Bensouda said Ruto played a key role in the violence that followed the disputed presidential poll.
“He gathered together an army of loyal Kalenjin youth to go to war for him in event of an election loss. And when the election was lost he gave the order to attack,” she said.
She said Ruto planned and executed the attacks only on PNU supporters and other non Kalenjins to ‘seize political power for himself and his party since he could not do so through ballots’.
She alleged Ruto recruited influential Kalenjin leaders and businessmen to the network which had a sort of military chain of command with him being at the ‘apex’.
Apart from Ruto personally financing the attacks carried out by the network, rich Kalenjin businessmen also made contributions to get the attackers food, weapons and transport, Bensouda said.
She told the court that Sang was the mouthpiece used to popularise Ruto’s messages.
The prosecutor also said Sang used his popular show on Kass FM to coordinate preparatory meetings and the attacks.
“The main mouth piece used by Ruto to spread his message was his co-accused Sang. Sang placed his prime time radio show at the disposal of the network to spread the message and coordinate their activities. He broadcast anti- Kikuyu rhetoric spread the word of Ruto’s rallies and even helped to coordinate the actual attacks through decoded messages,” she alleged.
She said the prosecution will prove that Sang and Ruto are criminally responsible for murder, persecution and forcible transfer of people in the Rift Valley.
Bensouda also recounted to the court of the continued intimidation and bribery of her witnesses as she announced that investigations are ongoing and those found to be behind it will face the international court.
She also made it clear that the cases were neither against Kenyans nor against any community but against individuals with presumption of their innocence till the conclusion of the cases.
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