ICC allows two additional witnesses in Uhuru case

PHOTO | FILE ICC judges leave the Trial Chamber after hearing the cases facing Deputy President William Ruto and former broadcaster Joshua arap Sang on September 11, 2013. The International Criminal Court has allowed Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to add two witnesses in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The International Criminal Court's Trial Chamber V (b) has allowed Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to add two witnesses in the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The two witnesses – a Mungiki insider and a sexual and gender-based violence expert – replace two witnesses who withdrew from the case.

The defence for President Kenyatta had opposed the Prosecutor's request for inclusion of the additional witnesses on the grounds that it would prejudice the accused.

IMMEDIATE DISCLOSURE OF WITNESSES

Uhuru Kenyatta's defence requested for the immediate disclosure of the witness identities before the beginning of trial, in the event the court granted Prosecution request for the additional witnesses.

President Kenyatta's defence also requested that the Prosecution be ordered to postpone the calling of all Mungiki so as to have "adequate time to investigate the allegations made by Witness 548."

His defence argued that it would require four months before the commencement of trial in order to investigate the proposed evidence of witness P-548.

President Kenyatta faces charges of crimes against humanity at the ICC, arising from the violence that followed the disputed 2007 General Elections. His trial at the ICC is set to begin on November 12.

NO MUNGIKI WITNESSES BEFORE JANUARY

The judges in the Trial Chamber said they were not persuaded by the defence submission requiring four months to investigate the proposed evidence, noting the Prosecution undertaking to delay calling witness P-548 at the beginning of the trial.

"Accordingly, in addition to the Prosecution's undertaking with respect to P-548, the Prosecution is also directed not call any of its Mungiki witnesses until at least the end of January 2014," the court ruled.

The judges ordered the Prosecution to disclose the identities of Witnesses 548 and 66 and all "disclosable information relating to them."

The court further directed that they be among the last witnesses of the Prosecution's case.