Updates on Kenya Cases at the ICC
The Voice of America (VOA) has posted an article about the International Criminal Court (ICC) indictments in the post-election violence in Kenya arguing the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) will have problems delivering the indictments by December 17 as previously announced. The VOA says that the OTP is having difficulty in getting the statements of security chiefs who are insisting they should give their statements to Kenyan judges not to OTP investigators.
The ICC has exercised jurisdiction over the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya with the approval of the Kenyan government. The current difficulties indicate that there is at least some dissent in Kenya, and many think the prosecutions should occur in Kenya and not in The Hague.
The Episcopal Church in Kenya has urged cooperation with the ICC. Reuters reports the OTP remains on schedule to issue indictments against at least six accused in the next week.
The ICC has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the 114 countries that have ratified the ICC treaty, or committed by their nationals if those crimes can not or will not be prosecuted by national authorities. Kenya has accepted that crimes within the jurisdiction of the court occurred in Kenya in 2008 and invited the court’s investigation. People who were harmed as victims in the post-election violence may be eligible to participate in the cases as victims and ultimately seek reparations from those convicted or from the Trust Fund for Victims.
