The Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC) says it has reasons to believe that Nigerian Security Forces have committed murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment, among others, constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes.
It has therefore issued a preliminary determination to investigate the alleged crimes.
This was disclosed in a Friday statement issued by Fatou Bensouda, the outgoing ICC prosecutor.
According to the statement, Boko Haram and its splinter groups are also reasonably believed to have perpetrated similar crimes.
“While my Office recognises that the vast majority of criminality within the situation is attributable to non-state actors, we have also found a reasonable basis to believe that members of the Nigerian Security Forces (“NSF”) have committed the following acts constituting crimes against humanity and war crimes: murder, rape, torture, and cruel treatment; enforced disappearance; forcible transfer of population; outrages upon personal dignity; intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such and against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities; unlawful imprisonment; conscripting and enlisting children under the age of fifteen years into armed forces and using them to participate actively in hostilities; persecution on gender and political grounds; and other inhumane acts.
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“These allegations are also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my Office, both in quantitative and qualitative term,” the statement read in part.
However, the statement did not give specific instances where the alleged crimes were committed.
“My Office will provide further details in our forthcoming annual Report on Preliminary Examination Activities,” the statement further read.
The statement comes amid allegations of rights abuses against the Nigerian military, especially in the handling of peaceful protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate, Lagos on October 20.
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