Luis Moreno Ocampo

Luis Moreno Ocampo
Moreno Ocampo (microphone) during the Trial of the Juntas (1985)
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
Incumbent
Assumed office 16 June 2003
President	Philippe Kirsch Song Sang-Hyun
Deputy	Fatou Bensouda
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	4 June 1952 (1952-06-04) (age 59) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alma mater	University of Buenos Aires

José Luis Moreno Ocampo^{[nb 1]} (born June 4, 1952)^[1] is an Argentine lawyer who has been the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since June 16, 2003. He previously worked as a prosecutor in Argentina, famously combating corruption and prosecuting human rights abuses by senior military officials in the Trial of the Juntas. He has also lectured in criminal law and practiced law privately.

Career in Argentina

Born in Buenos Aires, Moreno Ocampo graduated from the University of Buenos Aires Law School in 1978, and from 1980 to 1984 worked as a law clerk in the office of the Solicitor General.^[2]

From 1984 to 1992, Moreno Ocampo worked as a prosecutor in Argentina.^[3] He first came to public attention in 1985, as Assistant Prosecutor in the "Trial of the Juntas" with Chief Prosecutor Julio César Strassera. This trial was the first since the Nuremberg Trials that senior military commanders were prosecuted for mass killings.^[3][4] Nine senior commanders, including three former heads of state, were prosecuted and five of them were convicted.^[3] He served as District Attorney for the Federal Circuit of the City of Buenos Aires from 1987 to 1992, during which time he prosecuted the military commanders responsible for the Falklands War, the leaders of two military rebellions, and dozens of high-profile corruption cases.^[3][4] He also successfully argued for the agreement of United States prosecutors to extradite General Guillermo Suárez Mason to Argentina.^[2]

He resigned as a prosecutor in 1992 and established a private law firm, Moreno Ocampo & Wortman Jofre.^[3] He defended several controversial figures, including Diego Maradona, former economics minister Domingo Cavallo, and a priest accused of sexually abusing minors.^[4] He represented the victims in extradition proceedings against Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke, and also in the trial of the murderer of Chilean General Carlos Prats.^[2]

During this time, he was also an Associate Professor of criminal law at the University of Buenos Aires and a visiting professor at Stanford University and Harvard Law School.^[2] He has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations.^[2] He is a former member of the advisory board of Transparency International and a former president of its Latin America and Caribbean office.^[2]

During the late 1990s, he starred in a reality television programme, Fórum, la corte del pueblo, in which he arbitrated private disputes.^[5][6]

The International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court's headquarters in The Hague

On 21 April 2003, Moreno Ocampo was elected unopposed as the first Prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court.^[3][4] He was sworn in for a nine-year term on 16 June 2003. As of April 2011, in his capacity as the Prosecutor of the Court he has opened investigations into seven situations: the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Uganda; the Central African Republic; Darfur, Sudan; the Republic of Kenya; the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire.^[7][8] Of these seven, three were referred to the Court by the states parties (Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Central African Republic), two were referred by the United Nations Security Council (Darfur and Libya) and two were begun proprio motu by the Prosecutor (Kenya and Côte d'Ivoire). The court publicly indicted 26 people, proceedings against 24 of whom are ongoing. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for 17 individuals and summonses to nine others. Five individuals are in custody and are being tried while nine individuals remain at large as fugitives (although two are reported to have died). Additionally, two individuals have been arrested by national authorities, but have not yet been transferred to the Court. Proceedings against two individuals have finished following the death of one and the dismissal of charges against the other.

Moreno Ocampo also led an investigation against leaders of the Lord’s Resistance Army, who in 2005 faced arrest warrants by the ICC for crimes against humanity. In October 2006 a media spokesman in the prosecutor’s office filed an internal complaint accusing Moreno-Ocampo of sexual misconduct.^[9][10] A panel of three ICC judges investigated the complaint and found that it was "manifestly unfounded"^[11] but Moreno-Ocampo generated a controversy when he summarily dismissed the staff member who made the complaint. The Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization subsequently awarded the employee almost £120,000 in damages,^[11] ruling that Moreno-Ocampo had breached due process and seriously infringed the employee's rights.^[9][11] The ILO held that the original complaint against Moreno-Ocampo had been made in good faith, and that Moreno-Ocampo should not have participated in the decision to fire the employee as he had a personal interest in the matter.^[9]

Moreno Ocampo directed an investigation against Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngudjolo Chui,^[12] who received arrest warrants in 2007 and 2008 respectively for crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo.^[13] In March 2008, according to an Argentine online news report, Moreno Ocampo explained the FARC, the largest guerrilla group in Colombia, was plausible for an investigation by the International Criminal Court.^[12] Moreno Ocampo began implementing preliminary tests in Colombia, which involved evaluating prosecutions of paramilitary commanders in Colombia, interviews with victims of the FARC, among others.^[12] Moreno-Ocampo explained the FARC could be investigated for crimes against humanity.^[12] He paid a visit to Colombia in August, after which the ICC launched an investigation on the “support network for FARC rebels outside Colombia.”^[14]

The ICC's first trial, of Congolese militia leader Thomas Lubanga, was suspended on 13 June 2008 when the court ruled that the Prosecutor's refusal to disclose potentially exculpatory material had breached Lubanga's right to a fair trial.^[15] The Prosecutor had obtained the evidence from the United Nations and other sources on the condition of confidentiality, but the judges ruled that the Prosecutor had incorrectly applied the relevant provision of the Rome Statute and, as a consequence, "the trial process has been ruptured to such a degree that it is now impossible to piece together the constituent elements of a fair trial".^[15] On 2 July 2008, the court ordered Lubanga's release, on the grounds that "a fair trial of the accused is impossible, and the entire justification for his detention has been removed",^[16][17] but an Appeal Chamber agreed to keep him in custody while the Prosecutor appealed.^[18]

Moreno Ocampo agreed on November 18, 2008, to make all the confidential information available to the court, and the Trial Chamber reversed its decision and ordered that the trial could go ahead;^[19][20] but he would be widely criticised for his actions.^{[20][21][22][23]}

He was also criticised for his decision in July 2008 to publicly charge Omar al-Bashir, the President of Sudan, with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Antonio Cassese,^[24] Rony Brauman^[25] and Alex de Waal^[26] argued that there was insufficient evidence to charge al-Bashir with genocide. Cassese, a former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, had chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, which concluded in 2005 that the government of Sudan had not pursued a policy of genocide in Darfur.^[27]

De Waal argued that "for nineteen years, President Bashir has sat on top of a government that has been responsible for incalculable crimes [...] Two weeks ago, Moreno Ocampo succeeded in accusing Bashir of the crime for which he is not guilty. That is a remarkable feat."^[26] Cassese also argued that if Moreno Ocampo were serious about prosecuting al-Bashir, he should have issued a sealed request and asked the judges to issue a sealed arrest warrant, to be made public only once al-Bashir traveled abroad, instead of publicly requesting the warrant, allowing al-Bashir to avoid arrest simply by remaining in Sudan.^[24]

Moreno Ocampo requested arrest warrants in November 2008 for rebels responsible for the murder of members from an international peacekeeping force in Darfur.^[28] Leaders from three Darfur tribes, said to be the victims of war crimes, sued him for libel, defamation and igniting hatred and tribalism.^[29]

Moreno Ocampo announced the six prime suspects in the Kenya post-election violence of 2007 on December 15, 2010. He named suspended Minister of Higher Education William Ruto, Minister for Industrialisation Henry Kosgey, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Commissioner of the Kenya Police Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali, Head of Public Services Francis Muthaura, and journalist Joshua Arap Sang as leading perpetrators of the incidents. His term at the ICC is due to expire in mid-2012.^[30]

Libya

On March 3rd, 2011 Ocampo announced that "there will be no impunity in Libya" as he announced the beginning of an investigation on crimes against humanity committed by either Libyan security forces or the opposition to the Gaddafi regime during the Libyan revolution. On May 16, 2011 he filed a request to the ICC to issue an arrest warrant against Col Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Sanussi, for crimes against Humanity^[31]. On June 27th 2011, The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, his son and his intelligence chief for crimes against humanity.

Notes

1. ^ Moreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name.

References

1. ^ Memoria Abierta: Luis Moreno Ocampo (Spanish)
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Luis Moreno-Ocampo (2003). Curriculum VitaePDF. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f} International Criminal Court. "The Prosecutor". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Stephen Cviic (21 April 2003). "Profile: Luis Moreno Ocampo". BBC News. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
5. ^ BBC Mundo (14 July 2008). "Perfil de Luis Moreno Ocampo" (Spanish). Retrieved on 12 February 2009.
6. ^ "La Corte del Pueblo" youtube video
7. ^ "All Situations". International Criminal Court. http://www.icc-cpi.int/Menus/ICC/Situations+and+Cases/Situations/. Retrieved 2011-05-20. 
8. ^ ICC press release on Pre-Trial Chamber III authorizing the investigation. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
9. ^ ^{a b c} Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization (9 July 2008). Judgment No. 2757.
10. ^ Complaint against ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo concerning serious misconductPDF. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
11. ^ ^{a b c} Joshua Rozenberg (17 July 2008). "Why the world's most powerful prosecutor should resign: Part 2". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
12. ^ ^{a b c d} "Las FARC pueden ser investigadas por “crímenes de lesa humanidad”" March 2008 [1]
13. ^ Coalition for the International Criminal Court
14. ^ "Swiss FARC network exists, alleges ICC prosecutor" Sep. 2008
15. ^ ^{a b} International Criminal Court (13 June 2008). Decision on the consequences of non-disclosure of exculpatory materials covered by Article 54(3)(e) agreements and the application to stay the prosecution of the accused, together with certain other issues raised at the Status Conference on 10 June 2008PDF. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
16. ^ International Criminal Court (2 July 2008). Decision on the release of Thomas Lubanga DyiloPDF. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
17. ^ International Criminal Court (16 June 2008). "Trial Chamber I ordered the release of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo - Implementation of the decision is pending". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
18. ^ International Criminal Court (7 July 2008). "The Appeals Chamber gives suspensive effect to the appeal against the decision on the release of Thomas Lubanga". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
19. ^ International Criminal Court (18 November 2008). "Stay of proceedings in the Lubanga case is lifted - trial provisionally scheduled for 26 January 2009". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
20. ^ ^{a b} Agence France-Presse (18 November 2008). "Road cleared for start of ICC's long-delayed first trial". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
21. ^ David Pallister (18 August 2008). "Human rights: Growing clamour to remove the Hague prosecutor who wants Sudanese president arrested". The Guardian. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
22. ^ The Economist (11 December 2008). "Sudanese justice begins at home". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
23. ^ Joshua Rozenberg (3 July 2008). "Why the world's most powerful prosecutor should resign: Part 1". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
24. ^ ^{a b} Antonio Cassese (July 2008). "Flawed International Justice for Sudan". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
25. ^ Rony Brauman (23 July 2008). "The ICC's Bashir Indictment: Law Against Peace". World Politics Review. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
26. ^ ^{a b} Alex de Waal (29 July 2008). "Moreno Ocampo’s Coup de Theatre". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
27. ^ International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (25 January 2005). Report to the Secretary-GeneralPDF, p. 4. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
28. ^ "Hague Warrants For Darfur Rebels" Nov. 2008
29. ^ http://www.islamonline.net/english/news/2008-09/14/03.shtml
30. ^ Daily Nation: ICC in search for Ocampo replacement
31. ^ Libya: ICC prosecutor seeks warrant for Gaddafi, May 16 2011

External links

• International Criminal Court: Office of the Prosecutor
• "Farmers and Chickens" An interview with Luis Moreno Ocampo by Guernica Magazine's Joel Whitney

Persondata
Name	Moreno Ocampo, Luis
Alternative names	Moreno-Ocampo, Luis; Moreno Ocampo, José Luis
Short description	Argentine jurist
Date of birth	4 June 1952
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death
Place of death