Bensouda fights Githu ICC appeal

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants Kenya stopped from challenging a decision in which the country was found guilty of failing to cooperate with the international court.

In a decision made on December 3, 2014, the court found that Kenya was non-compliant although it refused to refer the matter to the Assembly of State Parties for further measures to be taken against the government.

In her latest submission to the Appeals Chamber which will decide whether to send Kenya to the ASP, Ms Bensouda said the issue of non-cooperation was not appealed and should therefore not be challenged by the government of Kenya.

NEW DEADLINE

“This factual finding was not appealed by the prosecution, nor by the GoK. Rather, the prosecution’s appeal is limited to the question of whether the Trial Chamber, having made this finding, erred—either in law or in the exercise of its discretion—by not referring the GoK to the Assembly of States Parties,” she said.

She was responding to a request by Attorney General Githu Muigai who wanted the government to be given more time to respond to issues raised by the Africa Centre for Open Governance (Africog).

Although she did not object the government’s request to be allowed to submit a response by yesterday instead of the initially set deadline of May 15, she said the response must not be used to raise matters that are not subject to the prosecution’s appeal. The chamber extended the deadline to May 22.

Ms Bensouda also wanted Kenya barred from raising afresh issues of whether domestic law prevented it from complying with the Prosecution’s requests for cooperation, or challenging a separate decision by the Trial Chamber that “any purported deficiency in domestic legal procedures does not protect a State Party from complying with its obligation to cooperate with the Court”.