Provisional arrest for ICC proceedings - national procedures

Kingdom of The Netherlands

International Criminal Court Implementation Act 2002

CHAPTER 2. SURRENDER OF PERSONS TO THE ICC
§ 2. Provisional arrest
Section 13
1. A person may be provisionally arrested at the request of the ICC.
2. Any public prosecutor or assistant public prosecutor is authorised to order the provisional arrest.
3. If action on the part of the public prosecutor or the assistant public prosecutor cannot be awaited, any police officer is authorised to arrest the person.
4. The arrested person shall be brought as quickly as possible before the public prosecutor at The Hague District Court.

Section 14
After the person claimed has been questioned in accordance with article 55, paragraph 2, and article 59, paragraph 2 of the Statute, the public prosecutor may order that he be detained in police custody for three days from the moment of the provisional arrest.

Section 15
1. The investigating judge responsible for dealing with criminal cases may, on the application of the public prosecutor, order the remand in custody of the person claimed.
2. Before giving an order pursuant to paragraph 1, the investigating judge shall, if possible, question the person claimed.

Section 16
1. The investigating judge may, on his own initiative or on the application of the public prosecutor or at the request of the person claimed or his counsel, order that on account of urgent and exceptional circumstances the deprivation of liberty pursuant to the provisions of § 2 of this chapter be ended or discontinued or suspended subject to conditions. The conditions to be imposed shall in any event be designed to prevent absconding.
2. The investigating judge shall not make an order as referred to in subsection 1 until the ICC, having been consulted for this purpose through the intermediary of Our Minister, has made recommendations pursuant to article 59, paragraph 5 of the Statute within a period to be determined by Our Minister.
3. The suspension or discontinuation shall end automatically as soon as the public prosecutor has been informed, in accordance with section 32, of the decision of Our Minister permitting the surrender.
4. Article 80, paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 5, and articles 81-88, with the exception of article 86, paragraph 5, of the Code of Criminal Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis to orders for provisional discontinuation and suspension made pursuant to paragraph 1.
5. The investigating judge may, on his own initiative or on the application of the public prosecutor or at the request of the person claimed or his counsel, terminate the order for remand in custody if no request for surrender, together with the relevant documents, has been received from the ICC within sixty days of the date of the provisional arrest.

Section 17
The public prosecutor shall notify Our Minister immediately of every decision taken pursuant to sections 13, 14, 15 or 16

CHAPTER 2. SURRENDER OF PERSONS TO THE ICC

§ 7. Other provisions

Section 41

1. Objects found in the possession of the person whose surrender or provisional arrest has been requested under the Statute may be seized at the request of the ICC. The seizure shall be carried out by or on the instructions of the public prosecutor or the assistant public prosecutor competent to issue a warrant of arrest or provisional arrest.
2. When making the application referred to in section 21, the public prosecutor shall lodge a list of the objects seized with the District Court.

CHAPTER 4. ENFORCEMENT OF SENTENCES
§ 2. Provisional measures
Section 60
1. At the request of the ICC, a person who has been sentenced by the ICC to a term of imprisonment and is still at liberty may be provisionally arrested if there are good reasons to assume that this sentence will be enforced in the Netherlands.
2. Section 13-17 shall apply mutatis mutandis, subject to the proviso that:
(a) the remand in custody is ordered for a period of not more than thirty days and may be extended on the application of the public prosecutor for a period not exceeding thirty days at a time, until the commencement of the enforcement of the sentence of imprisonment in accordance with section 67, subsection 4, or section 68, subsection 2;
(b) the period referred to in section 16, subsection 5 is thirty days.

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.