7 - 13 August, 2015

1. International Criminal Court

ICC Appeals Chamber to deliver its judgment on the Prosecutor’s appeal regarding Kenya’s cooperation on 19 August 2015  (ICC News Release, August 7 2015)

• The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an order scheduling a public hearing on 19 August 2015 at 10:00 (the Hague local time) to deliver its decision on the Prosecution's appeal against Trial Chamber V(B)'s decision, dated 3 December 2014.
• In that decision, the Chamber had declined to refer to the Assembly of States Parties the matter in relation to non-compliance of the Kenyan Government with its obligations under the Rome Statute in the case of The Prosecutor vs. Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.

ICC Victims’ lawyer now goes for Prosecutor’s jugular (Standard News, August 9 2015)

• The victims’ lawyer in the ICC cases in Kenya released a report ridiculing the Court
• In a 49-page document supported by three annexures, Me Gaynor paints a picture of a highly ineffective and strategy-less prosecution and almost accuses the prosecutor of conspiracy to kill the case. He also calls for “abuse of power” charges against the Prosecutor for taking Kenyan victims for a ride.
• “Thousands of victims of crimes against humanity, he stated, were led to a justice process at the court for over five years, to endure three failed prosecutions without a single day of trial, and to then face the further anguish of learning that the prosecutor has decided to cease to actively investigate”
• For Me Gaynor, the ICC has no place in Kenya.
• “The next time there is ethnic bloodshed in Kenya, the ICC should not even bother showing up” he said
• IDPs turn against ICC, accuse court of incompetence (Daily Nation, August 10 2015)
• Some victims of the 2007 post-election violence have asked the International Criminal Court to “leave them alone.”
•  They say that OTP Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda failed them, and failed to give them justice.
• “The office of the ICC should leave us alone. We had a lot of expectations and the ICC has over time crashed them with every step they take,” Mr Owegi , the IDP network organizing secretary, told journalists in his Kisumu office on Monday.
• He also said that the ICC should relocated its office located in Nairobi

Kenya has cooperated with ICC, President Kenyatta insists (Capital FM News) August 12 2015

• Kenya has cooperated fully with the International Criminal Court (ICC) and will continue to do so because it believes in the rule of law and international justice, President Uhuru Kenyatta said Wednesday.
• President Kenyatta was speaking during a meeting with the new Assembly of State Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute of the ICC President Sidiki Kaba who paid him a courtesy call at State House, Nairobi.
• He emphasized that Kenya has fully complied with the requirements of ICC including the implementation of a progressive Constitution that has entrenched justice and ensured democracy and the rule of law.