NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 7 – Radio Presenter Joshua arap Sang is expected to call his second witness to the stand when the confirmation of charges hearings resume before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday afternoon.
The proceedings will be screened on www.capitalfm.co.ke/tv/icc from 4pm.
On Tuesday evening, Moi University associate professor Paul Chepkwony who was Mr Sang’s first witness said he associated with the presenter when he did consultancy work at Kass FM.
During cross-examination by Mr Sang’s lawyer Kimutai Bosek, Mr Chepkwony said the broadcaster also hosted him on his breakfast show together with two ODM lawmakers when he was a candidate for the Ainamoi parliamentary seat.
At some point, Mr Chepkwony gave conflicting information about his familiarity or meetings with Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
He said Mr Ruto was among the founders of the United Democratic Movement (UDM) but contradicted himself when he again told the court that Mr Ruto was not a member of UDM, prompting Presiding Judge Ekatarina Trendafilova to seek clarification.
The confirmation of charges hearings which started last Thursday against the first three Kenyan suspects are due to end on Monday.
The three other suspects, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Postmaster General Hussein Ali and Head of Civil Service Ambassador Francis Muthaura are due to face the court from September 21.
The court is to yet rule on a request by Messrs Kenyatta, Muthaura and Maj Gen Ali to have the date postponed by three months to allow them time to respond to the Documents Containing Charges (DCC).
A joint application filed by Evans Monari and Gershom Otachi said: “Defence maintains that the sheer volume and extensive change in the direction of the Prosecutor’s case, which arises exclusively from the last scheduled disclosure on 19th August 2011 has made it difficult for the Defence to effectively prepare its case in the short period.”
ICC Prosecutor Moreno Ocampo has asked the court to disregard the request since there was ample time for them to prepare their defence.
A request by the suspects in the first case, Mr Ruto, Sang and Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey to have the September 1 date of confirmation of charges hearings extended was rejected by the court.
Should the court reject the plea by the three suspects in the second case, a decision on whether the six should go to trial should be made by December this year or January 2012 at the latest.
The suspects are accused of crimes against humanity following the 2008 post election violence in Kenya that lead to the deaths of about 1,300 people, displacement of 600,000 others and destruction of property worth millions of shillings.
The ICC decided to investigate the case after Kenya failed to establish a local tribunal to investigate the perpetrators.
The prosecution is facing many challenges with credibility questions of its witnesses being questioned by Messrs Ruto, Kosgey and Sang.
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