[JURIST] A tribunal of judges in Kenya on Monday recommended the dismissal of the country’s Deputy Chief Justice Nancy Baraza, who has been accused of threatening a security guard with a gun. Baraza was suspended by Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile; JURIST news archive] last January while the tribunal investigated the allegations [Reuters report]. A female security guard accused Baraza of brandishing a pistol at a public shopping center after refusing to submit to a mandatory security check. The tribunal on Monday accepted the allegations of the security guard and recommended the dismissal of Baraza for violating the constitution. They found that Baraza’s explanation of events was “misleading” and failed to adequately address the allegations. The recommendation of the tribunal will be passed along to the president, who will decide whether to dismiss Baraza.

Last week, the Court of Appeals in Kenya upheld a lower court’s decision to set the date [JURIST report] of the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections for March 4, 2013. Kenya’s upcoming election has attracted international attention because it will be the first since the violence that followed the 2007 elections [JURIST news archive]. Four individuals are currently facing trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website; JURIST backgrounder] for fomenting the violence. Earlier this month, the ICC set the trial dates [JURIST report] for the two Kenyan post-election violence cases for next April. Last month the Chief Prosecutor of the ICC expressed his desire to start the two trials simultaneously [JURIST report] to avoid any appearance of bias in the March 2013 presidential election.