By Cyrus Ombati
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has appointed three new Special Advisers to assist her on the cases against four Kenyans.
The three include Patricia Viseur Sellers, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Diane Marie Amann.
The four Kenyans include Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Eldoret North MP William Ruto, former head of public service Francis Muthaura and radio presenter Joshua Sang.
“Patricia Sellers, Leila Sadat and Diane Marie Amann have a wealth of experience between them. I have no doubt their contributions to the work of the Office and the fight to end impunity for the world’s worst crimes will be invaluable,” said the prosecutor.
Special Advisers to the Office of The Prosecutor (OTP) are persons with recognised expertise in their field, who provide advice to the Prosecutor at her request or on their own initiative on training, policies, procedures and legal submissions.
They work on a pro-bono basis and like all ICC staff, are required to sign a confidentiality agreement.
Ms Sellers is Special Adviser on International Criminal Law Prosecution Strategies. Ms Sellers will advise OTP on policies and training with regards to international criminal law prosecution strategies.
She previously worked as Acting Senior Trial Lawyer, Legal Advisor for Gender and Deputy Head of the Legal Advisory Section in the OTP at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
She has written on sexual violence in armed conflict and counselled governments, international organisations and civil society groups on international criminal law strategies. She is a recipient of the American Society of International Law’s Prominent Women in International Law Award.
Professor Sadat is the Special Adviser on Crimes against Humanity and will help the OTP formulate office wide strategic policies relating to crimes against humanity.
Ms Sadat is currently the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and the Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at Washington University School of Law.
She is also the Director of The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative and the Director and Co-Founder of the Summer Institute for International Law and Policy at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
An internationally recognized expert in international criminal law, human rights and public international law, Professor Sadat has been doing pro-bono work for international courts and tribunals, including the ICC, for many years.
Professor Amann is appointed Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict.
As adviser, she will support and advise on OTP policies and training or awareness with regard to children in and affected by armed conflict.
Holder of the Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens, Georgia, Ms Amann also has taught on the law faculties of the University of California-Davis, University of California-Berkeley, and University of California-Los Angeles; visited at the Irish Centre for Human Rights in Galway and Université de Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne); practiced as a federal criminal defense attorney in San Francisco; and served as a Vice President of the American Society of International Law.
