Ruto To Attend Trial At The Hague

Ruto’s case resumes on Wednesday after a three week break.

The case resumes after Judges rejected an appeal filed by the prosecution seeking to stop the conditional excusal given to the Deputy President William Ruto.

The court sessions were scheduled to kick off today, Tuesday but had to be postponed due to lack of witnesses.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s case has recently suffered a series of setbacks, with 8 of her witnesses indicating that they were no longer interested in testifying against Ruto and Sang.

This then forced Bensouda to seek the trial chamber’s directive.

Ruto will have to be in court for five days continuously, in line with the conditional excusal he was granted by the trial chamber, while his co accused journalist Joshua arap Sang will be required in court throughout the trial session.

The trial of President Uhuru Kenyatta who is also standing trial in the same court is expected to kick off in October with a status conference scheduled for July.

The African Union Summit last year had however resolved that President Kenyatta should skip the ICC trial, insisting that no sitting head of state should be prosecuted by the Hague-based court.

Ruto is facing three charges of crimes against humanity among them deportation or forcible transfer of population.

Wangui Ngechu