{"id":58564,"date":"2015-11-27T23:54:27","date_gmt":"2015-11-27T21:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/kenya-state-parties-run-dangerously-close-to-interfering-with-the-iccs-independence\/"},"modified":"2015-11-27T23:54:27","modified_gmt":"2015-11-27T21:54:27","slug":"kenya-state-parties-run-dangerously-close-to-interfering-with-the-iccs-independence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/kenya-state-parties-run-dangerously-close-to-interfering-with-the-iccs-independence\/","title":{"rendered":"Kenya: State Parties run dangerously close to interfering with the ICC\u2019s independence"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n LONDON, United Kingdom, November 27, 2015\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ —
\n <\/span><\/p>\n

The concerted campaign of political interference by the Kenyan government with the judicial independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Assembly of State Parties this week is a shocking indictment of the lengths the country will go to deny justice to the victims of horrific crimes committed during the post-election violence of 2008, said Amnesty International today.<\/p>\n

\n

Kenya effectively attempted to blackmail the Assembly of State Parties (ASP), the political oversight body of the ICC, to acceded to demands which would undermine the trial of the country\u2019s Deputy President, William Samoei Ruto, by threatening to withdraw from the ICC. While the proposal was defeated, the fact that the Assembly came perilously close to buckling to the threats from Kenya is a stark warning for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is deplorable that this effort was undertaken to protect a single individual \u2013 Kenya\u2019s current Deputy President. The attempt by Kenya to interfere with cases before the ICC is shocking,\u201d said Netsanet Belay, Amnesty International\u2019s Regional Research and Advocacy Director for Africa.<\/p>\n

\u201cStates parties to the ICC must defend the independence of the Court. No state party should ever be allowed to use the threat of leaving the ICC to undermine the Court\u2019s independence or seek to influence the proceedings of a particular trial.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deputy President Ruto is currently facing charges of crimes against humanity, including being criminally responsible for murder, deportation or the forcible transfer of population and persecution at the ICC.<\/p>\n

In the meeting of the ASP in The Hague, the Kenyan government threw its full diplomatic weight behind an attack on the ICC\u2019s independence. Its concerted lobbying was aimed at undermining the trial of the Deputy President by using the ASP to pressurize judges in their interpretation of the Rule 68, on the admission of prior recorded testimony from some witnesses who later recanted.<\/p>\n

However, the efforts of the Kenyan government were rebuffed by a majority of state parties. Although the Assembly bowed slightly to Kenya\u2019s demands by recording Kenya\u2019s stance on the use of Rule 68 in a report of the proceedings, it stopped short of directly telling the judges how to interpret the rule.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch an outcome would have been an absolutely unacceptable level of interference with the Court but thankfully states parties demonstrated the Court\u2019s independence was more important than giving in to the Kenyan government\u2019s outrageous demands,\u201d said Netsanet Belay.<\/p>\n

Amnesty International warns that the ASP must continue to be on its guard against attempts to interfere with the Court\u2019s independence. Although the worst outcome was avoided at this session, states came dangerously close to setting a precedent allowing political interference with the judicial functions of the Court. However, Amnesty International believes the judges will be able to resist any real or perceived attempts at interference with their independence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe failure of the Kenyan authorities to ensure justice, truth and reparation for victims of the horrific crimes committed during the post-election violence illustrates the vital need for Kenya to remain a state party to the Rome Statute under the jurisdiction of the ICC,\u201d said Netsanet Belay.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LONDON, United Kingdom, November 27, 2015\/APO (African Press Organization)\/ — The concerted campaign of political interference by the Kenyan government with the judicial independence of the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Assembly of State Parties this week is a shocking indictment of the lengths the country will go to deny justice to the victims […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[428,4585,830],"class_list":{"0":"post-58564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-africa-news-2","7":"tag-africa","8":"tag-apo","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}