Ocampo seeks assurance of witnesses security

By Evelyn Kwamboka

International Criminal Court (ICC) Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has agreed to disclose only part of his evidence but after re-evaluation of local security .

At the same time, the Government has lost its bid to respond to issues raised by the defence and prosecution, in its case challenging admissibility of the charges against the six suspects, within 30 days.

Moreno-Ocampo’s application came a day after Pre-Trial Chamber II judge Ekatrina Trendafilova dismissed an appeal against a decision to disclose all the evidence.

The prosecutor said in view of the steps he is taking to ensure his witnesses are protected, it is premature for him to decide what to edit from his evidence.

He wants ICC to allow him to delay the disclosure of evidence for about one month, instead of giving it on May 13, as ordered recently by judge Trendafilova.

If allowed, the prosecutor will submit proposals for redactions in two stages, with the first group on June 3, and the last one on July 8.

Documents

It is the prosecution’s case that reviewing the huge bulk of materials would be a waste of time.

The evidence was collected in two phases with the first one containing 1,038 documents being done before December 15, last year and the last one between December 15, last year and March 31, this year, in which Moreno-Ocampo collected 30 documents.

In the application filed at the court’s registry, the prosecutor said the calendar requiring him to disclose evidence from May 13, affects his right to a fair trial.

"It requires the prosecution to review the evidence for redaction purposes in a relatively short period before the legal deadline, forces the prosecution to decide on the evidence it intends to rely on at the hearing during a period when it cannot conduct new investigations. Additionally, the prosecution has to decide on redactions before the protection concerns of its witnesses and others at risk on account of their testimony have been adequately addressed in accordance with the Statute," he stated.

The prosecution is required to review, by May 13, 595 documents constituting 10,878 pages or nearly 99 per cent of the total number of documents to be disclosed in an edited form. And Judges Trendafilova, Hans-Peter Kaul and Cuno Trafusser gave the State until May 13 to file its responses if any. This they said is to avoid unnecessary delays of the entire proceedings.

The Government wanted 30 days to respond to the issues raised on April 28 by the other parties in the case.

The suspects are Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey, Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Civil Service boss Francis Muthaura, Postmaster General Hussein Ali and radio presenter Joshua Sang.