Situation in Kenya: Appeals Chamber confirms the admissibility of the cases

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Today, 30 August 2011, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed Pre-Trial Chamber II’s decisions of 30 May 2011 on the admissibility of the cases The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang and The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali (the decisions are available here and here) and dismissed the appeals filed by the Government of Kenya.

Judge Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko, the presiding judge for these appeals, delivered a summary of the judgments in open session. The judge indicated that no legal, factual or procedural error could be discerned in the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decisions of 30 May 2011. He explained that, for the cases to be inadmissible, a national investigation must be ongoing and must cover the same individuals and substantially the same conduct as alleged in the proceedings before the ICC. Furthermore, the Appeals Chamber considered that the Pre-Trial Chamber made no error when it found that the Government of Kenya had failed to provide sufficient evidence to substantiate that it was investigating the six suspects for the crimes alleged in the summonses to appear issued for them.

The judgments were adopted by majority, with Judge Anita Ušacka dissenting. The dissenting opinion will be filed in due course.

Further information on the Kenyan situation and cases before the ICC is available here.

Judgment on the appeal of the Republic of Kenya against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber II of 30 May 2011 entitled "Decision on the Application by the Government of Kenya Challenging the Admissibility of the Case Pursuant to Article 19(2)(b) of the Statute" 

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or by e-mail at: fadi.el-abdallah@icc-cpi.int.

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