International Criminal Court probes Burundi 'crimes against humanity' Published duration 9 November 2017

image copyright AFP/Getty image caption The decision was made on October the 25th - two days before Burundi's official withdrawal from the ICC

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has authorised prosecutors to open a full investigation into alleged crimes against humanity in Burundi.

The announcement comes just weeks after the country became the first member to withdraw from the international court.

Unrest broke out in Burundi in 2015 after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to run for office a third time.

Rights groups say hundreds of people were killed. UN investigators say there is evidence of crimes against humanity.

The UN report urged the ICC, based The Hague, to launch an inquiry.

In 2015 security forces launched a crackdown after major protests against President Nkurunziza's decision to stand for re-election. Groups disagreed over whether the candidacy was constitutional.

As many as 400,000 people may have been displaced in the violence, it said.

image copyright AFP/GETTY image caption President Nkurunziza has been in power since 2005 and survived an attempted coup in 2015

Burundi withdrew from the ICC on 27 October after accusing the court of deliberately targeting Africans for prosecution. The African Union called for a mass withdrawal of member states in February over the issue.

The decision to approve the investigation was made two days before Burundi's withdrawal but only made public on Thursday to protect witnesses, the ICC said.

But the case of Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir, one of the ICC's "most wanted", has highlighted the difficulty of getting a non-member to co-operate in surrendering suspects.

Responding to news of the ICC case, a senior Burundian presidential spokesperson accused the court of "outrageous lies to implement Westerners' hidden agenda to destabilize Africa".

The country's justice minister, Laurentine Kanyana, called the court's decision a "fraud".

She said her government had no intention of co-operating with the investigation.

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