Kenya situation: Summary of the decisions on the confirmation of charges, 23 January 2012

Transcript

all right we have please be seated court officer please would you kindly call the two cases in the Kenya situation yes madame president situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of the prosecutor versus William Samu Ruto Henry kiprono kge and Yoshua Arab sang case number IC 0109 0111 and situation in the Republic of Kenya in the case of the prosecutor versus Francis Kim mutura uro Muay Kenyata and Muhammad Hussein Ali case number ICC 0109 0211 thank you court officer good morning to everyone who is joining us from in or around the court and also to to those joining us from the Republic of Kenya via the Internet or otherwise prra chamber two of the international criminal court composed of Judges Hans Peter cow to my right Kuno tar forer to my left left and I E Catarina trendafilova the presiding judge of the chamber has decided to appear in court this morning in order to present an oral summary of its decisions concerning the charges of the prosecutor against William samway Ruto Henry kiprono kge and Joshua Arab s in case one and Francis kirimi muta uru Muay Kenyata and muhamed Hussein Ali in case two before presenting a summary of the chamers findings I would like to clarify that this is not a hearing or a court session the prosecutor and the defense teams are not present the legal representatives of victims are also not in attendance the registra and her colleagues are not here and the chamber's legal officers are also absent from the courtroom rather the chamber is alive to its role in ensuring that both the public at large and interested Kenyans are duly informed of the chamber's decisions regarding charges emanating from the evidence from the violence which engulfed the Republic of Kenya after the announcement on the 30th of December 2007 of the results of the presidential elections in case one the prosecutor presented six counts charging the three suspects with crimes against humanity of murder deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution in case two the prosecutor presented 10 counts charging the other three suspects with crimes against humanity of murder deportation or forcible transfer of population rape and other forms of sexual violence other inhumane acts and persecution the chamber is mindful of concerns regarding the precarious security situation in parts of the country it is also attentive of its responsibility to maintain stability in Kenya and to fulfill its Duty viav the protection of victims and Witnesses thus the chamber considered it necessary to issue the two decisions on the charges of the prosecutor on the same day and and did so today before this appearance the parties and participants were notified accordingly of the decisions now I will turn to the decisions of the chamber issued today after having thoroughly examined and analyzed individually and collectively all all the evidence presented the chamber by majority decided to confirm the charges against four of the six suspects as will be explained later in more detail judge C appended a dissenting opinion in both cases he maintains that the international criminal court is not competent because the crimes committed on the territory of the Republic of Kenya during the post-election violence of 20072 2008 in his view were serious common crimes under the Kenyan criminal law but not crimes against humanity as codified in article 7 of the Rome statute before turning to the task at hand n namely the summary of the chamber's decisions I would like to briefly recall some of the important procedural developments of the two cases this will give a better idea of the work of the court of the parties and of the participants in the cases since the 8th of March 20 when the chamber issued its decisions on the summonses to appear in the two cases the chamber has been continuously seized with a multi multitude of issues throughout the proceedings the chamber placed at the center of its activities its duty to ensure the fair expeditious and and independent conduct of the entire process the chamber also gave substantial consideration to the protection of victims and Witnesses and the various rights of the defense on the 7th and 8th of April 201 in case one and case two respectively the initial appearance hearings took place during which the chamber said the days of the confirmation of Char's hearing this stage was followed by a series of individual of judicial activities in particular the chamber facilitated the participation of victims by issuing a number of decisions in this Regard in the first case the chamber received 394 victims applications for participation amounting to 4,246 pages and admitted 327 victims as participants in the proceedings in the second case we received 249 applications for participation with the total of 2,000 864 pages and admitted 233 victims to participate moreover for the purpose of ensuring the security of the victims and Witnesses the chamber also took decisions on the prosecutor's proposals for reductions which amounted to around 12,000 Pages apart from that the chamber also issued two decisions on the government of Kenya's challenges to to the admissibility of the cases in which It ultimately found the cases to be admissible the chamber's decisions were upheld on appeal furthermore in Readiness of the confirmation of Char's hearings the chamber issued a number of decisions organizing and and facilitating the disclosure of evidence between the prosecutor and the defense together the six defense teams and the prosecutor in both cases disclosed approximately 30,000 pages of evidence for the purpose of the chamber's determination on the charges presented on the 1st of September 2011 the confirmation of Char's Hearing in case one commenced as decided during the initial appearance and lasted for seven days similarly as determined during the initial appearance of the suspects in the second case the confirmation of charges Hearing in case two 2 started on 21st September 2011 lasting for 12 days thus since the start of the cases the chamber has received 4,95 filings including their annexes from the prosecutor the defense teams victim legal representatives amichi kuier and the registry including today's decisions the chamber has issued 252 decisions in both cases this concludes the procedural background of the two cases to date at this point and on behalf of the chamber I must explain that we are not passing judgment on the guilt or innocence of the individuals the chamber is tusked by law only to evaluate the strength of the prosecutor's case at this pre-trial stage that is to determine whether the prosecutor presented enough evidence before for the chamber to confirm the charges the standard required by law is that there are substantial grounds to believe that the crimes charged were committed and that the suspects were responsible for them I will now turn to the merits of case one the prosecut versus William Samu Ruto Henry Kono kge and Josh Arab s it concerns crimes committed in Turbo town the greater Elder area capset town and nandi hills from on or about 30 December 2007 until the end of January 2008 I would like to underline the following as mentioned at the start the prosecutor charged Mr Ruto Mr kge and Mr s for crimes against humanity of murder deportation or forcible transfer and persecution Mr Ruto and Mr kge were charged as indirect co-perpetrators while Mr s was charged as having cont attributed to the set crimes against humanity I will first summarize the filings of the chamber on the crimes and then the findings as to the criminal responsibility with respect to the crimes charged and based on the evidence placed before it the chamber found that the prosecutor has established substantial grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder deportation or forcible transfer and persecution were committed these crimes resulted in the death of hundreds and the displacement of thousands of civilians from Turbo town the greater eldet area capset town and nandi Hills the chamber also found that these crimes were committed as part of an attack directed against particular groups namely kikuyu kba and KC due to their perceived political affiliation to the party of national Unity as to the criminal responsibility of Mr Ruto and Mr s the chamber found on the basis of the evidence presented that they're responsible for the charges Lev against them in particular prra chamber 2 confirmed the charges against Mr Ruto as an indirect co-perpetrator with others while it found that Mr s contributed to the commission of set crimes against humanity to the extent specified in the written decisions however in relation to Mr kge the chamber found that the prosecutor's evidence failed to satisfy the evidentiary threshold required the chamber was not persuaded by the evidence presented by the prosecutor of Mr kg's alleged role within the organization in particular the prosecutor relied on one Anonymous witness insufficiently collaborated moreover the chamber determined that Mr kge suffered Prejudice due to the reduction of certain dates related to a number number of meetings that he allegedly attended which proved to be essential for his defense and equally essential for the findings of the chamber on his criminal responsibility in light of these facts and the entire body of evidence relating to Mr kg's criminal responsibility the chamber declined to confirm the charges against Mr kge turning now to case two the prosecut versus Francis kirimi muta uru Muay Kenyata and Muhammad Hussein Ali as mentioned earlier the prosecutor charge Mr mua Mr Kenyata and Mr Ali with crimes against humanity of murder deportation or forcible transfer rape and other forms of sexual violence other inhumane acts and persecution Mr muta and Mr kinat were charged as indirect co-perpetrators while Mr Ali was charged as having contributed to the said alleged crimes against humanity as to the crimes the chamber found on the basis of a thorough review of The Evidence individually and collectively substantial grounds to believe that between 24th and 28th January 2008 there was an attack against the civilian residents of nakuru and Nasha Pur received as supporters of the orange Democratic movement in particular those belonging to the Lu luya and cening ethnic groups the chamber also found that the attack resulted in a large number of killings displacement of thousands of people rape severe physical injuries and mental s suffering thus the evidence established substantial grounds to believe that the crimes of murder deportation of forceable transfer rape other inhumane acts and persecution were committed with respect to the criminal responsibility of Mr muta and Mr Kenyata the chamber was satisfied that the evidence also established substantial grounds to believe that they are criminally responsible for the alleged crimes as indirect core perpetrators however in relation to Mr Ali the chamber found that the evidence presented does not provide substantial grounds to believe that the Kenya police participated in the attack in or around nakuru and Nasha since Mr Ali was charged with contributing to the crimes through the Kenya police the chamber declined to confirm the charges against him the chamber will now outline the impact of its decisions on first those against whom the charges have been confirmed second on those against whom the charges have not been confirmed namely Mr kge and Mr Ali as well as on the victims as a result of the decisions issued today Mr Ruto Mr s Mr mua and Mr Kenyata are committed to to trial they will be tried before a different chamber for the charges confirmed to this end one or more trial Chambers will be established by the presidency of the international criminal court in this regard the chamber wishes to highlight that victims who are already represented before this chamber May participate in the trial other victims will have the right and opportunity to apply to participate during the trial stage victims will have also the right to request reparations should the accused persons be found guilty the chamber wishes to be unequivocal and St that Mr Ruto Mr s Mr muta and Mr Kenyata are merely accused before this court the chamber would like to emphasize for the purposes of clarity that the presumption of innocence remains fully intact at trial the prosecutor will have the burden of proving the guilt of the accused Beyond A Reasonable Doubt as required by article 66 of the Rome statute furthermore the decisions issued today by this chamber do not affect the liberty of the accused which remains undisturbed this however absolutely depends on the accused adherence to the conditions contained in the summonses to appear which contain which continue to remain in full force at this point the chamber recalls its previous warning to the suspects that their continued Liberty is subject to their non engagement in incitements of violence or hate speech as to Mr kge and Mr Ali the chamber wishes to clarify that there no longer suspects before the international criminal court however the chamber Rec calls article 618 of the Rome statute a According to which the prosecutor may present additional evidence requesting confirmation of charges against Mr kge and Mr Ali we have now concluded the summary of the chamber's decisions in case one and case two at this juncture the chamber would like to express a few sentiments today and indeed throughout the proceedings in these cases we have appeared in our official capacities as judges of the international criminal court offices which Tusk us with the sole purpose of achieving justice justice for all for victims but equally Justice for those who appeared before the court this is not rhetoric but is a tangible goal we all genuinely strive for in reaching our decisions we have reviewed all the evidence individually and collectively regardless of its source firmly Guided by the provisions of the Court Court's statutory documents in the Fulfillment of our judicial mandate we have looked through impartial and independent lenses in order to assertain whether the requisite threshold in article 61 of the Rome statute for confirmation of the charges has been reached it is our utmost desire that the decisions issued by this chamber today bring peace to the people of the Republic of Kenya and prevent any sort of hostility the decisions are the result of intensive and committed judicial work of the chamber conducted impartially independent and conscientiously in the interests and in the service of justice that concludes prra Chambers Cho's appearance this morning before we leave the courtroom on behalf of the chamber I would like to thank everyone who has been following this public appearance and especially to thank the people people of the Republic of Kenya all right