20110424
Nation

Nairobi — Victims of post-election violence want the government stopped from responding to their submissions on its case challenging The Hague trials.

In an application filed by Mr Christopher Gosnell, they claim the request is premature and seeks to exceed the proper scope of a reply.

"No 'right' to file a reply is recognised before the International Criminal Court, contrary to the Applicant's submissions. Other international tribunals also treat replies as a matter of discretion, rather than right," the application reads in part.

The government is using Article 19 of the ICC Statute to challenge the admissibility of the cases and the jurisdiction of the ICC.

Through its British lawyers Sir Geoffrey Nice QC and Mr Rodney Dixon, it claims a fair outcome cannot be achieved if it is denied the right to reply.

It also wants to be allowed to table before the Pre-Trial Chamber II all relevant submissions and information in response to the submissions by the prosecutor, defence and the victims.

But the victims argue allowing the government to reply may not enhance the fairness of the proceedings.

They claim the request is "unusual, if not unprecedented" as the government is seeking leave to reply yet no responses have been filed on its original application.

"No good cause can be shown until those responses have been received, when the applicant can describe with more particularity the purpose of a proposed reply. Only then can the Chamber properly assess whether a reply enhances or diminishes the fairness of proceedings," the victims contend.

The government says it can handle the post-election violence cases. It has drawn up a timetable to give progress reports on investigations and prosecutions with a deadline of September 2011.

It argues that with the changes, the two cases against William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua Sang and Uhuru Kenyatta, Francis Muthaura and Hussein Ali should not be handled at The Hague.

The Pre-Trial Chamber has asked the prosecutor, defence teams and the victims to file submissions on the government application by Thursday next week.