Press Release : | English, Français
Ruto and Sang Case: ICC Trial Chamber V(a) states that interfering with witnesses is an offence against the administration of justice and may be prosecuted (video included)
ICC-CPI-20130918-PR941
Situation: Situation in the Republic of Kenya
Case:
The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap
Sang
Today, 18
September 2013, Trial Chamber V(a) of the International Criminal Court (ICC),
seized with the case The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap
Sang, issued a special reminder on the importance of witness protection and
of possible sanctions for an act or attempted act that is considered an offence
against the administration of justice.
Speaking at the
beginning of this afternoon’s hearing, Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji stated
that “it is an offence against the administration of justice in this
Court, pursuant to Article 70 of the Rome Statute, for anyone to do
anything intentionally that would amount to corruptly influencing a
witness, obstructing or interfering with the attendance or testimony of a
witness, or retaliating against a witness for giving testimony in a case
before the Court”. Article 70 provides that, for such conduct, the Court may
impose a term of imprisonment not exceeding five years or a fine.
Judge Eboe-Osuji
added that such conduct “may also amount to contempt of Court” and stressed
that “any revelation of the identity of a witness whose identity has been
protected by this Court amounts to an offence in [the ICC]. So too will
any attempt to engage in any such revelation”. The Chamber called on everyone inside
and outside the Courtroom, as well as members of the press, bloggers, social
media members or participants and their websites or other online presence
“to desist from doing anything that would reveal or attempt to reveal the
identity of protected witnesses or to engage in secondary dissemination of
such wrongful and illegal information”. The Presiding Judge concluded the
special reminder by stating that “such conduct will be investigated and the
culprits will be prosecuted”.
YouTube (for
viewing):
http://youtube.com/watch?v=HOOxJeUG6Yw&feature=youtu.be
AUDIO (for
download):
http://www.fileserver.icc-cpi.info/audio/130918_kenya_1_Judge_Chile_Eboe-Osuji_special_reminder.mp3 (2.1 MB)
VIDEO (for
download):
http://www.fileserver.icc-cpi.info/video/130918_kenya_1_Judge_Chile_Eboe-Osuji_special_reminder.mp4 (43.5 MB)
For further
information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public
Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152
or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].
You
can also follow the Court’s activities on YouTube and Twitter