Dutch lawyer has filed a complaint against President Muhammadu Buhari at The Hague, accusing him of committing crimes against humanity, including murder and torture.

Newsweek reports that Goran Sluiter, a lawyer at Dutch human rights legal firm Prakken d’Oliveira, filed the complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Friday, January 29.

Speaking with journalists, Sluiter said that there has been “an intensification of violence and crimes committed against Biafrans since Mr Buhari became the Nigerian president.”

“Nigeria is already a long time on the agenda of the [ICC] prosecutor and Nigerian courts are not dealing at all with these crimes. The time really has come for the ICC to act.”

There have been numerous reports of pro-Biafra protesters being killed in clashes with Nigerian security forces during demonstrations.

The complaint was filed on behalf of 17 unnamed victims and alleges to set out evidence of crimes against humanity committed by security forces against pro-Biafran protesters.

Ndubuisi Osuala, the coordinator of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) branch in the Netherlands, stressed that Nnamdi Kanu should be released, while President Buhari has to be prosecuted.

“What every IPOB member, every Biafran citizen wants is the release of our great leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who is a freedom fighter.

“Secondly, we need the International Criminal Court to bring justice and equity to our case…[President Buhari] has to be prosecuted and face the justice for what he did,” he said.

Calling for independence for Biafra, Osuala noted that his group seeking it by peaceful means.

“We need to get freedom by peace and that is why we are protesting. We are not terrorists, we are not killing people,” he stressed.

When contacted, Femi Adesina, the president’s special adviser on media and publicity, declined to comment on the ICC case. He said that while Kanu’s case was ongoing, the presidency would rather not comment on the matter.

On Thursday, January 28, members of th IPOB stormed Brussels, the capital of Belgium (the headquarters of the European Union parliament) to protest the illegal detention of their leader and director of radio Biafra, Nnamdi Kanu.

The protesters were demanding the unconditional release of Kanu and freedom for Biafra as an independent state.