'No Zimbabwean citizen can be dragged to ICC'

Legal experts say the International Criminal Court (ICC) is of no force and effect to Zimbabwe since the country did not ratify the treaty despite being a signatory to the United Nations' Rome Statute.

With African Union member countries in Ethiopia to debate whether to pull out from the ICC, legal experts have clarified that Zimbabwe is not bound by the ICC's jurisdiction as its legislature did not ratify the Rome statute despite the country signing it.

Legal expert Dumisani Mutombeni stressed that while the country appended to the Rome statute which gave birth to the tribunal, the Zimbabwean parliament did not ratify the treaty.

Another legal expert Tafadzwa Sengwe said the fact that Zimbabwe's legislature did not ratify the treaty implies that no Zimbabwean citizen should be dragged before the court.

The two legal experts also stressed the fact that the African continent is justified in calling for a walk out of the tribunal given the deliberate targeting of African leaders.

The ICC came into being in 2002, when its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, entered into force.

The idea was to create an international court that could prosecute individuals who have committed war crimes or genocide.

To date, 122 countries have ratified the statute and hence submitted themselves to the ICC's jurisdiction.

Countries such as US, China, Russia, Israel and India have shunned the tribunal.

All the 8 cases currently open at the ICC are for Africans.