Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta announcing the conclusion tot the Westgate Mall incident in Nairobi. Nearly 70 have been reported killed., a photo by Pan-African News Wire File Photos on Flickr.
Uhuru in new push to stop ICC case
Kenya Daily Nation
In Summary
On OTP 118, Mr Kenyatta’s defence says it has “extensive evidence” that the witness worked with the investigator, described as an intermediary, to intimidate and interfere with potential defence witnesses.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has moved to have the ICC case against him stopped citing “serious, sustained and wide-ranging abuse on the process of the court carried out by” three witnesses against him in collaboration with the court’s investigators.
He alleges that his witnesses have been intimidated or interfered with to change their testimony “for reward”.
In an application made late Thursday, his defence team wants the judges to either stop the case permanently or hold a hearing where the issue will be resolved conclusively before his trial begins on November 12.
Mr Kenyatta’s lawyers have said that if it is found that those involved abused the court process, “it would necessitate a permanent stay of the proceedings”.
“An evidential hearing on abuse of process would require the calling of live witnesses,” it says in the public version of the application.
The witnesses have been designated as OTP 118, OTP 11 and OTP 12 while the investigators’ names have been redacted, meaning they can’t be identified outside the courtroom.
On OTP 118, Mr Kenyatta’s defence says it has “extensive evidence” that the witness worked with the investigator, described as an intermediary, to intimidate and interfere with potential defence witnesses.
This, they say, amounts to a perversion of the course of justice.
The lawyers, led by Queen’s Counsel Stephen Kay, also allege that OTP 118 and the intermediary brought 10 other witnesses into the case.
The new witnesses’ evidence “must now be considered as irredeemably tainted by reason of their illegal conduct as uncovered by defence investigations”.
“The illegal conduct of OTP118 and (the intermediary) has directly led to (another person). Their conduct has also prevented the defence from obtaining witness cooperation due to OTP118 preventing any person or former person of (not stated) from cooperating with the defence,” their application states.
“The intimidation and interference took the form of direct and deliberate actions as well as indirect actions by others on their behalf to stop the cooperation of these witnesses with the defence, and to secure a change of testimony in line with the Prosecution’s case, in return for reward.”
From this, Mr Kenyatta’s lawyers have said it would be impossible to get justice from the ICC.
The lawyers have also stated that they have evidence that OTP 11 and 12 “have been interfering and tampering with the collection of evidence through channels provided by the Prosecution.”
The thrust of their argument is that in the process of getting witnesses against President Kenyatta, the prosecution also committed offences so grave and so widespread that they interfered with his right to a fair trial.
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