President Kenyatta's lawyer Steven Kay said the law provides for
confidential filings and his case against Safaricom and Airtel was to
protect the identity of witnesses and victims in the ICC case against
President Kenyatta July 30, 2013. FILE
By PAUL JUMA pjuma@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted Tuesday, July 30 2013 at 15:49
Posted Tuesday, July 30 2013 at 15:49
In a statement sent to the Nation by his lawyer, Kennedy Ogeto, Mr Kay says that the law provides for confidential filings “and not secret ones”.
“The proceedings were
permitted to be filed confidentially after the applicant (Mr Kay)
established appropriate legal basis in order to protect the identity of
witnesses and victims in the ICC case against President Kenyatta.
"There is nothing
extra-ordinary about the confidential filing as Kenyan law including the
Witness Protection Act, the International Crimes Act and the Rome
Statute permit such filings,” Mr Ogeto says in the statement.
The same happens at the ICC that routinely permits confidential filings for the same reason, according to the lawyer.
The Judiciary has also
defended its handling of the petitions, arguing that proceedings can at
times be conducted in-camera in the interest of justice.
“The Judiciary would like to
inform members of the public that information of the case in question
before the Constitutional Division and Human Rights Division will be
released after conclusion of the case and only if it does not affect the
integrity of the on going trials at The Hague,” Judiciary Chief
Registrar Gladys Shollei, has said in a news release.
“Whereas the general principle
of conducting open and public hearings is a well grounded in our
judicial system, there are exceptions where the interest of justice so
dictate.
“This practice is not limited
to our judicial system or to the common law jurisdictions but is
practiced by other international tribunals,” she said.
Earlier Tuesday, the media and the public were ordered to leave court as proceedings in Mr Kay's case began.
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