Boycotting ICC Witnesses to be Paid Over The Weekend to Testify Against William Ruto Witnesses who’ve refused to testify against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are demanding more money and are expected to be paid over the weekend, sources told the Jackal News, on the day the tribunal judges adjourned the case to allow the prosecutors to bring in witnesses. A day after Ruto’s trial opened, the presiding ICC judges granted the prosecution an adjournment until Tuesday next when it promised to deliver the first witness. Sources said the tribunal’s chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has instructed registrar’s office to respond to their needs by the weekend. “The main reason why the witnesses are not willing to testify is because they are demanding more money. They are expected to be paid over the weekend,”a reliable source told the Jackal News. The prosecution has made a number of mistakes, and have already earned a vicious tongue-lashing from Christine van den Wyngaert, one of the presiding judges (who has subsequently excused herself from the case, citing workload). Van den Wyngaert did not pull her punches: “… there are serious questions as to whether the prosecution conducted a full and thorough investigation of the case against the accused prior to confirmation … the prosecution offers no cogent and sufficiently specific justification for why so many witnesses in this case were only interviewed for the first time post-confirmation … there can be no excuse for the prosecution’s negligent attitude towards verifying the trustworthiness of its evidence.” Another prosecution error came to light this week, according to the Daily Maverick, a South African online journal, this one even more fundamental. It emerged in a hearing that somehow the charges pressed by the prosecution against Ruto and Sang only cover events in 2008, meaning that atrocities committed in on 30 and 31 December 2007 are not within the scope of this trial. An attempt to change this was thrown out by the court, although the prosecution will appeal. Still, it’s another disturbing sign that the prosecution is not firmly in control of this process.thejackalnews/politics/breaking-boycotting-icc-witnesses-paid-weekend-testify-william-ruto
Posted on: Sun, 15 Sep 2013 20:48:56 +0000
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