ICC talks are premature, legal experts say

Legal experts have termed the push by opposition leader Raila Odinga to seek the International Criminal Court's (ICC) intervention against police actions as premature. Former East Africa Law Society President James Mwamu said the letter by Azimio la Umoja-One Kenya Coalition to the ICC does not warrant the court's intervention since the level of the alleged police brutality against protesters has not met the threshold for international attention. "The Rome Statute which establishes the ICC has very stringent requirements that it must be crimes against humanity. Their letter is just meant to send a warning against police brutality but it does not meet the threshold to warrant the court's intervention," said Mr Mwamu. Mwamu, however, said that Azimio's letter has achieved its purpose and since Kenya has previously been a subject of ICC intervention, the court will likely show an interest and warn the government to be cautious and respect human rights. The opposition coalition through Raila's legal advisor Paul Mwangi last week wrote to the ICC prosecutor to investigate and take action against Inspector General (IG) Japheth Koome for allegedly committing serious crimes against Azimio supporters. Mr Mwangi said that the IG had established a special squad of rogue police officers to unleash terror on its supporters during anti-government demonstrations while issuing threats of death and causing physical injuries to innocent demonstrators. But lawyer Morara Omoke argued that the issues raised by Azimio against the police can be dealt with locally since the scale of police brutality is not widespread to warrant ICC intervention. "What they are raising can be dealt with through investigations by the Director of Criminal Investigations and prosecution by the Director of Public Prosecution. Our only problem is that those agencies seem not to be functional," said Mr Omoke. The lawyer blamed the IG for the actions that have raised Azimio's ire, stating that he has become a "political actor who does not act independently and does not understand what his function entail." Constitutional lawyer Demas Kiprono said the incidents had not reached level of crimes against humanity, genocide or planned attacks to call for international intervention. "It is an issue of police accountability that can be dealt with by other agencies like the Independent Policing Oversight Authority. Discussion about ICC is premature at the moment since nothing serious has happened," said Mr Kiprono. The lawyers said that what Azimio needs to do is to push for the resignation of the DPP and the DCI if they fail to bring to account all police officers who have committed brutality against protesters. "Our problem is the DPP, who seems not to understand what he should do, and the DCI who is silent and looks like he does not have the energy to investigate the claims. The IG should also change his ways of doing things and respect the rights of demonstrators," said Omoke.

ICC talks are premature, legal experts say

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ICC talks are premature, legal experts say

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