2012-09-10 Letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tutu also calling for arrest of Bush & Blair et al.

NOTE:  this is #2 in a series: 

1. 2012-09-02 Bush, Blair should face trial for role in Iraq war, says Desmond Tutu
2. 2012-09-10 Letter to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tutu also calling for arrest of Bush & Blair et al
3. 2012-09-18 Reply from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Tutu and arrest of Bush

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September 10, 2012

 

TO:   The International Criminal Court

The Honourable Luis Moreno-Ocampo

otp.informationdesk   AT   icc-cpi.int

Office of the Prosecutor

The Hague

FROM:   Sandra Finley

sabest1  AT   sasktel.net

Saskatoon, SK Canada

306 373 8078

 

Dear Luis Moreno-Ocampo;

 

Archbishop Desmond Tutu recently boycotted a seminar in Johannesburg at which Tony Blair was a speaker.

I am thereby prompted to contact the ICC a second time (the first time was in 2009).

1.     Has a decision been taken by the ICC to prosecute George Bush, Tony Blair, Dick Cheney and others for war crimes under Article 15 of the Rome Statute?  Can you please tell me if not, why not?

2.     Did you receive my communication to the ICC with documentation of the laws and the evidence against Bush and Company (copy at 2009-03-08)?   I requested that you issue a warrant for the arrest of Bush.  There needs to be Equal Treatment with the ICC prosecution of Sudanese President Al-Bashir, for example.  As far as I know, I did not receive a reply, no explanation from the ICC.  I sympathize – – I think you are badly under-funded, but would it be possible for you to reply now?

3.   On January 19, 2010, Law Professor Francis Boyle from the University of Illinois filed a request with the ICC for the arrest of Bush and his companions.  See http://www.redress.cc/global/redress20100206.  Will you please send me a copy of the reply the ICC sent to Professor Boyle?

4.     2011-2012:  “ In Kuala Lumpur, after two years of investigation by the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission (KLWCC), a tribunal (the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, or KLWCT) consisting of five judges with judicial and academic backgrounds reached a unanimous verdict that found George W Bush and Tony Blair guilty of crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and genocide as a result of their roles in the Iraq War. . . . “

Has the ICC been in contact with the KLWCC?  It seems to me that  they have amassed an extremely valuable body of information and legal opinions that the ICC could use to expedite work on the file of Bush-Blair-Cheney-and-others?

Democracy is dependent upon an informed citizenry.  Mainstream media did not tell citizens that Tutu’s action is but one in a lengthy international effort to bring Bush and company to justice.  It is left to bloggers to inform their friends.  There is a listing of efforts by famous and not-famous people, as well as the Law and the Evidence at:  Arrest George Bush. Rule of Law essential to democracy.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu strongly stated (yet again) the need for George Bush and his companions to be brought to trial by the International Criminal Court. (Tutu:  “I couldn’t sit with someone who justified the invasion of Iraq with a lie”,  see  2012-09-02 Bush, Blair should face trial for role in Iraq war, says Desmond Tutu)

Tutu’s question,

• “On what grounds do we decide that Robert Mugabe should go the International Criminal Court, Tony Blair should join the international speakers’ circuit, bin Laden should be assassinated, but Iraq should be invaded, not because it possesses weapons of mass destruction, as Mr Bush’s chief supporter, Mr Blair, confessed last week, but in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein?”

is reiterated in the press,  The Guardian, U.K.:

• But it is Tutu’s call for Blair and Bush to face justice in The Hague that is most startling. Claiming that different standards appear to be set for prosecuting African leaders and western ones, he says the death toll during and after the Iraq conflict is sufficient on its own for Blair and Bush to be tried at the ICC.

“On these grounds, alone, in a consistent world, those responsible for this suffering and loss of life should be treading the same path as some of their African and Asian peers who have been made to answer for their actions in The Hague,” he says.

Thank-you very much for your consideration of my questions.

Best wishes to you, in your work that is extremely important for justice, peace, humanity and the environment,

Sandra Finley