asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will ask the judges of the International Criminal Court to release the transcript of their discussion with the court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, on 1 October, on the charges filed against Umar Hasan al-Bashir, President of Sudan, on three counts of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and two of murder; and whether they will place in the Library of the House an English language translation of the request made by the judges of the pre-trial chamber on 18 October for additional information from the prosecutor before deciding whether to issue an arrest warrant. [HL5741]

On 14 July the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court made a request to the pre-trial chamber for an arrest warrant to be issued for Sudanese President Umar Hasan al-Bashir. On 15 October, the pre-trial chamber issued a decision requesting the prosecution to submit additional supporting materials in relation to some confidential aspects of the prosecutor's request. I have placed in the Library of the House the original English language version of that decision by the pre-trial chamber. The hearing that took place on 1 October was, on the judges' decision, a closed session and a transcript is not available. We respect the need for certain sessions of the chamber to be held in closed session as decided by the judges.