VARIOUS/FILE: Cases against Kenya's president and his deputy will go ahead even if Kenya decides to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, says the court's prosecutor

Record ID: 362693

  • Title: VARIOUS/FILE: Cases against Kenya's president and his deputy will go ahead even if Kenya decides to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, says the court's prosecutor
  • Date: 5th September 2013
  • Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (SEPTEMBER 5, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIORS OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT (ICC) (3 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 20th September 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya, Netherlands
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAENLO9CIWREGRPCFC7AJYNB896
  • Story Text: Kenya's parliament voted on Thursday (September 5) to quit the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, but the Dutch-based tribunal said it would press ahead anyway with the trials of its president and his deputy.
    Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto are accused of orchestrating violence after elections in 2007. About 1,200 people were killed in ethnic blood-letting that plunged east Africa's biggest economy into crisis.
    The ICC's first trial of a sitting president is viewed as the biggest test to date for an institution that has faced mounting criticism in Kenya and across Africa, where it is accused of bias as all the suspects to date have been Africans.
    Support for the process, which once had broad backing in Kenya, has been eroded since the peaceful vote in March this year that elected Kenyatta, the son of the country's founding leader.
    Parliament, dominated by the alliance that brought him to power, voted in favour of telling the government to withdraw from the ICC.
    But the ICC said earlier that even if Kenya voted to withdraw, its departure from the first permanent international criminal court would take at least a year and would have no effect on cases already in train.
    Ruto's trial starts on Tuesday and Kenyatta's in November, despite Kenyan efforts to have the cases dropped or moved nearer home. Both men have attended pre-trial hearings and have said they will continue to cooperate.
    Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said earlier on Thursday that both cases would go ahead.
    "The judicial process is now in motion at the ICC. Justice must run its course," the prosecutor said in a video posted on the court's website.
    "Many of these witnesses have gone to great lengths to risk their lives and the lives of their relatives to support our investigations and prosecutions," she added.
    Bensouda also said there had been repeated threats and bribes aimed at persuading relatives of witnesses in the cases to disclose their whereabouts.
    In Nairobi, ICC Kenya monitor, Tom Maliti said on Wednesday, a vote to end membership of the ICC was the latest effort in a long campaign to counter the court's processes to indict the Kenyan suspects.
    Maliti added that even though the MP's voted for a withdrawal, it would have no legal effect on the ongoing cases.
    "A vote in parliament is not going to stop the cases from a legal perspective. There are political implications but the legal implications are that the cases will continue," he said.
    The vote by Kenya's parliament will start a long process of withdrawal from the court, whose Rome Statutes require a signatory can only withdraw a year after submitting a request.
    According to Maliti, if Kenya does fully withdraw, it will mean that it is not business as usual with its traditional international partners.
    "If Kenya does withdraw from the ICC that in itself will be a signal that you know, maybe Kenya will not be as engaged as it used to be with the international community and therefore, there will be a game where for instance western powers, Europe, the US will have a very different relationship with Kenya than for instance neighbouring countries such as Uganda, South Sudan and members of the East African Community such as Rwanda and Burundi. So, this further complicates further Kenya's international relations," he said.
    Both Kenyatta and Ruto have promised to cooperate with the court to clear their names.
    The prosecutor's office has always insisted the ICC trial of Kenyatta must proceed. The Hague-based court has no jurisdiction over crimes if national authorities are carrying out a credible investigation and trial.
    The court was set up a decade ago to hold accountable perpetrators of the very worst crimes against humanity and war crimes, but some feel Africa has been unfairly targeted, making the court deeply unpopular across the continent.
    More than 1,220 people died and 350,000 were displaced in the mayhem that followed the December 2007 election.
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