ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants DP Ruto at The Hague

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.

BY FELIX OLICK

Kenya: Deputy President William Ruto must show up at the International Criminal Court and face his accusers in the courtroom, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has told the judges.

In a surprise move, Bensouda maintained that Ruto should not be tried in absentia despite recent amendments by the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) that were lauded by the African Union as a major diplomatic victory for Kenya’s indicted leaders.

In her response to Ruto’s request to be excused from the rest of his trial proceedings, Bensouda insisted that the defence plea was not grounded in law and should be rejected.

“In sum, the request fails on the law and on the facts. It should be denied,” she stated in a 20-page application to the Trial Chamber V (a).

During the annual ASP conference in The Hague last year, the 122 member States amended Article 134 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence in a move seen as ‘saving’ Ruto and his boss, President Uhuru Kenyatta, from being confined to the ICC courtroom.

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Attorney General Githu Muigai and Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed led the Government delegation that relentlessly lobbied for the amendments.

One of the rules allows defendants who have “extraordinary public duties at the highest national level” and who are not the subject of an arrest warrant to ask judges for leave of absence from their trial and be represented instead by their lawyers.

A second rule change allows a defendant who needs to attend under a “summons to appear” to follow trial proceedings via video-link rather than physically attend the court sessions.

Bensouda, however, argues that the amendments did not provide for the blanket and unlimited excusal being pushed by Ruto’s defence team.

She further says the interpretation of Article 134 by Ruto’s lead counsel Karim Khan is inconsistent with the ICC founding treaty, the Rome Statute.

“The Request is contrary to the plain text of Rule 134, which establishes a procedure through which certain accused with ‘extraordinary public duties’ may apply for absences only from ‘specific hearings’. Thus, the request must fail from the outset, since what it seeks is a blanket excusal,” she argued.