By James Ratemo

Luis Moreno-Ocampo will on Thursday issue a statement on Kenya’s situation in relation to expected post-election violence trials.

This will be only a day before the International Criminal Court prosecutor stands before the court’s pre-trial judges to prove the need to take up the Kenya case.

On Friday, the eyes of Kenyans will be riveted on The Hague to find out whether Mr Moreno-Ocampo will persuade the three judges on the case against three key suspects he has zeroed in on. If he succeeds, the doors would have been swung open for the truth on the violence to come out and the names of the suspects would be known.

Cabinet ministers William Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta have gone to court to have their names expunged from a report by the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights that mentions them adversely in relation to the violence. Moreno-Ocampo will address the press at 11am by videoconference. Nairobi-based journalists will follow the briefing at the United Nations’ Gigiri complex.

According to a statement from The Hague, the videoconference will involve only a select number of press contacts due to technical and space restrictions.

This comes two days after Moreno-Ocampo invited victims of post-election violence to file their representations to The Hague. The victims or their lawyers can submit representations within 30 days to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber Two.

Moreno-Ocampo is expected to comment on Kenya’s sluggish pace in forming a special local tribunal to handle post-election violence perpetrators of lower cadre. He is also expected to address the chamber’s decision on his request to have victims make representations.

While in Kenya recently Moreno-Ocampo said there was reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation into the alleged perpetrator’s role into the violence that saw close to 1,133 Kenyans killed and over 350,000 displaced.

Should the Judges authorise the opening of the investigation victims would have the opportunity to present their voices and concerns during the proceedings and at a later stage, to request reparations. The three judges assigned the Kenyan case are Justice Hans-Peter Kaul from Germany, Justice Ekaterina Trendafilova from Bulgaria and Italian Justice Cuno Tarfusser.

In a related development, the Minister for Justice Mutula Kilonzo has revealed that the ICC has sent a technical team to help in establishing the Witness Protection Unit. Mutula said the team was already in the country.

"I hope now that Attorney General Amos Wako would bring the Witness Protection Bill to Parliament after the necessary amendments so that we can raise the Witness Protection Unit," Mutula told the press.

The minister was speaking at a Regional Ministerial Conference on Promoting the Rule of Law and Human Security at Safari Park Hotel in Nairobi.

"The Unit is important in offering sufficient safeguards to witnesses," Mutula said.

He said he was unhappy with the current situation, as potential witnesses could not come out to testify.

"The sooner we come to satisfy international standards the better. The time is now. The process is unstoppable so witnesses must be protected," Mutula said.

He added there were about 2,000 victims of the post-election violence still in Uganda who needed to be involved as witnesses.