Ninety three Post Election Violence victims withdraw from International Criminal Court proceedings

Friday, June 7th 2013, By Isaiah LucheliNairobi, Kenya: Victims of the Post Election Violence who have been registered by the International Criminal Court (ICC) have withdrawn from the cases facing President Uhuru Kenyatta and Deputy President William Ruto.

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The Ninety three individuals have written a letter to The Victims and Witness office based at The Hague wishing to withdraw from the ICC proceedings on the grounds that they did not have confidence that the process would be beneficial to them.

The victims in a signed letter and led by the chairman George Njoroge under the banner of Amani Peace Building and Welfare Organization claimed that the office of the prosecutor was not interested in their welfare.
“The prosecutor is not after our welfare and is more interested in the two Kenya cases and was using us as a stepping stones,” the letter read in part.
They added that when they held a meeting with victims lawyer Sureta Chana the issues that they discussed and agreed were different from the ones that were completely different from the ones the court was raising.
“The issues that we discussed were not put forward to the court because the version that we are now hearing is different from the true position,” they said.
They explained that during the meeting that none of them had met the then prosecutor Moreno Ocampo or the ICC investigators and gave a list of individuals involved in the violence.
They claimed that they had unanimously picked lawyer Njenga Mwangi to represent them but the court declined and picked Chana and currently Wilfred Nderitu.
“We held the government responsible for the crimes committed against them for failing to take action. The victims unit failed to guarantee them compensation during the meeting,” they added.
The chairman explained that the victims had filed their own case at the high court in Kenya and do not wish to participate in a second trial at the ICC.
“The utterances of the prosecution against our government threatens the process of national healing and reconciliation. Our peaceful coexistence as a community is much more important,” they said.