Arrest Warrant Case Democratic Republic of the Congo v Belgium

ARREST WARRANT CASE
Name
Course
Professor’s Name
Arrest Warrant Case (Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) V Belgium)
Outline
Introduction – It is the part of the paper that gives a brief overview of the case between DRC and Belgium. It provides timelines of the happenings and introduces the parties involved in the case.
Facts of the Case – It is the part of the paper that gives justifications, arguments and facts on which the case was based. It analyzes and discusses the case in details, all arguments made and on what basis they were made.
Issue of the Case – It is the part of the paper that brings out the issues of the case. It brings out the questions that the court was faced with when making a judgment on this case with regard to the parties involved.
Decision of the court – It is the part of the paper that gives an overview of the case presented before the court. Discussed in this part is the decision in which the court reached after hearing the case.
Reasoning on the Decision – It is the part that discusses the judgment in detail. It bases the decisions of the court on legal rules. It explains why decisions were made the way they were made.
Conclusion – As the last part of the paper it gives a brief overview of the case, arguments made and decisions made and their justification.
 
Introduction
The case is on an arrest warrant that was issued by Belgium on the arrest of the then Minister of Foreign Affairs of DRC. The case was filed on October 17 of 2000 DRC filed an application that instituted proceedings against Belgium in concern to an international arrest warrant issued against the Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. Abdoulaye Yerodia Ndombasi by a Belgian judge. The arrest warrant was issued on April 11, 2000. Mr. Ndombasi was being accused of grave violations of international humanitarian law. The arrest warrant seeking his arrest and that he extradited to Belgium where he was to be prosecuted. The arrest warrant was transmitted to all states with DRC receiving it on 12th July 2000.
Upon receiving the warrant, DRC filed a proceeding against the warrant. The case is in reference to the case filed by DRC in the bid to immediately discharge the disputed arrest warrant. The Application was filed with regard to the international law that gives immunity to Ministers of Foreign Affairs from all countries. The International Law gives immunity against any criminal prosecution of Foreign Affairs Ministers so as to make sure that they are able to freely serve the country which they represent.
The case is of great significance in that it is on a very sensitive matter of jurisdictions and immunity against criminal prosecutions of various office holders with regard to the international law. The case brought to light a gap that existed in the International Law where there was no law that states that Ministers of Foreign Affairs who were suspected of war crimes or crimes against humanity could be treated as an exemption of this law under any customary international law.[Garrod, Matthew. "Unraveling the Confused Relationship between Treaty Obligations to Extradite or Prosecute and Universal Jurisdiction in the Light of the Habre Case." Harv. Int'l LJ&n...