ICC grants Ruto leave from trial next week
RThe International Criminal Court has granted Deputy President William Ruto a excusal for three days as he travels to Nairobi to hold brief for President Uhuru Kenyatta who heads to Rwanda on Monday.
"The ruling is on the concession of the two parties and the chamber grants the application," the Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji said.
Lead trial lawyer Anton Steynberg while not opposing the application by Mr Ruto's defence, however cautioned that the prosecution's "concession should not be read as binding on us in the future" suggesting that the prosecution would not accept future similar applications by the defence unless there is an exceptional issue or an an emergency issue comes up.
"The prosecution notes the limited excusal requested and that the witnesses are already in The Hague. On this occassion the Prosecution would not oppose the application," Mr Steynberg said.
It means Mr Ruto will have to file with the court a waiver of his right to be in the court when the trials resume on Monday until Wednesday, which his defence lawyer Karim Khan promised to furnish the court with by Monday. The waiver means Mr Ruto would have to accept whatever the next witness 268 says against him in the testimony.
HISTORIC EXCUSAL
The excusal is historic since for the first time, the accused will not be present in the courtroom to attend the trials as required by Article 63 (1) of the Rome Statute. However, Joshua Sang will have to be present in the court room.
Meanwhile, the Trial Chamber has directed that the next prosecution witness testifies in public with in-court proctective measures including use of pseudonyms, image and voice distortion and limited private or closed sessions.
The prosecution had sought for the Trial Chamber's indulgence to allow the entire witness testimony be given in private or closed session, citing the security of the witness. The Victims and Witnesses Unit had also recommended that the witness testifies in private or closed session.
In his ruling, Judge Osuji said "the chamber would therefore order the usual measures namely image and voice distortions, use of pseudonymns and limited private or closed sessions."
The witness would be the first to directly link Mr Sang to the post-election violence in 2007/08 and Katwa Kigen for Mr Sang vehemently opposed the total black-out of the witness.
"It is our submission that the concern of the witness should have beeen made at the earliest opportunity when he met with the Victims and Witnesses Unit before he was brought here. The right of Mr Sang should not be taken away on the premise of speculations," Mr Katwa said.
