Ghanaian to lead ICC appeal judges
A Ghanaian judge will lead a bench that will decide whether cases against four Kenyans will continue to be heard by the International Criminal Court.
Judge Akua Kenyehia will work alongside four other judges hearing the case. They are judges Anita Ušacka, president of the Appeal Division, Sang-Hyun Song, Erkki Kourula and Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko.
The judges will decide if the cases against Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, radio presenter Joshua arap Sang and former head of Public Service Francis Muthaura are rightly before The Hague-based court.
The decision was communicated by Judge Ušacka on Tuesday. Judge Kenyehia is currently the first vice-president of the court.
The four suspects are appealing the decision by two of the three Pre-Trial Chamber judges that their cases meet the threshold of being heard at the ICC.
They argue that the prosecutor failed to link them to organisations put together to perpetrate crimes against civilians as defined by the Rome Statute.
Mr Kenyatta and Mr Muthaura argue that the prosecution did not provide sufficient evidence to prove that the crimes were in furtherance of an “organisational policy.”
They anchor their arguments on findings by Judge Hans-Peter Kaul who refused to confirm charges facing them, saying that the prosecutor could not prove that Mungiki was a state-like organisation.
The two now argue that by excluding the Kenya Police from the “organisation”, the judges have removed an essential element of the organisational structure.
During the confirmation hearings, the prosecution argued that the Mungiki and the Kenya Police were “one” organisation.
But the judges ruled that there was no sufficient evidence to show that the police were involved and freed former police commissioner Hussein Ali.
Mr Ruto and Mr Sang argue that the Pre-Trial Chamber erred by dismissing their submissions during the confirmation hearings when it ruled that the charges are not on jurisdiction.
In his dissent, Judge Kaul said such an approach is “as astonishing as it is misconceived.”
