Suspect’s mood changes as clerk lays out the case

Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto speaks with broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang ( R ) in the courtroom before their trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on September 10, 2013. Both face charges of co-orchestrating a post-election bloodbath five years ago; could face long prison terms if convicted. PHOTO | AFP 

By Macharia Gaitho
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Deputy President William Ruto seemed relaxed, and at times bemused, as Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji went through the opening motions on the Kenyan case.

But then he suddenly seemed to sit up and pay attention when the court clerk laid out the detailed charges against him and co-accused Joshua Sang.

He had been fiddling with his pen and appeared to be doodling on a piece of paper, then suddenly leaned forward with his hand over his mouth as if suddenly realising the gravity of his situation.

Yet, later in the morning session before a short break, Mr Ruto seemed totally relaxed, even affording a smile and shared a laugh with a lawyer seated next to him after a video from an IDP camp put on by the prosecution failed to play.

SEEMED TO SAVOUR

Another moment that Mr Ruto seemed to savour was when a prosecuting counsel Anton Stynberg played a video from one of his campaign rallies ahead of the 2007 elections.

The prosecution contended that the rallies were used to incite Kalenjin people in the Rift Valley against Kikuyu settlers who had allegedly been targeted for eviction.

But the video had no sound, prompting Mr Ruto’s lawyer Karim Khan to shoot up asking for audio. Mr Stynberg explained that there was no need for sound because the language spoken at the function was not English, but went ahead to clarify that the particular video disclosed no offences of hate speech, incitement to violence or Kalenjin ethnic mobilisation that formed the core of the charges.

At that point, a member of the audience in the public and press gallery—one of the MPs who accompanied Mr Ruto—let out an audible murmur that had the security orderlies moving to the front.

The interruption was not heard or seen by the judges as the gallery is separated from the courtroom by sound-proof one-way glass.

DRIVEN TO THE STEPS

Those were some of the highlights of the morning session as the historic case took off at the ICC Tuesday.

Mr Ruto had been driven to the steps of the courtroom a half hour before the trial started in the company of a retinue of MPs flown in a show of solidarity.

His co-accused, Mr Sang, cut a more lonely figure as he was dropped off alone to tell the jostling press pack that he was just an “innocent journalist”.

The hearing began a few moments after the scheduled 9.30am commencement with introductions from the bench, the prosecution, defence teams, counsel for the victims and the court clerks and registry staff.

Judge Eboe-Osuji, flanked by judges Olga Herrera Carbuccia and Robert Fremr, went through a history of the case starting with the 2007 post-election violence and intervention of the Kofi Annan mediation team.

He also highlighted recommendations of the Justice Philip Waki Commission and the Kenya’s failure appoint a local justice mechanism prompting entry of the ICC as a court of last resort.