Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu should give himself up to the International Criminal
Court in The Hague, Italian former ICC registrar Silvana Arbia
told La Stampa daily in an interview on Tuesday a day after the
court's prosecutor requested war crime indictments for Israeli
and Hamas leaders.
"It would be a good thing for Netanyahu and the other suspects
to give themselves up," said 71-year-old Potenza-born Arbia,
also a former prosecutor at the United Nations Rwanda Tribunal.
"As long as the international community organises with laws, no
one cam consider themselves above them," Arbia told the Turin
daily.
"Neither Netanyahu, nor Biden, nor any soldier, commander,
civilian leader.
"Of course, now Bibi is n longer a person free to move like
before. He is most definitely more isolated."
If ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan's indictment requests for
crimes against humanity are upheld, the Israeli prime minister
will no longer be free to travel to most allied countries except
the United States, which has not signed up to the court for fear
of losing legal sovereignty and for fear of its citizens being
prosecuted for war crimes.
Arbia said she thought the ICC justices would uphold Khan's
requests.
"I expect so. The Pre-Trial Chamber has to assess whether the
crimes in question come under the ICC's competence, and they
clearly do.
"Then, it must examine the evidence presented by the prosecutor.
"And it has to evaluate whether an arrest warrant is necessary
to ensure the presence of the defendant at the trial, it must
prevent the defendant creates obstacles and hampering the
investigation, and it must avert the reiteration of the crimes",
said Arbia.
The ICC prosecutor on Monday requested the arrest of top Hamas
figures, including the group's leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar, over
the horrendous October 7 attacks, and for Israel's Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and its defence minister over its
relentless war against Hamas and the impact on civilians in
Gaza.
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