Posted
Thursday, September 8
2011 at
22:30
An MP was Thursday accused of inciting the public against the victims of post-election violence.
A lawyer for the victims told the International Criminal Court
Pre-Trial Chamber judges that Belgut MP Charles Keter called Kass FM — a
vernacular station — on Tuesday morning and “incited people” in the
process.
Mr Keter is at The Hague with three suspects —
Eldoret North MP William Ruto, suspended Industrialisation minister
Henry Kosgey and radio journalist Joshua Sang. He has denied the claims.
(Read: Ruto group in prayers ahead of ICC hearing)
Ms
Sureta Chana, representing 327 victims of the violence, said the call
was a demonstration that victims were being intimidated and were living
in fear of renewed attacks.
She said that the
statements made by the ODM rebel MP and listeners who called in showed
that the victims were being labelled traitors and were being intimidated
back in Kenya.
She read out an email which she said
had been sent from Kenya by one of her field researchers who spoke to
the “anonymous victim”.
“A victim said he heard Belgut
MP Charles Keter call in during an early morning broadcast at Kass FM on
September 6. Mr Keter said that he knows the identity of Witness Six
and Witness Eight and also that the ICC case was a plot hatched by human
rights activists. The victims said that Mr Keter threatened that the
‘traitors’ would be dealt with when the hearings end,” Ms Chana told the
court.
Closing statements
In
the email, the researcher is said to have reported that some members of
the Nandi sub-tribe were portrayed as having betrayed the community by
providing witnesses for the ICC.
The MP is alleged to have dismissed the charges facing Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang as “falsehood peddled by PNU supporters.”
“They
are traitors among the Kalenjin. We are aware of them. We know the
witnesses and we are returning home,” he is quoted as having said.
The lawyer said Mr Keter had warned of unspecified consequences to traitors when the confirmation of charges hearing is over.
He allegedly said that it was not just the three who were on trial but the entire Kalenjin community.
Another
field officer has claimed that the situation was getting dangerous for
the Nandi and human rights workers because the broadcast had carried the
following threat: “We will give them the treatment deserving of
traitors.”
Parties to the case against Mr Ruto, Mr
Kosgey and Mr Sang made their closing statements yesterday afternoon
where they used their 30 minutes to tear into each other’s evidence.
But Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova warned them not to introduce new evidence in their closing arguments.
The lead prosecution lawyer Cynthia Tai said that due to the
nature of the confirmation of charges hearings, the evidence presented
was enough to show that the case is ready to be taken to trial. The
prosecution said that the evidence should be viewed as a whole.
“Defence
claims that prosecution evidence is unreliable and inconsistent. We
submit our evidence has been consistent. We submit that our evidence is
enough to show substantial grounds that Mr Ruto, Mr Kosgey and Mr Sang
committed the alleged crimes and we urge the Chamber to confirm the
charges and commit the suspects to trial,” said Ms Tai.
On
Mr Ruto, the prosecution said that it was not reasonable that the
witnesses were seated in the same room and claim not to have
communicated to each other.
The prosecution tore into the witness statements produced by the Eldoret North MP saying that they had “unnatural language”.
“Evidence
provided by Mr Ruto, in particular statements by witnesses, almost all
testimony is similar in language and we ask if it is reasonable that all
witnesses would think in the exact same way,” said Ms Tai.
On
Kosgey, the prosecution said that Witness Number Six had not said that
the Tinderet MP was the sole perpetrator as the defence was trying to
demonstrate.
“The prosecution has no evidence at this moment that
Raila Odinga was involved in the planning and execution of the said
crimes that are subject to this case,” said Ms Tai.
The
prosecution said the statements in Mr Sang’s case as in Mr Ruto’s case
demonstrate a level of instruction and are similar in some part.
The
prosecution said that Mr Ruto and Mr Kosgey had access to a helicopter
meaning that they could have moved around within a short period of time.
The prosecution used a map to show that the travel
time from Eldoret to where the defendants claimed they were when the
alleged meetings were held is approximately an hour.
“Most distances are within an hour of Eldoret and the suspects could easily attend many meetings on a given day,” said Ms Tai.
The
prosecution also told the court that the suspects called for peace at a
time when the purpose of their “planned meetings” had been achieved.
Ms Tai said that by the time they called for peace, people had been killed and evicted in the Rift Valley.
“It
is completely logical that they would plead for calm as the chaos raged
and could have been a ploy to conceal their real intentions,” the
prosecution said.
Ms Tai also said that the witnesses called up by the suspects
were “biased” and “interested parties” in the actions of the three
accused.
“Kosgey withdrew his witness while Ruto and Sang produced two
each. Were the witnesses neutral or were they interested parties? Their
motive to give testimony shows that they were perfect individuals to
rebut the prosecution’s accounts,” said Ms Tai.
The
prosecution submitted that the alleged Network as any other organisation
is bound to change but it does not mean it never existed.
Ms
Tai added that Defence’s submissions that the prosecution did not have a
name or a paper trail, such as receipts, do not diminish its existence
“especially for one whose motive is to commit illegal activities.”
The
Victims’ representative, Ms Chana, used the opportunity to say that the
government of Kenya has not acted on the post-election violence cases.
Mr
Ruto’s lawyer David Hooper however objected to the line taken by Ms
Chana who was later told by the judge that she can make written
submissions on the issues.
“I am here to convey the
views of the victims to the Chamber. Victims are concerned that Ruto
sought to absent himself from the hearings and was not taking the
hearings seriously,” Ms Chana said in one of her submissions.
Ms Chana said that this was not the first time that
Kenya has experienced violence adding that a victim said he was
surprised to hear the latest chaos was spontaneous.
She said that victim says he was displaced in 1992 due to perceived support of a Kikuyu candidate in Burnt Forest, Rift Valley.
But
Mr Hooper objected again saying that the 1992 clashes have no bearing
on the present hearings but Judge Trendafilova overruled him saying that
Bishop Jackson Kosgei, Mr Sang’s witness, alluded to it.
Ms
Chana added that there was no dispute that there was violence, saying
that it is an acknowledged fact by the defence and the prosecution.
She also said that Defence witnesses said there were people in camps but could not be bothered to visit the IDPs.
“We
request the chamber to add more charges including destruction of
property, looting and injury. The victims will be seeking reparations
for these crimes,” said Ms Chana.
I was in Kericho throughout the post election violence and I can bear witness to the fact that much of the violence and destruction was premeditated and highly organized. I personally saw very young Kalenjin youth marchng past my house armed with bows and arrows. Another youth who was shot dead by the police was carrying a large wad of notes which the policeman relieved him of. The boy was obviously poor so where did the money come from? Another interesting fact is that on the day before the presedential results were released, a Kikuyu pastor's house was set on fire in broad daylight and the Kiongo road was blocked off with large boulders and when asked by my Kalenjin friend why, the young men answered it was to protect them against the GSU.
ReplyDeleteMy own take on this matter is that certain leaders in this community took advantage of the situation to practice ethnic cleansing by using young unemployed youth to scare away "outsiders".
There is a real need for reconciliation in our community. God bless Kenya.
ok
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