Witness Testifies Mostly in Private Session

Witness 743 told the International Criminal Court (ICC) he told the prosecution what he heard Joshua arap Sang say on radio, but he did not give them any recordings of Sang’s programs on Kass FM.

The witness said this on Thursday in response to questions from Sang’s lawyer, Joseph Kipchumba Kigen-Katwa. The questions were based on Witness 743’s statements to the prosecution.

Sang is charged with three counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the violence that erupted after the December 2007 presidential election. At the time, Sang was the star presenter on the Kalenjin language radio station, Kass FM. He has since left the station. Sang’s co-accused is Deputy President William Samoei Ruto, who is also charged with three counts of crimes against humanity.

After asking the witness about whether he had given the prosecution any recordings of Sang’s broadcasts, Kigen-Katwa played him clips of a recording of a December 14, 2007 Kass FM broadcast. Kigen-Katwa asked him to identify the voice and the date of the recording. Witness 743 said the person speaking in the recording was Sang. Kigen-Katwa then played another clip for the witness, read out an English translation of that clip and asked the witness to confirm whether it was a fair reflection of what was said in Kalenjin. Following this, Kigen-Katwa conducted the rest of his questioning in private session.

Most of the day’s proceedings were similarly conducted in private session. Senior trial lawyer Anton Steynberg completed his cross-examination of Witness 743 in the morning and then Kigen-Katwa was the first of the defense lawyers to question the witness. In the afternoon the court held a status conference that was closed to the public.

On Tuesday, Trial Chamber V(a) declared Witness 743 a hostile prosecution after the judges found that in his testimony he had departed systematically either in part or in whole from his earlier statements to the prosecution. This declaration meant that the prosecution could cross-examine him and challenge him on inconsistencies between his testimony and his earlier statements to them. This declaration also meant Witness 743’s testimony was likely to be favorable to the defense.

Witness 743 is scheduled to continue testifying on Friday.

11 Comments

  1. I have been following the proceedings of this case and see that some witness seems to contradict themselves, if you are say the through you cannot contradict you self that mean there is something questionable about them.

  2. Its önly God who pardons,let the accuse pray for mercy from heaven.their are alot of lies.

  3. the right of fair trial is ambiguous here, the witness is testying under prosecution protection, their testimonies are full of contradiction, unreliable and discontent… The 3judge-bench dont you feel your bums twitch???
    Terminate this case as early as possible.

  4. I really sympathize with those who see everything wrong with the prosecution in the Kenyan case.There has been a general trend to condemn the ICC judicial process and every slight court argument is perceived as NO CASE to answer.This was evidenced even during the confirmation of charges proceedings but eventually the Kenyan case went for trial.
    The question is Who knows what is going on and evidence being shared when the court is in private session?The fact that there are already some hostile witness complicates this case further.Ask any court clerk what a perjury is.
    From the beginning the Kenyan cases has been politicized locally,the court condemned,Those who “fixed’ the others have not been even remotely mentioned in connection with case.The elephant is in the house,and it is just a matter of time when the truth will set Kenya free.

  5. Daily nation newspaper of 24.1.2015 is reporting the reason why this witness’s evidence is mainly heard in private session is because the prosecution wants to protect the identity of P 0743. That aside, the defense has applied to be allocated for at least a week to dig into the witness allegation that all the prosecution witnesses lied with the full knowledge of prosecution during the pre-tiral hearing. The learned judges will give a ruling on this application and if defence is granted, Bensouda will collapse.

  6. The way the icc handles kenyan cases shows so many others have been crucified and hanged with blatant lies for them to be seen as doing job. shame on u the CEO of icc

  7. It was a miscarriage of justice from the start. Evey soul matters and you cannot mathematically pick people to carry the burden of a nation’s misconduct just to ‘serve as an example’. Why leave Raila, Kibaki? This case was thus doomed to fail and it will collapse as we watch before the end of 2015.

  8. The greatest thing of all is that Sins no-longer takes ages to strike,it can strikes any time even when one is testifying in the stand.It starts with you then your children and relatives.Speak the truth and the truth will set u free.

  9. “The central principle of gestalt psychology is that the mind forms a global whole with self-organizing tendencies”
    Just came across the above remark as i realty wanted understand the word “HOSTILE WITNESS”Bensouda , she is a beautiful African learned Lady and during this she is going to fatally injure the reputation of African in the eyes of the world .
    Some of these things she is up to will do o good to the careers of your people who might be out there trying to get better jobs .She must now than ever before use the solominic wisdom and terminate the case before the judges embarrass her further

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