Kenyan lawyers fly out as six gear up for ICC date

An advance team of Kenyan lawyers representing the post-election violence suspects flew out of the country to the International Criminal Court at The Hague on Sunday.

Their clients, the so-called Ocampo Six, will all be at The Hague in the Netherlands in the next 72 hours.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, MPs William Ruto and Henry Kosgey, Public Service boss Francis Muthaura, Postmaster-General Hussein Ali and Kass FM presenter Joshua arap Sang have been summoned to make their initial appearance before the court.

Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang appear before the Pre-Trial Chamber on Thursday, while Mr Kenyatta, Mr Muthaura and Maj-Gen Ali are scheduled to attend the court on Friday. (READ: ICC sets new date for Uhuru, Muthaura)

ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo accuses them of bearing the biggest responsibility for crimes against humanity during the post-election violence in 2007/08.

Mr Ruto’s lawyers, Dr Kithure Kindiki, Mr Kioko Kilukumi and Mr Katwa Kigeni, said as they left that their client and his politician supporters will follow on Tuesday.

Maj-Gen Ali’s lawyers, Mr Evans Monari and Mr Gershom Otachi, as well as Mr Ken Ogeto for Mr Muthaura, are scheduled to jet out on Monday night.

Mr Monari said Maj-Gen Ali will travel on Tuesday. “Our client is committed to cooperate with the court. We will support him as he makes the initial appearance,” said Mr Monari, who is leading the defence team also comprising Canadian lawyer John Philpot.

As the lawyers left, some of the suspects attended their “last prayer” rally in Nakuru on Sunday.

And Mr Sang was treated and discharged from an Eldoret hospital where he spent the night after suffering a broken arm in an accident as he left a meeting in Bomet on Saturday.

He is said to have fallen from the top of a car after an enthusiastic fan embraced him. He leaves for The Hague on Tuesday night.

The departure preparations come in the wake of reports that an activist had applied to the ICC to suspend summonses against the Ocampo Six.

Ms Moraa Gesicho wants the Pre-Trial Chamber to await an outcome of a case she filed at the High Court in Kisii challenging the Waki report.

“The report’s findings were fraudulently obtained as the commission manipulated the terms of reference issued by the appointing authority and therein created a window to identify who planned, organised, facilitated and committed egregious human right violations,” Ms Gesicho argues in her application dated March 31.

The ICC appearance is to verify the identity of the suspects and to ensure they have been informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed and their rights under the Rome Statute.

Inquiries by Nation also revealed that Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey have beefed up their defence teams with high profile foreign lawyers who have handled cases at the ICC and other international criminal tribunals.

He could, however, not give names of the lawyers saying the matter was being handled by a top party official.

Seemingly, the Kenyan cases have turned out to be lucrative hunting grounds for foreign experts in international criminal law. (READ: State enlists Queen’s Counsel in Hague cases)

Mr David Hooper, a Queen’s Counsel, has joined Mr Ruto’s defence team which is led by Dr Kindiki. The respected British lawyer currently represents former Congolese militia leader Germain Katanga.

Sources close to Mr Kosgey said he had sought the services of another Queen’s Counsel, Mr Ben Emmerson, who is acting for former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj.

Mr Kenyatta is represented by British lawyers Steven Kay, a Queen’s Counsel, and Gilian Kay Higgins. The two defended former Yogoslav warlord Slobodan Milosevic at the (ICTY).

Besides Mr Ogeto, Mr Muthaura is represented by British lawyer Karim Ahmad Khan, who in 2006 led the defence for former Liberian President Charles Taylor at the Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Mr Khan is currently representing Sudanese Abdallah Banda and Saleh Jerbo, who were arrested over the Darfur massacres.

He is also defending Mr Bruno Stoj from Herceg Bosna, who is charged with war crimes.