Witness: I copied written statement

A second witness was Thursday declared hostile by the ICC judges after the prosecution accused him of disowning his earlier statement and for being evasive.

The judges unanimously accepted the prosecution’s request at the end of the examination-in-chief.

Witness P517 was brought by the prosecution for the case against Deputy President William Ruto and Mr Joshua arap Sang.

He had earlier recanted the evidence, saying he no longer wanted to give testimony. But the prosecution sought and was given permission by the judges to summon him.

Prosecution lawyer Lucio Garcia said the witness had accused ICC investigators of fabricating a huge part of his submitted evidence and there was a need for cross-examination.

Thursday, the lawyer claimed that the Office of the Prosecutor knew the reason the witness was behaving the way he did. “We want to confront the witness with the evidence we have, showing why the witness is behaving the way he has.”

Since Monday when he began giving his evidence, the witness, who is speaking from a secret location in Nairobi, has denied presenting details of alleged meetings and rallies held in the North Rift ahead of the 2007 General Election.

On Wednesday, he told the court that he was given a written statement by the prosecution investigators to copy in his handwriting to make the information “appear his own”.

Lawyers for the Deputy President and Mr Sang did not contest the submission, saying the decision rested with the judges.

PAST RULING

“I have no reasonable basis to object the application in light of the past ruling of the previous witness … you have a general discretion to decide whether you want to hear more from this witness or not,” said Mr Ruto’s lawyer, Mr David Hooper.

Mr Sang’s lawyer, Mr Katwa Kigen, concurred. “We leave it to you to determine whether to declare the witness hostile. However, we do not submit that the witness has said anything to support the defence case.”