ICC Confirms Receiving Petition Against Raila, Kalonzo

The International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague has confirmed it received a petition lodged by two Kenyans seeking investigations on National Super Alliance (NASA) leaders Raila Odinga and Kalonzo Musyoka.

In a letter by the Office of the Prosecutor dated October 17, 2017, the ICC acknowledged receipt of the petition filed by Kenyans.

“This communication has been duly entered in the communication register of the office. We will give consideration to this communication, as appropriate in accordance with the provisions of the Rome statute of the international criminal court,” the letter read in part.

The court, however, clarified that receiving the letter does not mean investigations had launched or will be launched.

“Please note that acknowledgement letter does not mean an investigation has opened, or that it will be opened by the office of the prosecutor,” read the letter.

The court said it will communicate to the petitioners once they arrive to a decision whether to launch investigations or not.

Kenneth Otieno and Martin Nkari hired the services of a Canadian law firm, Watson Jacobs McCreary LLP and filed the petition last week at the Netherlands-based court.

The two asked ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to probe the two opposition leaders on grounds of committing diverse crimes against humanity.

They named “ethnic violence, mobilisation and profiling, rape, sexual and gender-based crimes, targeted aggression, violent utterances and constant calls to violent demonstrations and call to arms” as the reasons behind their plea to the ICC.