ICC pushes Uhuru trial to November 12

(FILES) This picture taken on May 7, 2013 shows Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta turning to speak to a member of his delegation at Lancaster House in London. The International Criminal Court on June 20, 2013 postponed until November 12 Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta's crimes against humanity trial in connection with deadly post-election violence.

By BY WALTER MENYA wmenya@ke.nationmedia.com , June 20  2013

In Summary

• “Scheduling conflicts, logistical and other constraints, including availability of courtrooms, arising from the other ongoing cases before the Court prevent the Chamber from setting this date,” judges Kuniko Ozaki, Robert Fremr and Chile Eboe-Osuji said.
• They rejected the defence’s request to postpone the trial to January 2014.

The ICC has postponed the start of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s trial for crimes against humanity from July 9 to November 12.

The Trial Chamber V (b) judges said the postponement was meant to give Mr Kenyatta’s defence “adequate time to prepare its case”.

“The chamber considers that the defence should be entitled to several additional weeks preparation time on top of the three-month period previously determined by the chamber to compensate for the time expended on completing the disclosure of the audio files and the review of the transcripts of the follow-up interviews conducted after 9 January 2013,” they ruled Thursday.

They said the additional time would begin on June 12— being the date of disclosure of the unredacted transcripts of the outstanding delayed disclosure witnesses.

The chamber said it would have set an October date but for logistical and scheduling constraints.

“Scheduling conflicts, logistical and other constraints, including availability of courtrooms, arising from the other ongoing cases before the Court prevent the Chamber from setting this date,” judges Kuniko Ozaki, Robert Fremr and Chile Eboe-Osuji said.

They rejected the defence’s request to postpone the trial to January 2014.

The defence had also asked the chamber to refer the case back to the Pre-Trial Chamber following the withdrawal of charges against Mr Kenyatta’s co-accused, Mr Francis Muthaura, and the recanting of testimonies by some witnesses.

President Kenyatta’s defence had also argued that the case against their client was mutating following the publication of the second Updated Document Containing Charges on May 6.

The court is yet to rule on the President’s request to attend the trial by video link.

The case against two other suspects, Deputy President William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang, will start on September 10.

The three are accused of murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution during the 2007/08 post-election violence.