Biafra: Two Dutch lawyers accuse FG of crimes against humanity
Two Dutch lawyers have petitioned the International Criminal Court over Federal Government’s handling of pro-Biafra protests.
The
lawyers, Prof. Göran Sluiter and Andrew Ianuzzi, in the petition filed
on behalf of the Indigenous People of Biafra and 17 Nigerian ‘victims’,
said there were reasons to believe that the government, President
Muhammadu Buhari, and others committed crimes against humanity.
According
to the petition, the crimes fall within the context of murder, unlawful
imprisonment, torture, enforced disappearance, other inhumane acts, and
persecution in their bid to stop pro-Biafra protests.
IPOB is a movement dedicated to the self-determination of the former Republic of Biafra in South-Eastern Nigeria.
It
said the identities of the 17 victims would not be disclosed to the OTP
yet in order to ensure their safety and protect their privacy, but that
their statements had been attached to the petition.
The petitioners
described the alleged crimes committed by the accused parties as
politically and ethnically motivated in the document signed by Sluiter
on January 29, 2016 and exclusively made available to Saturday PUNCH.
To
support their claims, the petitioners said they were relying on a
selected number of publicly available reports documenting Nigeria’s
political background, the Nigerian Civil War of 1967–70 (also known as
the Biafran War), the recent and violent crimes committed in
South-Eastern Nigeria, the Nigerian Federal Government’s involvement in
those crimes (including its lack of any remedial action whatsoever in
response to the bloodshed), and the OTP’s preliminary findings with
respect to its ongoing investigation into the situation in Nigeria.”
S
It
said that the petition was filed to the “Office of the Prosecutor of
the International Criminal Court pursuant to Article 15 of the Rome
Statute…” The petitioners said there were documents to prove that at
least 18 persons had been unlawfully killed in Onitsha, Anambra State by
the police and/or the Joint Task Force over pro-Biafra protests.
It
said, “These unlawful killings took place in four separate incidents,
namely: August 22, August 30, December 2, and December 17, 2015.
“Moreover,
an additional five individuals were reportedly killed by the police in
Port Harcourt in November 2015. And at least two others have reportedly
been killed recently in Abia State.
“Each of the victims was a member
of IPOB or Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of
Biafra, and the executions took place as part of the Federal
Government’s widespread and systematic attack against pro-Biafran
activists and sympathisers.”
The document noted that there had been a
history of tense and violent relations between Nigeria’s Muslim north
and Christian south since independence, adding that cultural and
political differences between dominant ethnic groups “have consistently
wreaked havoc on the country’s political landscape.”
Describing
the detention of IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, as unlawful, the document
criticised President Buhari’s statement during a television interview
that the Federal Government would continue to detain Kanu despite a High
Court release order.
Noting the police clampdown on the recent
activities of members of IPOB and MASSOB, the document said, “so far the
following arrests have been made viz: Anambra State – four; Imo State –
six; Delta State -11; and Abia State – one.
“The Inspector-General
of Police (Solomon Arase) further warns that all persons so arrested for
inciting violence, irrespective of their class or status in the society
would be charged to court accordingly.
“The Federal Government’s
message was clear: the question of self-determination in Biafra would be
treated as a national-security matter; participants would be dealt with
swiftly and harshly.”
According to the document, Sluiter holds a
chair in international criminal law at the Faculty of Law, University of
Amsterdam and is a partner at the Amsterdam law firm of Prakken
d’Oliveira Human Rights Lawyers. It described Ianuzzi as an independent
legal consultant and human-rights investigator.”
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