Hague: Kenya has no power to block probe

Kenya lacks the power to terminate the investigations of the International Criminal Court at this stage, the prosecutor’s office has said.

The Hague is therefore going ahead with preparations for two cases, which will see four to six suspects, most probably senior persons in society, charged over election violence.

The court’s response on Tuesday follows sentiments by Justice and Constitutional Affairs minister Mutula Kilonzo that with the new Constitution and a reformed judicial system, Kenya can try poll violence suspects.

Window to block investigations

A statement from Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo’s office said the window for Kenya to block investigations and trial was closed after the Pre-Trial Chamber gave the chief prosecutor the go-ahead to investigate the case, and present them for indictment to the judges before the end of the year.

Only judges at The Hague can defer the Kenyan case, according to the statement.

Public information co-ordinator Jelena Vukasinovic said only judges can decide “whether the Kenyan Government is unwilling or unable to genuinely carry out criminal proceedings at the national level”.

“Regarding the deferral of investigation, please be informed that the situation in Kenya came to the Court through a legal process and it could leave the Court only through a legal process,” she said in response to questions by the Daily Nation.

The media liaison officer in the prosecutor’s office, Ms Nicola Fletcher, said that as far as they were concerned, the Kenya government was committed to cooperating with The Hague.

She repeated the prosecutor’s statement when he visited the country earlier this year, saying: “In a public press conference, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga both expressed their support for my investigation. Mr Kilonzo has also recently confirmed to me his personal commitment to do justice for the victims of the post-election violence.”

Mr Kilonzo in an interview with the Sunday Nation last week, said: “The case before the ICC has not yet been admitted. It can only be admitted after Ocampo finishes his investigation. I advocate for a local tribunal partly because I’m a Kenyan and I cannot entertain the idea of a foreign court having to investigate a fellow citizen on offences committed against fellow citizens.”

Some of those suspected of funding and engineering the election chaos are Cabinet ministers and well-heeled individuals, and there is suspicion that there might be conspiracies to shield them from The Hague.

A section of MPs has accused Mr Kilonzo of misleading the public about the ICC.

Addressing a meeting of ODM Kenya women, Information minister Samuel Poghisio said Mr Kilonzo could have said one thing when he meant the opposite.

“It is not like Mutula to contradict himself. I hope he can rectify what he said or meant because we are signatories to the Rome Statute,” he said.

Mr Danson Mungatana, a member of a House reform lobby group, said: “His remark that we do not need the ICC is reading the Constitution upside down, ICC should continue and our implementation of the constitution should continue.”