The work I did as prosecutor was impressive, says Ocampo

Former International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo says lack of proper investigations has undermined the prosecution’s ability to secure convictions for suspects facing crimes against humanity charges.

The court, he said, needs to recruit investigators, claiming that governments have failed it because of lack of co-operation. Mr Ocampo believes the ICC’s intervention in Kenya deterred violence before and after last year’s general election.

“Everyone was worried about eruption of another violence but the cases that were still at the ICC prevented warlords and tribal chiefs from igniting it. They were cautious,” he told Stephen Sackur, the anchor of BBC TV talk show, Hard Talk at the weekend.

He said the political pact between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto also deterred violence.

He denied that ICC was targeting African leaders and that geopolitics was interfering with the court work.

Saying more states need to join ICC to deter or stem tribal and sectarian violence, Ocampo denied that the UN Security Council was blocking the court from investigating human crimes in the Middle East, Colombia and Iraq where the US and other permanent members have interests.

 “Despite shortcomings, the work I did in the ten years I was the prosecutor was impressive,” he said.