NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 14 – The trial against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua arap Sang at The Hague has taken a break ahead of the Easter Holidays which begin this week.
Last Friday, Trial Chamber V (a) held a closed door status conference but the details remain confidential.
Once the trial resumes after the Easter break, the prosecution is expected to call P0028, a key witness whose evidence was used to confirm charges against Ruto.
The prosecution has indicated that the witness will require about a month to give his testimony-in-chief.
The judges in the case against Ruto, Olga Herrera Carbuccia, Robert Fremr and Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji directed Ruto to be present during the entire testimony of witness P0028.
The directive is one of the nine conditions in which Ruto’s presence during his trial will be mandatory after he was allowed to skip some sessions of his trial.
The prosecution has described P0028 as a Kalenjin who has key information about the planning meetings, Ruto’s role and other associates involved in orchestrating violence in the Great Rift Valley.
In the Document Containing Charges (DCC), the prosecution alleges that Ruto funded and hosted meetings and gave orders using a network that was formed as early as 2006 to attack non Kalenjin communities living in the Rift Valley.
The defence lawyers of Ruto and Sang have accused the prosecution of bribing and coaching witnesses whom they accuse of making up lies to fix their clients.
So far 16 prosecution witnesses have testified before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the events that occurred in December 2007 and January 2008 in reference to charges against Ruto and Sang.
The trial of the two opened on September 10, 2013. They are accused of crimes against humanity of murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution committed in Kenya during the post election violence.
The trial of President Uhuru Kenyatta who is the only accused person in Kenya Case Two is scheduled to start on October 7, 2014.
-capitalfm.co.ke
