Judiciary crafting special court to complement ICC

By Roselyne Obala

NAIROBI; KENYA: Chief Justice Willy Mutunga has announced that the Judiciary was in the process of establishing a special division within the High Court to complement the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court will deal with various crimes against humanity, post-election violence perpetrators, piracy, money and cyber crimes, among others.

Dr Mutunga, however, clarified that the court will have nothing to do with the cases currently before the ICC. “The special division will have nothing to do with the Kenyan cases at The Hague, instead it will handle other alleged post-election cases,” he said.

The ICD will address public demands to have perpetrators of post-election violence prosecuted.

The division will be expected to ensure justice to all, reduce legal costs and offer an opportunity to all parties to attend and follow court proceedings. Mutunga said the ICD would expand the jurisdiction in handling international and transnational crimes.

He continued: “This division is complimentary to that of ICC. It will be able to deal with the cases locally and also will be inclusive as ICC is limited in terms of numbers.”

He explained that ICC has the capacity to prosecute only those who bear the greatest responsibility.

The CJ said the special division will handle trials of all suspects while upholding the ICC standards and witnesses will have an opportunity to actively participate in the judicial process. A five-member committee comprising of Samuel Kobia (chairman), Mohammed Warsame (co-opted member), Emily Ominde, Isaac Lenaola and Florence Mwangangi was constituted in May 2012 to come up with recommendations on the court.

Kobia stated that they submitted five recommendations on October 30 to the Judicial Service Commission, which were adopted.

These include setting up of an independent prosecution unit with an independent prosecutor and witness protection agency staff.

End of the year

The committee emphasised that political, financial and institutional commitment by the Government is paramount in setting up the division.

They called for amendment to existing clauses to avoid hindrance to administration of justice.

The committee also tackled the issue of legal compensation. Kobia explained that they factored in the jurisdiction of the division as stipulated in the Constitution to prevent future challenges.

“We hope that the division might be in place by the end of the year and be fully operational by beginning of next year,” he said.

The committee has been working on modalities of setting up the division for months now and are set to travel to The Hague over the same.