INTRODUCTION

The Netherlands’ recent deportation of Mr Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, the first person to be acquitted by the International Criminal Court, has brought to light the acute and multi-faceted challenge of providing safety, security, and justice to persons who have served as witnesses before, and/or have been acquitted or released by, an international criminal court.

Mr Ngudjolo Chui, a national of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and alleged former leader of the Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes (FNI), was indicted by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was arrested and transferred to the ICC in February 2008, where he was detained in the ICC Quarters in Scheveningen Prison. In December 2012, Mr Ngudjolo Chui was acquitted of all charges by Trial Chamber II. Mr Ngudjolo Chui expressed concerns about his safety should he return to his native DRC. Yet he was provided a one-way ticket, escorted to Schiphol Airport, and handed over to Dutch authorities there. Mr Ngudjolo Chui applied for asylum and was placed in a retention centre for almost five months. His Dutch lawyers successfully protested in court. Mr Ngudjolo Chui was released and stayed in a hotel in The Hague at the expense of the ICC for the duration of the ICC Prosecutor's appeal against his acquittal. In February 2015, the ICC Appeals Chamber confirmed Mr Ngudjolo Chui's acquittal.

Immediately after Presiding Appeals Judge Sanji Monagengfi nished reading the judgment, and upon exiting the courtroom, Mr Ngudjolo Chui was apprehended by Dutch authorities in civilian clothes and taken to Schiphol Airport because he, allegedly, no longer had the right to remain on Dutch soil. The authorities planned to deport him to his native DRC on a flight that was due to depart at 1800 hours. Mr Ngudjolo Chui was allowed a few minutes with his ICC counsels only after the repeated insistence of his defence team, reportedly with Dutch authorities and ICC Registry officials present. It is further reported that Mr Ngudjolo Chui was subsequently denied access to his counsels in his Dutch asylum case, and was interrogated in the absence of his counsels. Minutes after he boarded the flight (to the DRC), expulsion was barred after Mr Ngudjolo Chui's Dutch counsels submitted another application against his expulsion.