Category: East Africa

Today, 26 May 2021, the confirmation of charges hearing in the case The Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) concluded before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), composed of Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala (Presiding judge), Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua and Judge Tomoko Akane. The purpose of the confirmation of charges hearing is for the judges to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that the suspect committed each…

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Thank you Mr President. On behalf of the Office of the Prosecutor, I am Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Today, I am joined by my learned colleagues, Mr Julian Nicholls, Senior Trial Lawyer and Ms Jasmina Suljanovic, Case Manager. It is my honor and privilege to address you today. Mr President, Your Honours, Mr Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman, known more commonly by his alias “Ali Kushayb”, is charged with 31 counts of crimes against humanity and…

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Today, 24 May 2021, the confirmation of charges hearing in the case The Prosecutor v. Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”) opened before Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC), composed of Judge Rosario Salvatore Aitala (Presiding judge), Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua and Judge Tomoko Akane. The hearing is scheduled until 27 May 2021. The judges will hear successively the oral submissions of the Prosecutor, the Legal Representatives of the Victims and the Defense. The confirmation of charges hearing is…

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It came perhaps unexpectedly to President Uhuru Kenyatta and many Kenyans – positively or otherwise. Call it an explosive verdict. An audacious slap on the face of the President, you may say, but wait for a second; that may be a speculative conclusion to make. Yes, Kenya’s High Court had boldly dismissed the government-sponsored constitutional amendment bill, the Building Bridges Initiative (BBI), which would have expanded the executive and Parliament, and labelled it illegal and unconstitutional.  That is not…

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Dominic Ongwen during the delivery of the sentence before the International Criminal Court on 6 May 2021 ©ICC-CPI Today, 6 May 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) sentenced Dominic Ongwen to 25 years of imprisonment following the Trial Judgment in which the Chamber found him guilty for a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. The period…

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