Ocampo Six slapped with EU travel curbs

Suspended minister William Ruto, ODM chairman Henry Kosgey, radio presenter Joshua Sang, Head of Civil boss Francis Muthaura, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Postmaster-General Hussein Ali have been ordered to The Hague over their alleged role in the post-election violence.

By BERNARD NAMUNANE bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.com AND JACOB NG’ETICH jngetich@ke.nationmedia.com

Posted  Wednesday, March 30 2011 at 22:06

In Summary

Visa to Hague is of a special kind
Schengen visas are issued by member states of the European Union, except the United Kingdom, which allows free travel to any country in the bloc.
The issuance of visas to people appearing at the International Criminal Court is done in coordination with The Hague.
The visa is of a special kind, to cater for the visit, which is not a normal visit.

The Ocampo Six will face strict visa conditions when they travel to the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

They will be issued with a visa that allows them to travel to the Netherlands, where the ICC is located, but not to the other European Union countries.

The suspects will be denied the Schengen visa, issued by 17 EU countries, which allows a visitor access to other countries.

The Dutch embassy First Secretary in charge of politics and press affairs, Ms Camilla Veerman, said the travel of the Ocampo Six was being coordinated between the government of Netherlands and the ICC, which imposes its own restrictions.

“The issuance of visas to anybody with a matter at the International Criminal Court is done in coordination with The Hague. This is a special kind of visit, it is not a normal one,” she told the Nation.

Ms Veerman said Netherlands had crafted a special visa issued to individuals summoned by The Hague to ensure that the conditions issued by the court, such as limited territory, are met.

Special issues

“For these reasons, the visas issued to them will not be Schengen visas. They will be issued with visas that only allow them to travel to Netherlands because they are travelling for special issues,” she said.

Schengen visas are issued by member states of the European Union, except the United Kingdom, which allows free travel to any country in the bloc.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, suspended minister William Ruto, ODM chairman Henry Kosgey, Head of Civil boss Francis Muthaura, Postmaster-General Hussein Ali and radio presenter Joshua Sang have been ordered to The Hague for the initial appearance over their alleged role in the post-election violence. (READ: Ocampo Six ordered to appear at Hague)

Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang will appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber on April 7, while Mr Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Maj-Gen Ali will appear the following day.

There has been speculation that the suspects could be detained or that Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo will make an application requiring those still in government to either resign, or be detained at the Hague.

But ICC Registrar Silvana Arbia said the suspects were free people who will appear before the court and be allowed to return home. She warned, however, that they must abide by the conditions imposed by the ICC judges.

A source close to the family of Mr Kosgey on Wednesday accused the Dutch government of frustrating efforts by the suspects to obtain visas.

“Since March 17 when Mr Kosgey applied for the visa a day after getting the summonses, the embassy has not given him a visa and has also not communicated officially any reasons why they have not provided it given all the time,” the source said.

The embassy was busy on Wednesday as the Ocampo Six, MPs allied to them, members of civil society and the media rushed to get the visas to beat the deadline.

Mr Ruto’s lawyer, Mr Katwa Kigen, said the Eldoret North MP is expected to collect his visa on Thursday morning. He said the Dutch embassy had asked his client to collect their visas on Thursday.