Matsanga at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when he handed over the documents for onward transmission to The Hague/CFM NEWS
The suit papers were handed to the ministry on Monday afternoon for onward transmission to the prosecutor’s office in The Hague, The Netherlands through a diplomatic bag.
“I have handed all the documents to the ministry which will now serve Bensouda in The Hague,” Matsanga said after delivering the court documents to the ministry.
His lawyer Waithaka Ngaruiya said they had “enclosed in duplicate the petition together with a mention notice of July 10.”
A Foreign Affairs Ministry official said the documents will be sealed in a diplomatic pouch which enjoys some legal protection to carry official correspondence or other items between a diplomatic mission and its home government or other diplomatic or consular entities.
Once in The Hague, it will be handed to Prosecutor Bensouda by Kenya’s ambassador to The Netherlands Makena Muchiri.
In the suit filed at the High Court in Nairobi on March 10, Matsanga and John Muiruri Kimani are seeking the disclosure of the full list that Justice Philip Waki handed over to former UN chief Kofi Annan on the 2007-2008 post election violence.
They named International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Bensouda, Justice Waki and Attorney General Githu Muigai as respondents in the suit.
“To successfully proceed and prosecute his application at the ICC, the 1st petitioner (Matsanga) urgently requires that he be availed with part of the report by CIPEV which is unlawfully, unreasonably and illegally held by the respondents herein without any justification whatsoever,” the two stated in their petition, filed through Moseti Odongo Waithaka Partners.
They were then ordered by Justice Isaac Lenaola to serve the respondents before the matter can be heard expeditiously.
Lawyer Ngaruiya told Capital FM News that they have already served Justice Waki and Attorney General Muigai who are listed as the first and third respondents. Bensouda is the second respondent.
In their filing, the activists argued that disclosing the names in the Waki ‘secret envelope’ is in the public interest.
“The continued withholding of part of the report produced by a commission of inquiry appointed under the Commissions of Inquiry Act Chapter 102 of the Laws of Kenya, has led to unnecessary speculation and namedropping about the likely persons contained in the secret list of 20 names contained in a report held by the respondents,” Matsanga explained.
He further alleged the continued speculation of the names in the secret envelope has also been used to set political scores among rival politicians in Kenya.
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