‘Conceivable’ to hold in-abstentia hearings against Netanyahu, Putin, ICC dep. prosecutor says

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — It would be “conceivable” to hold an in-absentia hearing against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Russian President Vladimir Putin, the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court says.

“We tested it in the Kony case. It’s a cumbersome process. But we tried it, and we realized it was possible and useful,” Mame Mandiaye Niang says, in an interview with AFP.

Niang is referring to an unprecedented “confirmation of charges” hearing against fugitive Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony earlier this year, held in absentia.

The deputy prosecutor also lashes out at US sanctions, saying they effectively put top court officials on a par with “terrorists and drug traffickers.”

“You can disagree with what we’re doing. That happens all the time,” Niang says.