Congo ex-ICC suspect sues Kenya in push for Nairobi stay

Politics and policy

Congolese ex-militia boss Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui listens to the verdict during his trial, at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, on February 27, 2015. The ICC upheld the acquittal of Ngudjolo Chui, freed more than two years ago on war crimes charges. AFP PHOTO | POOL | JERRY LAMPEN 

By BRIAN WASUNA

In Summary

• Mr Ngudjolo, who will be in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), wants the High Court to let him stay in Kenya until his application for refugee status is determined.
• Mr Ngudjolo is currently in the Netherlands where he was denied asylum. He was expected in Nairobi on May 1 under the watch of Dutch police, but is yet to leave the country.
• The former militia leader wants the court to issue temporary orders stopping his forced exit from Kenya.

Former Congolese militia leader Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui has opened a legal battle against the Kenyan government to secure political asylum following his February acquittal at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Mr Ngudjolo, who will be in transit to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), wants the High Court to let him stay in Kenya until his application for refugee status is determined.

Following his acquittal at the ICC, Mr Ngudjolo says he fears the DRC government may kill him if he is repatriated to Kinshasa.

Mr Ngudjolo is currently in the Netherlands where he was denied asylum. He was expected in Nairobi on May 1 under the watch of Dutch police, but is yet to leave the country.

He was charged at the ICC in 2008 after been accused of leading the 2003 attacks on Bagoro village in eastern DRC that left 200 people dead.

He was also accused of recruiting child soldiers used in some of the attacks. He was acquitted in 2012, and an appeal by Fatou Bensouda dismissed in February.

Afraid

“Mr Ngudjolo fears that his constitutional rights will be violated if he is not allowed to gain entry into Kenya and afforded a chance to seek asylum,” his lawyer Gershom Otachi told Justice Mumbi Ngugi Thursday.

The former militia leader wants the court to issue temporary orders stopping his forced exit from Kenya.

Justice Weldon Korir on April 30 declined to grant temporary orders allowing Mr Ngudjolo to stay in Kenya, arguing that he would only be in the airport’s transit zone hence cannot be said to have entered the country and, therefore, cannot be protected by Kenyan laws.

The former Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) leader says he is afraid of political persecution by President Joseph Kabila in retaliation for his ICC testimonies that incriminated the DRC leader in the 2003 attacks.

Mr Ngudjolo told ICC judges Bruno Cotte, Fatoumata Diarra and Christine Wyngaert that the office of the president and other top government officials were behind the 2003 attacks.

He added that they were part of a move by politicians to further their economic interests in Ituri district, where Bagoro is located.