[JURIST] A Kenyan government delegation headed by Minister of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs [ministry website] Mutula Kilonzo Kenya pledged in a Friday meeting [press release; minutes] with International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] Prosecutor Luis Ocampo [official profile] that by September Kenya would present a detailed plan for prosecuting those responsible for the most serious crimes committed during the December 2007 post-elections violence [JURIST news report]. The Kenyan delegation also pledged to inform the ICC of the current status of investigations and prosecutions, as well as measures taken to ensure victim and witness safety. Ocampo confirmed that, as initially announced in February [statement, PDF], his office "is conducting its preliminary analysis on the situation in Kenya." The ICC will intervene as a court of last resort if Kenya fails to undertake what the ICC considers to be genuine investigations and prosecutions of post-election crimes that may fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC, to which Kenya is subject as a State Party to the Rome Statute [ICC materials].

In June, Amnesty International [advocacy website] Secretary General Irene Khan urged [press release] the Kenyan government to address impunity for human rights violations [JURIST report] committed by police and security forces during the December 2007 unrest. Former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan [official website], called in at the beginning of 2008 to mediate and end the violence, has threatened to give the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] a sealed list of key suspects for prosecution if Kenya does not undertake judicial proceedings itself.

[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website; JURIST news archive] has convicted and sentenced [press release] a former defense investigator to 10 months in prison for one count of contempt of court. Three Tribunal judges found Thursday that Leonidas Nshogoza [case materials] committed contempt "by repeatedly meeting with and disclosing the protected information of two witnesses, ... in knowing violation of, or with a reckless indifference to the protective measures ordered by the Kamahunda Trial Chamber on 7 July 2000." Nsohogoza was acquitted of one more count of contempt and two counts of attempt to commit contempt of the Tribunal as the Prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Nshogoza made bribe payments to two witnesses. He was released by the court since he was credited jail time served while awaiting judicial procedures since February 2008, and because the court considered his condition as a father of three despite other aggravating factors in the circumstances.

Nshogoza pleaded not guilty [JURIST news report] in February. He was arrested in June 2007 for allegedly bribing witnesses, fabricating evidence and "interfering in the administration of justice" during an appeal of the 2004 conviction [JURIST report] of former Rwandan Higher Education Minister Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda [TrialWatch profile]. Kamuhanda is currently serving two life sentences [IRIN report] for genocide and extermination. The ICTR was established to try genocide suspects for crimes occurring during the 1994 Rwandan conflict [HRW backgrounder] between Hutus and Tutsis in which approximately 800,000 people, primarily Tutsis, died.