Steven Kay, the British lawyer behind the declassified investigative report - Credit: Office of the President - April 1, 2022

Steven Kay is the author of the now declassified investigative report titled— Pushing The Reset Button For South Sudan —an independent investigation into the root causes of the two ‘attempted coups’ in South Sudan, Here.

The two attempted ‘coups’ are said to have occurred on December 15, 2013, and July 8, 2016.

In a press conference in Juba on Friday, Kay said the report was an independent report, commissioned by him, and covered specifically events relating to the two ‘attempted coups’ in the country.

It looked at the evidence concerning the coups, particularly telephone intercept conversions that were made in South Sudan, and recordings were preserved in South Sudan.

Kay’s presser comes a few days after President Salva Kiir directed National Security and partners to make public all information concerning the 2013 and 2016 wars.

The African Union Commission of Inquiry in South Sudan report did not find evidence that warrants the two conflicts that engulfed South Sudan in 2013 and 2016 to be described as ‘coups’.

However, Kay defended his report saying the African Union Commission of Inquiry in South Sudan did not take the time to analyze the telephone intercepts that he did because they would have found their way to the truth, and events may have been very different in the sequence years.

So, who is he?

Steven Kay QC said he is a Queen Counsel from the bar of England and Wales, and a Lawyer with over 40 years of experience coupled with 25 years working in international criminal laws and wars.

Kay is the Head of Chambers at 9BR, a British law firm in London founded over 60 years ago, Here.

He is an international criminal lawyer with a global reputation. He is said to have investigated high-profile cases based on publications available on the 9BR’s website, Here.

Kay’s first-ever case on the global stage was the UN trial at the Yugoslavia Tribunal (Dusko Tadic) that created modern international criminal law; the first trial of a former ex-President of Serbia, Slobodan Milosevic.

The other high-profile case was that of the first trial at the ICC of an incumbent president and the Head of State, Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya, Kenyatta – ICC.

Kenyatta’s International Criminal Court proceedings started in December 2010, Steven Kay QC. Opening Statement for Uhuru Kenyatta – ICC.

He was accused of a leading role in the post-election violence of 2007 – 2008 and charged with crimes against humanity.

However, in January 2015 the charges against Kenyatta were withdrawn by the prosecution, saying that there was an insufficiency of evidence upon which to proceed to trial.

The result achieved by the 9BR team in this case has changed the course of African politics. Kenyatta was later elected as the president of Kenya.

Kay is said to have been engaged by governments and organizations to investigate matters of international concern including the 30 years of conflict in Sri Lanka between the Tamils and the State; Egypt and the Muslim Brotherhood; Montenegro Corruption and Conflicts of Interest; Human rights abuse alert Algeria; the IBA report on Political Prisons in North Korea.

Kay’s profile on the website describes him as a person with powerful knowledge of Middle East affairs and the workings of foreign governments and their legal systems.

That he communicates without jargon the nuances between various legal systems and international order and norms. And he can get the ear of top officials to facilitate decision-making. Here