GLANCE FACTS
Don’t pray for Arap Sang to be freed. Pray for the truth to be known,”
— Joshua Sang tells congregation at By Faith Ministries Church in The Hague
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| Deputy Deputy President William Ruto is prayed for by religious leaders at the Dominion Chapel Ministries in Kiserian whre he attended a service Sunday. [PHOTO: COLLINS KWEYU/STANDARD] |
BY FELIX OLICK
The Hague: The first witness at the International Criminal Court is a woman who will only testify against Deputy President William Ruto and not his co-accused Joshua Arap Sang.
The Standard has reliably learnt that the 37-year-old witness, will give testimony about the chilling events of January 1, 2008, where
mostly Kikuyu women and children huddled at Kiambaa Church were burnt to death.
mostly Kikuyu women and children huddled at Kiambaa Church were burnt to death.
She will also testify about the alleged planning meetings attended by Ruto at a prominent politician’s home in the Rift Valley where she worked as a cook.
Sources said that in her statement, the woman aged 37 admitted that neither herself nor his Kalenjin husband listened to Kass FM and would therefore not testify against Sang.
“She will only testify about Ruto. In her statement, she has admitted that she never listened to Kass FM and did not know Sang before he was named by Ocampo,” said the source.
But it is understood that the politician she worked for has written a ‘powerful’ statement for the Ruto defence team rebutting her testimony.
“The truth of the matter is that the said politician is not very close to Ruto. But he has written a powerful statement against the witness,” said our source.
But ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appears to have suffered another setback with allegations that four new witnesses who linked the Deputy President to the Kiambaa fire incident have withdrawn from the process.
Impeccable sources at the ICC said that the four witnesses pulled out at the last minute forcing the Gambian born prosecutor back to the drawing board.
Insiders however revealed that the Chief Prosecutor has now given the defence her list of the first 11 witnesses.
The second witness is Herve Maupeu who is an expert witness that will provide a history of the violence that rocked the country after the disputed 2007 presidential poll.
A third witness who is already at The Hague is said to be a security officer who worked for one of the competing political parties in the 2007 General Election.
Biblical verses
“A number of witnesses including a prominent human rights activist have pulled out. Only three witnesses may appear before the case is adjourned again,” explained our source.
Ruto leaves the country on Monday for The Hague, Netherlands, where his trial resumes tomorrow, amid reports four prosecution witnesses had withdrawn from his case.
Ruto might be away for 18 days if he opts not to travel back over the weekends since the International Criminal Court ( ICC) trial will run until October 4 when a two-week break is scheduled.
On Sunday, Ruto was confident that the crimes against humanity charges against him would be dropped for lack of evidence. “When I went there last week, I thought that I would stay there for three weeks,” Ruto said referring to the premature halting of proceedings after the prosecution said the witness had not arrived. “But now I know that I had not sought the prayers of the Kiserian people.”
The Deputy President, who was accompanied by a dozen MPs for the church service, recited several biblical verses to express he will to overcome the charges.
He recited one from second Chronicles that exhorts one to “get out there and face your enemies.”
Key witnesses who linked President Uhuru, Ruto and Sang to the bloodshed have withdrawn their testimony- giving Chief ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda sleepless nights in her bid to prove her case ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.
Proceedings had to be adjourned Wednesday, just a day after the trials kicked off because the prosecution was not ready to present the first witness.
Judges expressed their displeasure with the prosecution’s move to request for adjournment terming it a ‘shame’.
“It’s a shame really because we were hoping to proceed today, but that is the reality we have (to grapple with),” the Nigerian judge Chile Eboi-Osuji said as he adjourned trial proceedings to tomorrow.
On Sunday, Sang accompanied by some of his defence team went to a church in central Hague to seek God’s intervention before proceedings resume tomorrow.
Sang went to the By Faith Ministries Church led by renowned Kenyan gospel artiste Faith Wanja where he knelt down and was prayed for.
Speaking in the church, Sang told the four pastors not to pray for his acquittal but for the truth to be known.
Three children
“Don’t pray for arap Sang to be freed. Pray for the truth to be known,” he noted.
“Pray also for the false witnesses so that the Lord may touch them and confess the truth.”
He reiterated his innocence saying that he did not attend any meeting to kill anybody.
Earlier he narrated painfully the difficulty he had explaining to his three young children why he had to fly to The Netherlands.
“I explained to them that there are people who said that I killed people and they were surprised because they know I am not somebody who can kill. So I told them I would be in Netherlands and listened to what they had to say,” he narrated, grief registered in his eyes.
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