ICC judges to review decision to omit genocide from arrest warrant against Bashir

The International Criminal Court judges must review their decision not to include genocide from the war crimes arrest warrant issued against the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, an appeals chamber said Wednesday. "The pre-trial chamber is directed to decide anew," presiding judge Erkki Kourula was quoted as saying by AFP, endorsing an appeal by prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir a year ago on five counts of crimes against humanity and two of war crimes committed in Sudan's western Darfur region.Moreno-Ocampo, having implicated the Sudanese leader in the deaths of 35,000 people, subsequently lodged an appeal against the court's decision to omit the three counts of genocide he had asked for.

"The decision on the prosecutor's application for a warrant of arrest against (Bashir) is reversed," Kourula said, adding the pre-trial chamber's decision to omit genocide was based on an "erroneous standard of proof".