William Ruto’s ICC trial resumes on Tuesday

What you need to know:

  • The Sunday Nation has learnt that witness 727 will finally take the stand from a remote location in a European country through video link.
  • He is expected to testify for approximately eight days — both for examination-in-chief by the prosecution and for cross-examination by the defence.

Deputy President William Ruto’s trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) resumes on Tuesday, even as prosecutor Fatou Bensouda attempts to directly link him to witness harassment and intimidation.

The Sunday Nation has learnt that witness 727, who has in the past proved problematic for the prosecution, will finally take the stand from a remote location in a European country through video link.

He is expected to testify for approximately eight days — both for examination-in-chief by the prosecution and for cross-examination by the defence.

This came as Ms Bensouda stated that those intimidating and influencing her witness to withdraw or recant testimonies were acting for Mr Ruto and his co-accused, former radio journalist Joshua arap Sang, and asked the court to admit the original statements and testimonies of the hostile witnesses into evidence.

Evidence in her possession, the prosecutor said in a heavily redacted public version of the prosecution’s request for the admission of prior recorded testimony of the hostile witnesses dated May 21, point to “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 said.

As a result of the interference, she explained, the prosecution was deprived of a significant portion of the incriminating evidence that it intended to present to the Trial Chamber V(A) in support of its charges.

This is the reason the prosecution is compelled to resort to alternative methods to place before the chamber the relevant and cogent evidence that the witnesses would otherwise have provided, she said.

“The evidence described below demonstrates that a network of individuals, working for the benefit of the accused were — and may still be — involved in a witness bribery and recantation scheme that targeted, inter alia, witnesses [REDACTED]. Additionally a non-OTP witness [REDACTED], was also targeted by the same group,” Ms Bensouda said.