Post-election violence suspects may face international law

By Athman Amran

The office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) wants the International Crimes Act to be invoked on some of the 6,000 post-election violence cases it is handling.

Acting deputy DPP Dorcas Oduor said some of the cases, especially involving murder, would be regarded as mass atrocities.

She cited about 300 to 400 cases where the perpetrators have been identified but there were material weaknesses in the quality of evidence to support prosecutions.

By applying the International Crimes Act, the threshold to find evidence and conviction would be lowered, the element of crime widened, and there would also be reparations and a special fund set up by the Government to help the victims.

“In such a scenario, the standard of proof would not be high,” Ms Oduor said yesterday when she released the status of cases dealt with by the task force to review, re-evaluate and examine files related to post-election violence.

She expressed fears it would be difficult to get convictions on some cases known to have taken place because they were initially investigated under the Penal Code before the domestication of the International Crimes Act after the promulgation of the new Constitution.

Oduor said according to the files the task force has so far perused, they would prefer the establishment of a special unit of the High Court to accelerate disposal of the cases they have dealt with.

“We have however, to convince the authorities that there is need for a special unit of the High Court,” she said adding that it was definite that all murder cases would end up in court.

Convicted

So far 24 post-election violence suspects have been convicted out of the 6,081 cases presented to the task force for review by the police.

Eleven of the convictions are related to sexual and gender based violence, two involving murder and 11 general offences. The DDP’s office has so far reviewed 4,408 of the 6,081 files relating to the events of the 2007 and 2008 violence.

Recommended Videos

Crime and unemployment

Boxing bouts fade in coast

The importance of public speaking

Wakulima wahamasishwa kuhuzu mradi wa maziwa