Ruto seeks postponement of ICC trial citing Westgate Mall attack

By FELIX OLICK

The Hague: Deputy President William Ruto wants his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) adjourned citing the terrorist attack on the Westgate Mall in Nairobi.

In an application filed yesterday and marked ‘urgent’, Ruto asked the three-judge bench to allow him to return home to help President Uhuru Kenyatta deal with the deteriorating security situation in the country.

The deputy president maintained that under Kenyan law, he is the principal assistant to the president and his presence is required to discharge his constitutional obligations, which include participating in security meetings.

Shocked world

“Accordingly, in the immediacy, Mr Ruto, as the serving deputy president of Kenya, is required to return to Kenya to discharge his ordinary constitutional duties, which include participating in security briefings and consultations and involvement in other ongoing and very sensitive national security investigations, the details of which cannot be gone into in this filing,” he said through his lead counsel Karim Khan.

However, Ruto is not specific on the number of days he would like to be away from The Hague but indicated that he would be required to deal with the aftermath of the tragedy, including attending funerals.

“The Defence requests that the Trial Chamber adjourn the trial proceedings in this case until such time as the security situation in Kenya resolves itself or an order of the Trial Chamber is issued,” his application reads in part.

According to the initial Hague diary, Ruto is expected to be at the ICC until October 4, when the proceedings take a break for ten days.

He spent his first weekend at the ICC and was missing in action as leaders came out to condemn the Saturday incident that has shocked the world. But in his application, Ruto asked the judges to render a decision on the request today “on an expedited and urgent basis”.

It is not clear whether or not ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda would oppose the request.

But radio journalist Joshua arap Sang said he was not opposed to the request, but would want the trial to continue in the absence of Ruto.

Sang’s defence counsel, Katwa Kigen, told The Standard they would be happy to continue in the absence of Ruto.

“We are not opposed to the application. But we would want to continue even in the absence of the deputy president,” Kigen said on Sunday after a church service in central Hague.