IJCentral: International Justice Central

Nairobi, Kenya

After more than a year of investigations, the chief prosecutor of the world’s sole war-crimes tribunal has accused six prominent Kenyans of orchestrating the post-election violence that killed 1,200 people three years ago.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Wednesday that he has evidence that all were involved in the perpetration of crimes against humanity, including murder and ethnic cleansing. He has brought two separate cases, with three defendants each.

If judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) agree, the six men will be summoned to appear at The Hague, Netherlands – and issued arrest warrants if they fail to comply.

If the two cases come to trial, it will mark a first for Kenya. There has never yet been a single successful prosecution for senior Kenyan figures implicated in a series of alleged gross crimes of violence or corruption.

“Kenya is turning a page in its history, moving away from impunity and divisionism toward an era of accountability and equal opportunity,” said President Obama in a statement Wednesday.

“I believe that the Kenyan people have the courage and resolve to reject those who would drag the country back into the past and rob Kenyans of the singular opportunity that is before them to realize the country’s vast potential.”

Florence Wambugu, a woman selling grilled maize on a street corner in an upmarket Nairobi suburb, agreed with Mr Obama.

“This is something we know we cannot do ourselves, even if so many of want these people to go to court,” she said.

“In Kenya, they would buy their way to freedom. There, in Europe, we hear that you cannot do that. They must face their music, and others wanting to copy their evil deeds will be made to think twice.”

The six accused

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, has drawn up two cases, with three accused in each.

The first involves William Ruto, the suspended higher education minister, Henry Kosgey, the industrialization minister, and Joshua Sang, a presenter on a local-language radio station.

All are accused of involvement in crimes against humanity including murder, ethnic cleansing, targeting supporters of rival political parties, and torture.

The second case involves Uhuru Kenyatta, the deputy prime minister and son of Kenya’s founding father; Francis Muthaura, head of the civil service and a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki; and Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali, the former chief of police.

That trio is linked to crimes against humanity, murder, ethnic cleansing, inhumane acts, and sexual violence. Most of the men swiftly denied any wrongdoing Wednesday.

“These were not just crimes against innocent Kenyans,” said Moreno-Ocampo, who is pursuing separate cases against Sudan’s president, Congolese warlords and Ugandan militia leaders.

“They were crimes against humanity as a whole. By breaking the cycle of impunity for massive crimes, victims and their families can have justice.”

Kenyan president stands by those accused – so far

The ICC judges are expected to spend the next few weeks going through the 158 pages of evidence presented Wednesday by Moreno-Ocampo.

If they agree with him, the six men will be summoned to appear before the court, and arrest warrants will be issued if they fail to comply.

In what Mwalimu Mati, director of anti-graft watchdog Mars Kenya, called a “distressing sign,” President Kibaki has already stated that he will not ask those members of his government named in the list to step aside until charged.

“The people who have been mentioned have not yet been fully investigated as the pre-trial process in The Hague has only but began,” Mr. Kibaki said in a statement.

“They therefore cannot be judged as guilty until the charges are confirmed by the court. Calls for action to be taken against them are therefore prejudicial, preemptive and against the rules of natural justice.”

For Mr. Mati, this is not enough.

“These are people who will wake up tomorrow and go to work for the government, despite being accused of rape, murder and ethnic cleansing,” he said.

“Of course, they are innocent until proved guilty. But it does seem that the president is sending totally the wrong message by starting this whole thing by appearing to stand by them.”

But other Kenyans believe Ocampo has gone too far.

“Ocampo has thrown everybody off balance and this decision to charge these politicians does not reflect the mood of the people,” says Nairobi lawyer Ken Ogeto.

Some have worried about another outbreak of violence in the Rift Valley, home to three of the six accused – Mr. Ruto, Mr. Kosgey, and Mr. Sang.

But in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret, scene of much of the post-election violence in early 2008, Ken Wafula says that the area remains calm, and adds, “I have not, as a non-Kalenjin, received any threats as it was during the post-election violence.”

source: The Christian Science Monitor

LAMU, Kenya — The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is seeking to indict several high-ranking Kenyan politicians, including the finance minister and a former national police chief, for crimes against humanity in what he calls an orchestrated campaign to displace, torture, persecute and kill civilians during Kenya’s election crisis in 2007 and early 2008.

These are the first serious charges sought against Kenya’s political elite for the violence, and are intended to address one of Africa’s glaring weak spots — disputed elections — which have led to turmoil in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Nigeria and, most recently, Ivory Coast.

“This is a different kind of case,” Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the court’s chief prosecutor, said of the accusations, which are scheduled to be announced Wednesday. “This isn’t about militias. It’s about politicians and political parties. It’s about investigating leadership.”

And, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo added, “this isn’t just about justice. For Kenya, this is survival.”

Among the top six politicians named are Uhuru Kenyatta, finance minister and son of Kenya’s founding leader, Jomo Kenyatta; Mohammed Hussein Ali, the former police chief, who stands accused of unleashing police officers to shoot unarmed demonstrators; and William Ruto, arguably Kenya’s most divisive political figure, widely accused of instigating violence but revered as a hero within his ethnic community, the Kalenjin. Some of the worst episodes of violence, including the burning of a church with dozens of women and children inside, occurred in predominantly Kalenjin areas.

The case follows an international effort to help pull Kenya back from the brink of chaos after the disputed election in December 2007 set off widespread protests and ethnically fueled fighting, which swept the country and killed more than 1,000 people.

“Finally, we have our day,” said Maina Kiai, a former Kenyan human rights official. “This is the first time we have high-ranking people facing the law where they have no control and they can’t bribe their way out of it.”

Mr. Kiai and many others say Kenya has had a dangerous habit of whitewashing sensitive investigations, often setting up high-level commissions but never punishing the culprits. This record of impunity has led to mass killings around previous elections as well, and many Kenyans fear that the next election, in 2012, could be worse if the ringleaders of 2007 go free. Others worry that prosecutions will inflame tensions instead.

The case brings the court into some uncharted territory. All of its previous cases have focused on militias and war zones, and this is the first time that Mr. Moreno-Ocampo has stepped in on his own initiative, without a request from the home country or by the United Nations Security Council.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo has been criticized for solely prosecuting Africans and for being overzealous, particularly in his dogged pursuit of genocide charges against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. The effort to arrest Mr. Bashir has proved very difficult and alienated some African countries.

This time, Mr. Moreno-Ocampo plans to ask the judges at The Hague to issue a summons, not an arrest warrant. That would allow the accused to turn themselves in and spare Kenya, at least initially, the awkwardness of having to hand over its political elite. Mr. Moreno-Ocampo has also implicated leaders from both sides, the government and the opposition, a decision many Kenyan observers say could be crucial in influencing what happens next — peace or more bloodshed.

“If the I.C.C. is seen as having done a balanced job,” said John Githongo, a former anticorruption official who was forced into exile and recently returned to Kenya, “then it will be more difficult for the elite to mobilize people violently against it.”

But, Mr. Githongo added, “Kenya is now a volatile country. The politics are bubbling. A lot of change is happening at the same time. Anything is possible.”

In recent days, Kenyan police commanders have put their forces on high alert in anticipation of Mr. Moreno-Ocampo’s announcement. But officers were given explicit orders to use restraint, especially with live bullets. Many Kenyans expect Mr. Ruto’s supporters in the turbulent Rift Valley to be the most upset.

The case is expected to face legal hurdles as well. The prosecutor is seeking to charge all six men with crimes against humanity. But several international-law experts and a judge at the court have questioned whether the violence of 2007, while serious, fits that definition.

“The question is not whether the crimes have happened,” wrote Judge Hans-Peter Kaul, one of three judges who reviewed the prosecutor’s investigation. “The issue is whether the I.C.C. is the right forum before which to investigate and prosecute these crimes.”

It was not, Judge Kaul concluded. The two other judges disagreed, allowing the investigation to proceed. But experts said the question of the court’s jurisdiction would linger.

After the disputed election, Kenya’s leaders vowed to pass a new constitution; set up a local tribunal to prosecute the election killings; and undertake land reform, police reform and a number of other ambitious reforms whose urgency was exposed by the election turmoil.

Kenya’s political class accomplished some of these tasks, including the peaceful passage of a new constitution in August that devolves power and establishes a bill of rights. But efforts to set up a local tribunal were typically blocked by the very politicians who were implicated. Now some Kenyan politicians, including several of those named in the charges, are trying to resuscitate the idea.

According to Mr. Moreno-Ocampo, the evidence predates the disputed election in December 2007, in which Kenya’s incumbent president, Mwai Kibaki, was declared the winner, despite mounting evidence that the real winner was Raila Odinga, an opposition politician who is now prime minister.

Mr. Moreno-Ocampo says Mr. Ruto (who used to be a minister but was suspended recently because of corruption accusations); Henry Kosgey, the minister of industrialization; and Joshua arap Sang, a radio broadcaster — all well-known opposition figures — began planning a year before the election to attack supporters of the governing party. After Mr. Kibaki was declared the winner, prosecutors say, the network they cultivated burned homes, killed civilians who had supported Mr. Kibaki and systematically drove people off their land.

In response, prosecutors say, Mr. Kenyatta, Mr. Ali and Francis Muthaura, the head of the civil service, “developed and executed a plan” for “suppressing and crushing” opposition protests and keeping the governing party in power.

The police were sent to opposition strongholds “where they used excessive force against civilian protesters,” and Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Muthaura deputized one of Kenya’s most brutal street gangs, the Mungiki, to “organize retaliatory attacks against civilian” opposition supporters, the prosecutor contends.

But many observers say evidence from the earliest days of the crisis implied that some of the killings were spontaneous expressions of rage, not centrally organized, and that the organized violence was planned at local levels, by chiefs and elders, not necessarily by top politicians.

The suspects have denied any wrongdoing. Mr. Ruto has called the evidence “cooked up.” He has said that witnesses have been bribed and that the case “will in the end amount to fraud.”

Mr. Kenyatta said in October that he was “not concerned personally by the I.C.C. warrants” and that “once due process has taken place, the truth eventually will come through.”

Neither of the two political protagonists whose rivalry set off the violence, the president and the prime minister, are implicated in the case. Many experts believe this is one reason that Kenya will ultimately cooperate.

“The Kenyan government is not Zimbabwe,” said Mr. Kiai, the former human rights official, referring to Zimbabwe’s antagonistic relations with the United Nations and the West. “International acceptance is important to Kenya.”

Jeffrey Gettleman reported from Lamu, and Marlise Simons from Paris.

source: The New York Times

THE HAGUE (AFP) – The International Criminal Court Wednesday accused six Kenyans, including the son of the nation’s founder Jomo Kenyatta, of masterminding the 2007-08 post-election violence that claimed 1,500 lives.

The Hague-based court took charge of trying key suspects in connection with the country’s worst violence since independence in 1963, after Nairobi last year failed to set up a tribunal of its own in line with agreements that ended the chaos.

Those subpeonaed include Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, sacked education minister William Ruto—a declared candidate for the 2012 presidential election—and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali.

The others are Francis Muthaura, the head of Kenya’s public service, Industrialisation Minister Henry Kosgey and radio executive Joshua arap Sang.

“Today at 11.58 the office of the prosecutor filed its document presenting the results of its investigation in the last eight months for the crimes commited in Kenya,” the court’s chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told a press
conference.

He said the six including Kenyatta and Ruto “are the most responsible, but of course there are many others… We concentrate on the most responsible… of course, Kenya can decide to prosecute more.

“The post election period of 2007-2008 was one of the most violent periods of the nation?s history,” the prosecutor said.

“These were not just crimes against innocent Kenyans,” he said. “They were crimes against humanity as a whole. By breaking the cycle of impunity for massive crimes, victims and their families can have justice. And Kenyans can pave the way to peaceful elections in 2012.”

The ICC said the carnage left more than 1, 100 people dead, 3,500 injured and up to 600, 000 forcibly displaced.

“During 30 days of violence, there were hundreds of rapes, possibly more, and over 100, 000 properties were destroyed in six of Kenya?s eight provinces.”

Moreno-Ocampo accused Ruto of “preparing a criminal plan to attack ... the Party of National Unity,” and inciting violence.

“They immediately… began to attack,” he said.

The prosecutors previously indicated that the suspects were from or linked to the two sides of Kenya’s coalition government, formed after the contested presidential election.

“The judges of Pre-Trial Chamber II will now review the evidence. If they determine that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the six persons named committed the alleged crimes, they will decide on the most appropriate way to ensure their appearance in Court. The Prosecution has requested Summonses to Appear,” a statement said.

Under an internationally brokered peace deal, President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity shares power with and Prime Minister Raila Odinga’s Orange Democratic Party.

The ICC, which started operating in the Hague in 2002, is the world’s only independent, permanent tribunal with the jurisdiction to try allegations of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Kenya was plunged into violence after the December 27, 2007 general elections in which the then opposition chief Odinga accused Kibaki of having rigged his re-election.

What began as political riots soon turned into ethnic killings targeting Kibaki’s Kikuyu tribe.

They launched reprisal attacks in which homes were torched, people hacked to death and some 300,000 forced to flee their homes.

source:  Yahoo News

NAIROBI, Kenya — Kenya’s police commissioner says authorities will act swiftly and firmly against any outbreaks of violence connected to the announcement of suspects by the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor.

Commissioner Mathew K. Iteere said Wednesday that the police have information that “criminal elements” are looking at Wednesday’s announcement at the ICC in The Hague as an opportunity break the law.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo is expected to announce the names of six Kenyan leaders suspected of fanning the flames of violence after the country’s December 2007 presidential election.

More than 1,000 people died in postelection chaos, but no Kenyan leaders have yet been held accountable.

source: AJC.com

Kenya’s finance minister, its former police commissioner, its former higher education minister, and a prominent radio talk-show host are considered to be among the six “most responsible” for the post-election violence following Kenya’s disputed Dec. 27, 2007, elections, according to the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands.

Announcing the names of the “most responsible” – William Ruto, Uhuru Kenyatta, Henry Kosgey, Hussein Ali, Joshua Arap Sang, and Francis Muthaura – the ICC’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said that he expected the accused to cooperate fully with the ICC court.

This week, Mr. Ocampo put stringent restrictions on those he was about to name on human rights crime charges, including bans on contacting other accused politicians and contacting or intimidating witnesses. He has also mandated that they frequently update the ICC about their whereabouts. None of the accused are yet subject to arrest warrants, and all are assumed to be willing to hand themselves over to the court at the Hague to face trial.

The so-called “Ocampo Six” have been accused of organizing violence following the disputed Dec. 27, 2007 elections in Kenya, after the ruling PNU of President Mwai Kibaki and the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) of Raila Odinga both claimed victory. Evidence of rigging was widespread on both sides, but when the electoral commission declared Mr. Kibaki the winner, violence broke out in opposition strongholds, particularly in the Rift Valley.

Some 1,200 people were killed, many hacked to death by youth militias in their own homes, merely for their ethnicity. Some 300,000 others were displaced from their homes to ramshackle camps near police stations.

Special Monitor report: As ICC names suspect Kenyan leaders, records reveal talk of more ethnic cleansing

The violence stopped only when top representatives from both parties negotiated a temporary government of national unity, a deal brokered by former Ghanaian President John Kufuor and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. You can read more about this negotiation process in this earlier Monitor series, “How Peace Came to Kenya”:

Africa’s elders seize a leading role

For Kenya, a month of attacks, then quick progress

In Kenya, two protagonists and the conciliators

After two months of discord, finally a handshake

Ocampo plans to try the six accused in two separate cases, and it is significant that the six are evenly distributed between followers of the PNU and the ODM.

Some supporters of likely Ocampo suspects, and particularly a group calling themselves the “Friends of Hon. William Ruto,” had prepared themselves over the past year for a fresh round of violence, hoping to prevent their leaders from being arrested and extradited to face trial at The Hague, according to documents introduced at the ICC as evidence.

At news time, reaction in Kenya remains quiet. Recent polls show that 85 percent of Kenyans support the ICC’s prosecution of poll-violence suspects, although the Kenyan parliament has belatedly suggested creating its own local tribunal to handle the cases.

source: Christian Science Monitor

The day of reckoning for post-election violence suspects is finally a couple of hours away.

The International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo will on Wednesday name the six suspects he is targeting for pros over the violence that claimed 1,200 lives.

He will be naming the suspects only nine days before Christmas, and it will be celebration for the hundreds of thousands of those wronged during the violence that pushed Kenya into a political crisis.

But a restless Christmas awaits the six who will be made known at a press conference on Wednesday at 5pm, Kenyan time, at The Hague, Netherlands.

According to a press release from the ICC, Moreno-Ocampo will hold a press conference in the Press Briefing room of the ICC, to “make an important announcement concerning the investigation in the Kenya situation”.

Press conference

During a visit to Kenya ten days ago, Moreno-Ocampo said the suspects he is targeting for indictment would be known by this Wednesday.

The ICC has made arrangements to broadcast the press conference on the Internet. It can be watched at “http://livestream.xs4all.nl/icc5.asx” link.

Though thousands of miles away, Moreno-Ocampo’s pronouncement is expected to immediately generate tension. As the clock ticks towards Wednesday, Kenyans will be waiting anxiously to know who is on Moreno-Ocampo list. The naming will signal that he is ready to go before ICC judges to ask for the indictment of the suspects.

But even before he makes known his pick, some politicians have already demanded certain individuals must be on the Ocampo list.

Last week, 16 MPs allied to Deputy Prime Minister, Uhuru Kenyatta, and suspended Cabinet Minister, William Ruto, issued a press statement threatening to disrupt the ICC work if certain names are left out.

Agriculture Assistant Minister, Kareke Mbiuki, has particularly warned of unspecified action if the PM’s name does not feature in the list of suspects.

Nairobi lawyer Harun Ndubi warns that political statements to the effect that the PM or any other individual must also be named in the Moreno-Ocampo list “is advance mobilisation of ethnic consciousness and incitement to violence once indictments are announced”.

Some politicians implicated in the ICC investigations have claimed it was a political tool to get them out of the 2012 political succession race.

Indeed the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) concedes tension is expected to rise in Government and within political parties following the indictments.

“NCIC is alert and ready to apply the law vigorously and robustly if anyone, politicians included, attempts to mobilise and stoke ethnic tension,” warns the commission’s vice- chair, Mary Onyango. Several high profile individuals were grilled and others arraigned in court during the constitutional referendum campaigns over hate speech.

“Political tension is expected to degenerate into ethnic animosity. Politicians are also expected to use the announcements to enhance their selfish agenda. Anti-reformers could also crawl out of the woodwork to capitalise on the announcements to derail reforms,” the NCIC official warned on Thursday, during a civil society meeting in Nairobi, convened by Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

New phase

Nonetheless, the destined listing of the key suspects is a culmination of a long wait for justice by thousands of victims of the 2007/2008 crimes against humanity and families of people who were killed during the mayhem. If Moreno-Ocampo secures the indictments, then Kenya will enter a new phase of political realignments ahead of 2012 General Election. It is highly anticipated that among the six are political heavyweights in PNU and ODM.

Attorney General, Amos Wako, who was recently quoted in the Press for indicating Moreno-Ocampo may not have sufficient evidence to proceed, now clarifies otherwise.

“Only a part of my delivery was carried by the Press. Otherwise, I only clarified the fact that the Waki Commission report in itself could not provide enough evidence or sustain a case against those it implicates,” Wako told The Standard On Sunday.

Lately, Ruto has staged a spirited battle against the ICC investigations. Ruto’s lawyers have reportedly filed a case at the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC to force ICC prosecutor to conduct new investigations.

Ruto and Uhuru have also separately made legal efforts to have their names expunged from the KNCHR report, On The Brink Of The Precipice. Other personalities who have publicly stated they could be on the list include former Naivasha MP, Jayne Kihara, and Eldoret businessman, Jackson Kibor. In the meantime, the civil society is urging the Government to reassure Kenyans it would facilitate arrests and transfer of suspects once indicted.

Centre for Multi-Party Democracy (CMD) CEO, Njeri Kabeberi, has called on Kenyans to cushion ICC against its detractors and barons of impunity who have resisted accountability since independence.

Mr Njonjo Mue of the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) says it remains to be seen how President Kibaki and the PM will handle the indictments. They cast doubts on their commitment to ICC by inviting indicted Sudan President Hassan El Bashir to the promulgation of the Constitution on August 27.

So what exactly awaits Kenyans on Moreno-Ocampo list?

Legal scholar and ICC process expert, Kindiki Kithure, explains the Chief Prosecutor and ICC judges have several options, besides warrants of arrests that have been subjects of debate.

“If Ocampo applies and secures open warrants, then the Kenya Government and other States that are signatories to the ICC are obliged to arrest and transfer the suspects to The Hague,” says Prof Kithure, who is also Ruto’s lawyer.

Alternatively, he says, Ocampo could apply for closed or sealed warrants, in which case the names and charges are not made public, until the suspects are arrested and flown to The Hague for prosecution. The third option is for Ocampo to apply for summons asking the suspects to present themselves in court.

source: The Standard

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has expressed his personal support for the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan Al-Bashir, who is accused of being responsible for the genocide in Darfur. In a letter to the Sudanese president, Abbas wrote that he and Palestinians “have complete faith in the wisdom of President Omar Al-Bashir.”

In 2008, evidence was presented in the International Criminal Court of Justice that showed that “Al-Bashir committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur.” The crimes against humanity include “murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape.” [http://www.icc-cpi.int accessed Dec. 8, 2010] Warrants for his arrest have been issued by the International Criminal Court.

PA TV News reports that a member of the Fatah Central Committee, Azzam Al-Ahmad, was sent by Abbas to deliver a personal letter to the Sudanese president. In it, Abbas wrote that the Palestinian people “stand side by side with the brother country Sudan.” The Palestinians, wrote Abbas, “emphasize” their “complete willingness to stand with Sudan in everything it wants and in the way it wants.”

The following is the excerpt from the PA TV News report on Abbas’s support to the Sudanese president:

PA TV News host: “President Mahmoud Abbas’s envoy delivered to member of Fatah Central Committee, Azzam Al-Ahmad, a written letter from His Excellency [Abbas] to his Sudanese counterpart [President] Omar Al-Bashir… Al-Ahmad said that President Mahmoud Abbas expressed in his letter the Palestinian people’s support for the efforts of the Sudanese leadership in the face of the dangers that threaten Sudanese unity.”

[TV news shows Al-Bashir reading Abbas’s letter]

Azzam Al-Ahmad, member of Fatah Central Committee: “President Abbas’s letter says that the Palestinian people and its leadership stand side by side with the brother country Sudan, and that they have complete faith in the wisdom of President Omar Al-Bashir in coping with these dangers. We emphasize our complete willingness to stand with Sudan in everything it wants and in the way it wants, in order to support the unity of the land of Sudan and its people.”

source: Right Side News

Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s application asking International Criminal Court (ICC) judges for fresh investigation into post-election violence was received at the registry in The Hague.

Mr Ruto’s lawyer Katwa Kigen produced copies of the application signed by ICC courtroom official Felipe Rojas Ceballos on December 8, who confirmed he had received the electronic version at 14.30 hours.

He produced the documents after The Standard asked about claims by ICC legal outreach official, Dr Fadi El Abdallah, that they had not received the application.

El Abdallah had said the ICC was not aware of any public filing about of the application by Ruto to the court.

But in response, Kigen said he personally delivered the application to the court, which acknowledged receiving the papers.

“I met Felipe and Esther Obat at the ICC registry and gave them the documents for delivery to the judges for directions as to the filling,” said Kigen.

The lawyer also produced a follow up letter he wrote to the Registrar on December 10 telling the court that he had filed the application two days earlier.

“We refer to the application presented to the Registry on December 8 by the undersigned, and duly acknowledged and enclosed is a scanned copy of the acknowledgement,” said Kigen in the letter.

According to the letter, the lawyers enclosed the complete application together with scanned enclosures and demanded to know the directions the pre-trial chamber had made in respect to the application and its urgency.

Kigen, requested information about the leave sought by the applicant that he intends to provide the court with an alternative view as provided under rule 103 of the ICC rules.

“The applicant proposes to provide the court with alternative views of great value, considering the prosecutor’s conduct on the situation in Kenya has in effect failed to investigate exonerating evidence in relation to the applicant and also failed to afford him an opportunity to present the exonerating evidence he has,” said the letter.

Ruto argued that ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has acted and continues to act unprofessionally, unprocedurally and unlawfully in disregarding his mandate towards the applicant in respect to the post-election violence.

Kigen further tells the court that repeated statements by Moreno-Ocampo that he had concluded investigations on post elections violence in Kenya were manifestly ineffective, limited in scope, poorly directed and a display of lack of commitment to gather relevant information and evidence.

In his presentation, the lawyer summarises what he says are breaches in the Kenya National Human Rights Commission and the Waki reports and requests that the applicant be allowed to make written and oral submissions on them.

“The prosecutor has denied the applicant the opportunity to offer exonerating evidence by not giving him prior notice before questioning as required by article 55(2)(a), and also failed to inform him that he is a suspect and affording him reasonable time to respond with adequate particulars,” said Kigen.

He said Moreno-Ocampo had did not inform Ruto that he was being treated as a suspect prior to being questioned and unfairly, unlawfully and unprocedurally ambushing him with the information during an interview on November 4.

“In the meeting, the prosecutor kept shifting and altering his requirements from the applicant, either out of lack of clarity on his part or by design to confuse and mislead applicants so gravely to make them not respond to his ultimate application for indictments,” says Ruto.

source: The Standard

To mark International Human Rights Day 2010, AMICC conducted an exclusive interview with US Ambassador for War Crimes, Stephen Rapp. The Ambassador was in New York as a lead part of a US delegation to the 9th session of the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties meeting at the United Nations. Watch the whole series below!

At the 9th session of the ICC’s Assembly of States Parties meeting at the United Nations, the United States spoke as a non-state party in support of the work of the Court.
The Ambassador spoke to the success of the Review Conference in Kampala, Uganda, and reminded the assembly that the United States has worked in a cooperative manner with other states to achieve important decisions on stocktaking and other aspects of the Review Conference. At the end of his speech, Ambassador Rapp spoke passionately about the importance of the ICC. “We owe to all of humankind,” said Rapp, “to make the institutions of international and national justice so effective that individuals will be deterred from committing acts of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.”

source: AMICC