The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is the officer of the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to pro ...

whose duties include the investigation and

prosecution A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the Civil law (legal system), civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the ...

of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, namely

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the ...

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

and war crimes as well as the

crime of aggression A crime of aggression or crime against peace is the planning, initiation, or execution of a large-scale and serious act of aggression using state military force. The definition and scope of the crime is controversial. The Rome Statute contains an ...

. The current prosecutor is

Karim Khan Mohammad Karim Khan Zand ( fa, محمدکریم خان زند, Mohammad Karīm Khân-e Zand; ) was the founder of the Zand Dynasty, ruling from 1751 to 1779. He ruled all of Iran ( Persia) except for Khorasan. He also ruled over some of the C ...

, who was elected on 12 February 2021 and took office on 16 June 2021. His predecessor was Fatou Bensouda, who served from 15 June 2012 until 15 June 2021.

List of prosecutors of the International Criminal Court

Elections of the prosecutor

The first election of the prosecutor took place on 21 April 2003, during the second resumption of the first session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York. The only official candidate was

Luis Moreno Ocampo Luis Moreno OcampoMoreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to mark Moreno as a surname, not a given name. (born 4 June 1952) is an Argentine lawyer who served as the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Co ...

. Moreno Ocampo was elected with 78 votes with no votes against and no abstentions. Nine states parties did not vote. The second election of the prosecutor took place during the tenth session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York on 12 December 2011. A Search Committee was established which received 52 communications regarding a new prosecutor. In the end, the states parties achieved consensus to elect the then-deputy prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda from

the Gambia The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...

, as the new prosecutor. She was elected by acclamation. The third election of the prosecutor took place during the second resumed nineteenth session of the Assembly of States Parties in New York on 12 February 2021. In its second ballot, the Assembly of States Parties elected

Karim Ahmad Khan Karim Asad Ahmad Khan KC (born 30 March 1970) is a British lawyer and specialist in international criminal law and international human rights law who has served as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court since 2021. Following his appoi ...

with 72 votes, surpassing the majority requirement of 62. The other three candidates were Carlos Castresana Fernández (Spain), Francesco Lo Voi (Italy) and Fergal Gaynor (Ireland).British human rights lawyer elected chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
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References

{{International Criminal Court

Prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the common law adversarial system or the civil law inquisitorial system. The prosecution is the legal party responsible for presenting the case in a criminal tria ...