War crimes inquiry hinges on ICC's confidence in UK investigations
Wow, some places actually talk about it. These are not 'forward looking' places, are they.
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2014/may/13/war-crimes-icc-confidence-uk-inquiry-allegations
The re-opened preliminary examination of allegations that British troops abused Iraqi detainees between 2003 and 2008 is the last thing the government must have wanted. In January, when Phil Shiner's firm Public Interest Lawyers and a Berlin-based litigation pressure group known as ECCHR sent a 250-page complaint to Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC), William Hague argued that there was no need for the ICC to get involved. The foreign secretary pointed out that allegations of mistreatment were already being investigated by IHAT, the Iraq historic allegations team established by the British government.
(snip)
IHAT is currently investigating 52 allegations of "unlawful death" (involving 63 alleged victims) and 93 allegations of mistreatment (involving 179 alleged victims). If there is sufficient evidence, individual members of the armed forces could be tried before courts martial in the UK. IHAT has confirmed that it is investigating all but one of the cases identified in Shiner's complaint.
It will be up to the director of service prosecutions, Andrew Cayley QC, to assess the evidence obtained by IHAT and decide whether charges are in the public interest. With the attorney general's consent, he could charge individuals with committing war crimes, all of which are offences under English law.
(snip)
However, he accepted in a letter to the Guardian in February that Tony Blair could not face charges at the ICC because the court does not yet have jurisdiction over the crime of aggression.
Cayley and the IHAT head, Mark Warwick, have promised to go where the evidence takes them. But they made it clear to reporters that, as the evidence now stood, no civilians were likely to face prosecution.
(end snip)
Do not dispair, in one of the comments, it is noted that in 2017, crimes of aggression come under the jurisdiction of the ICC. As the commenter says 'tick tock, tony'
