(THE HAGUE, Belgium)
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday became the first sitting head of state to appear before the International Criminal Court.
But instead of answering allegations that he has prevented the court’s prosecution from obtaining evidence that could prove his involvement in gang violence following 2007 elections, Mr. Kenyatta sat in silence.
His lawyer, Steven Kay, argued that the case against Mr. Kenyatta should be dropped and his client formally acquitted, even though the trial against him hasn’t even started. “The case has failed and it has failed in a way that it has no prospect of going further,” Mr. Kay told the court.
Mr. Kenyatta was charged in 2012 with crimes against humanity, including murder, deportation and rape for allegedly inciting—and financing—violence in early 2008 that killed more than 1,000 people and forced many more to leave their homes.
The ICC’s case against the son of Kenya’s founding father Jomo Kenyatta has deeply divided his country and the broader African continent. It will also decide whether the court, created to end impunity for the powerful, can achieve its purpose.
Mr. Kenyatta arrived in The Hague with an entourage of more than 100 lawmakers, his family and supporters who want judges to terminate the case against him.
“We want our president to be free. We want to go home with our president,” chanted a young man, who danced and threw himself on the ground in front of the court building. Another man had the words “No 2 ICC. Respect our Prezzo” shaved into his bleached hair.
The ICC’s case against Mr. Kenyatta ran into trouble even before he was elected president last year. The prosecution has seen key witnesses recant earlier testimony amid allegations of bribery and intimidation. Last month, prosecutor Fatou Bensouda asked judges to adjourn the trial against him indefinitely, alleging that a failure by the Kenyan government to supply Mr. Kenyatta’s full financial and phone records had left her without sufficient evidence to prove her case.
On Wednesday, Ms. Bensouda and her chief trial lawyer, Benjamin Gumpert, sought to explain the difficulties of proving a case where the accused also controls the government in charge of producing potential evidence.
“It would be wholly inappropriate for a case to be withdrawn where there has been obstruction of the proper inquiries, which the justice of the case required to be made,” Mr. Gumpert said.
(WSJ)

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta Appears in Court