Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court
On Monday (31st May, 2011) a team from the Office of the Prosecutor will be in Kenya to discuss protection of witnesses with Kenyan authorities.
We will asses not just the specific protection program, but will also want to
understand the current position of the Government in relation with the Post Electoral
Violence.
On 5 November 2009, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Odinga stated their commitment to cooperate with the Court. We received strong cooperation, but
since we announced the names of the 6 suspects we have seen a shift in position:
high ranking members of the government are misrepresenting ICC efforts to do
justice for the victims as an attack against Kenyan sovereignty.
They are pursuing regional and political campaigns to stop the case. Not only is
this sending the wrong signal, but it is also promoting a growing climate of fear
that is intimidating potential witnesses and ultimately undermining national and
international investigations.
Our Office is doing what we promised to do: Justice for the victims. It was in the
point 4 of the Agenda. Everyone agreed on the need to clarify the problem before the
next election.
My question to the Kenyan government is this: does the government of Kenya
want justice for the victims? We need an unequivocal answer, an answer that
Kenyans and the world could understand. Is the government of Kenya
protecting witnesses or protecting the suspects from investigation?
That is the question.
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