ALL witnesses lined up by the Ocampo Six to testify on their behalf may have to be screened by the ICC first. Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo wants the ICC Victims and Witnesses Protection Unit to screen the witnesses before they are allowed to record statements. The unit has the statutory mandate to protect witnesses and victims.
However the Ocampo Six lawyers have vehemently opposed the request saying it will complicate the work of the defence team in preparing their witnesses.
Civil Service boss Francis Muthaura, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, suspended Higher Education minister William Ruto, former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, Tinderet MP Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang are the six suspects that Ocampo wants charged with crimes against humanity.
Muthaura's lawyer Karim Ahmad Khan said the defence team should be left to freely interview its witnesses and decide if any of them need to be referred to the Victims and Witnesses Unit for assistance.“There is a class of witnesses the identity of whom we simply do not know. We can’t give the names to the Victims Protection Unit because the way it works, whether in Kenya or Sierra Leone or Liberia, you go to a village, and you will ask (say) we are the defence, we are speaking about certain issues, does anybody know anything and people will come. According to this rule, we can’t even take a name and maybe we can take the name and no more,” said Khan.
Khan told the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber judge Ekaterina Trendafilova that Ocampo’s request was wrong.“These are not mere complaints for the sake of it. They (applications) will cause real difficulties in the field,” said Khan.
Ocampo has indicated he will call a total of 20 witnesses against the six suspects. Ten of the witnesses will testify against Muthaura, Uhuru and Ali and ten against against Ruto, Kosgey and Sang.
The suspects have indicated they will be calling their own defence witnesses but are yet to disclose how many. During Monday’s status hearing at the Hague, Khan said he will soon ask if Ocampo's witnesses were first screened by the unit.“I will in due course — as disclosure comes about — be asking the prosecution to give me the dates of the risk assessment by the Victims and Witness Unit and the dates of their initial screening interview,” Khan said “If what they say is true, in each and every case, first contact should have been by the Victims and Witness Protection Unit not by the prosecution because that is what is being required of the defence,” said Khan. The court is soon expected to rule on Ocampo’s application.
The hearing for confirmation of charges against Ruto, Kosgey and Sang will be on September 1 and on September 25 for Uhuru, Ali and Muthaura.
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