September 24, 2013

Summary

ICC offers sympathy and willingness to prosecute Westgate Mall terrorists. Well-meaning or political pandering?

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ICC offers sympathy and willingness to prosecute Westgate Mall terrorists

ICC offers sympathy and willingness to prosecute Westgate Mall terrorists

International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has offered to help prosecute those behind the terrorist attack on Nairobi’s Westgate shopping mall.

In a statement released today Bensouda expressed “her deep sympathy to the victims of the appalling attack”, which “may constitute a crime” under the ICC’s founding Rome Statute, to which Kenya – despite question marks that have recently arisen over being a signatory – is still presently a party.

“With full respect for the primacy of jurisdiction of the Republic of Kenya, the prosecutor stands ready to work with the international community and the government of Kenya to ensure that those responsible for these crimes are brought to justice,” Bensouda said.

WELL MEANT OFFER OF MEGAPHONE PR?

The Kenya Forum does not know whether to take Bensouda’s offer at face value, or to see it as yet another example of megaphone public relations from the ICC’s chief prosecutor, a woman who has complained before that the trial at the Hague of three Kenyans for ‘crimes against humanity’ should not be fought out through the media but whose own office seems to issue a press release every day.

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