes to qualify as against humanity should target a certain group of people, should spread, be repetitive, systematic and executed to identifiable groups.
Responding to a question on what would be the case if the country withdraws ICC membership as it happened when Tanzania withdrew from the African Court on Human and People’s Rights (AfCHPR) based in Arusha, Mr LIssu said that will not help.
“The country will be dealt with regardless of its membership status based on the international custom- ary laws and traditions that prohibit incidents of aggression, war crimes and crime against humanity,” he said.
He said Tanzania has signed sever- al international treaties, which could be another reason for it to continue facing trials even if it withdraws from the court.
During the event, lawyer Jebra Kambole said the ICC chief prosecutor may also launch an investigation by herself like what happened in Kenya, Burundi and Georgia.
“The chief prosecutor may also launch investigation in other areas including the forceful disappearance of people and arbitrary detention including incidents that don’t meet international standards and governments are not ready or unwilling to investigate,” he said.
Chanzo: The Citizen
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