ICC to use experts and documents in Kenya court cases
ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah during a past workshop in Nairobi. Photo/FILE
What you need to know:
Officials say interference with selected witnesses in the cases is high and unprecedented.
The International Criminal Court has said it will rely on expert and documentary evidence to prosecute the cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto following the withdrawal of key witnesses.
ICC spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah said in a video interview on Wednesday that witnesses were just one form of evidence that prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will rely on when the trial against Mr Ruto opens next week on Tuesday.
“Beside 40 witnesses, prosecutor will call experts and present before the court large number of documents and audi-visual documents materials as evidence,” said Mr Abdallah in reference to the case facing Mr Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang.
A status conference will be held on Monday to discuss any outstanding matters related to the trial preparation, but the accused are not required to attend. The spokesperson said the interference with witnesses in the Kenya cases was high and unprecedented.
“If a witness withdraws, prosecutor can apply to add more witnesses,” he said, giving an example of June 3 when the ICC judges allowed prosecutor to add two more witnesses.
Last month, two witnesses withdrew from the cases facing Mr Ruto and Mr Sang. One witness was an employee of Kass FM station until April 2008. Mr Sang was an employee of the station during the time.
The second witness was at the time of the post-election violence working as a programme officer with the Anti-Torture Campaign Network, an NGO operating in the North Rift and supported internally displaced persons.
The two witnesses cited family issues among the reasons for dropping out of the case.
Mr Abdallah, however, said speculation on identity of witnesses could endanger the lives of innocent people, warning that interfering with testimony givers was a crime under Kenya and ICC statutes.
ICC registrar Herman von Hebel said the court would only offer financial compensation to witnesses to facilitate their attendance of the trial and protection. He said the court can distort the face and use pseudo names to hide the identity of the witnesses.
The ICC also reiterated that the withdrawal of Kenya from the Rome Statute or any referendum against the court would not have bearing on the current cases.
Mr Abdallah exuded confidence that the suspects would continue co-operating with the court. He warned that withdrawal from the Rome Statute could undermine Kenya’s stability in future.
Parliament is expected to cut short its holiday and reconvene to deliberate on a Bill that will see Kenya withdraw from the Rome Statute.
The withdrawal would only affect future cases since it takes effect a year after the motion is lodged.
