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ICC witness says prosecution gave him prepared statement

The witness explained to Prosecution Counsel Lucio Garcia that there were two statements given to him, one handwritten and the other typed/FILE

The witness explained to Prosecution Counsel Lucio Garcia that there were two statements given to him, one handwritten and the other typed/FILE

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 17 – The 23rd witness in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang on Wednesday told the International Criminal Court (ICC) that the Office of The Prosecutor (OTP) gave him a written statement which he was asked to sign.

The witness explained to Prosecution Counsel Lucio Garcia that there were two statements given to him, one handwritten and the other typed.

“It was not my statement, I found it already with the OTP. The OTP gave me written statements which they told me to write in my hand so that they can look like they are from me,” he explained.

After reading the statements, Witness P0495 told the court that he adjusted details of the statements according to the instructions given to him by the OTP.

“I had to modify according to the way the investigators wanted,” he responded to Garcia.

The witness further told the court that information contained in the statements did not match with details of his location which caused him to reject parts of it.

“I rejected the statement given to me by the OTP because it was not matching with my region. It was not matching with the locations I am coming from,” the witness responded.

He further told the court that when he met OTP officers and was given the statement, he made a phone call to a lady who told him that he would get whatever he wanted after signing it.

“I was told to cooperate. The lady told me there will be statements for you to sign. Then I asked her what I would get in exchange. As poor as I am, I knew I would be rich. She promised everything I needed would be offered to me,” he said.

The witness disowned the entire of the prosecution’s testimony saying everything contained in it was not from him but had been written by somebody else.

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He agreed that he wrote the statements in his handwriting as directed and also signed them.

The witness who is being represented by a lawyer to ensure he does not self incriminate himself is the second witness to take stand under summonses to appear.

The witness will on Thursday continue giving his evidence-in-chief.

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