NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 18 – Chances of detectives from the International Criminal Court taking statements from security chiefs in Kenya appeared to diminish further on Tuesday after the process was suspended for the third time.
Justice Kalpana Rawal who was appointed to preside over the statement-taking announced that she had decided to put the process on hold until February 24.
“In reference to these two applications which have been filed in the relevant jurisdictions, I have decided to hold my hands for a while and have rescheduled the mention to February 24, 2011, " Justice Rawal told reporters after meeting lawyers for the security chiefs, state law office officials and ICC detectives.
Those cases have been filed and because the jurisdictions are competent, I have decided to put on hold the proceedings,” she added.“I don’t know what I will do next but at the moment I have decided and it is a justified decision because we don’t want to waste public money for any other reason.”
Security chiefs wanted for questioning by the ICC are represented at the proceedings by lawyers from the law firms of Ogetto, Otachi and Company and Daly and Figgis.
Justice Rawal said she decided to put Tuesday’s proceedings off because of a case the two law firms filed in The Hague in December last year, seeking an interpretation by the pre-trial chamber judges whether their clients should be compelled to give evidence to the court.
Last week, two businessmen filed another case at the High Court seeking to stop evidence from all the security chiefs wanted for questioning by the ICC.
The matter is due in court later this week.
Lawyer Ogeto told Capital News that they were not party to the application filed in Nairobi.
“We have nothing to do with it, our application is pending in The Hague,” Mr Ogeto said on telephone.
The ICC wants to question five Provincial Commissioners and four police chiefs who served in volatile areas during the post election violence.
They include Central Provincial Commissioner Japhter Rugut, Ernest Munyi (Coast), Paul Olando (Western) and former Rift Valley PC Hassan Noor Hassan.
The police chiefs are King\’ori Mwangi who served in the Coast Province at the time, Njue Njagi who served as Nairobi PPO, Joseph Ashimala who served as Rift Valley PPO and Grace Kaindi who headed Nyanza Province.
On December 7, 2010, Justice Rawal ruled that she would not postpone the proceedings anymore regardless of the application filed in The Hague, but the proceedings have never kicked off.
Lawyers for the security chiefs have indicated that the proceedings will only start once the cases pending in court are determined.
Some of the security chiefs lined up for questioning told Capital News that they have instructed their lawyers to inform the court that they don’t intend to testify against their bosses.
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