Kenyan MPs vote to quit international criminal court

By artappraiser on Fri, 09/06/2013 - 1:26am |

By David Smith, Africa correspondent, guardian.com, 5 Sept., 2013

Kenyan MPs voted on Thursday to become the first country to pull out of the international criminal court (ICC), sending a defiant message to The Hague just months before their president is due to stand trial.

Citing the fact that the United States and other major powers were not members, the majority leader of Kenya's parliament proposed a motion for Kenya to "suspend any links, co-operation and assistance" to the court. The measure passed comfortably.

The ICC has charged Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, and the deputy president, William Ruto, with crimes against humanity, which both deny.

Ruto's trial is due to start in The Hague next week and the ICC said the cases would continue even if Kenya pulled out of the court [....]

URL:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/05/kenya-quit-international-criminal-court