Ruto files ICC bid to end case as Sang requests prayers

Deputy President William Ruto has filed the no-case-to-answer motion seeking to have the post-election violence charges against him terminated before he can start calling his witnesses.

Though the filing was done on Friday according to the Trial Chamber V(A)’s orders, the public redacted version will only be published by the International Criminal Court by Monday.

Co-accused Joshua Sang also disclosed that he had done the same and asked Kenyans to pray for him.

“We have just filed no-case-to-answer motions. It is my sincere prayer that Jehovah God will bring to an end my case at this stage. May God help the Chamber see the falsehood that I have been facing for the past five years through the facts and the truth we presented before it, against what was presented by the prosecution. I request for your prayers for me and the DP to be acquitted at this stage. God...may your will be done,” Mr Sang posted on his official Facebook page.

The filing comes days after Kenya moved to lobby African signatories to the Rome Statute to force a discussion on the amended Rule 68.

A presentation made by Kenya’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Mr Macharia Kamau, to fellow ambassadors/Permanent Representatives to the UN on Friday in New York, a copy of which the Sunday Nation has obtained, reveals the gameplan Kenya has adopted to get other African nations to support its position.

RUTO CASE DEFERRAL
The government is lobbying African countries “to come up with common positions on the different agenda items.”

There are 33 AU members who are signatories to the Rome Statute.

“To this end, our experts need to meet urgently and come up with these positions, to the largest extent possible. Kindly note that this does not mean unanimity on the items, though this is most desirable,” Mr Kamau told fellow ambassadors.

The meeting was called to “exchange views” on, among other issues, developments and follow up of the October 2013 African Union decision on the continent’s relationship with the ICC, developments with regard to the Kenya case at the ICC, and the upcoming ASP meeting at The Hague.

In addition, the ambassadors delved into the outcome of the Open Ended Ministerial Committee of Ministers for Foreign Affairs on the ICC held at the AU Permanent Observer Mission, New York, on September 27 on the sidelines of the recent UN General Assembly.

The committee is chaired by Ethiopia and has Senegal and Burundi as two vice chairpersons.

During the meeting in New York on Friday, our source revealed that the Permanent Mission of Kenya to the UN officially announced that the Open Ended Ministerial Committee is now functioning and that African states should coordinate their matters with this committee.

It is through the ministerial committee that the AU will engage with the ICC on Africa’s relationship with the court.

Our sources in New York further reveal that Kenya’s announcement is timed to garner support for their request to the UN Security Council for a deferral of the Ruto case filed on October 16 to allow for auditing of the witnesses who have testified against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang, as has been requested by 190 MPs led by Pokot South MP David Pkosing.

IMMENSE CONDEMNATION
The 14th ASP will take place in The Hague from November 18 to 26 against the backdrop of the admission into evidence of recanted witness statements.

The decision, which is under appeal, has attracted widespread condemnation from the Jubilee administration, which has been holding prayer rallies to seek divine intervention in the case against Mr Ruto and Mr Sang.

“The new developments (in the Ruto case) have posed serious concerns which in any normal jurisdictions automatically lead to a mistrial or the withdrawal of charges against the accused on the basis of infringement of the rights of the accused and prosecutorial misconduct,” Kenya’s presentation at the meeting reads.

During the Friday meeting, Mr Kamau called on African signatories to the Rome Statute to support Kenya’s and South Africa’s requests for supplementary agenda items to discuss amended Rule 68 and Articles 97 and 98 of the Rome Statute on the duty to arrest and surrender a sitting head of state respectively.