Ocampo threatens to seek sanctions

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo is fighting off demands that he be reprimanded for alleged misconduct in an application seeking to block Kenya from accessing his evidence.

Eldoret North MP William Ruto and radio broadcaster Joshua Sang have written to the ICC judges, asking them to sanction the prosecutor for embarrassing the court by asking the judges to make findings on “baseless assertions and allegations”.

They argue that Mr Moreno-Ocampo is using information from the media and non-governmental organisations without foundation.

But the prosecutor dismisses the arguments by the two suspects as “devoid of legal and factual merit” and has threatened to seek sanctions against them if the attacks on his office continue.

“The prosecution will seek sanctions if the pattern of baseless accusations levelled against the prosecution continues. The prosecutor has the discretion to conduct the investigation as he wishes and select sources that he believes are appropriate,” Mr Moreno-Ocampo told the judges.

It was incorrect, he said, for the defence to ask the court to reprimand him for “violating the Code of Professional Conduct”, arguing that it did not apply to the prosecution.

Even if it did apply, he said, the prosecution did not knowingly mislead the Chamber.

Mr Moreno-Ocampo also told the court that because the “Request for Assistance” from the Kenyan Government addressed the transmission of statements, documents or other types of evidence, his response fell within his office’s scope and mandate to protect victims and witnesses.

He asked the judges to dismiss the two suspect’s request that his opposition to Kenya’s request be struck off because it had been filed “improperly”.

“The basis for the Request to Strike the Prosecution’s Response appears to be that the response was filed improperly in the “Case” rather than in the “Situation”. This claim is frivolous,” the prosecutor said.

According to ICC rules, the Chamber may, after warning an official of the Court, interdict that person from the proceedings and from exercising their functions on a temporary basis.

Mr Ruto, Mr Sang and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey want the judges to strike the document from their records and thereby disqualify the filing from the Chamber’s consideration in the admissibility challenge filed by the Kenyan Government.

The three are among six Kenyans accused of being behind the post-election violence.