{UAH} Mbabazi lawyers await ICC response

Mbabazi lawyers await ICC response

Written by Sulaiman Kakaire

Created: 01 January 2016

Lawyers John Mary Mugisha, Fred Muwema & Severino Twinobusingye

Lawyers of independent presidential candidate Amama Mbabazi were yesterday waiting to hear whether the International Criminal court will investigate the violence allegedly meted out at their client.

Severino Twinobusingye, a lawyer on Mbabazi's team, said on Thursday that they could not "dictate when the office will convey the feedback but today [Thursday] is the day we had anticipated to receive it."

In November, the lawyers wrote to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda requesting her to investigate individuals responsible for disrupting Mbabazi's rallies, defacing his campaign posters as well as the continuous imprisonment and intimidation of his supporters. They lodged a similar complaint with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Kampala.

"We have given all [the evidence] they need and they will respond to us within the framework of those institutions," Twinobusingye said.

On Tuesday, Fred Muwema, Mbabazi's lead lawyer, said they sought international intervention because the locally-provided mechanism has not helped.

"It is wrong for Police and Electoral Commission to act partisan…we have reported all cases of violence committed against our client [Mbabazi] and they have chosen to ignore them. They seem to suggest that it is wrong for one person to be a presidential candidate," Muwema said.

Mbabazi's lawyers have written three complaints to the Electoral Commission.

"As a commission, you have a duty to receive, examine and take serious action in respect of any complaint relating to the electoral process…but you have failed and/or refused to attend to our client's numerous complaints," Mbabazi's lawyers wrote to EC chairman Badru Kiggundu, referring to the High court decision in the matter of Charles Nsubuga V Badru Kiggundu & others, wherein the EC was directed to entertain and determine electoral complaints.

Nsubuga had sued after Mbabazi was barred in July this year by police and EC, from conducting consultative meetings in eastern Uganda ahead of his presidential campaign.

ICC JURISDICTION

The International Criminal Court is established by the Rome Statute, to which Uganda is a signatory. The court exercises   jurisdiction over the offence of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

However, the court exercises jurisdiction over the offences if the national courts or institutions are unwilling or unable to exercises jurisdiction. And this can be done by the ICC on its own initiative, or the matter can be referred to the court by a state party or the UN Security Council.

"It is our view that the continuous widespread arrest of Mbabazi's supporters and sabotage of his presidential campaigns fits within the definition of crimes against humanity as provided by the Rome Statute," Twinobusingye said. "And we are [urging] the prosecutor to investigate and have these people prosecuted as it was the case in Kenya," he said.

Article seven of the Rome Statute defines crimes against humanity to include any murder; extermination; enslavement; imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law. The statute further provides that the acts must be committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population.

RECEIVED

By press time, the ICC office in Kampala had not received the prosecutor's decision in regard to Mbabazi's complaints. However, on November 30, the office of the ICC prosecutor wrote acknowledging receipt of the complaint and the documents provided by Mbabazi's lawyers.

"This communication has been duly entered in the communications register of the office. We will give consideration to the communication, as appropriate, in accordance with the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court…As soon as a decision is reached, we will inform you, in writing and provide you with reasons for the decision," reads the letter signed by Mark P. Dillon, the head of Information and Evidence Unit in the office of the ICC prosecutor.
Jotham Taremwa, the EC spokesperson, urged caution when interviewed yesterday.

"They should be careful with those allegations. We have not responded because we have not had time. They cannot tell us when to respond to their letters," he said.  

skakaire@observer.ug

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*Abbey Kibirige  Semuwemba*

Stalk my blog at: http://semuwemba.com/

"These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about death and the hereafter... I go somewhere to get something and then wonder what I'm here after."

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