Reply #57: U.N. rights investigators to start probe in Libya

[tabatha]

GENEVA, April 8 (Reuters) - U.N. investigators said on Friday they would start next week to probe alleged human rights violations committed in Libya by both forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi and rebels trying to topple him.

He said the team would gather testimony and cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, whose prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also is looking into possible war crimes by Gaddafi, his sons and his inner circle.

"We are going to Libya, both the eastern and western part of Libya," Bassiouni told a news conference in Geneva, referring to the largely rebel-held east and the government-held west.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, composed of 47 member states, unanimously approved the inquiry on Feb. 25. The Geneva forum denounced attacks on civilians, killings, arrests and the detention and torture of peaceful demonstrators, saying they may amount to crimes against humanity.

http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/un-rights-investigators-to-start-probe-in-libya/