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Luis Moreno Ocampo
Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
In office 16 June 2003 – 15 June 2012
President	Philippe Kirsch Song Sang-Hyun
Deputy	Fatou Bensouda
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Fatou Bensouda
Personal details
Born	(1952-06-04) 4 June 1952 (age 72) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Alma mater	University of Buenos Aires

Luis Gabriel Moreno Ocampo (born 4 June 1952) is an Argentine lawyer and the former first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) (2003-2012). Previously, he played a fundamental role in Argentina's democratic transition (1983-1991).

As the first Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, his mandate was to establish the Office of the Prosecutor and decide where to initiate the first investigations. During his mandate, the Office of the Prosecutor analyzed 17 situations around the world and opened investigations in seven different countries.

He successfully prosecuted crimes against humanity against three heads of state, including the President of Sudan Omar Bashir. In the same way, the President of Côte d'Ivoire Laurent Gbagbo ) and the supreme leader of Libya Muammar al-Gaddafi and 28 other persons considered to be the most responsible for atrocious crimes perpetrated in seven different countries.

At the age of 32, Luis Moreno Ocampo was the deputy prosecutor of the Trial of the Juntas where those most responsible for the Argentine military dictatorship, which occurred between 1976 and 1983, were tried for the first time.

He also conducted the trials for military negligence of those most responsible for the Malvinas - Falklands War , cases of corruption of senior government officials, and the trials for the military rebellions of January 1988 and the last one in December 1990.   

He has been a visiting professor at the universities of Stanford (2002) and Harvard University (2003), Hebrew University and USC, and a Senior Fellow at Yale University, Harvard University and New York University.

He has acted as a consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the United Nations. He was a member of the Advisory Council of Transparency International and was a founder of NGO Poder Ciudadano.

Luis Moreno Ocampo received the Legion of Honor of France and was distinguished in 2011 as one of the 100 Global Thinkers by the publication Foreign Policy . In that same year, The Atlantic included him among its "Brave Thinkers", a guide to the people risking their reputations, fortunes and lives in pursuit of big ideas.

Career in Argentina

Born in Buenos Aires, Moreno Ocampo graduated from the University of Buenos Aires Law School in 1978. Between 1980 and 1984, he was an assistant secretary and legal secretary, advising the General Attorney of Argentina, on the preparation of judgments at the Supreme Court of Justice.

In 1985, he was the assistant prosecutor in the Trial of the Juntas, which took place before the Federal Chamber of Criminal Appeals, where the heads of the military juntas that governed Argentina during the last military dictatorship in 1976, were tried. In that trial, the prosecution proved the criminal responsibility of former Presidents Jorge Rafael Videla and Roberto Viola, Admirals Emilio Massera and Armando Lambruschini, and Brigadier Orlando Agosti, who were convicted on December 9, 1985.  

This trial was the first since the Nuremberg Trials in which senior military commanders were prosecuted for mass killings. Harvard professor Kathryn Sikkink considers it a central piece of the The Justice Cascade that analyzes the impact of the human rights trials on geopolitics and global justice.

For Moreno Ocampo, the trial of the juntas not only established the individual responsibility of Massera, Videla, and the other commanders; it gave a voice and a face to the victims who could explain what happened to them. It changed those who did not believe in what had happened and ended the coups d'état forever.

In 1986 he was involved in the cases against the Junta’s subordinate commanders and officers. One of those trials, against General Ramón Camps, former chief of the Buenos Aires police, and eight other officers accused of murder, kidnapping and torture. He was also part of the team sent to California to request the extradition of General Guillermo Suárez Mason, which became effective in 1988.

In 1988, he led the prosecution of the leaders carapintadas for two attempted coups in 1987 and 1990, and led the prosecution of Leopoldo Galtieri, Jorge Anaya and Basilio Lami Dozo for breach of military duty, for their actions during the Malvinas - Falkland War.He also carried out dozens of public corruption cases against federal judges, national ministers and heads of public companies.

In 1992, he left his position in the judicial system and began to work in the private sector from his law firm, conducting investigations into cases of corruption in the private and public sectors and violations of human rights. The firm worked pro bono on public interest cases such as political bribery; representing the victims in Italyʹs requested extradition of Nazi officer E. Priebke and the daughters of Chilean General Carlos Prats, murdered by the Chilean secret police in 1974 in Buenos Aires.

In 1997, he hosted a reality television programme, Fórum, la corte del pueblo, in which he arbitrated private disputes. In his own words, "it was a way of divulging the mechanisms of mediation... bringing to the TV show some of the rules of the judicial system, which are based on respect for the parties, and that they be heard".

The International Criminal Court

On 21 April 2003, Moreno Ocampo was unanimously elected as the first prosecutor of the new International Criminal Court. On June 16, 2003, at the same time as the conflict with Iraq began, he sworn in for a non-renewable nine-year term as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. There were fears that the ICC would not be able to function. However, during its first nine years, the Office of the Prosecutor opened investigations in four states parties: to the Court Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Central African Republic and Kenya. In Darfur and Libya at the request of the UN Security Council, and in Côte d'Ivoire at the request of their national authorities.  

In his capacity as the prosecutor of the court he opened investigations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh/Myanmar, Burundi, the Central African Republic (twice), Côte d'Ivoire, Darfur in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Georgia, Kenya, Libya, Mali, Palestine, the Philippines, Uganda, Ukraine, and Venezuela I. The Office of the Prosecutor carried out and closed preliminary investigations in Bolivia; Colombia; Congo II; Gabon; Guinea; Honduras; Iraq/the United Kingdom; registered vessels of Comoros, Greece, and Cambodia; and South Korea. Ongoing preliminary examinations are being carried out in situations in Lithuania/Belarus, Nigeria, and Venezuela II. The court publicly indicted 68 people. Proceedings against 35 are ongoing: 31 are at large as fugitives and four are on trial. Proceedings against 33 have been completed: three are serving sentences, seven have finished sentences, four have been acquitted, seven have had the charges against them dismissed, four have had the charges against them withdrawn, and eight have died before the conclusion of the proceedings against them.

Moreno Ocampo led an investigation against leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, who in 2005 faced ICC arrest warrants for crimes against humanity. Moreno Ocampo directed an investigation against Germain Katanga and Matthieu Ngudjolo Chui, who received arrest warrants in 2007 and 2008 respectively for crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In March 2008, according to an Argentine online news report, Moreno Ocampo claimed that the FARC, the largest guerrilla group in Colombia, was appropriate for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. Moreno Ocampo began implementing preliminary tests in Colombia, which involved evaluating prosecutions of paramilitary commanders in Colombia, interviews with victims of the FARC, among others. Moreno-Ocampo claimed that the FARC could be investigated for crimes against humanity. He visited Colombia in August, after which the ICC launched an investigation on the "support network for FARC rebels outside Colombia".

During his tenure at the ICC, the first trial ended with the conviction of Thomas Lubanga. Ben Ferencz, who at age 27 participated as Prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials, closed the ICC prosecution at age 93. On 10 July 2012 Trial Chamber 1 sentenced Lubanga to 14 years in prison, from which the 6 years he had been in remand was deducted.

Moreno Ocampo was criticised for his decision in July 2008 to publicly charge Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, with genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Antonio Cassese, Rony Brauman and Alex de Waal argued that the evidence was insufficient to charge al-Bashir with genocide. Cassese, a former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, had chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Darfur, which concluded in 2005 that the government of Sudan had not pursued a policy of genocide in Darfur.

De Waal argued that "for nineteen years, President Bashir has sat on top of a government that has been responsible for incalculable crimes Two weeks ago, Moreno Ocampo succeeded in accusing Bashir of the crime for which he is not guilty. That is a remarkable feat." Cassese also argued that if Moreno Ocampo were serious about prosecuting al-Bashir, he should have issued a sealed request and asked the judges to issue a sealed arrest warrant, to be made public only once al-Bashir traveled abroad, instead of publicly requesting the warrant, allowing al-Bashir to avoid arrest simply by remaining in Sudan.

Moreno Ocampo requested arrest warrants in November 2008 for rebels responsible for the murder of members from an international peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Moreno Ocampo announced the six 'prime suspects' also known as the Ocampo Six in the Kenya post-election violence of 2007 on 15 December 2010. He named suspended Minister of Higher Education William Ruto, Minister for Industrialisation Henry Kosgey, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former commissioner of the Kenya Police Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali, head of public services Francis Muthaura, and journalist Joshua Arap Sang as leading perpetrators of the incidents.

On 3 March 2011, Moreno Ocampo declared that "there will be no impunity in Libya" as he announced the beginning of an investigation on crimes against humanity committed by either Libyan security forces loyal to leader Muammar Gaddafi or the opposition to the Gaddafi government during the 2011 Libyan civil war. On 16 May 2011, he filed a request to the ICC to issue an arrest warrant against Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam, and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, for crimes against humanity. The Court issued the warrants on 27 June 2011.

On 15 June 2012, Moreno Ocampo finished his term and was replaced by Gambia lawyer Fatou Bensouda.

After the ICC

After his ICC term, Luis Moreno Ocampo joined the New York law firm Getnick and Getnick as global counsel.

From 2013 to 2015, he was a Senior Fellow at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University. Currently, he is a Senior Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University, where he is working on an upcoming book about the first nine years of the Rome Statute and its relationship with the UN Security Council.

In August 2015, Moreno-Ocampo joined forces with Kerry Propper, Taylor Krauss and Elizabeth Schaeffer Brown to help the campaign group Yazda in its efforts to bring a case before the ICC against ISIL for crimes of genocide committed against members of the Yazidi community in Iraq. The initiative was part of the campaign It's On U, which sought to persuade heads of state to recognize the genocide, engage key government officials and pressure the UN Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.

Moreno Ocampo and the campaign teamed up with Nadia Murad and approached Amal Clooney to help with the case and provide pro-bono legal services to Murad and Yazda.

In July 2017, Moreno Ocampo was appointed Special Adviser on Crimes against Humanity by the Organization of American States (OAS), with a view to evaluating human rights violations in Venezuela, meeting with interested parties in the conflict and exploring the possibility of launching legal proceedings at the ICC against those responsible for the atrocities.

Controversies

In 2017 the French digital newspaper Mediapart, received from unknown sources a copy of all Moreno Ocampo's emails. On that basis, Der Spiegel revealed the existence of accounts and companies offshore belonging to Moreno Ocampo, who did not deny their existence, claiming that he works 'offshore', since he does not pay taxes in Argentina because he has not lived in that country since 2003.

As part of the same investigation, the European journalism network EIC revealed that Moreno Ocampo had as a client Hassan Tatanaki, a Libyan magnate suspected of having supported war criminals in Libya.  It was made clear that Tatanaki was seeking justice in Libya and that he was never suspected of committing crimes by the ICC.

In 2017, the Sunday Times reported that leaked emails from the ICC showed that Moreno Ocampo wanted to enlist the help of movie star Angelina Jolie, and possibly also that of her then-husband Brad Pitt, to lure fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony to a dinner with her where he then could be arrested.

Notes

1. Moreno Ocampo's surnames are often hyphenated in English-language media to distinguish Moreno as a surname, rather than a given name.

References

1. "Memoria Abierta: Luis Moreno Ocampo {{in lang|es}}". Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
2. Verini, James (22 June 2016). "The Prosecutor and the President (Published 2016)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
3. "ICC Prosecutor presents case against Sudanese President, Hassan Ahmad AL BASHIR, for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur". www.icc-cpi.int. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
4. Sekularac, Ivana (30 November 2011). "Gbagbo faces charges of crimes against humanity: ICC". Reuters. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
5. Staff, Reuters (16 December 2011). "Gaddafi's death may be war crime: ICC prosecutor". Reuters. Retrieved 25 January 2021. {{cite news}}: |first= has generic name (help)
6. "Luis Moreno Ocampo-CV" (PDF). ICC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
7. Ares, Carlos (3 September 1988). "El fiscal civil pide en Argentina duras penas por la guerra de las Malvinas". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
8. EFE (24 July 1991). "El fiscal acusa a los 'carapintadas' de querer establecer "un nuevo orden"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
9. "Centro Internacional para la Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (CIPDH-UNESCO)".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
10. "CV Luis Moreno Ocampo" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
11. ""Transparency no pacta con gobiernos" dijo Moreno Ocampo". www.lanacion.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2021.
12. Pavgi, Kedar. "The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
13. Bosco, David (4 October 2011). "Luis Moreno-Ocampo". The Atlantic. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
14. Luis Moreno-Ocampo (2003). "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 17 February 2011.. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
15. "Argentina, Juicios A los Militares: Orden presidencial de procesar a las juntas militares". www.desaparecidos.org. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
16. ^ International Criminal Court. "The Prosecutor Archived 27 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
17. ^ Stephen Cviic (21 April 2003). "Profile: Luis Moreno Ocampo". BBC News. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
18. "The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics". Retrieved 25 January 2021.
19. "Moreno Ocampo: "Parte de mi familia estuvo furiosa, sabía que tomaba riesgos"". www.telam.com.ar. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
20. Prieto, Martin (2 December 1986). "El general argentino Ramón Camps, condenado a 25 años por violación de los derechos humanos". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
21. Neier, Aryeh (2 October 1989). "Opinion | Menem's Pardons And Purges (Published 1989)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
22. EFE (24 July 1991). "El fiscal acusa a los 'carapintadas' de querer establecer "un nuevo orden"". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
23. Robinson, Eugene (27 July 1988). "ARGENTINE COURT RETRIES FALKLANDS LEADERS". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
24. "CV, ICC Site" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
25. "ICC - Election of the Prosecutor". www.icc-cpi.int. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
26. BBC Mundo (14 July 2008). "Perfil de Luis Moreno Ocampo" (in Spanish). Retrieved on 12 February 2009.
27. "La Corte del Pueblo" on YouTube
28. "Moreno Ocampo deja la TV". www.lanacion.com.ar (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2021.
29. "15 años de la guerra de Irak: ¿quiénes justificaron y quiénes se opusieron al inicio de la invasión que dividió al mundo?". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 20 March 2018. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
30. "LUIS MORENO-OCAMPO, PROSECUTOR FOR INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT, TO BE SWORN IN AT THE HAGUE 16 JUNE | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
31. "Luis Moreno Ocampo: being a prosecutor was a great privilege". euronews. 15 June 2012. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
32. "Situations under investigation". International Criminal Court. Archived from the original on 30 November 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
33. ^ "Preliminary examinations". International Criminal Court. Archived from the original on 30 November 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2024.
34. "Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, concerning referral from the Gabonese Republic". ICC. 29 September 2016. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
35. ^ "Las FARC pueden ser investigadas por 'crímenes de lesa humanidad'" March 2008 Archived 3 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
36. Coalition for the International Criminal Court
37. ""Swiss FARC network exists, alleges ICC prosecutor" Sep. 2008". Archived from the original on 6 October 2008. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
38. Swart, Gregory Gordon,Mia. "The man behind 'the biggest murder trial in history'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 27 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
39. "Trial Chamber 1: Decision on Sentence pursuant to Article 76 of the Statute (10 July 2012)"
40. ^ Antonio Cassese (July 2008). "Flawed International Justice for Sudan". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
41. Rony Brauman (23 July 2008). "The ICC's Bashir Indictment: Law Against Peace". World Politics Review. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
42. ^ Alex de Waal (29 July 2008). "Moreno Ocampo's Coup de Theatre Archived 1 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine". Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
43. International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (25 January 2005). "Report to the Secretary-General" (PDF)., p. 4. Retrieved on 3 February 2009.
44. "Hague Warrants For Darfur Rebels" Nov. 2008
45. Libya: ICC prosecutor seeks warrant for Gaddafi, 16 May 2011
46. "Luis Moreno-Ocampo | Getnick & Getnick LLP". getnicklaw.com. Retrieved 11 January 2016.
47. http://carrcenter.hks.harvard.edu/people/luis-gabriel-moreno-ocampo
48. http://www.newsweek.com/amal-clooney-renewed-hope-justice-yazidi-people-469781
49. https://www.oas.org/en/media_center/press_release.asp?sCodigo=E-057/17
50. Indart, Ramón (30 October 2017). "Luis Moreno Ocampo: 'Soy offshore, no pago impuestos en Argentina porque no vivo en Argentina'". Perfil.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2021.
51. de 2017, 30 de Septiembre. "Quién es Tatanaki, el ex cliente de Moreno Ocampo sospechado de apoyar criminales de guerra en Libia". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 25 January 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
52. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/angelina-jolie-volunteered-to-snare-warlord-joseph-kony-in-dinner-honeytrap-q3xw8bpzt The Times (in English). 8 October 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

External links

• International Criminal Court: Office of the Prosecutor
• Case Closed: A Prosecutor Without Borders, "World Affairs", Spring 2009
• The Controversial Actions of the ICC Prosecutor: a Crisis of Maturity?, "The Hague Justice Portal", 15 September 2008
• "Farmers and Chickens" An interview with Luis Moreno Ocampo by Guernica Magazine's Joel Whitney
• BBC News (translate) review of Moreno's Profile

• Luis Moreno Ocampo at IMDb

• Use dmy dates from September 2013
• 1952 births
• Argentine lawyers
• Harvard Law School faculty
• International Criminal Court prosecutors
• Living people
• People from Buenos Aires
• Stanford University staff
• University of Buenos Aires alumni