City lawyer and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, Charles Kanjama on Tuesday, April 18, weighed in on Azimio's push to have the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigate and possibly try Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome.
Kanjama stated that the Raila Odinga-led coalition was simply engaging in scaremongering, and not necessarily a substantive case.
According to the Lawyer, Azimio la Umoja's letter to the ICC would not lead to an investigative process, let alone a trial.
"What is happening is more of hot air than a reality. It is more of political posturing," Kanjama explained.
In his evaluation, Kanjama observed that Azimio la Umoja was capitalising on the petrifying nature of the ICC in order to bully their way through the local legal quagmire.
Notably, Azimio la Umoja was also calling the attention of the International Criminal Court to carry out plausible surveillance on Kenyan activities.
"It is also an attempt to use a big brother to achieve local or domestic goals," Kanjama claimed.
On December 15, 2010, former ICC Chief Prosecutor Luise Moreno Ocampo indicted former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali among five other Kenyans including President William Ruto, Retired President Uhuru Kenyatta, former Head of Civil Service and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura.
Others were former Tinderet MP Henry Kosgei and former Radio Journalist Joshua arap Sang.
Azimio la Umoja warned IG Koome that he risked being taken to ICC like Hussein Ali, who was later acquitted for insufficient evidence.
On July 17, 1998, 120 States adopted a statute in Rome that established the International Criminal Court, and for the first time in the history of humankind, States decided to accept the jurisdiction of a permanent international criminal court for the prosecution of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes committed in their territories.
The court is also responsible for prosecuting crimes that were committed by nationals after the entry into force of the Rome Statute on 1 July 2002.
"The International Criminal Court is not a substitute for national courts. According to the Rome Statute, it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those responsible for international crimes," Kanjama stated.
The Legal expert explained that the International Criminal Court can only intervene where a State is unable or unwilling to genuinely carry out the investigation and prosecute the perpetrators.
"The primary mission of the International Criminal Court is to help put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes," Kanjama stated.
