ICC prosecutor will not close Ruto, Sang case

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will not close her case against Deputy William Ruto and Joshua arap Sang until her application seeking the admission of prior recorded statements of witnesses who had recanted or withdrawn their evidence is determined.

During a status conference at The Hague, presiding judge Chile-Eboe Osuji stated that the oral hearings on the matter will be heard and determined before the court breaks for the summer recess which begins on the July 16^th this year.

The ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda filed an application late last month seeking to be allowed by the court to reinstate and use evidence already recanted by some prosecution witnesses.

However, Ruto’s defence led by Karim Khan objected the application saying that the evidence was no longer valid since the witnesses were either not willing to testify or had lied to the court.

Ruto and Sang are accused of perpetrating the 2007/08 post-election violence in which at least 1,300 people were killed and over 600,000 others displaced.

The two are the only remaining suspects after the ICC dropped similar charges against President Uhuru Kenyatta, former head of civil service Ambassador Francis Muthaura, former Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and former Police Commission Major Gen Hussein Ali on the basis of insufficient evidence to prosecute the cases.