The Closure of the Preliminary Examination of the Situation in Bolivia by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court

15-02-2022

Grace ATALUI MOKANGO

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher

Global Human Rights Defence

On 14 February 2022, in a final report, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court announced the completion of the preliminary examination of the situation in the State of Bolivia after a thorough assessment. 

The prosecutor recalled above all the principles of independence, impartiality, and objectivity governing the office in the accomplishment of its functions. 

Firstly the article 14.1 of the Rome Statute grants State Parties the right to refer their own situation to the International Criminal Court. For that reason, on 4th September 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor of the Court received from the Government of Bolivia a reference regarding the situation in its own territory. “The Bolivian government alleged the commission of the constituent acts of crime against humanity and the Prosecutor's statement repeats the facts contained in Bolivia's referral” according to the Prosecutor.

Subsequently, the Prosecutor stated that “ following the preliminary examination process, I have determined that there is not a reasonable basis to believe that alleged crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court have been committed. In particular, I have concluded that the alleged conduct does not satisfy the contextual elements for crimes against humanity”. 

Reasonable basis is one of the mandatory and alternative criteria set out in Article 53.1 of the Rome Statute for an investigation to be conducted following a thorough preliminary examination. In this case, the contextual elements of crime against humanity as set out in Article 7 of the Elements of Crimes and the Rome Statute are not met, and therefore no further action can be taken on this situation. 

It should be noted that this decision of the Prosecutor's Office does not mark the definitive closure of the situation in Bolivia. It may be subject, firstly at the request of Bolivia, to judicial review by one of the Court's Pre-Trial Chambers, but also to possible re-examination by the Office if new information relevant to the situation emerges.

Source and further reading:

ICC Prosecutor, Mr Karim A. A. Khan QC, concludes the preliminary examination of the Situation in Bolivia and determines that an investigation is not warranted, from : https://www.icc-cpi.int/Pages/item.aspx?name=20220214-otp-statement

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, from https://www.icc-cpi.int/resource-library/documents/rs-eng.pdf.