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ICC rejects Bolivia claims against Morales

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday rejected a request by Bolivia to investigate former president Evo Morales and the organisers of a mass roadblock movement for crimes against humanity.

The Bolivian government asked the ICC in September 2020 to probe the campaign which it alleged had led to 40 deaths of coronavirus patients because oxygen could not be delivered to hospitals.

But ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said he would not open a formal investigation into the Bolivian blockade, as the alleged acts did not fall under the remit of the Hague-based court.

“After a thorough and independent assessment of the information available to my office, I have determined that the criteria set out in the Rome Statute for opening an investigation have not been met,” Khan said in a statement.

“I have concluded that the alleged conduct does not satisfy the contextual elements for crimes against humanity.”

The Rome Statute sets out the rules under which the ICC was established to try the world’s worst crimes in 2002.

States can formally refer alleged crimes to the ICC, which then carries out a preliminary probe before deciding whether to launch a full investigation.

Bolivia’s referral accused Morales and the roadblock organisers of deliberately blocking urgent medical supplies for hospitals during their 12-day campaign.

They launched the blockade in September 2020 after the government repeatedly postponed new elections.

Khan said that some protesters “may have acted with reckless disregard”, although protest leaders urged them to let medicines through.

But even if the alleged acts during the blockade had been proven, they would not have qualified as a coordinated “attack” against the civilian population and therefore as crimes against humanity, Khan said.

Khan added that his findings “should not be seen as taking a position on any of the events or dynamics concerning the alleged incidents or on the experience that the people of Bolivia had of those events.”

Morales, Bolivia’s first indigenous president, had fled into exile in 2019 after 14 years in power amid protests over his own controversial re-election that year.

He denied any wrongdoing over the roadblocks.