ICC asked to disown discarded testimony

Deputy President William Ruto has asked the International Criminal Court’s Appeals Chamber to reverse the admission of prior recorded testimony.

Besides reversing the decision that admitted into evidence statements from hostile witnesses, Mr Ruto has also asked the chamber to refer the matter back to the Trial Chamber that made the ruling , to determine appropriate directions.

“As argued above, the defence submits that a series of fundamental errors were made in the (amended Rule 68) decision which, either individually or cumulatively, materially affect the decision,” Mr Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan in a 52-page appeal.

Furthermore, he is asking the judges to schedule an oral hearing of the appeal “due to the importance and novelty of the issue combined with the significance of the evidence at issue to the prosecution’s case.”

The oral hearing, Mr Khan said “would be beneficial to assist the Appeals Chamber in resolving the seven grounds of appeal.”

Trial Chamber judges by a majority on August 19 granted Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s request to use into evidence the prior recorded testimony of five hostile witnesses.

The witnesses had given their statements linking Mr Ruto and former radio presenter Joshua Sang to the 2007/08 post-election violence only to disown them.

In the application, Ms Bensouda had told the judges of “the existence of an organised and effective scheme to persuade prosecution witnesses to withdraw or recant their evidence, through a combination of intimidation and bribery.”

“The evidence establishes further that those responsible for this improper interference were, at the very least, acting for the benefit of the accused,” Ms Bensouda had argued.

Popularly known as the Rule 68 application, the decision meant that the statements would be entered into evidence “for the truth of its contents.”

Both defence teams and the government have formally protested the decision.