ICC chief prosecutor dismissed over sexual misconduct claims
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This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Kun kuvanveistäjä Felix Nyland vuosia sitten suunnitteli kolmen sepän patsasta, hän ei millään keksinyt, mitä veistoksen miehet tekisivät. Mielessä kävivät niin katumuusikot, feissarit, kuin kolme rosvuakin. Mutta mikään ei tuntunut oikealta. Kunnes eräänä päivänä Felix haki evästä Alepasta, ja vastaus ilmestyi ruokalautaselle kuin itsestään. Takoja. Kolmen takojan patsas.
Alepa. Urbaani legenda.
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This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Pete Ross and in the early hours of Saturday the 25th of July, these are our main stories. The International Criminal Court votes overwhelmingly to remove the Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan over sexual misconduct allegations. Ten people are killed in a Russian attack on a drone exhibition near the Ukrainian capital. And Israeli settlers attack several Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank after a major confrontation left six people dead. Also in this podcast, wildfires continue to burn across parts of Spain and France, forcing over 150,000 people to evacuate. And... It was such a shunned topic for so long. Everyone was like, oh, I've got to hide my Fifty Shades of Grey that I'm reading.
Whereas now everyone's out about it and it's nice that we can all support each other. We hear about the ever-growing popularity of Romantasy, books blending romance and fantasy. We begin with the International Criminal Court's decision to remove its chief prosecutor from office after the ICC's governing body concluded Karim Khan had committed serious misconduct in connection to allegations of sexual abuse. On Friday, 82 of the court's 125 member states voted in favour of ousting Mr Khan at a special meeting at the UN's headquarters in New York.
The Assembly has decided by a majority of 82 states' parties that the elected official prosecutor Karim Khan committed serious misconduct and a serious breach of duty under Article 46.1 of the Rome Statute and to remove the elected official prosecutor Karim Khan from office under Article 46, Paragraph 2b of the Rome Statute.
That's the president of the Assembly of States parties to the International Criminal Court, Paivi Kokoranta. The vote brings to an end a more than two-year saga that has put the court's reputation under intense scrutiny. Mr. Kan has led the ICC for five years, during which it issued arrest warrants against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as Hamas officials, President Putin of Russia, and the former president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. Leila Sadat, an international lawyer who worked as a special advisor to the ICC prosecutor for just over 10 years until 2023, gave us her reaction to Mr Kan's dismissal.
I think that the prosecutor was his own worst enemy, if I can say so, in prolonging this, because I think had he decided a year ago to say, I deny the allegations, but for the good of the institution, I'm going to move forward, I think he could have had quite a dignified exit at that time. I think what happened is the process got prolonged. It turned into sort of a very litigious process with the prosecutor going to the media, with lawyers getting involved, with civil society being fractured. And for two years, this completely polarized the assembly of states parties and civil society organizations. And we saw Twitter battles happening. And so I think today the Assembly of States parties had to make a very tough decision about what is needed to provide the unity that this court needs to survive going forward in the face of aggression from Washington and Moscow.
The BBC's Anna Holligan covers the court in The Hague and has been following Mr Kan's case throughout.
This is an unprecedented moment in the ICC's history, a time when the court has already been under intense scrutiny. So this was a meeting of the Assembly of States Parties, 125 member states of the ICC at the UN's headquarters in New York. Out of those 125 members, 82 voted in favour of dismissing Karim Khan.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–9:05
2
Why did the ICC member states vote to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan?
9:05–17:51
3
What misconduct findings and investigations led to Karim Khan's dismissal?
17:51–28:49
4
How are ICC staff and supporters reacting to the prosecutor's removal?
28:49–33:37
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from Global News Podcast
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