DP Ruto, his lawyer Karim Khan and Joshua arap Sang leave the court. Photo/ FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 2 – The trial against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang has adjourned for two weeks, to resume on February 23.
The Prosecution was expected to present all its remaining witnesses in this session but adjourned before the court heard the testimony of the 30th witness who was supposed to be the last to testify in the case.
The next session will mark the last leg of the prosecution’s case which is expected to close by March 12 as directed by Trial Chamber V (a).
Meanwhile, defence teams of Ruto and Sang are working to file a motion of no-case-to-answer to convince the judges to halt the trial based on the evidence presented by the prosecution.
They are expected to file the motion within 14 days after the prosecution closes its case.
The two teams had however requested to be given 30 days instead of the 14 to make the application.
They also requested the judges to extend the number of pages of the application from 40 to 100 pages.
READ: Will Ruto, Sang bid to end ICC case in March succeed?
A motion of no-case-answer is based on every charge the accused person is facing and the decision is also made for every charge. This means the judges can grant the application in whole or partially for some charges Ruto and Sang are facing.
Both are accused as indirect co-perpetrators with charges of deportation or forcible transfer of population, persecution and murder.
The judges will issue a ruling of motion of no-case-to-answer for every charge.
If the judges believe the accused persons have a case to answer, the trial will proceed with the defence teams making their case.
In such a situation, the defence teams will start giving evidence to counter the prosecution’s allegations.
They will be free to bring witnesses to testify just like the prosecution did when the trial kicked off on September 10, 2013.
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