Deputy President William Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan on Tuesday said a prosecution witness threatened ICC witness Meshack Yebei.
Yebei was abducted on December 28 at Turbo market. His body was later found dumped in River Yala, Nandi county.
Khan said in a statement that the witness threatened Yebei months before he was abducted.
“The defence has learned the prosecution was fully on notice, months before the alleged abduction and murder of Yebei, that he had been threatened with abduction by one of the prosecution’s witnesses,” he said.
He said he requested information from the prosecution on the steps it took after receiving the information.
Khan also said the prosecution met Yebei in a neighbouring country while he was still a defence witness and sought to know his involvement in witness tampering.
He said his team first met Yebei in July 2013 and he told them about “a cabal of prosecution witnesses who deliberately concocted false accounts against Ruto for financial and other benefits.”
Last week, Bensouda said Yebei was never admitted as a prosecution witness because she had information that he was in a ring of individuals corrupting witness.
Khan said Bensouda should have sought an arrest warrant on Yebei if she had such information.
