By ANTHONY KARIUKI and AFP ( email the author)
Posted Wednesday, February 13 2013 at 12:16
Posted Wednesday, February 13 2013 at 12:16
In Summary
- Two of the suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, are contesting the elections on a joint presidential ticket in the March 4 vote.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has admitted prosecuting the post election violence cases facing four Kenyans is "difficult".
ICC President Sang-Hyun Song cited the imminent elections and logistics as a cause for worry.
Two of the suspects, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, are contesting the elections on a joint presidential ticket in the March 4 vote.
South Korean judge Song said the trials are meant to start in April, but "since there are so many variables here, we don't know what's going to happen."
"At the moment, I must admit that the logistics aspect of the Kenya case, for example, is not necessarily easy," Justice Song said in a speech at Columbia University in New York Tuesday.
He said the suspects are free and the court has to rely on their word to cooperate with it.
"These four suspects are under summons to appear. They are not arrested people. They kept on saying they will comply with the ICC procedures and so on and so forth.
"How they will come all the way to The Hague to attend the trial and for how long?"
On Thursday, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto will attend a status conference through video linkbut other accused former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang will travel to The Hague.
On Tuesday, the government and ICC officials in the country were working to agree on a venue — either a hotel or institution — where Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto will link with the sitting at the Hague led by ICC Trial Chamber presiding judge Kuniko Ozaki.
The video conference will bring together judges Christine Van den Wyngaert and Chile Eboe-Osuji, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, registrar Silvia Arbia, defence legal teams, lawyers for victims and friends of the court.
"The court, in cooperation with Kenyan authorities, would work on the modalities to ensure the possibility of the accused participating in the hearing via video link. The location of the video link is made confidential for security reasons," said ICC Outreach coordinator for Kenya and Uganda Maria Kamara.
The ICC Trial Chamber had ordered the four suspects to either appear in person or attend through a video link.
“The main purpose of the status conference is to discuss the conditions of the summonses to appear issued by the Pre-Trial Chamber/ as well as to address any practical, financial and/or legal matters related to the attendance of the accused at trial, including the modalities of the accused’s stay on the territory of the Host State during the trial,” they said in their communication.
“Given that these issues impact directly on the accused, the Chamber considers this to be a hearing requiring the accused’s attendance and the accused are ordered to attend the status conference, either in person or via video link.”
On Friday, the High Court will rule on a case challenging the eligibility of Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto to contest the General Election.
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