No ICC hearings in Kenya

BY BERNARD MOMANYI

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null 1/1 NAIROBI, Kenya, Jun 29 - The hearing of confirmation of war crimes charges against six Kenyan suspects will be held at The Hague, after all. Presiding judge at the Pre-trial Chamber II Ekaterina Trendafilova has ruled that it will be necessary to have the hearings conducted at The Hague following submissions from both the defense and prosecution. The judge said in a ruling issued on Wednesday that she had taken note of all concerns raised by both the defense and prosecution teams as well as the office of the public counsel for victims and concluded that it was necessary to hold the hearings at The Hague, particularly because of security concerns. “The single judge wishes to inform the parties and the applicant victims that the Chamber, for its part, being respectful of their wishes as expressed in the respective submissions, will not consider further the option of conducting the confirmation of charges hearing in the Republic of Kenya,” the judge said in her ruling. The Chamber, she said, had therefore ensured that this concern was submitted to the competent entities entrusted to render a decision upon this question according to rule 100 of the Rules. “In any event, absent any decision to the contrary, the confirmation of charges hearing in the present case will take place at the seat of the Court in The Hague,” she ruled. Majority of the suspects and ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo had indicated that they wanted the hearings held at The Hague due to security reasons. Of the six suspects, only Tinderet Member of Parliament Henry Kosgey proffered the hearings to be held in Kenya while Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura preferred Arusha in the absence of security here. Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Former Police Commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Radio Presenter Joshua arap Sang all indicated that they wanted the hearings done at The Hague. Judge Trendafilova said that she considered that both the prosecutor and the defence teams would be able to comply with the present order given that all the relevant information for an informed decision to be made will be in their possession well in advance of the deadline established. The judge ordered the prosecution and defense teams to indicate in advance if they intended to have their respective witnesses give oral submissions on that day or if they intend to rely on their written submissions. “The single judge deems it necessary that the parties inform the Chamber, no later than Tuesday, 12 July 2011, as to whether they intend to call viva voce witnesses to testify at the confirmation of charges hearing,” the ruling stated. In the meantime, the ICC has rejected the government’s request for assistance with evidence held by the court arguing that Kenya submitted a two-page cooperation request, which lacked any documentary proof that there is or has been an investigation against the Ocampo Six. Follow the author at https://twitter.com/momanyi.bernard

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