NETHERLANDS: Kenyan presidential candidate at international court trial on election violence

Record ID: 860251

  • Title: NETHERLANDS: Kenyan presidential candidate at international court trial on election violence
  • Date: 14th February 2013
  • Summary: PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (FEBRUARY 14, 2013) (REUTERS-ACCESS ALL) EXTERIOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT WINDOWS OF THE COURTHOUSE
  • Embargoed: 1st March 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • City:
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3QAMRKPG4LILUEB4EAOVV91AD
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: A Kenyan presidential candidate indicted for crimes related to election violence appears in ICC trial via video-link.


    Kenyan presidential candidate and Uhuru Kenyatta's running mate, William Ruto, is indicted by the International Criminal Court for grave crimes linked to post-election violence following the last poll in 2007 and attended a hearing in the Hague, via video link, from Kenya on Thursday (February 14).
    Ruto and Kenyatta, also facing trial at the ICC on crimes against humanity charges, would prefer that the trial start once the election in Kenya is out of the way, but confirmed they understood they were still subject to the judges' court summons.
    For Kenyatta and Ruto, a trial that begins after they took office would avoid the spectacle of candidates preparing for trial on the day of the March 4 vote.
    Two other accused, Francis Mathaura and radio broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang, came to The Hague for the hearing.
    ICC judges, already dealing with a heavy workload, might also welcome a delay to the trial. The court also faces financial constraints that could lead it to hold the linked but separate trials of Kenyatta and Ruto consecutively.
    On Thursday, Kenyatta's lawyers said a trial delay was needed to let them respond to evidence disclosed at the last minute by prosecutors while Ruto's lawyer David Hooper demanded access to recordings of the prosecution's interviews with witnesses.
    He said he was worried the focus on parts of the case had shifted.
    "It's an overall burden, it's an overall weight, it's one that prosecution could and should have eased, and they haven't. We are really in no better or effective a position here mid-February, then we were in mid-December," he said.
    If Kenyatta wins the election, Kenya would become the second country after Sudan to have a sitting president facing trial at the International Criminal Court.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register