Qadhafi's Son Saif Al-Islam To Be Tried In Libya Next Month

Libyan prosecutors announced Thursday that Saif al-Islam, the son of former leader Col. Moammar Qadhafi, would go on trial in the North African nation in September, as the investigation into the alleged crimes committed by the defendant has been completed.

According to the announcement, Saif will go on trial in the western Libyan town of Zintan, where he has been under detention after being captured by rebel forces last November. He is accused of planing with his slain father to use "any means necessary" to suppress last year's Libyan revolution.

"A committee from the prosecutor general's office has completed its investigation into the crimes committed by Saif al-Islam from the start of the revolution on February 15 (2011) and has prepared the charge sheet," the prosecutor general's spokesman, Taha Nasser Baara, said while announcing the trial date.

Baara said the charges would be "approved by the prosecutor general in the coming days and a date set for the September trial opening." He stressed that there had been "no intervention" by the International Criminal Court in the Libyan investigation into Saif's crimes and added that Libyan prosecutors had "solid proof" to try the accused.

The ICC was established in 2002 as the world's first permanent war crimes court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression. It is authorized to try cases involving individuals charged with war crimes committed since July 2002. (...)