Arabic version: محكمة ترفض استئناف ثورب في قضية الملك تشارلز

According to ABC News, Victoria’s Court of Appeal has rejected Krautatungalung elder Robbie Thorpe’s application to appeal a decision blocking his proposed private prosecution of King Charles III. Thorpe alleges the king, Australian government and institutions are perpetuating genocide against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through systems that disadvantage Indigenous people across socio-economic measures.

The ruling was Thorpe’s third legal defeat since he began seeking to launch the case in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court in 2023. His filing alleged continuing acts of genocide against First Peoples since September 28, 2022, citing common law, federal genocide law and First Peoples’ sovereign laws.

A senior registrar at the Magistrates’ Court rejected the filing because it did not reference a “proper source of law”. The Supreme Court later upheld that decision on judicial review. The Court of Appeal said the proposed appeal had no real prospect of success, finding the charges did not disclose an offence known to Victorian law.

Thorpe, 68, said he did not expect a fair hearing in Australia and intends to take his allegations to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands after exhausting domestic options. He retains one final Australian avenue: seeking permission to appeal to the High Court. The British monarch’s common-law immunity from criminal and civil liability in the United Kingdom, which has likely been inherited by Australia, could complicate any case against King Charles III. While the ICC can prosecute genocide and does not recognise head-of-state immunity, individuals cannot launch private prosecutions there; they can instead alert its Office of the Prosecutor to evidence.