NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Kenya could try a case for a man suspected of intimidating witnesses in a war crimes case if it has the appropriate justice system, an ICC envoy said Wednesday.
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant Oct. 2 for a Kenyan man, Walter Barasa, for trying to bribe someone he thought was a prosecution witness in the case against Vice President William Ruto.
Ruto is on trial for war crimes committed allegedly during a post-election conflict in Kenya in 2007. The court said it had evidence to suggest there was "a network of people" trying to sabotage the case.
Maria Mabinty Kamara, ICC coordinator for Kenya and Uganda, said Wednesday in Nairobi the Kenyan courts could address the Barasa case.
"ICC has principle of complementarity," she was quoted by Kenyan newspaper The Daily Nation as saying. "It will only investigate if assembly of state party is unable or unwilling to do so."
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to appear before the ICC next month. Ruto said he'd cooperate with the ICC but wanted to return home from The Hague, Netherlands, to address national security issues.
