Prosecutor

Critical portrait of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. His first trial goes to court in 2009, when Congolese national Thomas Lubanga is indicted for war crimes. We see the background of the controversial court, international criticism, and the problems a criminal lawyer without police power faces.

Moreno-Ocampo’s biggest political ideal is to move from perpetual intra-state conflict to justice achieved through legal ways, much like laws do at national level. The ICC and Moreno-Ocampo regularly face international criticism, however, all the more since the first cases dealt with by the court all concerned African nationals. Criticism is reinforced when Moreno-Ocampo seeks to indict Sudanese president Omar Al-Bashir for war crimes and genocide – making him the first incumbent head of state to be judged by the new, permanent criminal court. The prosecutor himself answers with a shrug: "Compare it to a soccer game: the referee has no fans."