ICC is unstoppable now, human rights groups say

By LUCIANNE LIMO

The process by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to try key suspected perpetrators of post-election violence is unstoppable.

The Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) said the die is cast for the perpetrators.

"The Government or Parliament has no powers to stop the ICC process. It is only the ICC that can decide on its own whether to stop the trials," said KNCHR chairperson Florence Jaoko.

She said it is impossible to stop the ICC process because a local mechanism has not been set up to try the suspects.

She said it was too late now for politicians to purport to stop the ICC from conducting the trials, saying the Chief Prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has already concluded investigations and ready to haul suspects to The Hague.

"It is ironical that the same politicians who rubbished the establishment of a local tribunal are the ones now seeking to stop the ICC from conducting the trials," said Ms Jaoko.

She noted that Chief Mediator Kofi Annan gave Parliament all the time it needed to set up a local mechanism yet they failed.

"The push for the establishment of a local tribunal is lauded, but it will only be to try other suspects who will not be in the Moreno-Ocampo list," she added.

President Kibaki and his party of National Unity (PNU) now want suspects identified locally and by the ICC to be tried by a local tribunal.

Some MPs allied to Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Eldoret North MP William Ruto are also rooting for the establishment of a local mechanism, saying the ICC process has been politically manipulated.

International Centre for Policy and Conflict Executive Director Wainana Ndung’u concurred with Jaoko, saying the ship had set sail and there was no stopping the ICC from trying the suspects.

"While it is true that the ICC is a court of last resort and is complementary to national jurisdictions, a case can only be rendered inadmissible under Article 17 of the Rome Statute if there are national investigations or prosecutions in place that are not meant to shield some people from facing justice," he said.