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Vol 55 No 25

Published 19th December 2014


Kenya

How the case was won

The government’s obstruction of the ICC and intimidation of witnesses fatally undermined the Kenyatta prosecution

Ultimately, it was a combination of failings by the International Criminal Court prosecutors and the government's non-cooperation that resulted in the dropping of the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta on 5 December. The ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP), many believe, did not mount a robust enough defence of its actions or openly resist or sufficiently investigate the wholesale intimidation of witnesses, which cost Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda her case. The following weekend, Kenyatta's supporters celebrated in the presidential strongholds. A camp for displaced people in Naivasha houses mainly Kikuyu victims of the 2007-08 post-election violence: almost eight years later, they have still not been resettled or compensated. Yet when the news that the case had been dropped came through, the eruption of celebrations there exemplifies the deep contradictions that have characterised the Kenyatta case.

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