The International Criminal Court should drop or suspend charges against
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and Kenyan Deputy President William
Ruto until African concerns about the court and proposals to change its
founding treaty are considered, African leaders say.
The demand came in a report Saturday on previous decisions made by African Union leaders.
The African Union has accused the ICC of disproportionately targeting
Africans. The court has indicted only Africans so far, although half of
the eight cases it is prosecuting were referred to it by African
governments themselves.
Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Sang have been charged with crimes
against humanity for their alleged role in orchestrating Kenya's 2007-08
postelection violence. Their trial is underway at the ICC. More than
1,000 people died and 600,000 others were forced to flee their homes
amid violence sparked by a flawed presidential election.
Similar charges against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta were dropped in
December after the prosecution said it did not have enough evidence
against him. Kenyatta and Ruto were on opposing sides of the
postelection violence but joined forces to win the presidency in the
March 2013 polls.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Bashir for failing to respond
to summons to answer to charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes
against humanity for the violence in Darfur.
No comments:
Post a Comment