Sudan’s Leader May Be Accused of Genocide

The president of Sudan, who is already facing an international arrest warrant, came under new legal scrutiny on Wednesday when appeals judges at The Hague reopened the possibility that he may be charged with genocide.

The Sudanese leader, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, became the first sitting president to face an arrest order by the International Criminal Court in March, when pre-trial judges said he should be tried for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Sudan’s region of Darfur. But the judges rejected the prosecutor’s request to charge Mr. Bashirwith genocide, arguing that the evidence presented was insufficient.The court’s appeals chamber, in a short session on Wednesday, directed the judges to reconsider the prosecution evidence and to decide anew whether Mr. Bashir’s actions could amount to genocide. They found that the judges had used far higher standards of proof than were needed for an arrest warrant, and that the dismissal of the prosecutor’s genocide charges therefore amounted to an “error or law.”

Lawyers following the proceedings said that to sign an arrest order at this court, judges must find that there are “grounds for charges” but that in this case the judges had sought a level of proof needed to find someone guilty or innocent.

The re-opening of the genocide question may not bring Sudan’s president, who has thus far defied the court, any closer to trial in The Hague. But genocide charges carry a heavy weight that could affect his international dealings and isolate him.

For Entire Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/world/africa/04bashir.html?scp=1&sq=bashir&st=cse