ICC: Ali seeks judges' attention at The Hague

By Standard Reporters

Former Commissioner of Police Hussein Ali has moved to The Hague and filed an application before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Pre-trial chamber.

Maj-Gen Ali is seeking to participate in the proceedings before the possible issuance of summons against him.

Ali says in his application that since the ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo decided to name him publicly as a suspect before according him an opportunity to give his side of the story, it was imperative that he be part of the summons proceedings.

He wants to give appropriate submissions on the requisite evidentiary standard regarding the issuance of summons.

Former Police comish Hussein Ali says ICC prosecutor did not give him a chance to be heard. [PHOTO:FILE/STANDARD]

Citing several previous decisions of the court and other international tribunals, Ali argues that although the Rome Statute does not expressly accord a suspect the right of audience at this stage, the court has the inherent power to grant him audience to make legal submissions.

The submissions he wants to give would give threshold required to issue summons to appear at the court.

Filed application

Source at the ICC told The Standard the Postmaster General filed the application last Thursday through an American lawyer, John Philpot, whom he hired alongside two Kenyans, Evans Monari and Gerishom Otachi.

Monari and Otachi refused to comment on the issue when reached for comment, yesterday.

The move came days after judges at the court rejected Eldoret North MP William Ruto’s application to bar summons or arrest warrants over the post-election violence suspects.

Mr Ruto had filed an application at the court arguing that Moreno-Ocampo failed to conduct proper investigation and instead relied on reports by the Waki Commission and the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR).

Meanwhile, the Sh96 million fraud case against Ruto and seven others begins today, amid fears it might derail his political ambitions.

The suspended Higher Education Minister is alleged to have fraudulently obtained Sh96 million from Kenya Pipeline Company, claiming he was in a position to sell 1.745 hectares of land belonging to the Ministry of Natural Resources situated in Ngong Forest.

The case will be heard for 12 days before Nairobi Chief Magistrate Gilbert Mutembei. The first four days start today up to Thursday. The State has lined up 24 witnesses to give evidence.

—Additional reporting by Ally Jamah and Evelyn Kwamboka