The Accused

William Samoei Ruto: Currently he is the Deputy President of the Republic of Kenya. At the time of the attacks he was a senior member of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM).

Joshua arap Sang: Head of operation at at Kass FM radio station until October 2012. At the time of the attacks, Sang was the host of Kass FM’s popular breakfast show, Lenee Emet, which directly translated from Kalenjin means “what the countryis talking about.”

The Prosecution

• Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor
• Anton Steynberg, Senior Trial Attorney
• Cynthia Tai, Senior Trial Attorney

The Defense for William Samoei Ruto

• Karim Khan
• David Hooper
• Shyamala Alagendra
• Venkateswari Alegandra
• Essa Faal

The Defense for Joshua Arap Sang

• Joseph Kipchumba Kigen-Katwa
• Caroline Buisman
• Logan Hambrick

The Office of Public Counsel for the Defense

• Xavier-Jean Keïta

The Office of Public Counsel for Victims

• Paolina Massidda

Judges of Trial Chamber V(A)

• Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji (Presiding)
• Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia
• Judge Robert Fremr

Registry

• Herman von Hebel, Registrar

Key groups, organizations and individuals that could be referred to during proceedings

• PNU: The Party of National Unity. The ruling party at the time of the December 2007 elections, led by President Mwai Kibaki. The party ceased to exist after the March 2013 General Elections.

• President Mwai Kibaki: Former leader of the Party of National Unity. He served as President of Kenya from December 2002 to April 2013.

• ODM: The Orange Democratic Movement. The opposition party at the time of the December 2007 elections, led by Raila Odinga. The ODM formed a power-sharing coalition government with the Party of National Unity after the disputed December 2007 elections. After the March 2013 General Elections, ODM became an opposition party in the National Assembly and Senate.

• Raila Odinga: Leader of the Orange Democratic Movement and presidential candidate at the time of the December 2007 elections. He contested the 2013 presidential election and lost.

• Kofi Annan: Former UN Secretary-General and chair of the African Union-appointed team sent to mediate between the two political parties during the post-election violence.

• Mohammed Hussein Ali: The Commissioner of Police at the time of the 2007 elections. He left the police in September 2009 but remained in public service until May 2012. The ICC Prosecutor had named him as one of the three suspects in Kenya case two. Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber II, however, declined in January 2012 to confirm the charges against Ali.

• Henry Kiprono Kosgey: The Chairman of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) during the 2007 elections. The ICC Prosecutor had named him as one of the three suspects in Kenya case one. Judges of Pre-Trial Chamber II, however, declined in January 2012 to confirm the charges against Kosgey. Although he remains the Chairman of the Orange Democratic Movement, Kosgey reduced his political engagements after the March 2013 elections.

• Francis Kirimi Muthaura: Served as the Head of the Public Service and Secretary to the Cabinet in the lead up to the 2007 elections and after. In his capacity as the Head of Public Service, Muthaura also chaired the National Security Advisory Committee. Muthaura left public service in January 2012. It is for Muthaura’s role as the chairman of the National Security Advisory Committee that the ICC Prosecutor sought to charge him for crimes against humanity. In March 2013, however, the prosecutor filed a notice to withdraw the charges against Muthaura. Trial judges later confirmed the withdrawal of the charges against him.

• Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta: Currently he is the President of the Republic of Kenya. At the time of the attacks he was a senior member of the Party of National Unity (PNU). He was previously charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, but the charges were withdrawn on December 5, 2014 after lengthy delays to the start of  his trial.

• Kikuyu: The largest ethnic group in Kenya. President Mwai Kibaki is ethnic Kikuyu, and people of Kikuyu ethnicity were perceived to be supporters of the PNU during the post-election violence.

• Kamba: An ethnic group whose members were perceived to be supporters of the PNU during the post-election violence.

• Kisii: An ethnic group whose members were perceived to be supporters of the PNU during the post-election violence.

• Meru: An ethnic group whose members were perceived to be supporters of the PNU during the post-election violence.

• Kalenjin: An ethnic group indigenous to the Great Rift Valley, whose members were perceived as supporters of the ODM during the post-election violence.

• Luhya: The second largest ethnic group in Kenya. People of Luhya ethnicity were targeted in the post-election violence both as perceived supporters of the ODM and of the PNU.

• Luo: The third largest ethnic group in Kenya. People of Luo ethnicity were perceived to be supporters of the ODM during the post-election violence.

• Mungiki: A criminal gang allegedly mobilized by Kikuyu leaders during the post-election violence to carry out attacks on non-Kikuyu groups.

• The Waki Commission or the Commission of Inquiry on Post-Election Violence (CIPEV): The international body established by the government of Kenya in February 2008 to investigate the post-election violence. It became known as the Waki Commission after its chair, the Kenyan Court of Appeals Judge Philip Waki. The Waki Commission submitted a report and recommendations to the government of Kenya in October 2008.

Places that could be referred to during the proceedings

• Rift Valley province: Up until the 2013 elections, Kenya was divided into administrative units called provinces. The largest of them was the Rift Valley Province, running north to south across the west of the country. Here, the distribution of land has historically caused conflict between ethnic groups perceived as indigenous to the region (such as the Kalenjin) and those perceived as ‘outsiders’ (such as the Kikuyu). This province was one of those most affected by the post-election violence. Particularly violent attacks were allegedly carried out in the southern cities of Eldoret, Naivasha, and Nakuru.

• Nairobi province: the province that is home to Kenya’s capital city Nairobi, where much of the post-election violence took place. Nairobi’s slum districts, notably the largest slum Kibera, were reportedly key areas of police violence and Kikuyu gang violence.

• Western province: one of Kenya’s smaller provinces and one of those most affected by violence, particularly in the area of Mount Elgon.

• Central province: One of Kenya’s smaller provinces, this area remained relatively calm during the election campaign and the voting and counting period; tensions only rose and violence broke out after attacks on the Kikuyu in the Rift Valley.

• Coast province: the province in the south-east of the country comprising the coastal strip along the Indian Ocean. Violence was allegedly directed at the Kikuyu and Meru communities here.

• Nyanza province: one of Kenya’s smaller provinces in the south-west of the country, and one of those most affected by the post-election violence, particularly police violence.

• Kisumu: a city in Nyanza province and a traditional stronghold of Raila Odinga, the ODM presidential candidate, where many ODM-led protests and PNU-led attacks took place.

Ruto and Sang Trial Prosecution Witnesses

All witnesses, with exception of the expert witnesses, have testified under court-approved protection measures. These include being identified by a pseudonym and being hidden from view of the public gallery with curtains hiding them. Their voices are distorted in the broadcast to the public gallery and in the live stream of the court proceedings. Their faces are also pixilated in the live stream. Everyone in the courtroom can see and hear the protected witnesses, but they are bound by the court’s confidentiality rules from revealing their identities. This includes Deputy President William Samoei Ruto and former journalist Joshua arap Sang when they are in the courtroom.

1. Witness 536: A crime base witness, who testified about how she and others of the Kikuyu ethnic group sought refuge in a church in Kiambaa after young Kalenjin men had burned down several homes in nearby villages following the disputed December 2007 presidential poll. She also witnessed the rape of a woman by young Kalenjin men and an elderly man struck with an axe and spears on the head.
2. Witness 326: A crime base witness, who testified mostly in private session. The witness described how the group opposing a draft constitution, which was put to referendum in November 2005, became the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party. He also described how Ruto became one of the key leaders in the ODM and was responsible for the party’s campaigns in Rift Valley Province in the lead up to the 2007 elections. The witness also explained that he knew Joshua arap Sang as a radio presenter for Kass FM, a station that broadcast in the Kalenjin language and was widely listened in the Rift Valley Province.
3. Witness 189: A crime base witness of Kikuyu ethnicity, who testified that in the days following the 2007 presidential election she saw lorries of Kalenjin youth with bows and arrows. She also said while seeking refuge in a compound, she witnessed armed Kalenjin youth chase Kikuyu youth away. The Kalenjin youth then stormed the compound she was in.
4. Witness 376: A crime base witness, who described an attack in the Langas area near the town of Eldoret during the violence that followed the December 2007 elections. He said the attack took place 200 meters from his house and that it involved more than ten young men with bows and arrows and spears, directed by an older man that the witness knew. He also testified that he later lived in a camp for those displaced in the violence that was set up at the showground of Eldoret. He described the conditions in the camp as “pathetic.”
5. Witness 487: A crime base witness, who testified with voice and facial distortion for three days, partly in private session. The witness testified how he saw a man being hacked and beaten to death. He explained that Kalenjin men armed with machetes and bows and arrows would question people who approached the path they were on, and based on the answer the unarmed people gave, they would be allowed to pass or be attacked. He also described a violent stand-off between Kalenjins and Kikuyus on opposite sides of a river.
6. Witness 268: A crime base witness, who testified that in Kapsabet, many Kikuyus’ homes and business premises were destroyed while Kalenjin-owned businesses marked with the word kitwek were left intact. The witness also said that listeners to Sang’s morning show on Kass FM radio station called in to urge others to vote for the ODM party in the lead up to the 2007 elections and that Kass FM had a political agenda.
7. Witness 423: A crime base witness, who testified partly in private session. The witness, a Kikuyu, said that he was warned of attacks days before 2007 elections, by Nandi men, a sub-group of the Kalenjin ethnic group. The witness also described a four-day attack in Yamumbi setting hundreds of homes on fire and killing many Kikuyu people.
8. Witness 535: A crime base witness, who testified that hundreds of people were ordered to carry their identity cards in their mouths when they came up to a road block controlled by the Luo and Luhya ethnic groups as they fled violence in their area after the 2007 elections. The witness also described seeing two individuals being beaten in two separate attacks on the way to Eldoret.
9. Witness 356: A crime base witness, who testified that in the run-up to the 2007 election, William Samoei Ruto was simply declared the spokesman of the Kalenjin and not the “king” of the community as a previous witness had stated. Witness 356 was the first witness to have a lawyer present in the courtroom to help him navigate the rules around self-incrimination.
10. Witness 128: A crime base witness, who testified that he fled his home after seeing a police officer killed with an arrow. He also testified that he saw Samson Charamboss, the former head of the presidential security service and the Kenyan police paramilitary unit, talk to young men controlling roadblocks during the post-election violence.
11. Herve Maupeu: An expert witness, who is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Pau and the Adour Region, which is located in southwestern France. This witness affirmed that the declaration of Ruto as Kalenjin spokesman was made in area of Eldama Ravine in the Rift Valley region. He said that the elections of 1992, 1997, and 2007 were marked by violence that took an ethnic dimension but that in 2008 the size of the militia groups in the Rift Valley had considerably increased to thousands of members.
12. Witness 409: A crime base and a linkage witness, who testified that Ruto and former cabinet minister Henry Kosgey spoke in code during campaign rallies ahead of the 2007 presidential election, asking the Kalenjin to evict non-Kalenjins from the Rift Valley region.
13. Witness 442: A crime base witness, who testified that Sang told Kass FM radio listeners that votes were being stolen as Kenya waited for the electoral commission to announce the full presidential results of the December 2007 elections. The witness said she did not hear Sang call on listeners of his radio station to stop the violence.
14. Witness 508: A crime base witness, who testified about how he escaped nearly being killed at a road block by hiding his identity card. He said his name could be recognized as Kikuyu, which would make him a target to be killed.
15. Witness 469: A crime base witness, who testified that Sammy Ruto, after he won the Kimumu seat, told his supporters about the eviction of the Kikuyu from the area and return to Othaya, referring to the parliamentary seat that was held by then President Mwai Kibaki, who is also a Kikuyu. The witness also described two arson incidents that she saw.
16. Lars Bromley: An expert witness, who is a specialist in analyzing satellite images and related data. He works as the Principal Analyst at the Operational Satellite Applications Program (UNOSAT) at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, which monitors natural disasters and human security and human rights events. Bromley testified that data analysis shows a spike in fires in January 2008 and that 506 buildings were burned in Eldoret in January 2008 around the time there was violence following the December 2007 presidential poll. He also said that there were another 190 structures that were possibly burned.
17. Witness 673: A crime based witness who testified entirely in private session.
18. Witness 247: A former staff member of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence, commonly referred as the Waki Commission, gave his testimony in public but his name was not given. He testified about documents presented to the Waki Commission.
19. Witness 613: A crime base witness, who partly in private session. The witness described some of the work done by Ruto’s assistant Farouk Kibet. She said his functions included organizing harambees, a Swahili word that is commonly used in Kenya to mean a fundraising event.
20. Witness 405: A crime base witness, who testified under court-ordered protective measures, mainly in private session. The witness testified that allegations of vote rigging with pre-marked ballot papers ahead of the December 2007 presidential election sparked demonstrations in Eldoret a day before the poll.
21. Gavin McFayden: He was one of the three members of the Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence. He told the court that Ruto was one of the people named in what is generally known as “the envelope” in Kenya. This refers to a list of people who allegedly bear the greatest responsibility for the bloodshed that followed the December 2007 presidential election. The Commission drew up the list and sealed it in an envelope that they publicly gave to former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan in October 2008. The names have remained secret since, which is why the list has been the subject of speculation in Kenya.
22. Witness 604: A crime base witness, who testified via video link from an undisclosed location in Nairobi. He was declared hostile by the trial judges following an application by the prosecution because his testimony in court diverged a great deal with the statements he had originally given to the prosecution. The prosecution asked the witness whether he recanted his earlier statements to investigators because he had been bribed. The answer is unclear because most of the final part of the prosecution’s cross-examination took place in private session. The witness then said he made allegations against Ruto because of money he received from the ICC. Witness 604 had a lawyer present with him during his testimony. He also had a partial immunity deal with the prosecution if he testified truthfully about any Article 70 violations.
23. Witness 495: The witness testified from an undisclosed location in Nairobi via video link mostly in private session. The witness said he never made a statement to the prosecution about events before and after the December 2007 presidential poll in Kenya. The witness was declared hostile. Witness 495 had a lawyer present with him during his testimony. He also had a partial immunity deal with the prosecution if he testified truthfully about any Article 70 violations.
24. Witness 516: The witness testified from an undisclosed location in Nairobi via video link, partially in private session. The witness testified that he met two men, who told him what to say when prosecution staff contacted him to testify in the trial. He also said he chose to testify because he was promised a “good life,” including payments for his children’s education. He was declared a hostile prosecution witness. Witness 516 had a lawyer present with him during his testimony. He also had a partial immunity deal with the prosecution if he testified truthfully about any Article 70 violations.
25. Witness 637: The witness testified via video link from an undisclosed location in Nairobi mostly in private session. He told the court that three people had coached him in September 2011 to implicate Ruto and Sang on the promise that they would pay him once he testified before the ICC. The witness was declared hostile. Witness 637 had a lawyer present with him during his testimony. He also had a partial immunity deal with the prosecution if he testified truthfully about any Article 70 violations.
26. Witness 800: A linkage witness, who testified that Ruto spoke in code about evicting Kikuyu during an October 2005 meeting at an undisclosed location. He also described a camp where retired military officers trained Kalenjin youth how to shoot arrows and set houses on fire about one month before the December 2007 presidential poll. During his testimony, he was represented by a lawyer appointed by the court.
27. Witness 658: A linkage witness, who testified over a period of 11 days. He said that he saw crowds gather around a vehicle suspected of carrying rigged ballots shortly before the December 2007 elections. The witness also said that the day before the presidential poll Ruto gave an impromptu speech calling on the Kikuyu to leave Eldoret. He also testified that Sang incited violence on his radio program. Under cross-examination, the witness admitted that he did not attend two meetings where he alleged planning for the post-election violence occurred. He had a court appointed lawyer present during his testimony.
28. Witness 789: The witness is one of nine witnesses who were compelled to testify by the court and testified almost entirely in private session. The brief comments he made in public related to a ceremony in which Ruto was made a Kalenjin elder at the Eldoret Sports Grounds.
29. Witness 743: The witness, who testified with protective measures, was a listener of Sang’s radio program, and said Sang had called Ruto “a true leader” on the program. The witness also testified that he attended a fundraising event at which Ruto spoke about driving the Kikuyu out of the Rift Valley region. The judges declared the witness hostile because he later made statements that departed in whole or in part from statement he previously made to prosecution investigators.