President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia visits the ICC

President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia visits the ICC

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Image From left to right: Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, ICC Prosecutor, H.E. David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bolivia H.E. Mr. Evo Morales Ayma, President of Bolivia, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, ICC President, Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, First Vice-President, and Judge Cuno Tarfusser, Second Vice-President © ICC-CPI

On 12 June 2012, H.E. Mr. Evo Morales Ayma, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC). President Morales met with the ICC President Judge Sang-Hyun Song, First Vice-President Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng, Second Vice-President Judge Cuno Tarfusser, ICC Prosecutor Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and other high-ranking officials of the Court.

During the meeting, the ICC President briefed President Morales on recent developments at the Court and thanked the visiting President for his personal commitment and interest in the ICC. This was President Morales’s second visit to the Court; he previously visited on 27 November 2006.

Commenting on the steps Bolivia is taking towards full implementation of the Rome Statute, President Song stated: “It is of utmost significance for the fight against impunity that the Rome Statute norms are incorporated in the national laws of the States Parties, and I hope Bolivia will soon finalise this importance process”.

In turn, President Morales explained the democratic ongoing progress made in the political transformation that Bolivia’s democracy has been implementing since 2006, with a profound restructuring of the political system of representative democracy and human rights. He also explained the current judicial reform in the Plurinational State, where for the first time in Bolivian history people chose by direct vote the representatives of the judiciary and the Constitutional Court. Finally, President Morales requested technical assistance for the preparation of the new legal systematization of the judiciary, and extended an invitation to the ICC’s President and Prosecutor to visit Bolivia.

Photos of the visit are available here.

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].

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