ICC Investigations
How the ICC investigates international crimes, from preliminary examinations to full investigations in conflict zones.
From Preliminary Examination to Investigation
ICC investigations proceed in distinct stages. A preliminary examination assesses whether the legal preconditions for a full investigation are met. Under Article 53 of the Rome Statute, the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) evaluates four questions: jurisdiction (does the crime fall within the Court's temporal, territorial, and subject-matter reach?), admissibility (are national courts genuinely acting, and is the case grave enough?), and the interests of justice. This screening stage can last many years. Palestine was under preliminary examination from 2015 to 2021 before a full investigation was opened; Afghanistan was examined from 2007 to 2017.
Once the Pre-Trial Chamber authorizes a full investigation, the OTP deploys investigators to collect evidence, interview witnesses, and analyze documents. Because ICC crimes typically involve large-scale violence, the evidence base is enormous: satellite imagery, communications intercepts, forensic analysis, survivor testimony, and documentary evidence ranging from military orders to social-media posts. The prosecutor's central challenge is assembling this material into cases that meet the beyond-reasonable-doubt standard required for conviction, while establishing not only that crimes occurred but that a specific senior individual bears criminal responsibility for them.
