ICC Presiding Judge's fairness impresses all

By Moses NjagihThe one thing that stood out on the day that the first batch of Ocampo six appeared at the International Criminal Court (ICC) was the manner in which the Presiding Judge of the Pre-Trial Chamber II, Ekaterin Trendafilova moderated proceedings.
She was firm and categorical in guiding the conduct in court, giving no room for extraneous issues or any form of evidence to be prematurely brought before them by both the prosecution and the defence teams.
Through the entire process, the Trendafilova, the only judge who spoke, appeared to be the fair arbiter she is expected to be, giving the suspects, William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua arap Sang and their defence counsels an equal hearing as she did ICC Prosecutor Luis-Moreno Ocampo.
Twice, the court was quick to cut short Eldoret North MP Ruto’s address to the court, when he appeared to veer off the question posed to him by the court, and was considered to be moving a defence of his innocence even before he could be formally charged.
The judge was quick to inform Ruto he would have his time to address the court on the matters he raised "at the appropriate time".
She insisted the suspects acknowledge they had been briefed on the charges that Moreno-Ocampo had preferred against them, and asked whether they had been informed of their rights. Leading the international court in ensuring that the

ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II Presiding Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova. The 58-year-old judge is the President of the court. [PHOTO: TABITHA OTWORI/THE STANDARD]

rules of the appearance the 58-year-old Trendafilova was the most visible and audible face of the court when the suspects made their appearance.
Born in 1953, Judge Trendafilova has extensive experience in criminal law, criminal procedural law and international criminal law.
Prior to her election as a judge of the ICC on March 11, 2006 for a period of nine years, Judge Trendafilova was a Professor of Criminal Justice at Sofia University, in her native Bulgaria, where she has been teaching, since completing her PhD in 1984.
She was also well acquainted with judicial processes as she had served as the Deputy District Attorney at Sofia District Court between1985 to 1989, as well as a barrister between1995 and 2006.
She is reputed to have chaired the working group that prepared the reform of the Bulgarian criminal procedure, in line with the European and international standards for efficient administration of justice and protection of human rights in 1998 and1999.
The judge also represented her country at the United Nations Commission for Crime and Criminal Justice between1992 and 1994. She advised the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the establishment of the International Criminal Court.
Deputising Judge Ekaterina was Judge Hans-Peter Kaul – the judge who has published dissenting opinions from his colleagues on the Kenyan case, arguing that the Prosecutor had failed to convince him that the crimes that were committed in Kenya met the threshold of crimes against humanity.
independent ruling
In his independent ruling then, Judge Kaul had insisted that the crimes preferred against the six could be dealt by Kenya’s judicial system.
The German national who is serving as a Second Vice President of the court for a term of three years since March 11, 2009 has been a judge at the ICC since 2003.
Born in 1943 Judge Kaul is qualified for the German Bar. In 2002 he was appointed ambassador and commissioner of the Federal Foreign Office for the International Criminal Court.
The third judge of the Pre-Trial Chamber II is Jakob Tarfusser. Born in 1954, he has served the Public Prosecution Office of the Bolzano District Court, Italy, as deputy public prosecutor for 16 years and then as chief public prosecutor for a further eight years.
He has been serving as a judge at the ICC since 2003.