A lawyer who represented President William Ruto during the August 2022 Presidential Election Petition has asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate and prosecute Azimio la Umoja leader Raila Odinga over ongoing anti-government protests.
Adrian Kamotho, representing Victims of Maandamano Insurgents (VMI), on Friday, July 28, claimed that his clients had borne the brunt of crimes perpetrated by protesters.
In his letter to ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, Kamotho claimed that the anti-government demonstrations were driven by mayhem, vandalism, looting, terror and destruction of property.
"We are instructed to respectfully draw your attention to grave humanitarian atrocities and war crimes perpetrated against our clients that fall at the heart of your mandate as delineated by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which inter alia confers upon the ICC, unfettered jurisdiction in relation to crimes of international concern, in complementarity to national criminal jurisdictions.
"Our clients are compellingly persuaded that a time has come for the Office of the Prosecutor to take decisive steps in consonance with Article 15 of the Rome Statute to redress acute humanitarian transgressions and war crimes being perpetrated with impunity by Hon. Raila Odinga, a former prime minister," Kamotho requested.
He also accused former President Uhuru Kenyatta of declining to retire and engaging in an extremist political overdrive.
Kamotho implored Khan to unearth alleged ill motives concealed by the Handshake brothers towards the Republic of Kenya, arguing that they devised their sinister plots after losing the August 2022 Presidential Election to President William Ruto.
"Upon conclusion of the transition, Kenya enjoyed a remarkable period of boisterous peace and tranquillity. However, in subsequent days, our clients avow that Hon. Raila Amollo Odinga of the Azimio Coalition, in partnership with Hon. Uhuru Kenyatta, the chairman of the said Coalition, commenced a scathing campaign of hate, disinformation, propaganda, incitement and violence against the lawfully established Government of the Republic of Kenya.
"Astounding to our client, is the callous manner in which Odinga and Kenyatta continue to sponsor a wave of terror and deadly violence codenamed Maandamano against innocent citizens and law enforcement agencies," the letter read in parts.
Kamotho asked the ICC to monitor the situation in Kenya and be ready to intervene if prompted by the circumstances.
The attorney's letter to ICC lawyer Karim Khan was drafted a few days after a lobby group, Operation Linda Ugatuzi, reported President William Ruto, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki and Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome to the Hague.
Linda Ugatuzi, on Thursday, July 20, accused the trio of crimes against humanity and urged ICC to investigate and charge them with the destruction of property and death of innocent civilians.
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