By suing state, Itumbi bites the hand that feeds him

The Director of Digital Media in the Office of the President Dennis Itumbi has sued the Government for compensation for harassment over leaked International Criminal Court documents. Mr Itumbi also wants the High Court to block any future arrest and prosecution over alleged interference in the crimes against humanity charges that faced President Uhuru Kenyatta at the ICC.

He argues that in January 2012, ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo reported that he was investigating interference of witnesses in the case against Mr Kenyatta, Mr William Ruto and Mr Joshua arap Sang. “The ICC did not issue an arrest warrant against me. However, in March 2012, I was arrested and detained for four days in relation to the allegations,” Mr Itumbi says.

He adds that police officers raided his house and took his phone and laptop computer to access private information. He says during his custody, he was asked if he knew any ICC witnesses, if he had hacked into the ICC account and if he was in possession of court material.

He says his rights were violated since he was not informed of the reasons for the arrest. “In 2012, I wrote to ICC inquiring if it instigated my arrest but it said it was under no obligation to reply. “I requested the Attorney-General to furnish me with their correspondence but got no response,” he said.

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After he got no response, Mr Itumbi swore that he applied to ICC’s Trial Chamber V to rule that he was illegally arrested in context of Mr Ocampo’s allegations but the judges said they were not satisfied his arrest was connected to Mr Ocampo’s allegations.  “From the ICC judges’ findings, it was evident my arrest had nothing to do with the ICC cases. It shows that the police unlawfully abused their powers and have refused to close the file which means I am still under investigations and may be arrested again,” said Mr Itumbi.

He added that the refusal to close the file was causing him anxiety and uncertainty, given that the ICC pre-trial brief released on January 19, 2015 had not implicated him in any way.