Breaking: Bashir Charged with Genocide

As I predicted, the Pre-Trial Chamber has approved genocide charges for Bashir:

The International Criminal Court has issued a second arrest warrant for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir – this time for charges of genocide.

He already faces charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity, which he denies.

The ICC first indicted him in March 2009 but he has not been arrested.

He is accused over the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur, where some 300,000 people are said to have died in seven years of fighting.

The ICC had initially declined to add genocide to the indictment but this has been overturned on appeal, with the judges finding “there are reasonable grounds to believe him responsible for three counts of genocide”.

Although the political merits are open to debate, this is clearly the correct legal decision.  I’ll have more to say when I’ve had time to read the judgment.