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I lied to get new identity, life overseas – ICC witness

The witness told the ICC judges that if he had not been coached he would not have been at the court giving evidence like he was doing/FILE

The witness told the ICC judges that if he had not been coached he would not have been at the court giving evidence like he was doing/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 24 – The 24th witness in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang has said he didn’t mind telling any sort of lies to ICC investigators after promises he would be given a new identity and his children taken to school overseas.

The witness who is the 3rd to testify under summonses by the court said he was ready to fake information for the sake of securing an opportunity that was going to change his lifestyle and that of his family.

“They told that I would be given a new name; I would go abroad… I would be given money and that my children would be able to go to school and other benefits would flow from that location, for my benefit and that of my family. We were poor people, unemployed. Living in those circumstances, I felt I was going to have a better life,” the witness told the International Criminal Court on Wednesday.

On further questioning by Senior Trial Attorney Anton Steynberg, Witness P0516 insisted that he also lied about where he lived to ICC investigators because ‘there was no difference between a lie and the truth’ since he had already been coached to fabricate evidence.

The witness told the ICC judges that if he had not been coached he would not have been at the court giving evidence like he was doing.

“They had made promises to me. Number 1 and Number 3 used all possible strategies to train me to say what needed to be said, I bought into it, so without that trap I would not be here testifying before you,” the witness said.

The witness further dismissed initial claims that he used to listen to Sang’s radio show on Kass FM in which he said he heard him inciting Kalenjins to attack Kikuyus living in the Rift Valley.

He told the court that he used to listen to a different radio station and not Kass FM.

The witness also denied being at events where he allegedly heard Ruto planning the attacks or urging people to attack non-Kalenjins.

Defence teams of Ruto and Sang are expected to begin cross- examining the witness after he completes giving his evidence-in-chief.

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This trial session is expected to run to October 2 if there will be no other witness ready to take stand.

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