The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has labelled the decision to withdraw charges against Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta a “dark day for international criminal justice.”
In an interview with Voice of America, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said,
“There are several reasons why we had to withdraw the charges in this case and one of them is lack of cooperation of the government of Kenya, [and] another one is intimidation of witnesses for them not to be able to come forward to give us their evidence.”
She went on to add,
“The fact that we are confronted with these challenges is really the reason why the charges are being withdrawn and no other reason. Not because we do not want to do justice in this case.”
Bensouda pledged that the court would continue to strive towards justice for those killed, saying,
“We will not forget the victims. We will keep trying. I will be receiving information, we will be assessing that information, and we will know what further steps we are going to try based on the information that we will receive.”
Human Rights Watch also reacted to the court's decision, saying it “sets back efforts to end the country’s entrenched culture of impunity.”
Elizabeth Evenson, senior international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said,
“It’s clear that Kenya’s long tradition of impunity and pressure on witnesses have been serious obstacles to a fair process before the ICC... But these roadblocks make it all the more important for the ICC to assess how it can move ahead with high-profile cases against powerful people accused of serious crimes.”
“The judges made clear that Kenya’s inaction compromised the search for justice,” she added. “The case should prompt serious discussion for future cases about what the court can do if the government of the country involved won’t cooperate.”
ICC drops case against Kenyatta (5 Sep 2014)
Kenyatta case: ICC provides ultimatum (03 Dec 2014)
Kenyan president appears before ICC (08 October 2014)
Kenyatta trial delay rejected (01 October 2014)
ICC summons Kenyatta (20 September 2014)
Kenyatta war crimes trial delayed (24 January 2014)
Prosecutor asks for delay in Kenyatta trial (20 December 2013)
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