Nairobi, Kenya: President Uhuru Kenyatta Thursday requested a permanent stay of his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) citing abuse of the legal justice process ahead of trial commencement.
The trial against him is set to start on November 12, where the prosecution has indicated that the president has to appear in person before the court.
Through his defence lawyers Steven Kay QC and Gillian Higgins, Uhuru said there is evidence of massive interference with the court process.
“The Defence is in possession of substantial evidence of a serious, sustained and wide-ranging abuse on the process of the Court carried out by ( i) Prosecution wit ness OTP-118 and Prosecution intermediary , and ( ii ) Prosecution witnesses O TP-11 and O TP-12,” said the defence team.
Alternatively, the president has requested the trial chamber to order evidential hearing before the start of the trial to determine the issue of abuse of process.
“In the alternative, the Defence requests the Trial Chamber to hold an evidential hearing entailing the calling of live evidence to determine this issue conclusively prior to the commencement of trial.”-standardmedia.co.ke
