ICC to conclude investigations by end-2025 and issue new arrest warrants in Libya

May 14, 2024 | International actors

On 14 May, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on Libya, noting that the ICC had reinvigorated its work on Libya in the last 18 months and is making progress on the objectives of the Court’s strategic vision set out in April 2022 (while noting no details could be given).

Khan outlined a roadmap which would see all investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes in Libya completed by the end of 2025. This would involve the issuance of additional arrest warrants, the acceleration of investigations over next 18 months, and the start of a trial on the Libya situation before the end of 2025. He highlighted that although increased cooperation and support from the Libyan authorities would be required to achieve this, there had been positive signs on this front with multiple-entry visas being issued for ICC officials and a raft of visits and meetings with officials occurring in the last 6 months.

He said the second part of the roadmap would be judicial and complementarity activities, starting now and continuing after 2025. This would involve assistance, burden sharing, trainings, know-how, use of artificial intelligence, technology, and technical skills of building these types of cases. He also stressed the importance of focusing, with Libyan officials, on arrest and tracking.