Why Ruto's ICC Case Could Collapse

Deputy President William Ruto can now breathe a sigh of relief after a delegation attending the 14th session of Assembly of State Parties (ASP) conference at the Hague, managed to convince ASP's Bureau led by President Sidiki Kaba to drop the contentious Rule 68 from his International Criminal Court (ICC) case.

After a long day of negotiations on Thursday, the Bureau finally caved in to Kenya's demands to bar the use of recanted evidence from being applied which could dent the success of the case.

Earlier on, reports that the government's request to the ASP had been declined prompted Kenyan officials to storm out of the conference.

The delegation led by Foreign Affairs Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohammed, complained that some member states were complacent in listening to Kenya's agenda. At that moment Kenya threatened to withdraw from the Rome Statute that formed the ICC.

"I registered strong objections to the lack of genuine commitment to address Kenya's concerns," tweeted Amina.

With the pending threats, the Bureau later met on Thursday evening after which it reaffirmed that the ammended rule 68, would not be applied retroactively as the Kenyan delegation was lobbying for.

"ASP has now provided unambiguous clarity to the temporal scope of the application of Rule 68. In making the resolution, ASP has exercised the legislative powers of the Assembly," confirmed Amina.

However, the decision will have to be approved by the main plenary of ASP, and thereafter be forwarded to ICC judges to decide on whether to abide by it or not.

Kenya has been on the offensive blaming the ICC for allowing Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to use previously recanted evidence in the continuing cases. Despite receiving support from the African Union, the country still faces some more hurdles before its wish is granted.

Rule 68 is important to the ICC Prosecutors since it could be crucial in establishing the case against Mr Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua arap Sang.

Read Also: Africa Now Joins Fight to Free Ruto From ICC

 

 

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