U.N. prosecutor: New 'Nuremberg'

UNITED NATIONS - If Libya can conduct fair trials of the top henchmen of the overthrown Gadhafi regime, it could be "Libya's Nuremberg moment," the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Wednesday.

Fatou Bensouda told the Security Council that her office is still investigating allegations of serious crimes committed by former Gadhafi officials, some of whom are now outside of Libya, and said the ICC plans to make a decision soon on a second major case and on more cases of Gadhafi regime officials after that.

Bensouda said she was also concerned about allegations of crimes committed by rebel forces, including the expulsion and exile of residents of the town of Tawergha, which had been a pro-Gadhafi stronghold.

Tawergha was used as a staging ground by Gadhafi's forces to launch attacks on nearby Misrata. After rebels broke the siege of Misrata and overran Tawergha, the town's 40,000 residents fled or were driven out by vengeful rebels. Scores were held in prisons where human-rights groups recorded cases of torture and abuse.

Now the displaced residents live in harsh conditions in refugee camps in Tripoli and Benghazi.

Bensouda also said her office was looking into "ongoing alleged persecution of ethnic groups perceived to have been affiliated with the Gadhafi regime," and incidents such as the "alleged execution of 50 persons on the grounds of the Mahari Hotel in Sirte in October 2011."

Last year, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said it had obtained a video clip taken by militiamen showing a large number of prisoners from Gadhafi's convoy being cursed and abused. The remains of least 17 of the detainees in the video were later identified in a group of 66 bodies.