Unwelcome in Kenya? ICC Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno-Ocampo is likely to avoid Kenya in his farewell tour to Africa later this month. By yesterday a Cabinet sub committee had not yet confirmed that Kenya would be willing to host Ocampo and the new prosecutor Fatou Bensouda who are on a joint tour of African countries.
"The government is not keen on his visit and there are MPs who are also planning demonstrations to coincide with the visit," said a cabinet minister who is a member of the sub-committee that handles the ICC.
Yesterday Fisheries minister Amos Kingi, a member of the sub committee, told the Star that he was not aware of the visit because he missed its last meeting. "In any case we are committed as a government to co-operate with ICC. The government made a public declaration on this and has since then not issued a contrary opinion," said Kingi.
Meanwhile the ICC denied yesterday that it had issued summonses for the four Kenyans accused of crimes against humanity to appear at ICC on June 12 for a status conference as reported in the Sunday Nation.
The four are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Civil Service chief Francis Muthaura, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua Sang.
“There were no summonses issued for any of the four accused... and there is no confirmed date for the status conference at this stage,” said ICC spokesman Fadi el Abdallah yesterday. He said in general the accused are not requested to attend status conferences unless ordered by the judges.
According to multiple sources close to the ICC, Ocampo will skip Kenya and instead visit Kampala. However Ocampo and his delegation will meet senior government officials if Kenya confirms that it will host him .
The ICC has been reluctant to release information about Ocampo's Africa leg tour. “Your email has been forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor. The persons in charge of the Office's media relations will respond to you as soon as (it is) possible for them taking into consideration their busy agenda,” Abdallah responded yesterday.
Ocampo is making a farewell tour of African nations that have cases at The Hague before he leaves office in June. He will be accompanied by the ICC chief prosecutor-designate and current deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Bensouda will officially take over on June 16, 2012 when Ocampo has completed a full term of nine years.
Apart from Kenya, the ICC is dealing with situations in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire.
Activists and some MPs threatened to hold demonstrations over Ocampo's alleged bias when they heard he might be coming. Reports of a possible arrival of Ocampo to the country had started raising temperatures with a group of
“Definitely those who are thinking of demonstrating against Ocampo are not human rights activists. We want a full battle against impunity,” rights activist Ken Wafula told the Star.
He added that civil society groups will mobilise Kenyans to counter any attempt to disrupt the visit by Ocampo. “If someone actually holds a demonstration against the chief prosecutor, we will be expecting arrests because that would become a threat to national security,” Wafula added.
According to Nick Kaufman, a prominent defence counsel at the ICC, the Rome Statute does not oblige accused to attend a pre-trial status conference. “Unless ordered otherwise, one would presume that the accused could waive their right to attend a pre-trial status conference in the same way that they could have waived their right to attend the confirmation hearings,” he said.
Matters on the agenda at a pre-trial status conference could include the language to be used at trial, agreements on evidence, the prosecution's disclosure of incriminating and exculpatory evidence, the defence's notification of special pleas and alibis, and the fixing of deadlines for requesting the protection of witnesses.
Kaufman anticipated that the most contentious issue would be setting the date for the hearing of evidence at trial. “To date there has been only one other case in which charges have been confirmed against suspects at liberty and that was in the Darfur situation. In that case, counsel for the two accused announced that they had waived their right to appear at the first status conference post-confirmation,” Kaufman said.
Source:http://www.the-star.co.ke/national/national/75654-mps-plan-to-disrupt-visit-by-ocampo
"The government is not keen on his visit and there are MPs who are also planning demonstrations to coincide with the visit," said a cabinet minister who is a member of the sub-committee that handles the ICC.
Yesterday Fisheries minister Amos Kingi, a member of the sub committee, told the Star that he was not aware of the visit because he missed its last meeting. "In any case we are committed as a government to co-operate with ICC. The government made a public declaration on this and has since then not issued a contrary opinion," said Kingi.
Meanwhile the ICC denied yesterday that it had issued summonses for the four Kenyans accused of crimes against humanity to appear at ICC on June 12 for a status conference as reported in the Sunday Nation.
The four are Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Civil Service chief Francis Muthaura, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua Sang.
“There were no summonses issued for any of the four accused... and there is no confirmed date for the status conference at this stage,” said ICC spokesman Fadi el Abdallah yesterday. He said in general the accused are not requested to attend status conferences unless ordered by the judges.
According to multiple sources close to the ICC, Ocampo will skip Kenya and instead visit Kampala. However Ocampo and his delegation will meet senior government officials if Kenya confirms that it will host him .
The ICC has been reluctant to release information about Ocampo's Africa leg tour. “Your email has been forwarded to the Office of the Prosecutor. The persons in charge of the Office's media relations will respond to you as soon as (it is) possible for them taking into consideration their busy agenda,” Abdallah responded yesterday.
Ocampo is making a farewell tour of African nations that have cases at The Hague before he leaves office in June. He will be accompanied by the ICC chief prosecutor-designate and current deputy prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Bensouda will officially take over on June 16, 2012 when Ocampo has completed a full term of nine years.
Apart from Kenya, the ICC is dealing with situations in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Sudan, Libya and Côte d’Ivoire.
Activists and some MPs threatened to hold demonstrations over Ocampo's alleged bias when they heard he might be coming. Reports of a possible arrival of Ocampo to the country had started raising temperatures with a group of
“Definitely those who are thinking of demonstrating against Ocampo are not human rights activists. We want a full battle against impunity,” rights activist Ken Wafula told the Star.
He added that civil society groups will mobilise Kenyans to counter any attempt to disrupt the visit by Ocampo. “If someone actually holds a demonstration against the chief prosecutor, we will be expecting arrests because that would become a threat to national security,” Wafula added.
According to Nick Kaufman, a prominent defence counsel at the ICC, the Rome Statute does not oblige accused to attend a pre-trial status conference. “Unless ordered otherwise, one would presume that the accused could waive their right to attend a pre-trial status conference in the same way that they could have waived their right to attend the confirmation hearings,” he said.
Matters on the agenda at a pre-trial status conference could include the language to be used at trial, agreements on evidence, the prosecution's disclosure of incriminating and exculpatory evidence, the defence's notification of special pleas and alibis, and the fixing of deadlines for requesting the protection of witnesses.
Kaufman anticipated that the most contentious issue would be setting the date for the hearing of evidence at trial. “To date there has been only one other case in which charges have been confirmed against suspects at liberty and that was in the Darfur situation. In that case, counsel for the two accused announced that they had waived their right to appear at the first status conference post-confirmation,” Kaufman said.
Source:http://www.the-star.co.ke/national/national/75654-mps-plan-to-disrupt-visit-by-ocampo
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