For
ICC,
France Offered
to Support
Unqualified
Judge Quid Pro
Quo for
Cathala
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS,
October 29 --
In the run up
to the
election of
six
International
Criminal Court
judges set for
New York in
December,
France offered
to support a
candidate
found to be
unqualified if
his
country would
support the
French
candidate
Bruno Cathala,
Inner City
Press has
learned.
There
are 19
candidates for
the six ICC
judge seats.
They were
reviewed by
the
Independent
Panel on
International
Criminal Court
Judicial
Elections
and four --
from Tunisia,
Cyprus, Costa
Rica and
Mexico -- were
found
to be
"unqualified."
The
Panel's
members
include not
only South
African
justice and
international
prosecutor
Richard
Goldstone, and
ICTY and US
judge Patricia
Wald but
also former
top UN lawyer
Hans Corell.
Nevertheless,
when
one of the
"unqualified"
candidates met
with France to
try
to make his
case, he tells
Inner City
Press that he
was surprised
to
be offered a
deal: that if
his country
committed to
vote for the
French
candidate, he
could count on
France's vote.
France
styles
itself a
champion of
international
criminal
justice and
accountability.
But just as it
asserted
itself to
place atop UN
Peacekeeping
Herve Ladsous,
the chief of
staff of
foreign
ministers
Alain Juppe
and Michele
Aliot-Marie
including when
she flew on
planes
owned by
cronies of
Tunisian
dictator Ben
Ali, it is
seeking to its
candidate
Bruno Cathala
as a judge on
the ICC. Will
it work?
(c) UN Photo
Cathala
at UN,
attempted
French quid
pro quo for
unqualified
judge not
shown
Beyond
this quid
pro pro,
when Inner
City Press previously
asked Cathala
when he was
ICC Registrar
about immunity
given
toLaurent
Nkunda in the
Kivus in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo, he
replied
that the ICC
was not
part of the
negotiation of
that immunity
which, he
claimed, did
not
include war
crimes or
other
ICC-relevant
crimes.
Cathala
quoted
the ICC's
deputy
prosecutor
(and now
candidate to
replace Moreno
Ocampo) Fatou
Bensouda that
the ICC's
phase of
investigation
in Ituri
was over. But
indicteee
Ngudjolo's
co-warlord
Peter Karim
was and is
still in the
Congolese
Army, despite
having
kidnapped and
killed UN
peacekeepers.
Since Karim
ultimately
released some
of the
peacekeepers,
it appears
that he got
some deal. So
even beyond
the
quid
pro quo,
there are
further
questions to
be asked.
Inner City
Press' series
on the ICC and
ICJ
judicial
elections and
needed reforms
will continue.
Watch this
site.
, 
