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By Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 12 January:
Yesterday, the Prosector General’s . . .[restrict]official spokesperson, Taha Bara, released a statement in which a number of issues were addressed.
Independence of the judiciary
The first point in the statement revealed that at the suggestion of the Public Prosecutor, the Libyan Supreme Judicial Council has forwarded to the GNC a proposed Bill for some reforms of the Judiciary.
The Bill proposes that Judicial Council should alone be the competent authority able to appoint, exempt, and accept the resignation of the Attorney General.
This, it was suggested by the Libyan Supreme Judicial Council, in order to avoid a possible political and authority crisis that could occur in the appointment of the Attorney General by the legislature, the GNC.
This would especially be the case, the statement continued, if the appointment of the Attorney General relied on the 2007 Qaddafi-era law which was repealed under Article (34) of the Transitional Constitutional Declaration of 2011.
Equally, the statement continued, this crisis could also occur if the GNC decided to pursue a wider interpretation of the concept of sovereign appointments as stipulated in Article (30) of the Transitional Constitutional Declaration, and thus jeopardizing the independence of the judiciary in the country.
ICC requests list of evidence against Saif al-Islam Qaddafi
The official spokesperson also revealed that that Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court in its meeting held on December 7, 2012, called the Office of the Attorney General through its Libyan representative seeking clarification of the list of evidence and procedures for the case against the accused Saif al-Islam Qaddafi.
This request was responded to by the Libyan side within forty-eight hours with a detailed note with enhanced documentary evidence and technical case papers attached.
Newspaper charged with defamation of judiciary
Regarding the list of 87 names of members of the Judiciary published by the Nation newspaper accusing them of corruption,
The relevant prosecutor’s office has ended its investigation, and has requested that the main suspect be detained to the criminal court on charges of insulting the judiciary and the defamation of its members and practicing a profession without a trade licence.
The kidnapping of the Juma Gamati
On the case of the kidnapping (and release) of the Juma Abdullah Gamati, founder of the Tagheer (change) political party and well know Qaddafi opposition leader and activist, the Prosecutor’s spokesperson revealed that his office had completed their investigation. They have referred the accused to Tripoli Criminal Court for a hearing on 14 January and are circulating copies of the details of the rest of those wanted in order to help track them down.
Two cars loaded with drugs held at Khoms port
And finally the spokesperson informed that the Attorney General and Chief Prosecutor for the city of Khoms oversaw and launched investigation procedures in the incident of the capturing of two imported cars on board the ship Grand Napoli that docked at Khoms port on Sunday 6 January that were loaded with large quantities of narcotic pills. [/restrict]
