DP Ruto, Sang to be in court for crucial April 5 ruling

What you need to know:

  • Mr Ruto and Mr Sang will be required to travel to The Hague and be present as the judges deliver the ruling.

  • The decision will either free Mr Ruto and Mr Sang from the case.

  • Lawyers for the two filed the Motion in September last year, saying Bensouda had not built a case to have the two put on their defence.

Deputy President William Ruto will know his fate in two weeks, when International Criminal Court judges rule on whether he and broadcaster Joshua arap Sang have a case to answer.

If the judges rule that Mr Ruto and Mr Sang have a case to answer, the two will be put on their defence. They might then be required to call witnesses in their defence.

But if judges Chile Eboe-Osuji, Olga Herrera Carbuccia and Robert Fremr decide that the two do not have a case to answer, the crimes against humanity charges against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang will begin to collapse.

Tuesday, sources within Mr Ruto’s defence team revealed that the ICC Trial Chamber had set April 5 as the date when they will deliver their ruling over the DP’s application to have the case against him at The Hague court terminated.

Mr Ruto and Mr Sang will be required to travel to The Hague and be present as the judges deliver the ruling.

The decision will either free Mr Ruto and Mr Sang from the case arising from the 2007/2008 post-election violence or subject them to more court sessions at the ICC if their no-case-to-answer Motion is dismissed.

Lawyers for the two filed the Motion in September last year, saying Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had not built a case to have the two put on their defence.

It was heard in January but the judges blocked the defence teams from presenting witnesses to support their arguments.

However, lawyers Karim Khan and Katwa Kigen for Mr Ruto and Mr Sang respectively argued that the case had collapsed after the prosecution failed to present adequate evidence.

Some witnesses had recanted their statements.

A similar move in another case involving President Uhuru Kenyatta had led the prosecutor to withdraw the matter. She said she could not prove her case.

Early last month, Mr Ruto and Mr Sang edged closer to their acquittal after the Appeals Chamber reversed a decision of the Trial Chamber to use unsworn evidence, which the prosecution argued was at the core of the case.

Mr Khan maintained that the withdrawal of the witnesses placed Ms Bensouda’s team in a precarious position, where they could not support their claims.

“The prosecution never called 13 of the witnesses it had said it would, and those who appeared confessed to having lied. Three have recanted and denied their evidence under oath and one witness failed to come to court,” he said.