curator
Administrator
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has no realistic chance of successfully prosecuting Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta in the face of Nairobi government's pure obstructionism, prosecutors have said.
Ben Gumpert, a prosecution lawyer, said on Wednesday in The Hague that there was need to have access to Kenyatta's financial records.
He said this might show that he had indirectly paid large sums of money to perpetrators of a wave of post-election violence which swept Kenya six years ago.
Reuters reports that Kenyatta was charged with crimes against humanity, related to the violence in the early 2008 when 1,200 died and thousands were driven from their homes.
It said the Kenyan president had denied the charges.
Gumpert said it was nearly two years since the court had been asking for Kenyatta's financial records.
``Of all the leads available to us, we have exhausted all reasonable prospects, but we are under a duty to pursue our investigations.
``The stones which remain to be turned are getting less and less promising," he said.
Gumpert said the position of the government of Kenya was one major obstruction in accessing the account.
Reuters said the prosecutors were asking judges to rule that Kenya was not meeting its obligations to the court.
They also asked the court to adjourn the trial until Kenya turns over further material in a case which has driven a wedge between African countries and the ICC's Western backers.
It said Kenyatta's lawyers wanted the judges to dismiss the case, saying the prosecution was attempting to abandon its case while pinning the blame for its failure on the Kenyan government.
It said the trial was important to the ICC, which has secured only one conviction and suffered a string of collapsed cases since it was set up 11 years ago.
Ben Gumpert, a prosecution lawyer, said on Wednesday in The Hague that there was need to have access to Kenyatta's financial records.
He said this might show that he had indirectly paid large sums of money to perpetrators of a wave of post-election violence which swept Kenya six years ago.
Reuters reports that Kenyatta was charged with crimes against humanity, related to the violence in the early 2008 when 1,200 died and thousands were driven from their homes.
It said the Kenyan president had denied the charges.
Gumpert said it was nearly two years since the court had been asking for Kenyatta's financial records.
``Of all the leads available to us, we have exhausted all reasonable prospects, but we are under a duty to pursue our investigations.
``The stones which remain to be turned are getting less and less promising," he said.
Gumpert said the position of the government of Kenya was one major obstruction in accessing the account.
Reuters said the prosecutors were asking judges to rule that Kenya was not meeting its obligations to the court.
They also asked the court to adjourn the trial until Kenya turns over further material in a case which has driven a wedge between African countries and the ICC's Western backers.
It said Kenyatta's lawyers wanted the judges to dismiss the case, saying the prosecution was attempting to abandon its case while pinning the blame for its failure on the Kenyan government.
It said the trial was important to the ICC, which has secured only one conviction and suffered a string of collapsed cases since it was set up 11 years ago.
