After the International Criminal Court sent a team to Libya over the weekend to negotiate the release for four court employees arrested last week, the relationship between the Hague-based court and Libya's new authorities seems to be as rocky as ever.
But even as the court’s chances of securing the trial it wants in Libya appear to be vanishing, the arrests go to show that the ICC still has an important role to play in the transitioning country.
The ICC has been involved in Libya's transition since the U.N. Security Council referred the situation to the court in a prelude to the authorization of NATO's air war on the country. The court has sought to have Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the British-educated son of the country's late ruler, transferred to The Hague for trial along with former Libyan spy chief Abdullah Senussi, who is being detained in Mauritania.