ICC shows Kenyatta-Ruto cases no escape from justice: Where did AU go wrong on these highly charged matter?
October 26, 2013 by Keffyalew Gebremedhin, The Ethiopia Observatory Automaticity of Ruto’s excusal from his trial rejected We already had occasion on October 19, 2013 to comment on the ICC Trial Chamber’s conditional “excusal from continuous presence at trial” given to ICC-indictee Uhuru Kenyatta on October 18, 2013. We showed uneasy sympathy with the Court’s action, out of awareness that the Kenyan state could not be auto- or remote-piloted, especially at this time when that country needs the full attention of its head of state. On the other hand, when the Appeals Chamber this morning announced its decision rejecting ICC-indictee William Ruto’s request, which was supported by Burundi, Eritrea, Rwanda and Tanzania – demanding similar treatment of conditional excusal as Kenyatta’s under Article 63 (1) of the Statute – we took great satisfaction. We immediately recognized that this latest decision would put into balance the right to justice of both sides of the Kenyan tragedy – th...