Research On Proprio Motu Investigation Of The Prosecutor Of International Criminal Court

To punish the international crime and safeguard the fairness and the justice ofthe international community, the establishment of domestic legal system could notsatisfied against the international crime. Craving to the justice and peace raised arequirements to build a long-standing international court, the International CriminalCourt(ICC) was born at the right moment. The Office of the Prosecutor(OTP) was setup as one of the agencies of the court, which was responsible for receiving andreviewing the situation and all the facts of the crimes that within the jurisdiction ofthe court, conducting investigations and initiating the prosecution. The Office of theProsecutor has the right to investigate and prosecute Genocide, Crimes againstHumanity, Crimes of aggression and War Crimes, which are implemented by thecitizen or engaged in the territory of the State Parties.Investigation of the prosecutor of International Criminal Court had receivedwidespread attention and triggered a heated debate in States at the beginning of theestablishment. The point of the debate was whether the power enjoyed by prosecutorwould intervene other countries’ sovereignty and judicial sovereignty. The applicationof such investigations is the beginning of the proceedings of the InternationalCriminal Court and it has important function and meaning for the court. There aretwo stage in the investigation: preliminary examination stage and formal investigationstage. The prosecutor decide whether prosecute or not through the investigation. Inthe preliminary examination stage, the prosecutor has the right to review the materials,which was collected and submitted. The prosecutor should initiate an investigation.after the authorization by Pre-trial court, if they meet the criteria of the Statute.During the investigation, the prosecutors have the independent right to investigate onthe basis of upholding the objective and impartial idea. The decisive power causedconcern in some countries. The ICC and the OTP set up a series of limitation in theexercise of the enforcement to avoid the phenomenon of power abuse, includingrestrictions in terms of the selection, discipline, the pre-trial division, the UN Security Council, etc, even including countries which is surveyed. The purpose of theexistence of these constraints is to guarantee the independence and impartiality ininvestigation and prevent power abuse.The situation of the ICC proves that the operation of the investigation does notemerge the expectation under the strict system, and the actual situation shows that thesystem can still continue to operate. But on the other side of this issue, the ProprioMotu Investigation of the Prosecutor is not perfect and it also exist some defections inthe process of the operation. In order to make the process better, the author putsforward some suggestions on the issue. Under the impetus of the trend ofinternationalization, our country has closely connected with the internationalcommunity and the relationship between our country and the operation of theinternational judicial system will be much closer in the future. Whether in order toconsummate the judicial system of China or to join in international efforts to fightagainst international crime together, China and the international criminal court willhave more contact and cooperation. Therefore we should rethink the position of ourcountry. The thesis consists five parts: The analysis of the related meaning of theinternational criminal court, the procedure of the of the Prosecutor, the restriction ofthe Proprio Motu Investigation, the defection and improvement measure, themechanism of reference and improvement measure to our country.