Ocampo wants ICC to reject Kenya quest for evidence

The International Criminal Court prosecutor, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, has asked the court to dismiss Kenya’s request for evidence to help the government try more suspects of the post-election violence.Mr Moreno-Ocampo said the request lacked merit and that the government had not provided proof that it was conducting any investigations. The prosecutor’s move comes only days after he met Attorney- General Githu Muigai and Director of Public Prosecutions Keriako Tobiko at The Hague where they made an oral request for the evidence. The two especially asked for the confidential documents Mr Moreno-Ocampo is using in his two cases. Kenya argued that accessing the evidence would advance its investigations on other perpetrators of the violence other than the Ocampo Six. “The court is clearly in possession of information and materials that are relevant to these national investigations into the six suspects as well as all other suspects,” the government says in an application filed by lawyers Geoffrey Nice and Rodney Dixon. But Mr Moreno-Ocampo says in his response that the Pre-Trial Chamber is under no obligation to provide cooperation to allow Kenyan authorities to exercise their responsibility. The government says that these materials, though helpful to its investigations, are not available to it especially in instances where the court is relying on anonymous witnesses.
SOURCE: DAILY NATION OF KENYA