A Shot at the Deputy

I couldn’t resist the Bob Marley word play.

The news is that Fatou Bensouda the Prosecutor of the ICC now has a deputy after five rounds– count ’em- five rounds of voting. Its hard to imagine how Kenyans would gripe if our elections were also pentathletic.

The new Deputy is James Stewart and, at least from this mini-biography, it seems he comes with a wealth of experience in international criminal law, particularly in East Africa with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. His appointment fits the current pattern of the Prosecutor and the Deputy Prosecutor being appointed from different regions. Last time it was South America (Ocampo) and Africa (Bensouda). This time it is Africa (Bensouda) and the North America (Stewart is Canadian).

Side-bar: I always get confused and call Fatou Bensouda the Chief Prosecutor. Actually she is the Prosecutor. The next senior official is the Deputy prosecutor. Every other prosecuting lawyer in her office is then an assistant prosecutor.

Tagged: Bob Marley, Deputy Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, ICC, James Stewart