Trials not political, Bensouda tells Nakuru IDPs
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Fatou Bensouda tours the Pipeline IDP Camp in Nakuru on October 25, 2012. Photo / Suleiman Mbatiah.
International Criminal Court prosecutor Ms Fatou Bensouda on Thursday met victims displaced by the post-election violence in Nakuru.
The prosecutor reassured the IDPs that the trial of Kenyan suspects in the court is not connected to the upcoming general elections.
She said her current visit is a fact finding mission meant to collect information, including experiences of the IDPs at the height of the post-election violence, and to also explain to them the purpose of ICC's intervention in Kenya.
"ICC is not trying communities. We are not against any community or the government of Kenya. We are against individuals identified to bear the responsibility of the violence.
"This is not a political process, but a judicial process. And I am here to explain what we have done and what the next steps are," said Ms Bensouda when she met IDPs at the Pipeline camp.
The IDPs expressed their anger at the Hague based court for failing to meet them during its initial investigations before it settled on the suspects.
They said middle-level commanders, who were executing the attacks and presently roaming freely, should have been arrested and made to confess who had funded their activities.
The prosecutor apologised to the IDPs for her predecessor, Moreno Ocampo, decision not to engage them directly and assured them that her office had collected the necessary information.
"Even though our presence is not visible, that does not mean we are not collecting information. Those who speak to us are protected, this is why we have to be as discreet as possible.
"We are doing everything possible to get information that we need. My team is always here and they are working. I assure you we are trying as best as we can," said Ms Bensouda.
The prosecutor said Kenya government has a responsibility of prosecuting mid-level commanders and those who perpetrated the actual attacks.
"ICC can not prosecute everybody. We are looking for those without whom the chaos would not have happened. The government has a role to play to bring justice to the Kenyan people and I understand from my meetings that this is happening,' said the prosecutor.
