Could the ICC nightmare hinder DP Ruto’s top seat ambitions

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This is one of the worst nightmares DP Ruto wishes he would never wake up from it.

Well, Deputy President William Ruto’s top seat ambitions could be ruined following the return of the most dreaded ghost of the 2007/8 post-election violence.

 

Apparently the International Criminal Court prosecution office has been quietly looking for fresh information regarding the 2007/8 post election violence which left more than 1,300 people dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

In a recent ICC annual report submitted to the United Nations General Assembly,emerged that chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda continued to receive information related to the case in the past year.

Apart of the report states that, “The office of the prosecutor continued to receive information on the commission of crimes against humanity during the post-election violence of 2007—2008.”

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Although details about the information remain confidential, investigations have been ongoing despite termination of the cases.

The report further added that other investigations concerning witness interference are on.

The report was submitted to UN General Assembly by ICC President Chile Eboe-Osuji who was on the bench that handled Mr Ruto’s case.

The case against the DP Ruto and former radio journalist Joshua Sang, was terminated a year after President Kenyatta’s case in 2015 due to lack of enough evidence but the judges rejected an application of acquittal by the accused.

However, the judges stressed that the prosecution, which said the cases were weakened by witness interference and lack of support from the government, would be at liberty to revive them in future.

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Warrants of arrest had been issued against Mr Walter Barasa, Mr Paul Gicheru and Mr Philip Kipkoech, who the prosecution said convinced witnesses to withdraw from the case facing Mr Ruto.

According to the Rome Statute, interfering with witnesses is a criminal offence.

While addressing the UN General Assembly, Mr Eboe-Osuji called for more effort to support the court, which is often criticised over interference with the sovereignty of countries when carrying out its mandate.

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African leaders have often accused the court of targeting people from the continent, a charge ICC denies.

He further added saying, “There are many reasons to insist that the mere existence of this permanent judicial mechanism for accountability truly serves as an inconvenient obstacle to the freewill of those inclined to engage, even unwittingly, in conduct that creates the circumstances that conduce to crimes of atrocity. That modest value is enough of a return on the ICC investment.”

Recently, the court was criticised by the US regarding investigations on crimes against humanity by American soldiers in Afghanistan, terming ICC as “fundamentally illegitimate”.

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