Ruto’s team asks judges to throw out ICC charges

What you need to know:

  • ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda argued that the 2007/8 PEV in the Rift Valley was planned and coordinated by Mr Ruto as the head of the “network”.

  • On January 13, 2016 Sang’s lawyer, Mr Katwa Kigen, will argue his case in support of the written submissions while Mr Khan will present his case on January 14.

Deputy President William Ruto’s lawyers on Tuesday questioned the credibility of the prosecution evidence as the International Criminal Court started hearing a Motion seeking to end the case against him.

In his opening remarks, Mr Karim Khan — representing Mr Ruto — urged the Trial Chamber judges to focus on the quantity of evidence presented by the prosecution and not the number of witnesses who appeared before the court.

“The prosecution is desperately avoiding having the Chamber do a credibility assessment of its witnesses and its evidence,” he said, replying to submissions by Ms Fatou Bensouda and her team.

Ms Bensouda had said that the evidence she had presented to the trial chamber was credible and sufficient to warrant the conviction of Mr Ruto and his co-accused, Mr Joshua arap Sang, who are facing crimes against humanity charges arising from the 2007/8 post-election violence.

'NETWORK'

She argued that the 2007/8 PEV in the Rift Valley was planned and coordinated by Mr Ruto as the head of the “network”.

However, Presiding judge Chile Eboe-Osuji occasionally interrupted senior prosecution lawyer Anton Steynberg to seek clarifications on some of the terms used to describe the planning of the violence.

Mr Ruto is expected to attend the proceedings until Friday.

Mr Steynberg declared the requests for acquittal as premature and asked the court to dismiss them. He also pointed to the consistency in witness statements in his submissions, which he argued should be enough to dismiss the “no-case-to-answer” motions filed by Mr Ruto’s lawyers.

He told the court that the test that what was required at this stage of the trial was “the content of the prosecution evidence, not the quality” as the defence had said.

“I have nothing much to add to the prosecution’s written submissions. Instead, the prosecution will let the evidence speak for itself,” he said.

According to the defence team, despite calling approximately 29 witnesses, the prosecution heavily relied on the Waki Commission report and confidential reports to bolster its case.

“The Prosecution also keeps telling the Chamber that the precise dates of Network planning meetings are not important. They say that what is important is that the meeting took place, even if a witness could not remember exactly,” said Mr Khan.

“But of course, having no date or a vague date is much better for them, because then we are not in a position to bring evidence to counter the allegation. For instance, if a witness says clearly that William Ruto was at a meeting on 15 December, then we can easily show where William Ruto actually was on that day. But if the witness only says William Ruto was at a meeting in mid-December, then we cannot bring alibi-type evidence.”

Ms Bensouda and her team had been given the first chance to present their case against Mr Ruto’s application for finding of no case to answer motions.

On Wednesday, Mr Sang’s lawyer, Mr Katwa Kigen, will argue his case in support of the written submissions while Mr Khan will present his case on Thursday.

Mr Steynberg, in his submission, told the judges that Mr Ruto held six preparatory meetings to plan the violence that rocked the country after 2007 elections.

He said three of the meetings were held in Mr Ruto’s Sugoi home while others were held in Kimumu and the larger Eldoret region.

“The prosecution contends, as the evidence stands, there were at least six preparatory meetings,” he said. In addition, he also reiterated the prosecution narrative of youths being trained for attacks on perceived PNU supporters in the Rift Valley.

“The common plan, according to the prosecution theory, was that whether ODM won or lost there would be violence,” he said.