Today, Trial Chamber V (a) held a status conference to review the progress in the trial of Deputy President William Samoei Ruto and former journalist Joshua arap Sang at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
No agenda was publicly given for the status conference, but it is safe to assume one of subjects was the failure to hold hearings since the trial resumed on Monday. The chamber had ordered Witness 727 testify before it starting Monday, but that has not happened.
There has not been any official court statement on this. The status conference was held entirely in private session, and no details of any decisions made at the meeting have been made public so far. The status conference went on for about an hour and a half, and then the court adjourned for the day.
Typically, a status conference is where judges and lawyers discuss the progress of the trial as well as particular applications before the court. The accused are not required to attend. Before Wednesday’s status conference, Trial Chamber V(a) has held at least five such meetings since January last year. Most of them have been held in private session. The last status conference the chamber held in open court was in February last year.
Ruto and Sang are on trial for their alleged roles in the violence that followed the December 2007 presidential poll in Kenya. They each face three counts of crimes against humanity.
It Is Only Fair For The Judges To Take A Wise Bold Step To Request The Prosecution To Honourably Close Its Case, Coz The Prosecutor Is Delaying Justice By Insiting To Be Given More Time To Locate Its Last Witness. For The Interest Of Justice The Court Should Also Consider That The Accused Are Affected Mentally And Financially For This Prolenged Proceedings.
The prosecution knew all along that the witness was willing to testify. He is under their protection I believe.
What puzzles me is their inability to get him to court to give his testimony. what went wrong? when? Is it not easier to let go if the witness is not willing or unsure of anything. Compelling him to testify is unfair in my view.
The courts and the prosecutor seem to be hiding from us their intents even though there seems to be no enough reason not to accept the “NOT GUILTY VERDICT ” JESUS OF NASARETH HELP US.
How does the witness get treats and he is under custody of ICC? Let OP come out clean. Are the OP shifting blame ON THEIR FAILURE? Let us be spared the endless agony of gimmicks we are repeatedly told. Justice is about fairness let the courts close case.
The world can now see the type of witnesses who are forced to nail innocent souls. Justice delayed is indeed justice denied, the witness has forgotten the exact words he was coached to come and relay why waste valuable time and resources of donors who supports but do not believe in icc.Bensouda, throw the hat into the ring and save the accused and their families these sufferings.
OH MY GOD. what a shame to the office of op
May the lord stand with innocent people. even the world have seen.
i hope that God never aburdon His beloved one.u will be set free like joseph in the Holy Bible.Amen.
I would like to say that kenya is nice country Ruto and sang case is foolish game of icc .Because ocampo mention six poeple dealing icc case .Why this two stil handle by court?. Icc is not fiar .It is must to discharg those fellow with immediate effect. Because kenya people living in peace .My view icc is a political court wrong, with wrong justice.
belove let us remain silent and wait for the verdict bcoz all I knw is that justice is being acheived in icc…but also prayer is very crucial here.
Let the perpetrators of 2007 be nailed. Impunity is too much in kenya. The prosecutor must succeed with the two cases. Their political status in the country means nothing to kenyans