NETHERLANDS: president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta lawyers push international court to drop case

Record ID: 362559

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta lawyers push international court to drop case
  • Date: 18th March 2013
  • Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (MARCH 18, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC)
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAFIQDDNXFO9HNU2OES2DVDE7N
  • Story Text: Lawyers for Kenya's president-elect Uhuru Kenyatta said on Monday (March 18) charges of crimes against humanity against him should be withdrawn after the collapse of the case against his co-accused.
    Kenyatta, whose election earlier this month is being challenged by his rival, faces charges at the ICC over bloodshed in the aftermath of Kenya's 2007 election.
    On Monday, his lawyers said these were clearly now based on hearsay after a key witness retracted their testimony in a linked case against former civil servant Francis Muthaura.
    Kenyatta and Muthaura were among six suspects initially charged by ICC prosecutors with orchestrating violence after the 2007 election, when some 1,200 people were killed.
    The two prosecutions are based on a lot of the same evidence and both men have always denied any wrongdoing.
    Steven Kay, the British barrister defending Kenyatta, said prosecutors should have dropped his case when they withdrew charges against Muthaura in a decision announced on Monday.
    "The real fact of the matter is that what was withdrawn against Muthaura should have been withdrawn against Kenyatta," Kay, who heads Kenyatta's defence team, told a hearing at the Hague-based court.
    The Kenyatta case is an important test for the ICC, which was set up more than a decade ago as the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal but has only secured one conviction.
    The son of his country's founding president, Kenyatta is set to become the first head of state to be actively defending charges at the ICC, making his case one of the highest-profile it has dealt with.
    His election victory has presented a dilemma to Western leaders who see Kenya as a bulwark in a regional struggle against militant Islam.
    The defence said the charges against him were maintained because of his prominence.
    Fergal Gaynor, representing the victims of the post-election violence, told the court Kenyatta's status meant he could easily influence the case.
    On March 11, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked to drop the charges against Muthaura, which had been brought by his predecessor, after a key prosecution witness recanted.
    Judges agreed to drop the charges in a decision published on Monday, but Bensouda said the decision would have no impact on Kenyatta's case.
    "There is no legal basis why we cannot charge Mr. Kenyatta alone," said another prosecutor Adesola Adeboyejo on Monday.
    Kenyatta, who was elected on March 4 by a slim margin, faces a big challenge in bridging Kenya's ethnic divides even without the ICC case.
    Defeated presidential contender Raila Odinga challenged the election result in Kenya's top court on Saturday (March 16), alleging widespread ballot rigging.
    Lawyers for Kenyatta may argue the prosecution case has changed so much in the past year that the case should be moved back to the pre-trial "confirmation of charges" phase.
    The prosecution would then have to show again that it has a strong enough case to go to trial.
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