ICC sets agenda for meeting Ocampo four Published Wednesday, May 16 2012 at 00:00
By Wahome Thuku The International Criminal Court has released the agenda for the June 12 meeting between the Trial Chamber of the court and four Kenyan suspects of the 2008 post-election violence. Top on the agenda of the 1pm status conference at The Hague will be to set the trial date for the suspects. That day could most certainly be this year unless the court is convinced on reasonable judicial grounds to push it to next year. The four suspects may, under the law, opt not to attend the status conference and send their advocates. But under Article 63(1) of the Rome Statute, they must be present from the first to the last day of the trial itself. Though the Trial Chamber will have the leeway to order that status quo remains as set by the Pre-Trial Chamber last year, fears have abounded that the Trial judges could cut short the freedom of the four Kenyan suspects and order that they be detained at The Hague, Netherlands till the end of trial. set languages None of the suspects on trial at the ICC since 2002 has attended the proceedings from home, they have all been held at the court’s custody. Allowing the four Kenyans to be free throughout the trial would be a precedent. The conference shall also set among others the languages to be used during the trial by witnesses and any victims to be called. The parties will agree on the number and calibre of witnesses to call, the documents already exchanged and the evidence that would be released to the accused. The court has already ruled that the trial will proceed even as the Appeal Chamber prepares to deliver a ruling on appeals filed by the suspects challenging the authority of the ICC to try them. The question of postponing the trial will most certainly come up as the parties will be setting the trial dates. And the court has opened the way for them to raise any issues not in the agenda. “Should the parties wish to add other items to the agenda of the status conference they should indicate it in their written submissions,” the Trial Chamber judges said. ICC spokesman Fadi Abdalah has said the Trial Chamber would only consider well founded legal reasons to adjourn the proceedings. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
