Witness lied, Ruto lawyer now tells ICC judges

By People Correspondent @PeopleDailyKe

Deputy President ICC lawyer Karim Khan. 

Deputy President William Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan has used the prosecution’s evidence to demonstrate to the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges that the 27th witness had lied to the court that he had taken the body of person number 10 to the mortuary.

According to the death certificate in possession of the Office of the Prosecutor, the person died on December 31, 2007 at the Moi Referral Hospital, while the witness claimed he took the body to the mortuary a day earlier. “Are you aware that person died on 31st December?

He was admitted at a particular ward for treatment at Moi Referral Hospital but tragically the person did not survive, he died at the hospital, and that is what the prosecution’s document – the certificate of death – shows,” Khan explained.

But the witness insisted that he saw the person’s body lying in a pool of blood on December 30, 2007 and in fact took it to the mortuary. The witness during his earlier testimony told the ICC judges that the person’s body had machete cuts on the face.

The witness told the court that on December 31, he was at a café near a fund-raising event in Ziwa in Eldoret where funds were raised to sponsor the 2007 attacks in the Rift Valley.

According to the witness, during the harambee that lasted for about 20 minutes, Jackson Kibor announced that Ruto had sent a contribution of Sh200,000.

The cross-examination ended yesterday the status conference today. The conference is expected to provide a road map of the next sessions of the trial. Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji earlier said the prosecution will be required to close its case in early 2015.

This will pave way for the defence teams of Ruto to decide if they will file a motion of no-case-to-answer or prepare a defence case to challenge the prosecution’s evidence.

Meanwhile, the Government of Kenya has been invited to make submissions by December 22 regarding the prosecutor’s leave to appeal the Trial Chamber V (b)’s decision not to refer Kenya to the Assembly of State Parties for non-cooperation.

Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda wants to be allowed to appeal so that Kenya can be reported to the ASP for failing to cooperate with her office in submission of documents required in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.