The International Criminal Court (ICC) has threatened to take action against Kenya following President Uhuru Kenyatta's remarks which hinted at a possible cut of ties with the hague-based court, and for supposedly failing to cooperate in ongoing investigations against three Kenyans.
ICC Spokesman Fadi El Abdallah has now cautioned that Kenya risks being sanctioned for failing to extradite three of its citizens to answer to charges of witnesses tampering.
According to Abdallah, if the government ignores an order to arrest and hand over the suspects to the court, disciplinary measures will be instituted including seeking diplomatic and economic sanctions against the country.
“The legal procedure before the ICC is for the judges to make a finding of non-compliance and to refer it to Assembly of State Parties to take any measure it deems appropriate,” warned Abdallah.
The court had previously demanded that Walter Barasa, Paul Gicheru and Phillip Bett be apprehended and handed over to it, following allegations of obstruction of justice, witness tampering and corruptly influencing witnesses in the case against Deputy President William Ruto.
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According to ICC, its officials were aware of remarks by Kenyatta on Saturday in which he indicated that the country had cut ties with the institution and would not allow any Kenyan to be tried by the court.
“The court has not received any official information from the Kenyan government indicating its intention to stop cooperation from the court,” stated ICC.
However, international law experts clarified that Kenya could protect itself from any disciplinary action by proving that the cases against the three can be handled by local courts.
The same was reiterated by Attorney General Githu Muigai who affirmed that there was a petition at the High Court challenging extradition of the three, therefore the government would have to wait for a determination by the local court.
Kenya is said to be preparing to withdraw from the ICC, a stand that has been backed by the African Union which demanded for immunity on all Heads of State and senior government officials.
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