The International Criminal Court (ICC) has acknowledged
receipt of a petition written against the Nigeria Army by a journalist
following the invasion of the home of the leader of the civil rights group, the
Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, in an exercise codenamed
Operation Python Dance which led to the killing members of the group as well as
other members of the Afaraukwu community in Umuahia LGA of Abia State last
year.
The petition written on September 24, 2017 to the Chief
Prosecutor at the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, by Mr. Ahaoma Kanu, an award-winning
journalist with National Daily Newspaper, decried the deployment of military
personnel to the country home of the IPOB leader leading to killings, torture
and human rights abuses perpetrated by soldiers of the Nigeria Army and the
Chief of Army Staff, Major-General Tukur Buratai and called for an
investigation and prosecution of the personnel involved in the well documented
incident which occurred on September 16, 2017.
In a letter dated January 3, 2018 with reference number,
OTP-CR-413/17, the Head of Information and Evidence Unit in the office of the
Prosecutor, Mark P. Dillon, acknowledged receipt of the letter and accompanying
documents while notifying the petitioner that the petition has been duly
entered into the communications register of the Prosecutor’s office.
The letter, a copy which was made available to newsmen,
reads in parts, “This communication has been duly entered in the communications
register of the office. We will give consideration to this communication, as
appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court.”
The letter went on to note that the acknowledgment does not
mean that an investigation has been opened, or that an investigation will be
opened by the Office of the Prosecutor.
Dillon assured the petitioner that as soon as a decision is
reached, “we will inform you, in writing, and provide you with reasons for the
decision.”
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