Thursday, August 18, 2011

It’s all systems go for ICC hearing


By Everlyn Kwamboka
Defence lawyers for post-election violence suspects are now set for the confirmation of charges hearing.
The team that was battling with the realities of technology as they rushed to beat deadlines of submitting documents electronically to the International Criminal Court, managed to do so in time.
Lawyers for Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Tinderet’s Henry Kosgey and Joshua Sang had filed an application seeking an extension of the August 16 filing deadline, when they were unable to upload their documents into the ICC system.
They had technical limitations, training problems and general IT frustrations in disclosing material intended for use at the hearing.
"Consequently, the defence requests the same reasonable two-day extension of time to disclose evidence to the prosecution in compliance with the E-Court protocol set by the single judge," defence counsel Katwa Kigen said.
Case managers for the three suspects had been given one computer at the ICC to upload their materials.
DeadlinesBy Monday evening, ICC’s IT section had not granted access to Ruto or Sang network drives as requested by the defence, making it impossible for them to log into the system.
However, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo dismissed the defence team, saying they had enough time to furnish him with the materials. He asked the court not to extend for them time, adding any materials filed after the deadline should not be relied on at the hearing.
Ocampo stated that the defence teams waited until the last minute to put in place the arrangements necessary to abide by their obligations as set out in the ICC Rules of Procedure and Evidence and ordered by the chamber.
"Any delay to the already minimum time available to the prosecution to analyze the evidence disclosed by the defence-made possible only if the materials are disclosed in full compliance with the E-Court protocol-will be unfairly and necessarily prejudicial to the prosecution," Ocampo said.
The first three suspects’ hearing is to take place from September 1, while Finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Head of Public Service Francis Muthaura and Postmaster General Hussein Ali on September 21.

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