Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the longer sentence given to Radovan Karadžić at an appeal court in The Hague, and (2) whether that ruling increases the likelihood that Omar al-Bashir, President of Sudan, will be arrested and brought before the International Criminal Court.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) is an independent and impartial tribunal established by UNSC Resolution 1966, conducting the residual work of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia. We welcome the IRMCT Appeals Chamber's decision in the Karadžić Appeals Judgement which set aside the sentence of 40 years and imposed on Karadžić a sentence of life imprisonment, owing to the heinous crimes he committed. The decision is one made by competent judges who apply the law to the facts.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), on the other hand, is a permanent International Criminal Tribunal court, established by a Treaty, the Rome Statute. Its jurisdiction differs from that of the IRMCT. While the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Omar al-Bashir, the IRMCT has no jurisdiction over the suspect.