Hague court to meet over Ruto and Sang case

The International Criminal Court has scheduled a status conference on April 13, 2015 in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua Sang. FILE PHOTO | DPPS |

What you need to know:

  • Both Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are not required to attend
  • Their lawyers have been asked to be in The Hague for the conference

The International Criminal Court has scheduled a status conference on Monday in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua Sang.

Both Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are not required to attend but their lawyers have been asked to be in The Hague for the conference, which the Sunday Nation understands is meant to update the parties on the modalities of having the last prosecution witness, Number 727, testify.

The meeting will also be used to update the parties on the level of cooperation from the Dutch government to have the witness testify from a remote location. According to the information that Sunday Nation has obtained, the status conference will largely be a closed session. This is meant to protect the identity of the witness.

Witness 727 is understood to be Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s last one following the testimonies of 29 others. The witness, who is said to be crucial to the prosecution case, ought to have testified during the last session but went into hiding, fearing for his life.

Dutch media, quoting his lawyers, have reported that “the witness and his family — all of whom have asylum in (Europe) — have received serious threats ...”