Muthaura and Kenyatta case: The trial opening is postponed to 9 July 2013

Today, 7 March 2013, Trial Chamber V of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to grant the Defence teams’ requests, to which the Prosecutor did not oppose, and to postpone the opening of the trial in the case The Prosecutor v. Francis Kirimi Muthaura and Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and set the new date provisionally for 9 July 2013.

The Chamber considers that, in addition to Defence submissions related to delayed disclosure of information, the Defence teams’ applications requesting referral back to the Pre-Trial Chamber raise very serious issues that must be resolved before the trial can proceed and which may not be resolved before 11 April 2013, the date initially set for the opening of the trial.

The Defence teams in the case The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang also submitted requests to postpone the opening of the trial, currently scheduled to being on 10 April 2013. Trial Chamber V will issue its decision on these requests in due course.

Order concerning the start date of trial

For further information, please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Spokesperson and Head of Public Affairs Unit, International Criminal Court, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or +31 (0)6 46448938 or by e-mail at: [email protected].