With the Religion News Service and the Jerusalem Post
The conviction of Jesus by Pontius Pilate may be the most famous court verdict ever — and perhaps the most consequential, since it led to Jesus' crucifixion and the founding of a global religion. Dola Indidis, a Roman Catholic, is now petitioning the International Court of Justice, based at The Hague, Netherlands, to nullify Jesus’ conviction and death sentence. "The selective and malicious prosecution (of Jesus) violated his human rights,” said Indidis.
The former spokesman for the Kenyan judiciary accuses Pontius Pilate, who was the Roman governor of the Province of Judea almost 2,000 years ago, of “judicial misconduct, abuse of office, bias and prejudice.”
That may well be the case, at least in the view of believers and many Bible scholars. However, getting a court to rule on a 2,000-year-old case from an outlying province in a long-defunct empire will not be easy. Indidis first brought his case before the Kenyan High Court in Nairobi in 2007, but the court refused to hear it, saying it lacked jurisdiction. Now he is turning to the International Court of Justice which is best known for ruling on territorial disputes between members of the United Nations.
“I filed the case because it is my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the
ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth,” Indidid told 'The Nairobian' newspaper. “His selective and malicious prosecution violated his human rights through judicial misconduct, abuse of office bias and prejudice,” he added. Indidis apparently named the states of Italy and Israel in the lawsuit because upon the attainment of independence, the two states incorporated the laws of the Roman Empire, those in force at the time of the crucifixion. He is challenging the mode of questioning used during Jesus' trial, prosecution, hearing and sentencing; the form of punishment meted out on him while undergoing judicial proceedings and the substance of the information used to convict him.Officials at The Hague would not confirm or deny that they have received a petition.
But Indidis seems undeterred and points to the example of Joan of Arc, a15th-century figure who led the French to major victories against the English before she was captured and burned at the stake. A quarter-century after Joan’s death her conviction was overturned by a papal court, and in 1920 she was canonized.
