Request to skip court puts Ruto on the spot

Deputy President William Ruto is received at Schipol Airport by Kenya’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Mrs Makena Muchiri, on Tuesday. Mr Ruto travelled to The Hague to attend the status conference at the ICC. PHOTO/REBECCA NDUKU/DPPS 

By PETER LEFTIE pmutibo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Wednesday, May 15  2013 at  23:38

 

Deputy President William Ruto was Wednesday taken to task over a request not to attend his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji quizzed lawyer Karim Khan over submissions that his client be permitted to skip trial as he had a constitutional duty to serve the people of Kenya as deputy president.

Judge: Clarify your written submissions that Mr Ruto is making this request given his unique position as Deputy President. Did he not seek this position and got it, congratulations to him though, fully aware of this case?

Mr Khan: Mr Ruto responded to the will of the people of Kenya to serve them and he was democratically elected to this office.

Judge: Did he seek this position before court proceedings commenced or after?

Khan: As a politician, it has been a long walk for Mr Ruto. It is a continuation of his public service but I think it was after.

When Mr Eboe-Osuji asked why Mr Ruto did not wait to clear his name before running for election, Mr Khan said doing so would have reinforced the perception that the ICC was being used by Mr Ruto’s political adversaries to force him out of the race.

He said Mr Ruto was ready to attend trial whenever required to do so and that he was not seeking a waiver to skip the entire proceedings.

Mr Khan said Mr Ruto was the first serving deputy president to present himself before the court, adding this was a demonstration of his commitment to cooperate fully.

He dismissed the prosecution’s assertion that Mr Ruto’s absence could be prejudicial to the victims. “There are no victims in this court, they are represented by their counsel,” he remarked.

Mr Eboe-Osuji also took prosecutor Cynthia Tai to task over the demand that Mr Ruto attends in person.

She had said the interests of witnesses and victims would be adversely affected if Mr Ruto was not physically present in court.

The court later went into a closed session to discuss the prosecutor’s complaints.