CC gives second blow to govt. on Ocampo six

Written By:Glena Nyamwaya,    Posted: Fri, Jul 29, 2011

The ICC's Appeals Chamber rejected Kenya's efforts to have the Ocampo Six tried in the country for the second time The International Criminal Court (ICC)'s Appeals Chamber Thursday unanimously rejected Kenya's latest effort to present new information on national investigations into the Ocampo Six. The government had submitted an "Updated Investigation Report" to the Appeals Chamber on 4th July contending that this it showed ongoing national investigations into the six ICC suspects in Kenya. But the Appeals Chamber rejected the report on the grounds that it would not consider a report concerning facts which took place after the relevant pre-trial proceedings. The Chamber also reminded Kenya of its prior holding that "events which fall outside the scope of the relevant pre-trial or trial proceedings fall outside the scope of the appeal concerning those proceedings." Admissibility case In the end of March this year, the Kenyan government filed a challenge under Article 19 of the Rome Statute to the admissibility of the Prosecution's two cases against Eldoret north legislator William Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, radio journalist Joshua arap Sang, head of public service Amb. Francis Muthaura, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former police boss Major Gen. Hussein Ali. The Pre-Trial Chamber II issued a decision on May 30th, finding both cases admissible. The government in turn appealed this decision on 6th of June, and on 20th June, the Kenya indicated its intention to file updated reports during the appeals process. No Basis on report The Appeals Chamber pointed to its jurisprudence in the Katanga case, which established that "the admissibility of a case must be determined on the basis of the facts as they exist at the time of the proceedings concerning the admissibility challenge". The Appeals Chamber underscored that the expression "time of theproceedings" as used in that judgment clearly referred to the time of the proceedings of the admissibility challenge before the Pre-Trial Chamber and not to the subsequent proceedings on appeal. Scope of Appeals The Appeals Chamber reminded the parties that proceedings on appeal do not constitute a mere continuation of proceedings before the Pre-Trial Chamber, but are a separate process with the purpose of reviewing the proceedings that took place before the Pre-Trial Chamber.