ICC Opens Inquiry into Kenyan Violence

Court Authorizes Inquiry of Kenyans (Marlise Simons, The New York Times, 03/31/10)

PARIS — The International Criminal Court has given the green light to open formal criminal investigations of the political leaders who organized the violence that shook Kenya after its disputed election in 2007, the court announced Wednesday.

Two of three court judges said that the clashes, which left more than 1,100 people dead and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes, could amount to crimes against humanity. The judges’ decision will now allow the prosecution to bring a case.

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Kenya: Court Is Given Names of Suspects in Election Violence (Marlise Simons, The New York Times, 04/01/10)

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague said Thursday that he had presented judges with a list of 20 suspects who he believed were most responsible for financing or organizing the violence after the 2007 elections in Kenya.

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ICC Prosecutor Talks to Al Jazeera (Al Jazeera English, 04/01/10)

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US to Assist in Protection of Kenyan ICC Witnesses

VOA News, Feb 11 2010 Alan Boswell

The United States says it plans to help protect those set to testify before the International Criminal Court against top Kenyan officials implicated in the country’s 2008 political violence. The Court’s chief prosecutor has expressed concern that key witnesses are coming under harassment.

The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, told reporters in Nairobi that the United States would offer assistance in shielding witnesses from harm if a panel of judges authorizes ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo to precede with pre-trial investigations.

The ruling from the international court could come in the next few weeks.

Ambassador Rapp issued grim words of warning about Kenya’s future if those most responsible for the organized killings were not brought to justice.

“If there is not accountability for the violence of 2007, 2008, when the election cycle returns in 2012 it could happen again, and it could be worse,” Rapp said. “The blood of Kenyans would be spilled, the hopes for the future would be dashed, and it would affect the entire region.”

The diplomat would not give any specifics about what type of assistance the United States planned to offer, but suggested that re-location of the witnesses was a possibility.

Kenya has already passed into law the Witness Protection Act, but local human rights groups say that at least 22 Kenyans who had previously testified behind closed-door inquiries have reported harassment. A number have been forced into hiding, fearing for their lives. Some say the police themselves were complicit in the intimidation.

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Statement from the ICC on Visit of Two Judges to Kenya This Week

ICC Press Release, 20 April 2009

The International Criminal Court (ICC) strongly refutes that two of its judges who will come to Kenya in the next days to attend a regional parliamentary event will unofficially start preparations for handling cases of post-election violence in The Hague”, as stated in an article of the Nairobi Star on 17 April 2009.

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window.google_render_ad();Judges David Daniel Ntanda Nsereko (Uganda) and Joyce Aluoch (Kenya) will deliver remarks and participate in discussions at an East African Parliamentary Workshop on Implementation of the Rome Statute, the founding instrument of the Court, to be held on 23 and 24 April 2009 in Nairobi. The workshop will be hosted by the National Assembly of Kenya and co-organised by Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA), a network of key parliamentarians from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania that promotes peace, democracy, sustainable development, human rights and the rule of law since 1978.

While Judges Nsereko and Aluoch will interact with other participants of the workshop, addressing outstanding challenges for East African countries to implement the Rome Statute, they will not have meetings with Kenyan government officials nor discuss in any way the eventuality of the Kenya situation to be referred to the ICC. Furthermore, contrary to what was mentioned in the article, they will not be accompanied by a team of experts on international law.

The visit of Judges Nsereko and Aluoch is not related at all to the preliminary analysis that the Office of the Prosecutor is conducting into the post-election violence in Kenya in early 2008, as suggested in the article published.

Judges of the International Criminal Court are impartial and independent magistrates. They are responsible for conducting the proceedings of the Court at different stages. They never engage in discussions concerning potential situations prior to these being submitted to them in the course of properly instituted legal proceedings.

Only the Office of the Prosecutor, an organ of the Court which operates separately and independently from the judicial divisions, is responsible for conducting the preliminary analysis in Kenya. The visit of Judges Nsereko and Aluoch to Kenya does not prejudge in any way the outcome of this analysis.

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Human Rights Watch Urges Kenya to Create Domestic Tribunal and Avoid ICC Investigation

By Derek Kilner, VOA News Nairobi 25 March 2009

The organization Human Rights Watch has urged Kenya’s government to establish a special tribunal to try those suspected of post-election violence. On a visit to Kenya, the group’s director said resorting to the International Criminal Court would not be the best option.

More than a year after disputed presidential elections touched off political and ethnic violence that killed more than 1,200 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, Kenya has still not settled on a means of holding accountable those responsible for the attacks.

A commission established by the government recommended setting up a special tribunal in the country, with international members. But lawmakers have rejected the government’s efforts to establish such a body.

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Reuters Story

Human Rights Watch Memo: 2009_kenya_specialtribunal

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