Overview
- The Office of the Prosecutor formally withdrew charges against Abdallah Banda and the ICC Trial Chamber terminated the proceedings on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
- Prosecutors said the case eroded after two central witnesses were dropped for credibility or refusal to cooperate and a later witness account undercut the original theory of the 2007 Haskanita attack.
- Judges said the prosecution had not shown the evidence had deteriorated enough to bar trial but authorized termination to avoid an unfair or inefficient trial and vacated Banda’s arrest warrant without prejudice to future charges.
- Victims’ lawyers and more than 100 named victims said the withdrawal risks ending nearly two decades of pursuit of justice and deepens feelings of abandonment despite the court’s continued Darfur work.
- The decision sits inside the wider Darfur docket where other investigations and outstanding warrants from the 2003–2005 conflict remain active, and prosecutors may reopen charges if new credible evidence emerges.