ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda seeks to appeal William Ruto’s excusal from presence at trial

By Wahome Thuku

Kenya: International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Fatuo Bensouda has sought to challenge permission granted to Deputy President William Ruto to skip sessions of his trial at The Hague.

Bensouda filed the application before Trial Chamber V(a) seeking permission to appeal the decision of the same court pronounced on January 15.

If granted the leave, she will file the appeal at the Appeals Chamber.

Bensuoda wants a determination on whether Rule 134 of the ICC rules on which Ruto was excused from attending some sessions, is consistent with Article 63 of the Rome Statute, which requires all accused persons to be present in court.

And if it’s consistent, does it allow the Trial Chamber to conditionally excuse the Deputy President from being present at the trial?

Property stolen

Ruto has not attended any session since the trial restarted this month. He is represented by his lawyers Karim Khan, David Hooper and Shyamala Alagendra.

Tuesday, Ruto will leave the country for Kinshasa, DRC, where he will represent President Uhuru Kenyatta at the 17th Summit of the Comesa Heads of State and Government.

The Summit will take place at Palais Du Peuple Hotel, Kinshasa, DRC, from February 26 and 27, the DP’s office said in a statement Monday.

In The Hague, a witness Monday recalled how his house was broken into and property stolen during the 2007 post-election violence.

Witness number 409 told the ICC that his household goods were taken away on a night he and other residents sought refuge at a local school when violence broke out in December 2007.

He said houses belonging to his Kalenjin neighbours in Nandi Hills were not targeted. He also lost land and seven cows, among other property.

The witness was testifying on his third day in the trial of Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang in The Hague, Netherlands.

He told Trial Chamber V(a) that with other residents, he took cover at the school, which was not disclosed, when the violence broke out.  Women and children slept inside the school while men stayed outside.

The witness told the court that at night, Kalenjin men moved around with spotlights and sang circumcision songs.

“Such songs are not sung anyhow. They are only performed during private circumcision events when the boys are escorted to be initiated.”

War cries

He said that year, the circumcision season for Kalenjin boys was in August because the elections had been scheduled for December.

He added the same night, they could hear Kalenjin women screaming and making war cries.

Prosecutor: What kind of noises were these; were they noises of mourning or war cries?

Witness: They were war cries because they were from the hills where there were no houses.

Prosecutor: Had you ever heard such war cries before?

Witness: No.

He said they could not hear what the women were saying.

Colonialists

The witness said he went back to his house in the morning and found it broken into and property stolen.

The witness recalled that earlier, Ruto had on three occasions told area residents to reject “trees brought there by the colonialists” which he understood to mean people from other tribes.

He said Ruto made the call in Kalenjin parables during ODM rallies. He had asked the people to “uproot the trees”.

The witness said he had two parcels of land, one large and one small.

He kept his livestock on the larger parcel.