Kenyan govt rapped by ICC

"The Republic of Kenya had failed to comply with its obligations to cooperate with the ICC," the court said in a statement on Monday. Read the statement here.

The ruling upheld a complaint by ICC prosecutors which has been in and out of The Hague-based court over the past two years, after Kenyan officials allegedly failed to produce records relating to an expired case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Kenyatta, who became head of state in 2013, was accused of crimes against humanity during violence that followed the country's 2007 elections when he was an opposition leader.

ICC prosecutors had claimed Kenyatta planned and funded violence in several cities and had requested Kenyan judges to hand over documents, which included telephone records and bank statements.

Deadly violence

Ethnic unrest erupted hours after incumbent Mwai Kibaki won bungled elections against opposition leader Raila Odinga. More than 1,000 people were killed, and hundreds of thousands of people were displaced.

Kenyatta, who supported Kibaki, was accused of organizing a politico-religious group which was accused of carrying out much of the violence.

In 2014, he became the first sitting head of state to appear before the ICC, along with five other suspects, where he denied any links with the sect.

The case was dropped a year later, in what is regarded by experts as the ICC's biggest setback, following a four-year investigation that was littered with allegations of witness intimidation, bribery and false testimony.

Kenyatta claimed the charges had been "rushed ... without proper investigation."

A similar case against William Ruto, now Kenya's deputy president, was dropped in April.

But on Monday, an ICC judge referred the Kenyan government to the court's governing body for non-compliance, adding that although the case had been terminated, "the Court retains jurisdiction over any interference with a witness or with the collection of evidence."

Government stalling

The court said "the approach of the Kenyan government fell short of the standard of good faith cooperation under the Rome Statute," and that Kenyan authorities had still resisted requests to comply some 18 months after the initial complaint.

Despite the case against Kenyatta being dropped, the court's statement highlighted "the relevance of the materials sought... to current or future investigations."

It also warned that any similar lack of cooperation could have a "serious impact on the functioning of the court in future proceedings."

Under ICC rules founded by the Rome Statute, which 124 countries have signed up to, all states are required to cooperate fully with ICC investigations and prosecutions.

Several African countries have threatened to quit the world's only permanent independent war crimes court over the Kenya issue.

mm/jil (Reuters, ICC)