MP faces hate call claims at the Hague
An MP was Thursday accused of inciting the public against the victims of post-election violence.
A lawyer for the victims told the International Criminal Court Pre-Trial Chamber judges that Belgut MP Charles Keter called Kass FM — a vernacular station — on Tuesday morning and “incited people” in the process.
Mr Keter is at The Hague with three suspects — Eldoret North MP William Ruto, suspended Industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua Sang. He has denied the claims. (Read: Ruto group in prayers ahead of ICC hearing)
Ms Sureta Chana, representing 327 victims of the violence, said the call was a demonstration that victims were being intimidated and were living in fear of renewed attacks.
She said that the statements made by the ODM rebel MP and listeners who called in showed that the victims were being labelled traitors and were being intimidated back in Kenya.
She read out an email which she said had been sent from Kenya by one of her field researchers who spoke to the “anonymous victim”.
“A victim said he heard Belgut MP Charles Keter call in during an early morning broadcast at Kass FM on September 6. Mr Keter said that he knows the identity of Witness Six and Witness Eight and also that the ICC case was a plot hatched by human rights activists. The victims said that Mr Keter threatened that the ‘traitors’ would be dealt with when the hearings end,” Ms Chana told the court.
Closing statements
In the email, the researcher is said to have reported that some members of the Nandi sub-tribe were portrayed as having betrayed the community by providing witnesses for the ICC.
The MP is alleged to have dismissed the charges facing Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang as “falsehood peddled by PNU supporters.”
“They are traitors among the Kalenjin. We are aware of them. We know the witnesses and we are returning home,” he is quoted as having said.
The lawyer said Mr Keter had warned of unspecified consequences to traitors when the confirmation of charges hearing is over.
He allegedly said that it was not just the three who were on trial but the entire Kalenjin community.
Another field officer has claimed that the situation was getting dangerous for the Nandi and human rights workers because the broadcast had carried the following threat: “We will give them the treatment deserving of traitors.”
Parties to the case against Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang made their closing statements yesterday afternoon where they used their 30 minutes to tear into each other’s evidence.
But Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova warned them not to introduce new evidence in their closing arguments.
The lead prosecution lawyer Cynthia Tai said that due to the nature of the confirmation of charges hearings, the evidence presented was enough to show that the case is ready to be taken to trial. The prosecution said that the evidence should be viewed as a whole.
“Defence claims that prosecution evidence is unreliable and inconsistent. We submit our evidence has been consistent. We submit that our evidence is enough to show substantial grounds that Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang committed the alleged crimes and we urge the Chamber to confirm the charges and commit the suspects to trial,” said Ms Tai.
On Mr Ruto, the prosecution said that it was not reasonable that the witnesses were seated in the same room and claim not to have communicated to each other.
The prosecution tore into the witness statements produced by the Eldoret North MP saying that they had “unnatural language”.
“Evidence provided by Mr Ruto, in particular statements by witnesses, almost all testimony is similar in language and we ask if it is reasonable that all witnesses would think in the exact same way,” said Ms Tai.
On Kosgey, the prosecution said that Witness Number Six had not said that the Tinderet MP was the sole perpetrator as the defence was trying to demonstrate.
“The prosecution has no evidence at this moment that Raila Odinga was involved in the planning and execution of the said crimes that are subject to this case,” said Ms Tai.
The prosecution said the statements in Mr Sang’s case as in Mr Ruto’s case demonstrate a level of instruction and are similar in some part.
The prosecution said that Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey had access to a helicopter meaning that they could have moved around within a short period of time.
The prosecution used a map to show that the travel time from Eldoret to where the defendants claimed they were when the alleged meetings were held is approximately an hour.
“Most distances are within an hour of Eldoret and the suspects could easily attend many meetings on a given day,” said Ms Tai.
The prosecution also told the court that the suspects called for peace at a time when the purpose of their “planned meetings” had been achieved.
Ms Tai said that by the time they called for peace, people had been killed and evicted in the Rift Valley.
“It is completely logical that they would plead for calm as the chaos raged and could have been a ploy to conceal their real intentions,” the prosecution said.
Ms Tai also said that the witnesses called up by the suspects were “biased” and “interested parties” in the actions of the three accused.
“Kosgey withdrew his witness while Ruto and Sang produced two each. Were the witnesses neutral or were they interested parties? Their motive to give testimony shows that they were perfect individuals to rebut the prosecution’s accounts,” said Ms Tai.
The prosecution submitted that the alleged Network as any other organisation is bound to change but it does not mean it never existed.
Ms Tai added that Defence’s submissions that the prosecution did not have a name or a paper trail, such as receipts, do not diminish its existence “especially for one whose motive is to commit illegal activities.”
The Victims’ representative, Ms Chana, used the opportunity to say that the government of Kenya has not acted on the post-election violence cases.
Mr Ruto’s lawyer David Hooper however objected to the line taken by Ms Chana who was later told by the judge that she can make written submissions on the issues.
“I am here to convey the views of the victims to the Chamber. Victims are concerned that Ruto sought to absent himself from the hearings and was not taking the hearings seriously,” Ms Chana said in one of her submissions.
Ms Chana said that this was not the first time that Kenya has experienced violence adding that a victim said he was surprised to hear the latest chaos was spontaneous.
She said that victim says he was displaced in 1992 due to perceived support of a Kikuyu candidate in Burnt Forest, Rift Valley.
But Mr Hooper objected again saying that the 1992 clashes have no bearing on the present hearings but Judge Trendafilova overruled him saying that Bishop Jackson Kosgei, Mr Sang’s witness, alluded to it.
Ms Chana added that there was no dispute that there was violence, saying that it is an acknowledged fact by the defence and the prosecution.
She also said that Defence witnesses said there were people in camps but could not be bothered to visit the IDPs.
“We request the chamber to add more charges including destruction of property, looting and injury. The victims will be seeking reparations for these crimes,” said Ms Chana.
