International Criminal Court and the 2003 invasion of Iraq

A preliminary examination of possible war crimes committed by United Kingdom (UK) military forces during the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 was started by the ICC in 2005[1] and closed in 2006.

[3] The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) reported in February 2006 that he had received 240 communications in connection with the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 which alleged that various war crimes had been committed.

[1] On February 9, 2006, the Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, published a letter[2] that he had sent to all those who had communicated with him concerning the above, which set out his conclusions on these matters, following a preliminary investigation of the complaints.

He explained that two sets of complaints were involved: Australia, Poland and the UK are all state parties to the Rome Statute which established the International Criminal Court.

[4] The states parties to the ICC adopted such a definition at a review conference in 2010, but the court is only able to exercise jurisdiction over acts of aggression committed after this amendment enters into force.

"[9] As a result, "After exhausting all measures appropriate during the analysis phase, the Office determined that, while many facts remained undetermined, the available information did not provide a reasonable basis to believe that a crime within the jurisdiction of the Court had been committed.

"[9] As far as the allegations of willful killing or inhuman treatment of civilians are concerned, Moreno-Ocampo concluded that there was a reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court had been committed.

It is worth bearing in mind that the OTP is currently investigating three situations involving long-running conflicts in Northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur.

[citation needed] The statement by the prosecutor did not appear to address any accusations of war crimes or complicity by citizens of State Parties during the subsequent occupation and rule by the Coalition Provisional Authority or after the official handover of Iraqi sovereignty.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda reopened the preliminary examination in 2014, with the aim of taking into account questions of jurisdiction, admissibility and "the interests of justice" in order to decide whether or not to open an investigation in relation to war crimes alleged to have been committed by UK forces in Iraq.

[3] New evidence justifying the reopening of the preliminary examination was provided by the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights and Public Interest Lawyers.