Provisional arrest for ICC proceedings - national procedures

Commonwealth of Australia

Australia - International Criminal Court Act No. 41 2002 (2018) EN

Part 3—Requests by the ICC for arrest and surrender of persons

Division 3—Arrest of persons

21 Arrest following request for provisional arrest
(1) Subject to section 22, if:
(a) the Attorney-General receives a request for provisional arrest of a person; and
(b) Division 2 has been complied with in respect of the request; the Attorney-General may, by written notice in the statutory form expressed to be directed to any magistrate, state that the request has been received.
(2) If the Attorney-General issues such a notice, a magistrate must issue a warrant, by writing in the statutory form, for the person’s arrest if an application is made, in the statutory form, on behalf of the ICC, for issue of a warrant pursuant to the notice.
(3) After the warrant has been issued, the magistrate must without delay send to the Attorney-General a report stating that the magistrate has issued the warrant.

Rome Statute

Article 92 Provisional arrest

1. In urgent cases, the Court may request the provisional arrest of the person sought, pending presentation of the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91.

2. The request for provisional arrest shall be made by any medium capable of delivering a written record and shall contain:

(a) Information describing the person sought, sufficient to identify the person, and information as to that person's probable location;

(b) A concise statement of the crimes for which the person's arrest is sought and of the facts which are alleged to constitute those crimes, including, where possible, the date and location of the crime;

(c) A statement of the existence of a warrant of arrest or a judgement of conviction against the person sought; and

(d) A statement that a request for surrender of the person sought will follow.

3. A person who is provisionally arrested may be released from custody if the requested State has not received the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request as specified in article 91 within the time limits specified in the Rules of Procedure and Evidence. However, the person may consent to surrender before the expiration of this period if permitted by the law of the requested State. In such a case, the requested State shall proceed to surrender the person to the Court as soon as possible.

4. The fact that the person sought has been released from custody pursuant to paragraph 3 shall not prejudice the subsequent arrest and surrender of that person if the request for surrender and the documents supporting the request are delivered at a later date.