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ICC witness 2 is a liar – Ruto’s lawyer

Khan who vehemently challenged the evidence of P0326 said the witness decided to lie in order to get 'freebies' /DPPS

Khan who vehemently challenged the evidence of P0326 said the witness decided to lie in order to get ‘freebies’ /DPPS

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 11 – Deputy President William Ruto’s defence counsel Karim Khan on Friday completed his cross-examination of the second ICC prosecution witness whom he accused of fabricating information to ‘fix’ his client.

Khan who vehemently challenged the evidence of P0326 said the witness decided to lie in order to get ‘freebies’ offered by the International Criminal Court.

“I don’t want you to be under any illusion, I am putting to you that you quite deliberately concocted not a mistaken but a fraudulent and false account and peddled it as if it were the truth,” Khan said.

P0326 responded: “All my statements as I was told, from the people I happened to talk with, to my knowledge that is what happened.”

Khan further accused him of agreeing to lie to the court due to the privileges accorded to ICC witnesses.

“You have deceived and conned your way all to The Hague and you have not stopped lying even now,” Khan alleged.

Earlier, Khan presented video clips, online materials, bank statements, photos, letters and newspaper articles to dismantle the evidence put forward by the witness.

One of the video recordings was showing an Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) campaign rally at the Kenyatta Stadium in Kitale.

In the video clip, only former Prime Minister Raila Odinga addressed the rally due to heavy rains.

Earlier on, the witness had told the court that Ruto had addressed the rally in which he referred to people with big pieces of land as hyenas.

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According to the video: “The climax of the ODM tour was a public rally at the Kenyatta Stadium in Kitale…however the ODM pentagon who had accompanied him (Odinga) did not get a chance to address the rally due to heavy rains.”

Khan on several occasions prodded him to say if he heard Ruto utter the word ‘hyena’ at any other rally apart from the Kitale rally and the witness stubbornly maintained that he said it at the Kitale rally.

“Did you ever hear Ruto use the word hyena,” Khan queried; “I heard him for the rally of Kitale,” the witness responded as he insisted he attended the rally.

He accused him of deceiving the court. “Witness you are trying to deceive this court. When you spoke under oath that Ruto spoke at the rally in Kitale, and that you attended the rally and like we have seen, he did not speak at all.”

Khan further dismissed the witness who had told the court that the last ODM campaign rally before the 2007 General Election was held in December at Uhuru Park.

The lawyer provided evidence to show that former President Mwai Kibaki’s Party of National Unity (PNU) held its last rally at Uhuru Park whereas the Odinga’s ODM held its rally at the Nyayo National Stadium.

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