Francis Muthaura seen at his initial appearance at the Hague/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 8 – The Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura has withdrawn his application to have the September 21 Confirmation of Charges hearings postponed by three months.
Through his lead counsel Karim Kahn, Mr Muthaura informed the court that he was ready to go on with the proceedings as earlier scheduled.
“The defence respectfully withdraws its earlier request for an adjournment of the confirmation hearing and requests further that the confirmation hearing proceed as scheduled,” Mr Kahn said in the request filed at the International Criminal Court.
The Pre-trial Chamber however allowed the defence of Mr Muthaura a three-hour extension of time to present his evidence.
In his retraction, he said the defence had managed to interview eight witnesses and filed their evidence.
“The various extensions graciously granted by the single judge have made it possible for the defence to interview eight new witnesses within the last 24 hours preceding the expiration of the time-limit of 5 September 2011 and file a complete list of its evidence,” the court documents indicated.
Mr Kahn also said Mr Muthaura’s defence will manage to respond to the new evidence released by the prosecution before September 21.
“Whilst the defence had noted that its preparation was hampered by the Prosecution’s late disclosure, the defence feels that at this stage, it is ready and able to proceed with the confirmation hearing as scheduled,” he said.
Mr Muthaura who is in the second case alongside Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and Postmaster General Hussein Ali had asked the court to postpone the date of the confirmation of charges hearings by three months.
They told the court that they needed more time to prepare for the new evidence released by the prosecution in his Documents Containing Charges.
Meanwhile in regard to the ongoing confirmation of charges hearings, the court is expected to address the media on Friday at The Hague.
MPs William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang are due to complete their confirmation hearings on Monday.
Messrs Ruto and Sang each presented two witnesses during their defence hearing whereas Mr Kosgey preferred to counter Mr Ocampo’s evidence through his legal counsel led by George Oraro.
Messrs Kenyatta, Muthaura and Maj Gen Ali will be defending themselves against charges of murder, rape, forcible transfer of people, persecution and other inhumane acts from September 21.
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