After Ruto ICC’s prosecutor now wants Kenyatta’s ruling reversed

October 27, 2013 (THE HAGUE)- Only a day after the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court(ICC) reversed a conditional leave it had granted Kenyan Vice President William Ruto, the prosecutor at the court now wants a similar leave granted to President Uhuru Kenyatta to be reversed.

On Friday the Appeals Chamber reversed an earlier ruling by trial judges granting Ruto absence from some of the hearings in the case against him at The Hague.

Ruto had been granted leave by trial judges on June 18. But the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, appealed against the ruling, saying the judges had acted outside of their discretion.

Kenyatta and Ruto are accused of crimes against humanity in relations to their alleged role in the 2007-2008 post election violence in which 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced.

The office of the prosecutor said in a statement on Saturday that it would appeal the ruling granting Kenyatta leave from attending all hearings of the case against him.

“The Office of the Prosecutor will request Trial Chamber V (b) to reconsider its decision to conditionally excuse Mr Kenyatta from continuous presence at his trial or, in the alternative, to grant the OTP[office of the prosecutor] leave to appeal that decision,” Ms Bensouda’s office said in statement on Saturday.

Trial judges had granted Kenyatta leave from some of the sessions to enable him to his constitutional responsibilities as president of Kenya.

Hearing of the case against Kenyatta is set to begin in November but he has made an application to the court to stop it.

(ST)