Summary:

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is a key actor in current initial phase of the Court´s existence. His success will have significant impact on the functioning of this international judicial body as a whole. It is clear that prosecutor is not able to investigate and prosecute perpetrators of all crimes falling under the subject-matter jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. For this reason it is crucial for his Office precisely to define methods of situations selection followed by building the individual cases that will be presented before the judges of the Court. Being limited in resources available the prosecutor has to select situations and cases worthy for being investigated and prosecuted by international body not to waste the resources provided by State Parties of the Rome Statute. In strategic documents elaborated during the very first years of the Court’s existence the prosecutor deals with numerous problems and challenges before him: principle of complementarity, selection of situations and cases, notion of “interests of justice” used in provisions of the Rome Statute and the general prosecutorial strategy outlining his activities for coming years. These documents are open to further discussion and subject to modifications based on first practical experience. Only the future will show the viability of the methods and direction the first prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has chosen.