ICC member countries should address the obstruction by Kenya in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta, Human Rights Watch has said.
Trial Chamber V(B)
said it found Kenya with its obligations by not providing information related to the President.
HRW said: “The countries should make sure the message is heard in Nairobi, that they will not turn a blind eye to the government’s obstruction of justice."
Elizabeth Evenson, who is International Justice Program
associate director, further said nations should take Kenya’s obstruction seriously "as they should whenever the court’s judges find a state party has breached its obligations to the court”.
“Defaulting on legal obligations to the ICC should not be allowed to go unchecked,” Evenson said in a statement on Tuesday.
The director urged the Assembly of States Parties to ensure a consistent and effective approach to findings of non-cooperation.
"This will bring about the cooperation by ICC member countries that the court needs to deliver justice," she said.
Evenson said the government's failure to provide records sought by the prosecution occurred against a backdrop of hostile rhetoric against the ICC proceedings.
"The Kenyan government made repeated efforts to use the annual meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to politicise the court’s proceedings," she said.
She added that the Uhuru administration initiated an
to lobby leaders to support ending the ICC’s cases and undermine Africa support for the court.
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This comes hours after
Elgeyo Marakwet Senator
Kipchumba Murkomen dismissed the ICC ruling as
.
"No one will do anything to Kenya at ICC ASP,"
he said via Twitter on Tuesday.
The court said on Monday that the ASP was best-placed to address the lack of cooperation to provide an incentive for the government to cooperate with the court.
On November 29, 2013, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda filed an application for a finding of non-cooperation against the government.
She said it failed to comply with a request to produce records relating to Uhuru, which she claimed were at the heart of her case against him.
Bensouda, who dropped Uhuru’s case for lack of sufficient evidence, said the government’s cooperation drastically changed when Uhuru became President.
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