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Dr David Matsanga is a Ugandan peace negotiator/ FILE

Kenya

ICC officials in Kenya to probe witness ‘tampering’

Dr David Matsanga is a Ugandan peace negotiator/ FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 13 – International Criminal Court (ICC) officials are in Kenya to interrogate people suspected to be interfering with the Kenyan case.

Sources said among those they have spoken to is Ugandan peace negotiator David Matsanga who has been vocal in criticising the case and ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo.

“The ICC officials are in the country. They have been following this issue of interference of the case and they have spoken to quite a number of people,” one source with knowledge of ICC operations in the Kenyan case said.

Although the ICC itself declined to confirm if their officials are in town over the matter, sources told Capital FM News the officials have already held a session with Matsanga.

“They (ICC officials) have spoken to him,” the source said, but he did not offer more details on the discussions which he termed a “routine investigation”.

Sources told Capital FM News the ICC officials spent the better part of Friday morning with Matsanga at a city hotel.

They were particularly interested to know why he had been vocal in criticising the ICC through his Africa World Media and media interviews.

While in Kenya, the ICC officials are also expected to establish contact with some other people accused of having played roles that are seen to be interfering with the ICC cases on the four Kenyans.

Other people expected to be questioned by the ICC officials include blogger Dennis Itumbi who was questioned by a parliamentary committee on Thursday over his alleged involvement in hacking the ICC website.

The blogger was arrested and interrogated by detectives late last month over the claims before he was set free.

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Matsanga has been in the forefront criticizing the ICC, and has even documented a booklet on Witness Number four who is alleged to have retracted the evidence he had given to the ICC.

In his book titled “Did He Investigate Kenyan Cases?”, Matsanga seeks to put Ocampo on the spot, with interviews of James Maina Kabutu who is Prosecution Witness Number Four.

The booklet was handed over to the Appeals Chamber of the ICC and was addressed to its presiding judge Akua Kuenyehia and judges Sang Hyun Song, Anita Usacka, Erkki Kourula and Daniel David Ntanda Nsereko through a cover letter dated February 22.

In the letter, Ocampo states that he arranged a meeting with Kabutu after being contacted by his attorney.

“My lords, as an international investigative journalist who has done several other assignments in the media and the UK and the world, I was contacted by the attorneys of Mr James Maina Kabutu. I did not know him or the attorney and after a brief exchange of telephone calls my investigation team fixed an appointment to meet them in the USA,” Matsanga states in the book unveiled in Nairobi two months ago.

In the book, he seeks to inform the judges that the evidence Ocampo is relying in his case is not a true testimony of the witnesses.

“My lords the testimony of witness number 4 forms the core fallacy on the chief prosecutor’s case that is before you. It is imperative that the world knows whether a reputable international court of justice will rely on fake witnesses paraded to the court to put on the trial innocent people,” he states.

Kenyan suspects facing trial at the ICC include Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former Civil Service head Francis Muthaura, Eldoret North MP William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang who are all faced with crimes against humanity charges.

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