About 30 aides to Moammar Qaddafi, including his son Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, were indicted Oct. 24 by a Libyan court for a list of offenses allegedly committed during the 2011 revolt in the country. The charges levied against them include murder, kidnapping, complicity in incitement to rape, plunder, sabotage, embezzlement of public funds and acts harmful to national unity. Although less than half of the defendants appeared in court for the indictment hearing on Thursday, all defendants must be present at the trial hearing, the date of which has not yet been set. The trial will be one of the most high-profile in the country’s history, with defendants including senior officials such as former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi and Qaddafi’s last prime minister Baghdadi al-Mahmudi.
Al-Islam Qaddafi and al-Senussi have also faced charges of crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Earlier this month the ICC ruled (PDF) that the case against al-Senussi is inadmissible before the ICC and can only be heard by domestic courts in Libya, but noted that the decision did not affect the issue with regards to the charges against al-Islam Qaddafi. The ICC’s decision marked the most recent development in a legal battle between Libya and the ICC regarding al-Senussi and al-Islam Qaddafi. The two men were also charged with murder by Lybian prosecutors in August. A month earlier, the ICC rejected the country’s request to suspend an order to hand over al-Islam Qaddafi to face the international charges. In June al-Islam Qaddafi’s lawyer accused Libyan officials of defying the ICC by announcing that his domestic trial would begin in August despite the ICC’s attempts to have him extradited. The order demanding Libya to extradite al-Senussi [JURIST report] to face charges of crimes against humanity was made by the ICC in February.
From Jurist, Oct. 24
