Thursday, June 7, 2012

Ocampo Four set for ICC date


Ocampo Four set for ICC date

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From left: Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former head of civil service Francis Muthaura,  and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang. They look set to stand trial after the court rejected their appeal on jurisdiction May 24, 2012. FILE
From left: Eldoret North MP William Ruto, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, former head of civil service Francis Muthaura, and radio presenter Joshua arap Sang. They look set to stand trial after the court rejected their appeal on jurisdiction May 24, 2012. FILE 
By OLIVER MATHENGE omathenge@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, June 6  2012 at  22:30
Radio presenter Joshua arap Sang and his three lawyers will travel to The Hague on Saturday for a status conference ahead of his trial at the International Criminal Court.
According to Mr Sang, lawyers Philemon Koech, Joel Bosek and Katwa Kigen have already applied for their visas and are awaiting clearance from the Dutch Embassy in Nairobi.
Mr Kigen will travel with Mr Kioko Kilukumi with whom they represent Mr Sang’s co-accused, Eldoret North MP William Ruto.
The lawyers did not say whether Mr Ruto would be travelling but sources close to the politician have disclosed that he would not be going.
The prosecution, the defence, the ICC registry and the victims’ lawyers in the case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang will attend the status conference on Monday where the trial date for the two will be set.
Mr Sang and Mr Ruto have requested Trial Chamber judges Kuniko Ozaki, Christine Van den Wyngaert and Chile Eboe-Osuji to have the trial date set after the next General Election.
Mr Ken Ogetto, who is in former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura’s defence team, will also be travelling on Saturday for the status conference in the second case which will be held on Tuesday.
Lawyers for Mr Muthaura’s co-accused, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, were unavailable for comment but are also expected to travel over the weekend.
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Sources have said that the two will not travel to The Hague. Both meetings will begin at 2pm Kenyan time but the suspects are not required to be in court in person.
On average, it has taken between six and eight months for previous cases to start after the status conferences. The judges have asked parties to the case to make any submissions regarding the agenda of the status conferences.
“If the parties, the legal representatives of victims and the registry are currently aware of any other issue that is required to be resolved before the commencement of the trial, they should bring it to the attention of the Chamber promptly,” the Trial Chamber judges said.
Apart from setting the date of trials, the conference will also set the time-lines and format of disclosing evidence including witnesses who will require protection.
The prosecution has indicated it will require a year to present its evidence in each of the cases.

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