Ruto, Sang ICC trial to resume this week

PHOTO | BILLY MUTAI Deputy President William Ruto arrives at the ICC in The Hague on October 25, 2013 accompanied by Kenya’s ambassador to the Netherlands Makena Muchiri. The trial of Ruto and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang resumes on January 16, 2013.  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

DP awaiting ruling on his excusal application

By Walter Menya
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The trial of Deputy President William Ruto resumes this week in The Hague as the ninth prosecution witness takes the stand.

Mr Ruto’s trial resumes on January 16 and he will be in the courtroom to continue listening to the witnesses against him, pending a ruling on an application in which he is seeking to be excused from attendance.

Initially, the trials were to resume tomorrow but the Trial Chamber V (a) rescheduled it by three days to January 16.

The prosecution lined up 22 crime-based witnesses and victims against Mr Ruto and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang. ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will also be calling expert witnesses.

Since the trials began on September 10 last year, the prosecution has called in eight witnesses, most of whom were crime-based, as well as victims to testify against the two suspects.

The witnesses who have so far testified are Number 536— a woman who claimed to have been a victim of the Kiambaa church arson.

She was followed by witness 326— a former ODM activist who claimed to have seen Mr Ruto being given money by the party to fund the violence, a claim the defence sought to dismantle with letters from ODM officials and bank slips. The witnesses were given pseudonyms to protect their identities and those of their families.

The prosecution has called witnesses 189, 376, 487, 268, 423 and 535 all from the larger Eldoret area as Ms Bensouda strives to build her case that Mr Ruto and Mr Sang were part of a network that organised the attacks.

On the other hand, the defence has sought to dismantle the prosecution theory, insisting that the 2007/08 post-election violence was spontaneous.

As the date for the resumption of the trials draws nigh, the Deputy President will be hoping that the ICC judges will rule favourably on his application for excusal from attendance.