Common sense dictates acquittal: Uhuru lawyer

The Hague. Kenya’s Uhuru Kenyatta yesterday became the first sitting president to appear before the International Criminal Court, where his lawyer sought an acquittal on charges of crimes against humanity.           Mr Kenyatta, who handed power to his deputy before flying to The Hague, was summoned to answer questions at his floundering trial for allegedly masterminding deadly post-election violence in 2007-2008.

“The case has failed. It has failed in a way that there’s no prospect to go further,” Kenyatta’s lawyer Steven Kay said after the prosecution admitted it did not have enough evidence because Nairobi was allegedly not cooperating.

“It would be an affront to common sense to say that we are not entitled to an acquittal,” Kay told the court as a public gallery packed with Kenyatta supporters looked on.

President Uhuru Kenyatta smiles as he appears before the ICC in The Hague,
yesterday, to appeal for the crimes against humanity case against
him to be dropped for lack of evidence. Photo | AFP

Kenyatta spoke to his supporters on the steps of the ICC’s fortress-like building after the hearing, thanking them for coming to court.

“We came here today which is what they wanted -- and still there is nothing,” said Kenyatta, referring to the lack of evidence in the prosecution’s case.

Repeatedly delayed

The repeatedly-delayed case has seen at least seven prosecution witnesses drop out, allegedly through bribes and intimidation. Judges could decide to send the case to trial or to abandon it after the prosecution said it did not have enough evidence.

They could also find, as the prosecution has requested, that Kenya is not cooperating, and postpone the case pending a referral to the Assembly of States Parties of countries that have signed the ICC’s founding Rome Statute.

“There is no time limit in this type of decision. The judges will now deliberate and issue their finding in due course,” ICC spokesman Fadi el Abdallah told AFP.

Kenyatta, 52, faces five counts at the ICC over his alleged role in orchestrating unrest in 2007 and 2008 that left 1,200 people dead and 600,000 displaced.

The Kenyan leader has appeared at the ICC before, but not since he was elected president in March 2013.

Source: The Citizen