Britain's Karim Khan elected next prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
British lawyer Karim Khan will be the third prosecutor in the history of the International Criminal Court.
AFP - SABAH ARAR
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3 min
The member countries of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday elected a 50-year-old British lawyer, Karim Khan, as the next attorney general, an exposed position which means that the current incumbent is under US sanctions.
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Karim Khan was chosen against three other European candidates in the second ballot, winning 72 votes out of the 122 cast.
A human rights specialist, this lawyer recently led a special UN investigation into the crimes of the Islamic State group.
During this investigation, he called for trials similar to that experienced by the Nazi leaders in Nuremberg.
On June 16, he will succeed the outgoing Attorney General, the Gambian
Fatou Bensouda
, who has conducted controversial investigations, in particular on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or even Afghanistan.
Karim Khan has served as a defense lawyer in numerous ICC cases, including for the son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam.
He first trained in international law at the former International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, where he served as legal advisor to the prosecutor's office.
He then moved on to defense and represented Kenyan Vice President William Ruto before the ICC.
The Briton was also a defense lawyer for ex-Liberian President Charles Taylor before a special court for Sierra Leone and a lawyer for the Special Court for Lebanon based in The Hague, created to bring to justice the assassins of ex -Prime Lebanese Minister Rafic Hariri in 2005.
► Read also: Election of the ICC prosecutor: four candidates to succeed Fatou Bensouda
The ICC has a total of 123 members out of the 193 that make up the United Nations.
The United States, Russia, China, or even Israel, are not part of the ICC.
The mandate of the prosecutor is nine years.
The ICC is based in The Hague.
The one who will be the third prosecutor of the Court since its creation in 2002 will be in charge of voluminous files and complex cases, in a court whose legitimacy is constantly called into question.
(
With
AFP)
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