Ocampo Two fight PNU-Mungiki link

Two Kenyans facing charges at the ICC have asked the Appeals Chamber to dismiss their cases because the Pre-Trial judges wrongfully linked pro-PNU youth with the Mungiki.

They have also denied Mungiki links with PNU.

Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Public Service boss Francis Muthaura have told the appeal judges that since pro-PNU youth and the Mungiki are not the same thing, the prosecution failed to prove that there existed an “organisation” as per the Rome Statute.

“Whilst there may have been evidence that pro-PNU youths participated in the attacks, it is clearly wrong to label them Mungiki.

They simply were not. It is worth recalling that during the violence, any marauding Kikuyu youths were often referred to as Mungiki,” the two suspects argue in submissions supporting their appeals.

They hold that the two judges, who committed them to trial, erred in finding that pro-PNU and Kikuyu youth “formed an integral part of the Mungiki organisation.”

On his part, Eldoret North MP William Ruto argues in his appeal submissions that the choice by the pre-trial judges to use anonymous witnesses to corroborate other anonymous witnesses significantly impacted on his right to challenge the Prosecution’s evidence.

He adds that had the two judges applied the correct evidential standards, they could not have determined that the Network existed, with an established hierarchy, the means to carry out a widespread and systematic attack, and with the primary purpose of attacking the civilian population.

Elsewhere, radio presenter Joshua Sang argues that the Network alleged by the Prosecution does not meet the criteria set in the Rome Statute. He says the alleged network lacked State-like features.