According to SD Muller a scholar The Uhuruto argued the cases did not meet the threshold for crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute , and that violence resulted from ordinary crimes committed spontaneously rather than in pursuit of a“state or organizational policy.” Here the defense invoked Judge Hans Peter Kaul’s earlier minority opinions in the Pre Trial Case in which he had objected to the ICC beginning an investigation in Kenya or confirming charges against the suspects. Like Kaul, the defendants’ lawyers said that the crimes committed had to be in pursuit of a state or organizational policy that threatened humanity, and that, if it were an organization, it had to be“ state-like” (a phrase not used in the Rome Statute) and not just ephemeral“ alliances of convenience”or ethnic gangs.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 15:29:26 +0000