The Hague, Oct. 31, (dpa/GNA) - The prosecution of crimes committed in Afghanistan is set to resume in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after a key ruling on Monday.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan plans to investigate the hardline Islamist Taliban as well as the terrorist group Islamic State first.
The possible war crimes involved include attacks on the civilian population, illegal executions, persecution of women and girls, and crimes against children.
Monday’s ruling came after Afghanistan – now governed by the Taliban – said that it wanted to take over the prosecution of such crimes itself.
The court prosecutors objected to this and the judges accepted their objection.
“The judges considered that Afghanistan is not presently carrying out genuine investigations in a manner that would justify a deferral of the court’s investigations and that Afghanistan authorities are not showing an interest to pursue the deferral request it submitted on March 26, 2020,” the court said in a press release.
The ICC is a so-called complementary court that only intervenes if the national judiciary is unwilling or unable to do so.
In view of the limited resources available, Khan has said he does not initially want to investigate alleged crimes committed by the Afghan army and US security forces.
GNA