Bensouda has one week to prosecute President Uhuru
The International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have given Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda one week to either prosecute President Uhuru Kenyatta or terminate the case.
The judges took the middle ground with decision, rejecting both the prosecutor’s request for a further adjournment of the case as well as the request by Mr Kenyatta’s request to terminate the proceedings.
“The Chamber instead directed the Prosecution to file a notice, within one week, indicating either (i) its withdrawal of the charges in this case, or (ii) that the evidentiary basis has improved to a degree which would justify proceeding to trial,” read a dispatch from ICC on Wednesday afternoon.
In another decision, the Chamber also rejected a prosecution request to find that the Kenyan government had failed to cooperate and refer the matter to the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the ICC Rome Statute.
INDIRECT CO-PERPETRATOR
The judges, however, found that the approach of the Kenyan Government to the cooperation had not met the standard of good faith cooperation required from States Parties under the Rome Statute.
“In particular, the Chamber found that the Kenyan Government had taken no meaningful steps to compel production of the materials requested by the ICC Prosecutor,” continued the dispatch.
The judges ruled that the parties were free to appeal any of the decisions after seeking the Chamber’s authorisation.
Mr Kenyatta is charged, as an indirect co-perpetrator, with five counts of crimes against humanity consisting of murder, deportation or forcible transfer, rape, persecution and other inhumane acts allegedly committed during the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007-2008.
His charges were confirmed on January 23, 2012, and the case was committed to trial before Trial Chamber V(B).