ICC lauds Bangladesh’s commitment to Rome Statute
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Dhaka: The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague praised Bangladesh for her commitment to the Rome Statute and determination to bring an end of the impunity to the crimes against humanity and war crimes.
President Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi and Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart of the ICC conveyed it to Bangladesh Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha when he recently visited the ICC with a judicial delegation of Bangladesh.
Supreme Court Justice Mohammad Ashfaqul Islam and Bangladesh Ambassador to the Netherlands Sheikh Mohammed Belal also joined the Chief Justice during his meetings with the President and Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC on Tuesday in The Hague, the Embassy said on Thursday.
The Chief Justice updated the ICC about Bangladesh's ongoing efforts to bring to justice those who committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during War of Liberation in 1971 to end the culture of impunity to crimes against humanity.
The Chief Justice said this effort has created a new paradigm in international criminal justice by allowing purely domestic courts the mandate to hold trials for the internationally defined crimes in full conformity with the 'complementarity' principle of the Rome Statute.
He also assured the ICC that the International Crimes Tribunal Bangladesh (ICT-BD) and the Bangladesh Supreme Court as the appeal authority has maintained international standards in discharging their judicial mandates for the trail of the perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in 1971.
The ICC President termed the experience of Bangladesh for the trial of the perpetrators of the war crimes and crimes against humanity important for the ICC and shared her desire to continue dialogue with the national justice system to enrich each other's judicial proceedings.
Referring to his visit to International Crime Tribunal Bangladesh in 2015, the Deputy Prosecutor of ICC appreciated the trial proceedings in the ICT-BD and underscored the importance of independence and impartiality of the prosecution.
The six-member judicial delegation from Bangladesh is currently visiting The Hague at the invitation of the President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands Marteen Feteris.
On June 19, the Bangladesh judicial delegation visited the Supreme Court of the Netherlands to learn more about the digitalisation of the Dutch court system, including the Supreme Court and lower courts.
The President of the Supreme Court of the Netherlands and Bangladesh Chief Justice shared their experiences in digitalisation of respective court systems.
The Chief Justice of Bangladesh also visited the UN Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) and held a meeting with its President Judge Theodor Meron.