ICC summons Ruto witness in Gicheru case

The unidentified government was also asked to make appropriate arrangements for the security of witness P-0743, in consultation with the court’s Victims and Witnesses Unit.

The development comes as the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) continues to make last-minute efforts for compulsory attendance of witnesses who have dropped their intention to testify against the Nairobi-based lawyer.

In the fresh summons, Trial Chamber Judge Miatta Maria Samba wants the unnamed witness to appear at The Hague for the purposes of testimony via videolink at the dates, time and place the prosecution and the registry will communicate.

Neither the identity of the witness nor their current country of residence have been revealed to the public.

The court has also requested the assistance of the country of the witness’ residence to ensure the witness appears in court by informing him or her of the obligation to testify.

The unidentified country is also required to facilitate, by way of compulsory measure as necessary, the appearance of the witness to give testimony before the chamber. In addition, the country has been requested to make appropriate arrangements for the security of the witness, in consultation with the Victims and Witnesses Unit.

The witness had appeared in court and testified in the terminated case that was facing Deputy President Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang.

In its request for the summons, the prosecution explained that it interviewed the witness in relation to the Ruto-Sang case in 2015. After the surrender of Mr Gicheru to the ICC, the prosecution conducted a further interview with the witness in 2021.

Deputy Prosecutor James Stewart said the prosecution informed the witness that it intended to call them during its presentation of evidence.

The witness confirmed readiness to testify, but stopped communicating with the court.

Last week, the court issued a similar summons to the hostile witness described as P-0743, who had evaded the OTP and dropped communication.

Court documents indicate that P-0743 testified in the Ruto-Sang case, but he stopped cooperating with the prosecution.

“Despite the prosecution use of all reasonable efforts at its disposal to locate or contact P-0743 to secure his voluntary attendance at trial, he remained unreachable,” said Mr Stewart.

He said the witness was initially in communication with the OTP, but became unresponsive and uncooperative, before breaking off all communications.

“Given the upcoming commencement of the trial and the lack of progress in locating the witness, it is necessary to take urgent steps to obtain the assistance of the authorities to summon him to testify before the chamber,” added Mr Stewart.

The witness was initially found not to be credible by the court and the prosecutors had declared him thoroughly unreliable.

Though the witness is not among those allegedly bribed by Mr Gicheru, prosecutor said his anticipated testimony has a sufficient nexus to the crimes charged.

“At a minimum, his evidence – if accepted – will corroborate the evidence of other prosecution witnesses as to the existence of the Common Plan, the identity of its members, it’s modus operandi and the accused’s role in its activities,” stated the prosecutor.

He added: “The anticipated testimony is potentially necessary for the determination of the truth. The witness may provide important testimony on the crimes charged and the individual criminal responsibility of Gicheru.”