William Ruto’s lawyers demand list of witnesses

Deputy President William Ruto’s counsel Karim Khan leaves the ICC building after the case was adjourned until next week.  [PHOTO: PIUS CHERUIYOT/STANDARD]

By ALLY JAMAH

Deputy President William Ruto’s lawyers want a revised list of witnesses to be lined up by International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda before the trial resumes next Tuesday.

Lawyer Karim Khan said that there were previous orders of the court regarding the defence right to have at least the next ten witnesses in order.

“Because the first three witnesses have withdrawn, we don’t know who are going to come – who’s going to be the fourth witness. And I would ask that an order be given that the prosecution send us a revised list of the next ten witnesses starting from next Tuesday,” he said.

He added: “We want to know who those witnesses are and that way we can prepare ourselves internally and that would be very helpful.”

 Khan said that Ruto’s defence team does not yet know whether the witness expected on Tuesday was witness 464 or 326.

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Prosecution lawyer Anton Steynberg said that they intend to follow as much as possible the original witness list.

“Witness 464, because he is Europe-based, we would prefer to call as many of the Kenyan witnesses as we can and ‘get them out of the way’ and to get their evidence on record as swiftly as possible. Witness 464 can come at short notice, but we will provide a list by the end of the day to my learned friends,” he said.

Steynberg also clarified that the prosecution was not limiting its witnesses to 22 people, saying that number represented those who were directly on the ground during the post-election violence.

The prosecution will present up to 22 victims and witnesses, common Kenyan people who will describe the attacks on each of these locations.

“I was referring to witnesses, so-called crime base witnesses, who will testify as to actual events. I was not saying that the prosecution was now limiting its witness list to 22 people,” he said.

Presiding Judge Eboe-Osuji expressed disappointment that the prosecution had not prepared its witnesses early enough to begin giving evidence by yesterday

“It is a shame really because we were hoping to proceed today, but that is the reality we have. On that note, we will adjourn,’ he said.