Sang told Capital FM News that he would travel on Sunday morning to be at The Hague during start of the trial.Photo/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 8 – The trial against Deputy President William Ruto and Journalist Joshua arap Sang resumes on Monday next week following a break last month.
Sang told Capital FM News that he would travel on Sunday morning to be at The Hague during start of the trial.
The prosecution was directed by Trial Chamber V(a) to ensure that its case against Ruto and Sang closes by March 2015.
READ: ICC Prosecution to close case against Ruto, Sang in 2015
During the last session in December, the prosecution indicated that it had several witnesses to take the stand when the trial resumes on January 12.
Senior Trial Attorney Anton Steynberg was not in a position to tell the court the exact number of witnesses pending to testify in the trial against Ruto and Sang.
Once the prosecution closes its case, the defence teams of Ruto and Sang will be at liberty to decide how they present their defence in the allegations made against them following the 2008 Post Election Violence in Kenya.
Judges of Trial Chamber V(a) allowed them to file a motion of no-case-to-answer should they wish to do so.
This week, there was controversy following the death of Meshack Yebei whom the defence says was its witness. Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan has already written to the Criminal Investigations Department seeking a through probe into the death.
Yebei’s mutilated body was found floating on a river in Turbo on December 28, 2014.
Investigations into the mysterious death are ongoing and Capital FM News has learnt that investigators are at the scene gathering information.
READ: ICC lawyer wants murder of defence witness probed.
The trial against Ruto and Sang began in September 10, in 2013 and so far 27 witnesses have given their evidence.
Four of them who appeared under summonses to appear were declared hostile witnesses after they recanted their evidence.
Some of them told the court that they had been coached and bribed by ICC investigators to fix the accused persons.
Other witnesses alleged that they were promised relocation and better lives for them and their families if they agreed to testify.
Other prosecution witnesses gave evidence in which they alleged that Ruto and Sang were involved in the planning and execution of attacks in the Rift valley following the disputed Presidential poll in 2007.
In the trial session several other witnesses changed their statements and said they had lied to the court at the time of investigations and making initial testimonies.
Ruto’s defence has argued that Pre-Trial Judges relied on evidence of some of the witnesses who later admitted they had lied to confirm charges against him.
Meanwhile, judges of Trial Chamber V(b) are expected to issue a ruling in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta following an application by the prosecution seeking to withdraw charges against him on December 6, 2014.
Bensouda asked the judges to withdraw the charges owing it to lack of evidence.
READ: Bensouda drops President Kenyatta’s ICC case
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