ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has until the end of July to release evidence to the six suspects in Kenya's post-election violence cases May 12, 2011. FILE
By OLIVER MATHENGE, omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, May 12 2011 at 15:00
Posted Thursday, May 12 2011 at 15:00
The International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has until the end of July to release evidence to the six suspects in Kenya's post-election violence cases.
The Pre-Trial Chamber II also ordered him late April to file “the Document Containing the Charges and the List of Evidence” not later than August 19.
Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova, on behalf of Pre-Trial Chamber II, also gave the defence teams dates by which they should release their own evidence to the prosecutor.
The Judge ordered the prosecutor to disclose to the defence any evidence on Eldoret North MP William Ruto, his Tinderet counterpart Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua Sang by May 13.
He has until June 3, to submit evidence touching on Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, head of civil service Francis Muthaura and postmaster general Hussein Ali.
The disclosure will relate to evidence collected prior to their naming as suspects in December.
On the same dates, the Chamber has asked the prosecutor “to submit properly justified proposals” for redactions on any of the evidence.
“The Single Judge orders the Prosecutor to disclose to the Defence any evidence for which redactions will be requested no later than five days after the Chamber’s decision regarding such redactions,” Judge Trendafilova said in her ruling.
The prosecutor has also been ordered to have permitted the defence to inspect any books, documents, photographs and other tangible objects in his possession or control, which he intends to use at the confirmation of charges hearing.
For evidence collected after December 15 last year but before the judges issued summonses, the prosecutor has until June 3 to disclose it to the defence and file for any redactions for Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang and June 24 for the other three.
Any evidence that was collected after the judges had issued the summonses, is to be released to the defence by July 8 for Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang and July 29 for Mr Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Mr Ali.
The Judge also ordered the defence teams for the ODM side to disclose to the prosecutor the evidence they intend to present at the confirmation hearing and to file the list of such evidence by August 16.
If they want any redactions they will have to submit the proposals to the Chamber by July 22, and should have allowed the prosecutor to inspect their evidence by August 10.
The defence teams for Mr Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Mr Ali are supposed to give their evidence to the prosecutor by September 5 and file for any redactions by August 12.
By Friday, August 29, the defence teams are supposed to have permitted the prosecutor, to inspect any documents, photographs or tangible objects in the possession or control of the defence to be used at the hearing.
“The single Judge orders the defence teams to notify the Prosecutor of their intention, if any, to raise the existence of an alibi or to raise a ground for excluding criminal responsibility, and to present the evidence on which they intend to rely for either purpose, sufficiently in advance to enable the Prosecutor to prepare adequately and to respond,” said the judge.
On Wednesday, Mr Moreno-Ocampo lost another bid to withhold evidence from the six suspects until an admissibility challenge by the government is dealt with.
Pre-Trial Chamber II judge Ekaterina Trendafilova ruled that Mr Moreno-Ocampo should not be granted leave to appeal the court’s decision to dismiss his application that would have allowed him to hold on to his evidence for longer.
“The Single Judge is not persuaded that the Issue affects the fairness of the proceedings for the reason that the Decision has in no way caused, or contributed to cause, the alleged prejudice to the Prosecutor that constitutes the ground upon which he seeks the instant leave to appeal,” said Judge Trendafilova.
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