Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo responded this week to the Pre-Trial Chamber II request for clarification of information regarding the situation in Kenya. Ocampo alleged that senior political and business leaders affiliated with the two major political parties involved in the marred 2007 election, the Party of National Unity and the Orange Democratic Movement, were responsible for major attacks that fall under I.C.C. jurisdiction.
According to Ocampo those senior leaders, “enticed and/or financed attacks against the civilian population on account of their perceived ethnic and/or political affiliation pursuant to or on furtherance of a State and/or organizational policy.”
The Pre-Trial Chamber II requested clarification from the Prosecution last week regarding how these attacks were a result of State and/or organizational policy, and who was responsible for ordering the attacks.
The Rome Statute states in Article 7. (2.) in reference to crimes against humanity that in addition to attacks involving the violations outlined in the Statute being widespread and systemic, they must also be pursuant to or in furtherance of a State or organizational policy to fall under the Court’s jurisdiction.
The Prosecutor gave the Pre-Trial Chamber II a list of the most serious incidents and a list of twenty names of people that appear to bear the most responsibility for the attacks. Much of the evidence gathered was taken from Kenyan commissioned investigations such as the Waki Commission. The Prosecutor indicated that further investigation is necessary:
The Prosecutor noted that no one named on his list was facing prosecution in the Kenyan judicial system.
