Deputy President William Ruto (2nd right) and Radio presenter Joshua
Arap Sang(left) arrive at the ICC premises in the Hague Netherlands. A
prosecution witness was accused of changing his testimony to fix
journalist Joshua arap Sang as ICC proceedings continued yesterday.
PHOTO/DPPS
A prosecution witness was accused of changing his testimony to fix journalist Joshua arap Sang as ICC proceedings continued yesterday.
The new development
came as Witness P-356 also appeared to disown video evidence that had on
Tuesday been played by the prosecution showing Deputy President William
Ruto being installed as Kalenjin’s “king and spokesman.”
While
being cross examined by lawyer Katwa Kigen, the witness said Mr Ruto
was installed as the king and spokesman of the Kalenjin community at a
separate event and not the one that was shown by the prosecution in the
video clip.
“The function (at which) Ruto was made a king is not the video we have just watched,” the witness said.
Earlier
on, Mr Kigen, who is representing Mr Sang, had also indicated that the
witness had been influenced by the prosecution to use the term “weed”
while referring to supporters of the Party of National Unity.
To
prove his point, the lawyer read a transcript of an interview the
witness had with one of the officials in the prosecutor’s office.
Mr
Kigen said the witness did not at any time use the word ‘weed’ in the
interview and only did so after the prosecution suggested it to him.
“You
are not on record as having used this word…could you confirm whether
the person interviewing you is the same who suggested that you use the
word weed?” he posed.
Mr Sang was said to have used the term in his Lene Emet call in a show that was broadcast on Kass FM.
While
giving his testimony-in-chief, the witness also alleged that Mr Sang
used his native Kalenjin to “insult” members of the Kikuyu community by
using words like Kimurkelda — a word for someone with brown teeth — when
referring to PNU supporters.
Mr Kigen also asked the
witness whether he had provided any audio or video evidence to support
claims that his client incited people.
However, in
response, the witness denied Mr Kigen’s allegations saying there is no
way he could have been influenced by the prosecution in giving examples
of the abusive words the former broadcast journalist used in his talk
show.
“It is actually me who introduced these
terminologies to the Office of the Prosecutor. What you are referring to
came about since we were not communicating with the translator when I
was writing my statement. That is why he brought up the issue again,”
the witness said.
“I did not give the prosecution
either audio or video evidence since I had not been asked to provide...”
he went on. Mr Sang and Deputy President William Ruto are facing crimes
against humanity charges at The Hague over the 2008 poll chaos.
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WHAT’S ALLEGED
Witness talks of Ruto’s influence
Influential: The
witness told the court that Mr Ruto, who had at the time been elected
as the spokesman of the Kalenjin Council of Elders, was so powerful that
whatever he said was respected.
Ended chaos:
He gave an example of how the Deputy President stopped the fighting in
the Rift Valley, when at a live broadcast at the Lene Emet show, asked
Kalenjin youths to unblock roads and bring back peace.
He said the youth heeded Mr Ruto’s order and stopped.
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