NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 11 – Two former ICC prosecution witnesses have revealed details of how they were coached by the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to give false accounts against Deputy President William Ruto and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang.
The witnesses revealed how they were coached not to use words such as ‘tried’, ‘really’, ‘recall’, ‘all I can say’, ‘sometimes’ and ‘I believe so’ when being cross-examined so as to convince the judges.
One of the witnesses, Samuel Kosgei, explained how they were also told not to hesitate, scratch their noses, touch the back of their ears, faces or neck when being cross-examined because the judges would not trust their testimonies.
In a video clip seen by Capital FM News on Wednesday, Kosgei maintained that the OTP had fabricated evidence against Ruto and Sang and had even told witnesses what to say.
“We were told how the words ‘I do not know’ were powerful to the judges. We were coached about these words so as to keep them in mind when being cross-examined. We were also told not to rumble or think out loud,” he explained.
He also said that he and others were forced to cram their accounts and would do so in groups so that their testimonies are corroborated.
Kosgei was before his withdrawal listed as witness Number 15 and he mentions two officials from the OTP only identified as Emma and Alex as those who conducted the ‘lessons.’
He claimed that he was given maps of Ruto’s Sugoi home and asked to sketch what he was seeing while at the same time verbally explaining the same in Kalenjin.
“This sketch shows the sitting room, the fridges, the bedrooms, everything but I have never been to Ruto’s home. A map was just put on a wall and I was instructed to draw it and give an audio explanation of the sketch. I don’t know where that map came from,” he alleged.
Kosgei added that he was also asked to say that he was present at a place where it is alleged that an oathing ceremony took place.
“I was also given details about oaths and told by the OTP to say that dogs were slaughtered at the Molo Milk Plant. But I don’t even know where this milk plant is,” he claimed.
