UNITED NATIONS — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court insisted Libya and other countries Tuesday to help arrest six men allegedly linked to a ruthless militia accused of multiple murders and other crimes in a strategically important Western city where mass graves were discovered in 2020.
Karim Khan told the UN Security Council that he is ready to cooperate with the Libyan government and people, as well as with countries that are party to the ICC and with countries that will not assist in the arrests.
The ICC has no police force and relies on the cooperation of its 124 member states to enforce arrest warrants.
The six men were key members of or associated with the Al Kaniyat militia that controlled the city of Tarhuna from at least 2015 until June 2020, when government forces expelled them from the city. Tarhuna is located about 65 kilometers southeast of the capital Tripoli.
Telling the council by video from Libya, Khan said he had met victims from Tarhuna earlier Tuesday who told him of their suffering. He said he “walked in the areas where their loved ones were tortured and murdered.” A Libyan told him that “every household in Tarhuna has a victim,” he said.
“They have a steely determination. They clearly believe that justice, accountability and fair trials are essential for themselves, their families, their communities and for Libya in general,” Khan said.
The prosecutor said the victims’ determination “gives rise to renewed hope that things are moving in a direction away from talk and action, and from the possibility of justice.”
The ICC released arrest warrants in early October for six men: Abdelrahim al-Kani, Makhlouf Douma, Nasser al-Lahsa, Mohammed Salheen, Abdelbari al-Shaqaqi and Fathi al-Zinkal.
Khan said at the time that three of the men were leaders or senior members of Al Kaniyat. Three others were Libyan security officials linked to the militia at the time of the alleged crimes.
“We know where they are,” Khan said on Tuesday.
The ICC prosecutor said the victims told him they were happy with the arrest warrants, but “what they are demanding is your help to assist in the arrest of those individuals and to ensure that there are trials – that they can participate part of the processes if they can do so. evidence.”
Libya plunged into chaos after a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed a longtime dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011. The country split, with rival governments in the east and west, backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
The mass graves were found in Tarhuna following the militia’s withdrawal following the failure of a fourteen-month campaign military commander Khalifa Hifterwhich remains a powerful force in the east, to wrest control of Tripoli from a series of militias linked to the former UN-recognized government.