ICC witness accused of interfering with case

The prosecution at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday accused a witness of interfering with its case against Deputy President William Ruto and co-accused Joshua arap Sang.

A prosecution lawyer told three ICC judges that it had evidence proving that Witness 604 contacted other witnesses in order to influence them to drop or falsify their evidence against the accused.

Prosecution lawyer Anton Steynberg told the judges that the witness, who was declared hostile on Monday, had been in contact with other witnesses after recanting an earlier statement incriminating the two accused.

(Read: Court allows grilling of ‘hostile’ witness)

“We have evidence showing that the witness has been in contact with prosecution witnesses… there has been witness tampering,” said Mr Steynberg.

SELF-INCRIMINATING EVIDENCE

The lawyer also said a part of the testimony given by the witness was “self-incriminating” and requested a private session to prove so.

He made the revelation to the judges after the witness was removed from the court in order for the prosecution to inform the court why prosecutors wanted a private session to prove that there was self-incrimination by the witness during the hearing.

If the witness is found to have tampered with the witnesses, then he could be charged at the court.

Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, however, said the witness had been assured that the information he was providing would not be used to prosecute him.

“The witness was assured that the information he provided the court may not be used to prosecute him with the exception of Article 70 (of the Rome Statute) about giving false testimony in the stand,” said the judge.

TURNING TO SIDESHOWS

Mr Ruto’s lawyer, Karim Khan, said the prosecutor should focus on proving why the initial statement by the witness was correct as opposed to turning to sideshows.

“We are getting more tenuous arguments from the prosecution. The prosecution has been investigating this case for years and is able to provide evidence proving the veracity of the initial statement by the witness,” said Mr Khan.

During the hearing, the witness told the court that he had worked with “one lady” to prepare false evidence against the two in exchange for better “goodies”

Steynberg: Is it correct that you and the lady conspired to provide false evidence in order that both of you get greater benefits from the court?

Witness: Yes.

CONFIDED IN A RELIGIOUS LEADER

The witness also told the court that he confided in a religious leader about the false statement he gave about Mr Ruto and Mr Sang.

“I went to the religious leader and told him about the false accusations I made last year. He told me it is not good to testify about things that are not true and that it was better to say the truth,” he said.

The witness has renounced a statement he gave ICC investigators last year, saying it was false. He told the court on Monday that he lied about Mr Ruto and Mr Sang in exchange for a better life abroad.

He was declared hostile after the judges said that his latest statement had greatly diverged from what he told the prosecution last year. The declaration allowed the prosecutor to cross-examine him.

The hearing was delayed for some time after the court lost the video link to the location where the witness was testifying in Nairobi. Judge Eboe-Osuji said the disconnection was due to a power disruption.