Justice is supposed to bring law and order but what if their is no order in the justice itself?The law will definately take wrong direction. These are the new allegations thrown at the International Criminal Court.
Former US President Barack Obama’s ambassador-at-large for war crimes Stephen Rapp has opened up on fundamental errors in the International Criminal Court cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta, Deputy President William Ruto and four others.
Rapp says former ICC Chief Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo’s decision to opt for summonses instead of arrest warrants against the six Kenyans was a “serious mistake” that may have cost the cases.
He says Ocampo should have gone for warrants to arrest them if he was satisfied that he had enough evidence against them.
Rapp said the cases appeared to have been weakly investigated, witnesses spread too thin and generally the prosecutorial approach to the cases was wanting.
He was speaking in Arusha, Tanzania, on the sidelines of a regional justice forum earlier in the week. The forum was organised by Wayamo Foundation with financial support of German Foreign ministry.
It was attended by, among others, all the regional Directors of Public Prosecutions Noordin Haji (Kenya), Jean Bosco Mutangana (Rwanda), Mike Chibita (Uganda) and Biswalo Mganga (Tanzania) and President of the East Africa Court of Justice Emmanuel Ugirashebuja.
Also in attendance at the high profile event was William Rosato, an investigator at the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor, Philip Ambach, Chief of the Victims Participation and Reparation Section of the ICC, Gary Hyde, the regional advisor for anti-money laundering and counter terrorism financing for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
“I remember Louis telling me he will ask for summonses to appear in the place of warrants. It was a serious mistake if you asked me. If you are charging people with crimes against humanity, you detain them,” he said.
At the height of preparation of the cases in November 2009, Rapp met Ocampo in Kigali, Rwanda, for an update on the matter. Two weeks later he flew to Nairobi where he promised that the US would cooperate with the ICC in prosecuting the cases.
This week at the Arusha event, Rapp said detention is the only sure bet to prevent possible intimidation and interference of witnesses by the accused who by the nature of the crimes, tend to be powerful persons.
To this date, the prosecution maintains that its witnesses were bribed, intimidated or lured against participating in the cases. They have since opened witness interference cases against three Kenyans Walter Barasa, Philip Bett and Paul Gicheru.
This time round, and probably with benefit of hindsight, Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda did not seek summonses of appearance for the trio. She obtained sealed arrest warrants against them but like the rest of warrants ICC has issued, the suspects remain at large.
Do you agree that arresting the suspects is the best option?