Setbacks Rise in Prosecuting the President of Kenya
By NICHOLAS KULISH and MARLISE SIMONS, NYT
NAIROBI, Kenya — Convicting a sitting president of crimes against humanity was never going to be a simple process, but the bumpy case against President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has proved the challenges of such a prosecution.
The case against Mr. Kenyatta before the International Criminal Court in The Hague appeared to be on ever-shakier footing this week after two witnesses withdrew, at least one of them claiming safety fears as the reason, the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a filing before the court.
Prosecutors held discussions with another witness, identified as Witness 426, “to determine whether any measures could be taken to mitigate his concerns and secure his attendance at trial,” the filing said, without specifying whether those concerns were security related. “These talks were unsuccessful, and Witness 426 maintained that he was not willing to testify.”
Prosecutors have accused Mr. Kenyatta of using his extensive family fortune to finance death squads in the midst of the violence that broke out after Kenya’s presidential election in 2007. Mr. Kenyatta has consistently proclaimed his innocence, asserting that the accusations against him are based on malicious gossip.
(More here.)
NAIROBI, Kenya — Convicting a sitting president of crimes against humanity was never going to be a simple process, but the bumpy case against President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has proved the challenges of such a prosecution.
The case against Mr. Kenyatta before the International Criminal Court in The Hague appeared to be on ever-shakier footing this week after two witnesses withdrew, at least one of them claiming safety fears as the reason, the prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a filing before the court.
Prosecutors held discussions with another witness, identified as Witness 426, “to determine whether any measures could be taken to mitigate his concerns and secure his attendance at trial,” the filing said, without specifying whether those concerns were security related. “These talks were unsuccessful, and Witness 426 maintained that he was not willing to testify.”
Prosecutors have accused Mr. Kenyatta of using his extensive family fortune to finance death squads in the midst of the violence that broke out after Kenya’s presidential election in 2007. Mr. Kenyatta has consistently proclaimed his innocence, asserting that the accusations against him are based on malicious gossip.
(More here.)
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