Solicitor General Ken Ogeto has revealed that Kenya wants former International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo investigated by an independent, impartial and neutral body.
Ogeto, who is representing Kenya in at the 17th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute at the ICC in The Hague, The Netherlands, says that all ICC officers who handled the case of the infamous ‘Ocampo six’ should be investigated on how they handled the case.
Ocampo has been on the spot after suspects in the collapsed cases accused him and his officers of coaching witnesses to make up evidence against them on the 2007 post-election violence that left 1,300 Kenyans dead.
Ocampo has also been accused of receiving bribes to let off a Libyan warlord.
“The allegations against the former prosecutor should not be swept under the carpet. Kenya urges the Office of the Prosecutor to refer the allegations to a neutral entity to conduct an open and transparent audit of these allegations,” said Ogeto.
Kenya, through Ogeto wants the investigations done in an open manner, to put to public what transpired before, during and after the collapse of the case.
Read: Journalist Wanted For Witness Tampering To Surrender Himself To The ICC
“The integrity of the ICC is key for member states to have confidence in the court. We take the investigations very seriously and want them done openly and expeditiously so that the findings can inform our future engagements with the court,” he said.
The six, President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto, Francis Muthaura, Maj Gen (Rtd) Hussein Ali, Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua Sang, were facing charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC.
Kenyatta was the deputy prime minister that time while Ruto served as the agriculture minister. Muthaura was heading the public service while Ali was the Police Commissioner. Kosgey was the Industrialization minister in the former President Mwai Kibaki’s government.
Ocampo’s term at the ICC expired before the cases came to a conclusion, handing over the baton to Fatou Bensouda. However, as fate would have it, Bensouda dropped the case after a good number of witnesses pulled out, while others disappeared like Meshack Yebei.
At one time, Ocampo admitted to have had a weak case against the six, leading to the collapse of the cases.
Kenya now wants the court officials investigated for misusing resources by carrying on a case they knew could not hold water.
“Kenya is convinced that keeping cases alive despite apparent flaws, in the manner in which they are investigated and prosecuted, not only amounts to a misappropriation of funds but also a travesty of the Rome Statute system,” Mr Ogeto said.
Kenya has also opposed the increase of the ICC budget for 2019 at the Assembly of State Parties.
Do you have a story you want told? Do you know of a sensitive story you would like us to get our hands on? Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com Also WhatsApp 0708677607 with your news tips
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
