Description: Thoughts on international justice from The Hague and beyond.
After a long period of inactivity, the Banda case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has suddenly come back to life, but for very controversial reasons that have received little attention and commentary.
One of the early cases at the ICC, charges against Banda and his co-accused, Jerbo, were confirmed in March 2011. The allegations relate to a deadly 2007 attack on peacekeepers in Darfur. Both suspects waived their right to be present at the confirmation hearing, and notably the facts underlying the charges were not contested by the Defence at that time. Much of 2012 and 2013 were taken up with delays over translation of evidence (that had to be audio-translated into Zaghawa, which is not a written language
Photo: ICC