More than 2000 years after Jesus of Nazareth was crucified, a Kenyan lawyer went to court in 2013, to seek justice for the man from Nazareth.
Dola Indidis, a lawyer and former spokesman of the Kenyan Judiciary is suing Tiberius, who was emperor of Rome from 42 BCE-37 CE, Pontius Pilate, a selection of Jewish elders, King Herod, the Republic of Italy, and the State of Israel.
Dola Indidis holds that the trial and crucifixion of Jesus Christ were unlawful, and the State of Israel amongst others should be held responsible. He is praying the Court to consider a re-trial of Jesus Christ and convict those responsible for his unlawful crucifixion.
He is challenging the mode of questioning used during Jesus’s trial, prosecution, hearing, and sentencing; the form of punishment meted out to him while undergoing judicial proceedings, and the substance of the information used to convict him.
Although those he suggests should have been convicted during the original trial have not been alive for more than 2,000 years, Indidis insists that the government for whom they acted can and should still be held responsible. He contends that the proceedings before the Roman courts were a nullity in law, for they did not conform to the rule of law at the material time and any time thereafter.
From antiquity, crucifixion has always been considered one of the most brutal and shameful modes of death. Crucifixion on the Cross, which was first systemically used by the Assyrians and Babylonians in the 6th Century BC, and later introduced to the Eastern Mediterranean countries by Alexander the Great in the 4th Century BC, only became a Roman practice in the 3rd Century after the Phoenicians resorted to it in Rome. The Romans then perfected crucifixion for 500 years until it was abolished by Constantine the 1st, in the 4th century AD.
But even in Roman times, throughout the 500 years, crucifixion was reserved mostly for slaves, disgraced soldiers, Christians, and foreigners. Only very rarely for Roman citizens.
Death from crucifixion was probably precipitated by, deliberate fracturing of the tibia and/or fibula, spear stab wounds into the heart, sharp blows to the front of the chest, or a smoking fire built at the foot of the cross to asphyxiate the victim, as was the practice then. The attending Roman guards could only leave the site after the victim had died.
So Indidis, a Christian himself, feels sufficiently offended that his savior Jesus, who was generally considered innocent, had to die in that despicable manner.
He told the Nairobian newspaper in 2013 that: “I filed the case because it’s my duty to uphold the dignity of Jesus and I have gone to the ICJ to seek justice for the man from Nazareth….. His selective and malicious prosecution violated his human rights through judicial misconduct, abuse of office, bias, and prejudice…..I am suing as a friend.”
Indidis also told the Kenyan Citizen News, that: “Evidence today is on record in the Bible, and you cannot discredit the Bible…I know with a matter of fact and truth we have a good case with a high probability of success and I hope it is done in my lifetime.”
The case was first filed in the High Court in Nairobi but was rejected. Indidis then applied to have it heard at the ICJ. But an official from the ICJ was also quoted to have told a legal news website, Legal Cheek, that: “The ICJ has no jurisdiction for such a case. The ICJ settles disputes between States. It is not even theoretically possible for us to consider this case.”
So, if you were Dola Indidis, a concerned friend of Jesus, what will you do next?
Yours sincerely.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.
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