European trio agree to enforce jail terms imposed by International Criminal Court

Three European countries today signed an agreement with the International Criminal Court (ICC) to enforce the tribunal judges’ sentences of imprisonment, taking the number of countries that are willing to detain people convicted by the ICC to five.

Representatives of Belgium, Denmark and Finland signed the agreement during a ceremony in Kampala, Uganda, where the review conference of the Rome Statute – which set up the ICC – is taking place.

Judge Sang-Hyun, the court’s President, said that “having sufficient options in place to ensure the enforcement of judicially ordered sentences is an important element in the overall credibility of the judicial process at the ICC,” according to a press release issued by the ICC.

Austria and the United Kingdom have previously entered into similar agreements with the court to enforce sentences.

A permanent court, the ICC is based in The Hague in the Netherlands and tries people accused of the most serious international offences, such as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Currently investigations are ongoing into five situations: Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), the Darfur region of Sudan and Kenya.

Four suspects are in the court’s custody and another eight suspects are at large, while two trials are under way.