By BERNARD NAMUNANE bnamunane@ke.nationmedia.com ( email the author)
Posted Tuesday, February 12 2013 at 19:03
Posted Tuesday, February 12 2013 at 19:03
In Summary
- “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,” ICC Trial Chamber said in their communication.
Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his running mate, William Ruto, have opted to attend a key meeting on their cases at The Hague through a video conference.
However, their fellow indictees, former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura and Kass FM radio journalist Joshua arap Sang, travelled to the International Criminal Court in the Hague for Wednesday's status conference.
The hearing, which will set rules on how the trial proceedings set to start in April.
Mr Kenyatta’s and Mr Ruto’s legal teams also left for the conference which will decide if the hearing of the charges of crimes against humanity will be heard alternately as the two had requested to enable them run the government if they win the election which is just 19 days away.
Mr Katwa Kigen, who appears for both Mr Ruto and Mr Sang said: “Joshua is travelling to attend the conference at The Hague but Mr Ruto will do it through video link.”
Sources close to lawyers for Mr Kenyatta said he had opted for the video link as he had hinted during the Monday night presidential debate at Brookhouse International School.
Tuesday evening, the government was working closely with ICC officials in the country 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 aim is to keep away their supporters who it is feared will want to be present at the video conference which 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.
Said ICC Outreach coordinator for Kenya and Uganda, Ms Maria Kamara: “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.”
The ICC Trial Chamber which also has judges Christine Van den Wyngaert and Chile Eboe-Osuji 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.
They went on: “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.”
The ICC Trial Chamber has listed Mr Ruto and Mr Sang as the first to appear in the dock on April 10 to answer charges of crimes against humanity stemming from the 2007/2008 post-election violence in which 1,133 people were killed and another 650,000 were displaced.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura will appear on April 11, the day voters are scheduled to go to the ballot box to elect their fourth president if the State House race goes to a run-off as is widely expected.
While Mr Ruto and Mr Sang face charges of murder, forcible transfer of people and persecution while Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura face additional charges of rape and other inhuman acts.
The status conference comes just three days after the ICC cases facing Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto became a touchy issue during the presidential debate with most of the candidates warning of its effect on the running of the government if the Jubilee Alliance pair emerges victorious in polls.
Mr Kenyatta described the cases against him and Mr Ruto as “personal challenges”.
He said the cases would not prevent him from running the government.
“It is my democratic right to present myself to the people of Kenya. If they so chose to elect me, it means they have confidence in me to continue doing my job as president while handling the cases,” he said.
Mr Mohammed Abduba Dida (Alliance for Real Change) and Ms Martha Karua (Narc Kenya) told him that he had no business running for State House.
“The culture of justice is that if you are suspected, the norm is that you step aside until you’re cleared, why is it different with Uhuru and his friends?” asked Mr Dida.
Ms Karua said: “I consider it a matter of display of impunity. We have laws. If you’re just suspected you step aside or stand suspended.”
Prime Minister Raila Odinga (CORD), said: “I do not want to eliminate my competition, but I know that it will pose a serious challenge to run a government through Skype from The Hague.”
Meanwhile, Mr Kenyatta on Tuesday dismissed media reports by Cord executive board chairman Franklin Bett that he was using state resource to finance the defence of his case at The Hague.
Through his spokesman, he described the allegation as false, ridiculous and outrageous.
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