Today, 6 May 2013, Trial Chamber V of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to provisionally vacate the date of the trial’s start in the case of The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang and conveyed a public status conference on 14 May 2013. The trial in the case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang was initially scheduled to start on 28 May. A new date for the trial’s opening will be scheduled after hearing the parties and participants’ observations during the status conference.
During the public status conference on 14 May 2013, the parties and participants will present their observations on the Prosecutor’s request to add five witnesses to the list of witnesses and the Defence’s request to vacate the trial date. The Chamber will also hold non-public ex parte status conferences with the Prosecution on 7 May 2013 and with the Defence on 14 May 2013, to discuss these issues and other procedural matters.
The ICC is a permanent international court whose primary purpose is to help to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, thus contributing to the prevention of such crimes.
