Tuesday, 22 December 2009

From The Times
December 21, 2009

Anyone can apply for a warrant over allegations of a serious offence

Richard Ford

A quirk of English law allows private individuals to seek warrants for the arrest of people they wish to prosecute for serious offences, including alleged war crimes.

Under the system, the Government and the Crown Prosecution Service are unable to impose checks on, or even have prior knowledge of, applications to the courts for the arrest of individuals suspected of war crimes. The latter are subject to the principle of universal jurisdiction, where the seriousness of the alleged offence means that they can be tried anywhere.

The Magistrates’ Courts Act (1980) allows anyone in England and Wales to apply to a court for a warrant to arrest someone against whom they wish to bring a private prosecution for a serious crime. The law does not require prosecutors even to give advice on such an application.

Anyone seeking to bring a private prosecution would provide information, usually a written formal allegation about the offence, which is put before magistrates. All applications for warrants in private prosecutions are dealt with at City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court. A warrant can be issued without either the alleged suspect or official prosecutors having the chance to make legal representations.

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The court will consider if the alleged offence is actually a crime and whether it has the jurisdiction to issue an arrest warrant. The judge issues the warrant if he or she is convinced that there is likely to be a case to answer and that the accused person is in the country — hence the withdrawal of the warrant for Tzipi Livni after she decided not to travel to Britain.

Any change to the law would be up to the Ministry of Justice after discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service and the Attorney-General. It would probably focus on giving the Attorney-General the power to approve all warrants before arrests can be made

Posted by Britannia Radio at 09:21