THE HAGUE: International Criminal Court prosecutors Tuesday recommended judges drop charges against a rebel leader in Sudan’s Darfur region over a deadly 2007 attack on African Union peacekeepers, saying there were “no longer substantial grounds” to prosecute him.
Abdallah Banda had faced three counts of war crimes for his alleged role in an assault on the Haskanita military base in north Darfur, which claimed the lives of 12 AU peacekeepers.
But prosecutors said that “due to the significant deterioration of evidence over time, and the exhaustion of available investigative avenues, there are no longer substantial grounds to believe that Mr.Banda is responsible.”
Banda, whose exact age is unclear but who was born in 1963, initially appeared before the ICC in 2010 and told judges that others accused of similar crimes should come to the court, based in The Hague, to plead their innocence.
A trial, initially scheduled for 2014, was scrapped and a warrant issued for Banda’s arrest after the court concluded it was unlikely he would attend voluntarily.
