Attorney General Prof Githu Muigai who led the Kenyan delegation to
Geneva on May 15, 2013. He has has explained why he travelled to The
Hague, Netherlands on the eve of the status conference to discuss the
case facing Deputy President William Ruto. FILE
NATION MEDIA GROUP
By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Thursday, May 16 2013 at 09:55
Posted Thursday, May 16 2013 at 09:55
Prof Muigai who travelled with
Mr Ruto to the Netherlands on Monday explained that he had gone to
attend informal consultations regarding cooperation between state
parties to the Rome Statute and the ICC.
“This meeting had been scheduled
by the ASP and its objective was to bring both the Government and
Non-Governmental Organisations experts from The Hague and capitals to
exchange views on various co-operation issues,” he explained in a
statement.
Prof Muigai said the meeting
discussed the question of “Non-essential” contacts, ICC’s arrest
strategies and the privileges and immunities of the court’s officials.
The AG also stated that he paid a
courtesy call to the Deputy Prosecutor, the Registrar and the
Vice-President of the Court, assuring all of them that Kenya will
continue to co-operate with ICC.
Prof Muigai has recently clashed
with ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda over the latter’s claims that
witnesses in the cases facing Mr Ruto, President Uhuru Kenyatta and
radio presenter Joshua Sang are being harassed.
He has dismissed Ms Bensouda’s
claims that the government has refused to furnish her office with
documents relating to the cases.
He has maintained that the
government has fully cooperated with the ICC and furnished it with all
the documents relating to the cases. The government had also facilitated
the relocation of witnesses to safe places outside the country whenever
requested by the ICC prosecutor, he has maintained.
“The Kenyan Government is not
party to the proceedings currently taking place at the ICC and it has no
knowledge of who the witnesses are and it has no desire to deal with
the witnesses whatsoever. All the Kenyan Government has done as regards
witnesses is to facilitate cooperation between the ICC Victims and
Witnesses Unit and the Kenyan Witness Protection Agency,” he was quoted.
Ms Bensouda had accused the
government of refusing to furnish her office with documents relating to
the cases despite several requests.
She also claimed ICC witnesses were facing harassment, intimidation and even outright bribery to compromise the cases.
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