ICC team in Libya probes sexual crimes by Kadhafi troops

A defaced portrait of Moamer Kadhafi is pictured in Tripoli in September. By Patrick Baz (AFP/File)

TRIPOLI (AFP) - A team from the International Criminal Court arrived Wednesday in Libya to probe sexual crimes committed by loyalists of slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi during the revolt against his rule.

"We are here to conduct investigation into sexual crimes" committed during the revolt against Kadhafi and during his rule, Jane O'Toole, ICC investigator leading the team told AFP.

She said the ICC investigation would probe all aspects of major sexual crimes against women.

"We are not into investigating every crime but those which are most grave and those that are major crimes," she said at the sidelines of a women's conference, adding that the investigation would look into who ordered those crimes.

"We are still at the preliminary stage," she said.

ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in June said that the court's investigators have evidence that Kadhafi ordered mass rapes and bought containers of sex drugs for troops to attack women during the revolt.

He said there was evidence that the Libyan authorities bought "Viagra-type" medicines and gave them to troops as part of the official rape policy.

The ICC team headed by O'Toole, which leaves Libya on Friday, attended a women's conference where some Libyan women spoke of atrocities committed against them by Kadhafi officials before and during the rebellion.

Kadhafi was captured and killed on October 20.