Allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to the prosecutor of the Worldwide Felony Courtroom (ICC) are nonetheless below assessment by the court docket’s govt department, an inside memo shared with employees on Sunday stated, after a media report that he had been exonerated.
ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, who investigates struggle crimes, crimes in opposition to humanity and genocide, has stepped apart quickly pending an investigation into accusations of a non-consensual sexual relationship with a lawyer in his workplace. He rejects allegations of wrongdoing.
After a year-long investigation, the UN Workplace of Inner Oversight Providers submitted its confidential fact-finding report in December to the ICC’s govt department, referred to as the Bureau of the Meeting of States Events.
A Saturday information report by Middle East Eye stated Khan had been cleared of the allegations.
However in a memo to court docket employees, which Reuters reviewed, the Meeting’s President Paivi Kaukoranta stated: “The disciplinary course of earlier than the Bureau is ongoing and stays confidential. No selections have been taken, and no weight ought to be given to current media hypothesis.”
The court docket, the workplace of the prosecutor, the Meeting and exterior legal professionals representing Khan didn’t reply to emails in search of remark, which have been despatched on Sunday exterior of regular working hours.
No selections taken
The sexual misconduct investigation into Khan coincided with US sanctions against him and other court prosecutors and judges for their role in investigating allegations of Israeli war crimes in Gaza, which led to the indictment of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The ICC is the world’s court of last resort for international crimes, and has 125 member countries. It has been thrust into an existential crisis by the sanctions and loss of the prosecutor, who is its most prominent official.
Its membership does not include China, Russia or the United States, which have opposed Khan’s issuing of arrest warrants for sitting leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Netanyahu.
