ICC Partially Grants Prosecutor’s Request to Appeal and Authorize Afghanistan Investigation

On September 17, 2019, the Pre-Trial Chamber II (PTC) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) partially granted the Prosecutor’s request for leave to appeal the PTC’s refusal to authorize the Afghanistan investigation.[1] To recall, on April 12, 2019, Pre-Trial Chamber II unanimously rejected the request of the Prosecutor[2] to proceed with an investigation for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.[3] Hence, it remains somewhat mysterious why it took the judges five months to certify the appeal – especially given that the PTC’s certification contains merely eight pages of substantive analysis. The fact of the matter is that the Prosecutor submitted her leave to appeal on June 7. But Judge Mindua caused from releasing his separate opinion on May 31 – six weeks after the decision.