Darfur suspect vows to clear name before ICC judges

October 16, 2009 (WASHINGTON) — Bahr Idriss Abu Garda the leader of the Darfur United Resistance Front (URF) who is the first suspect to appear voluntarily before the International Criminal Court (ICC) since its foundation said he is confident that he will prove his innocence when he appears before the judges on Monday.

Abu Garda is accused of being one of three rebel commanders to mastermind the lethal attack on African Union (AU) peacekeepers in Darfur in 2007 that left 12 soldiers dead and wounded eight others according to court documents.

The attack drew strong condemnations from the AU and UN Security Council (UNSC) and both bodies demanded perpetrators to be brought to justice.

The URF chief agreed to appear voluntarily at the Hague tribunal for a brief procedural hearing last May in compliance with a summons to appear. It was an alternative to a warrant of arrest that was originally requested by the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in November 2008.

Now Abu Garda will re-appear at the confirmation of charges hearings in which the judges will decide whether evidence establishes “substantial grounds” to proceed to a full blown trial.

The rebel’s assigned defense lawyer Karim Khan from the United Kingdom said that his client was “confident that in this gladiatorial contest the charges proffered against him will be shown to lack the necessary weight, probative value and veracity that will allow the judges to permit this case to proceed”.

“He did not direct it, he did not order it, he did not condone it — rather he condemned it,” the lawyer said.

ICC registrar Silvana Arbia said that 78 people affected by the attack will be represented at the hearing through lawyers, including family members of those killed and fellow peacekeepers.

One victims’ representative, Akin Akinbote, told the briefing that “this case will serve as a deterrent for others who want to deliberately kill peacekeepers who are not in a combat situation”.

The ICC prosecutor said that he will present three witnesses including two peacekeepers who were stationed at the AU base in Haskanita where the attack took place.

“We will present three witnesses. Two of them were members of the peace keeping group Haskanita. The other one is a Kenyan general, who is an expert on military matters,” Ocampo told reporters on Friday.

The ICC prosecutors charged Abu Garda and the two other unnamed rebel commanders with war crimes of violence to life, intentionally directing attacks against personnel, installations, material, units or vehicles involved in a peacekeeping mission and pillaging.

The ICC judges have still not made any decision on the other suspected rebels although they may have issued warrants under seal.

Sudan has dismissed the appearance of Abu Garda describing it as a “play” by the ICC prosecutor to pressure Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, also wanted by the court, into surrendering himself.

(ST)