Fatou BensoudaEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

As plans for Liberia’s war and economic crimes court and national anti-corruption court get underway, we’re running a series of special interviews with Liberian and international experts and stakeholders about how the courts will work. In this interview, Anthony Stephens speaks with Fatou Bom Bensouda, a former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, on the sidelines of the African Investigative Journalism Conference in Johannesburg this month. A Gambian and the only woman to date to hold the role, Bensouda led the Court’s prosecutorial team from 2012-2021. Some notable prosecutions took place under her watch included former Ivorian president Laurent Gbagbo; Kenya’s former president Uhuru Kenyatta; and William Ruto, now Kenya’s sitting president, who at the time had just been elected deputy to Kenyatta. Jean-Pierre Bemba, the former vice president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was also prosecuted under her watch. Support the show Funding for this podcast comes from the Swedish embassy in Liberia and the American Jewish World Service. See more of our collaborations with media in West Africa at www.newnarratives.org

ODI In Conversation With Fatou Bensouda by ODI Global

Fatou Bensouda’s quest for justice began as a young girl in Gambia she was disturbed by the plight of a female relative who suffered domestic abuse. She joined the International Criminal Court – the word’s only permanent war crimes court - in 2004 as a Deputy Prosecutor and has served as Prosecutor since 2012. As Prosecutor, she has prioritised crimes against women and children but that hasn’t silenced critics who accuse the Court of being slow, expensive and only targeting African suspects. She talks to Zeinab Badawi about the allegations of racism and selective justice and whether her gender has been a help or hindrance.