Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Belgium) - The Court rejects a request by Belgium seeking to derogate from the agreed procedure in the case, extends the time-limit

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, 2517 KJ The Hague. Te1.(31-70-302 23 23). Cables: lntercourt, The Hague.
Telefax (31-70-364 99 28). Telex 32323. Internet address : http: Il www.icj-cij.org

Communiqué
unofficial
forimmediat.erelease

No. 2001/17
29 June 2001

Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000
(Democratie Republic of the Congo v. Belgium)

The Court rejects a reguest by Belgium seeking to derogate from the agreed procedure
in the case, extends the time-limit for the filing of Belgium's Cou nter-Memorial
and ru:es15 October 2001 as the date for the opening of the hearings

THE HAGUE, 29 June 2001. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has rejected, by an
Order of27 June 2001, a request by Belgium seeking to derogate from the agreed procedure in the
case conceming the Arrest Warrant of Il April2000 (Democratie Republic of the Congo v.
Belgium) and has extended to 28 September 2001 the tirne-limit for the filing by the latter of a

Counter-Memorial addressing bath questions of jurisdîction and adrnissibility and the merits of the
dispute.

The Court has further fixed 15 October 2001 as the date for the opening of the hearings in

the case.

By a letter dated14June 2001 Belgium observed that the fact thatMr. Yerodia Ndombasi no
longer held any office in the Govemment of the Democratie Republic of the Congo (DRC)

constituted a "new fact" which raised questions of jurisdiction and adrnissibilityAccording to
Belgium, the case was "now moot" and "the need for expedition [was] less pressing". Belgium
added that it was currently undertak.ing a review of the legislation at issue in theItatherefore
requested the Court to derogate from the procedure fixed with the agreement of the Parties by an
Order of 13 December 2000, indicating that it wished to be permitted to file objections to

jurisdiction and admissibility as a preliminary to any debate on the merits.

By a letter dated22 June 200l the DRC informed the Court that it did not accept Belgium's
proposais and in no case wished to see a derogation from the procedure as fixed by the Court with

the agreement of the Parties. lt pointed out that in its Order of 8 December 2000 on the DRC's
request for the indication of provisional measures, the Court had already had occasion to dismiss
Belgium's argument that the change in Mr. Yerodia's ministerial responsibilities rendered the
DRC's Application without object. According to the DRC, "nor can the fact that Mr. Yerodia
currently has no ministerial responsibility deprive the Applicationthe [DRC] of its object, since

the Application concems redress for a previous unlawful act". The DRC however stated that it bad
no objection to the Court extending to 28 September 2001 the time-lirnit granted to Belgium for the
submission of its Counter-Memorial, "on condition that the latter addresses aU questions relating to
jurisdiction, to admissibility and to the merits".

History of the proceedings

On 17 October 2000 the Democratie Republic of the Congo filed in the Registry an
Application instituting proceedings against Belgium in respect of a dispute concerning an

"international arrest warrant issued onl April2000 by a Belgian investigating judge ... against -2-

Mr. Abdulaye Yerodia Ndombasi", the then MinisteFo~ig nffairs of the DRC, for "serious
violations of international humanitarian law".

On the same day the DRC also filed a request for~dication of a provisional rneasure,
asking theCourt inter alia to rnake an arder for the immediate discharge of the disputed arrest

warrant. Hearings were held fromto 23 November 2000. By an Order of 8 December 2000, the
Court unanirnously rejected Belgiurn'srequest that the case be removed from the List and found by
15 votes to 2 that the circumstances, as they theo presented ·themselves toit, were not such as to
require the exercisets power to indicate provismeas~e as he DRC bad wished; it added
that"it [was] desirable that the issues before shouCobeddetermined as soon as possible"
and that "it [was] therefore appropriate to ensure that a decision on the Congo's Application be

reached with ali expedition".

By an Order of 13 December 2000, the President of the Court, taking into account the
agreement of the Parties, initially fixed 15 March asthe time-limit for the filing of a
Memorial by theDRC and 31 May 2001 as the time-limit for the filing of a Cowtter-Memorial by

Belgium. Those time-limits were extended twice at the: requesthe DRC by Orders of
14 March 2001 and 12 April 2001. The Memorial of the DRC was filed within the time-limit as
thus extended. The time-limit for the filing Belgiwp's Counter-Memorial was fixed at •
17 September 2001. lt bas now been extended to 28 September 2001.

The full text of the Orwillshortly be available oti the Court's website at the following

address: http://www.icj-cij.org. ~

Information Department:
Mr. Arthur Witteveen, First Secretary (+31 70 302 23 36)
Mrs. Laurence Blairon, Informationicer (+31 70 302 23 37)
E-mail address: [email protected] '

•