Mobile firms case confidential to protect ICC victims, says Uhuru lawyer

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President Kenyatta's lawyer Steven Kay said the law provides for confidential filings and his case against Safaricom and Airtel was to protect the identity of witnesses and victims in the ICC case against President Kenyatta July 30, 2013. FILE  

By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Tuesday, July 30   2013 at  15:49

President Kenyatta’s British lawyer Steven Kay has denied reports that he filed "secret" petitions against Kenya’s leading telecoms Safaricom and Airtel.

In a statement sent to the Nation by his lawyer, Kennedy Ogeto, Mr Kay says that the law provides for confidential filings “and not secret ones”.

“The proceedings were permitted to be filed confidentially after the applicant (Mr Kay) established appropriate legal basis in order to protect the identity of witnesses and victims in the ICC case against President Kenyatta.

"There is nothing extra-ordinary about the confidential filing as Kenyan law including the Witness Protection Act, the International Crimes Act and the Rome Statute permit such filings,” Mr Ogeto says in the statement.

The same happens at the ICC that routinely permits confidential filings for the same reason, according to the lawyer.

The Judiciary has also defended its handling of the petitions, arguing that proceedings can at times be conducted in-camera in the interest of justice.

“The Judiciary would like to inform members of the public that information of the case in question before the Constitutional Division and Human Rights Division will be released after conclusion of the case and only if it does not affect the integrity of the on going trials at The Hague,” Judiciary Chief Registrar Gladys Shollei, has said in a news release.

“Whereas the general principle of conducting open and public hearings is a well grounded in our judicial system, there are exceptions where the interest of justice so dictate.

“This practice is not limited to our judicial system or to the common law jurisdictions but is practiced by other international tribunals,” she said.

Earlier Tuesday, the media and the public were ordered to leave court as proceedings in Mr Kay's case began.