Bensouda now wants ruling on Uhuru reversed

By Felix Olick

The Hague, Netherlands: ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has formally asked judges to reverse a ruling allowing President Uhuru Kenyatta to skip his trials after a similar decision involving his deputy was overturned last week.

Bensouda insists that the decision should be reversed or in the alternative, her office should be allowed to appeal the ruling arguing that a superior Chamber has already set precedent.

Last Friday, the a five-judge Bench of the Appeals Chamber headed by the ICC President Judge Sang Hyun Song reversed a similar decision by a lower court that had granted Deputy President William Ruto conditional excusal from physical presence to attend to his constitutional duties as deputy head of state.

Basing her arguments on the ruling by the Appeal Bench, the Prosecutor now says that trial judges erred in excusing Kenyatta from continuous attendance saying that chambers had the discretion to reconsider decisions.

The trial against Kenyatta is set to open at The Hague on November 12 and the judges would have to arrive at a decision before then.

Mr Kenyatta was excused from attending most of his trial by the majority but Presiding Judge Kuniko Ozaki dissented the ruling.