ICC suspect issued with summons

Written By:Caroline Gakii,    Posted: Wed, Mar 16, 2011

Head of Operations in the Police force King'ori Mwangi on Wednesday morning served Kass FM presenter Joshua Sang' with summons issued by the International Criminal Court requesting him to appear before the pre- trial chamber judges on April 7 to be formerly presented with the charges against him.

Sang's lawyer Kimutai Bosek says his client is ready to cooperate with ICC.

Sang' alongside suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto and former Industrialization minister Henry Kosgey are accused of murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population, torture and persecution during the 2008 post election violence.

The three are among six suspects summoned by the ICC in relation to crimes against humanity during the chaos following the disputed results of the 2007 general elections.

The other three, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of civil service Francis Muthara and Post Master General Major General Husseini Ali are accused of rape, forcible  transfer of populations and murder.

On Tuesday Attorney General Amos Wako instructed Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere to serve the six suspected masterminds of the post election violence with the ICC summons.

The move comes as a Kenyan delegation is expected to informally meet the United Nations Security Council and African Union officials in New York on Wednesday to explain reasons for seeking deferral of cases against the six suspected masterminds of the 2007-2008 post election chaos.

The delegation is led by Amb Macharia Kamau, the Kenyan permanent representative to the UN.

The officials will then decide whether to include the Kenyan request on the agenda of the Security Council's formal meeting.

The main conference will involve the council's 15 member states.

On Tuesday US ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger and his British counterpart Rob Macaire maintained that their countries will oppose the deferral while French ambassador Etienne de Poncins said they were still looking at the request and will make their stand known on Wednesday.

The meeting comes barely a week after ICC issued summonses requesting the six suspects to appear before the ICC pre-trail chamber judges on April 7.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court dissenting Judge Hans-Peter Kaul maintains that the six suspects believed to bear the greatest responsibility in the 2007/2008 post election violence can be tried locally.

Kaul, who declined to issue summonses to the six, said ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had not convinced him that the crimes committed during the chaos meet the threshold of crimes against humanity and therefore fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Although the judge acknowledged that the violence took place in the country, he argued that the crimes committed were serious common crimes to be investigated and prosecuted by competent authorities in the country. 

However, the court's pre-trial division legal officer Mohhamed Zeidy says Kaul's dissenting view has no implication on the process or future proceedings.

Last week, the other two Pre-Trial Chamber judges Ekaterina Trendafilova and Cuno Tarfusser ruled that there was sufficient evidence to try the six suspects at The Hague.