Hague: Kenyan's accused lawyers question ICC on jurisdiction

Defence lawyer for Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang, want judges to throw out the crimes against humanity charges against them.

Defence lawyer, Kigen Katwa said that the International Criminal Court has no jurisdiction in the case if it cannot prove the existence of a network that organised the violence after the Kenyan election.

“If you do not find a network, and you are an international court, if you do not find a network then you have no jurisdiction to try this matter, it is a domestic issue if there is no network, without an organisation or policy. That is our position. It is also our argument and we have maintained this argument all along, that the violence in Kenya, which was in six out of the eight provinces, was spontaneous, it was an immediate reaction to the announcement of the results,” the lawyer cited.

The team had already managed to persuade judges on tuesday, to allow evidence to be heard in public, over the objections of prosecutors who were worried a public airing could endanger witnesses.

The lawyers representing the two accused wanted the judges to throw away the case considering that six witnesses who withdrew their testimony had fundamentally undermined the case.

The International Criminal Court has since the past 13 years handed down only two convictions while it struggles to put an end to human impunity around the world