MP wants ICC prosecutor to drop Ruto's case

Pokot leaders led by David Pkosing ( left ) and Prof John Lonyangapuo address the Press on the killing of two innocent Pokot manning Turkwel Gorge Power plant by Turkana bandits at Parliament building Nairobi 24/03/15 Photo Moses Omusula

An MP has written to International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor asking her to drop the case against Deputy President William Ruto.

In a letter dated March 3, this year, Pokot South MP David Pkosing wants ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to drop the case against Mr Ruto and his co-accused Joshua arap Sang.

Last October, Mr Pkosing submitted a petition on behalf of 190 Kenyan MPs to the President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, which establishes the ICC, and the United Nations Security Council, protesting admission of prior recorded testimony in the case against Ruto.

Appeal court judges last month, however, overturned the decision by the trial court to rely on recanted testimony.

Bensouda had earlier said the recanted statements were critical to her case against Ruto and Sang.

"Your office has stated before that the exclusion of the Rule 68 would deprive you of the evidence necessary to prove your case," he told Bensouda.

He added: "You were categorical that the Office of the Prosecutor had no evidence to sustain the trial if the Rule 68 evidence was excluded."

He wants Bensouda to do the right thing and terminate the case, arguing that in doing so, she will be acting in the interest of justice and demonstrating the independence and impartiality of her office.

The MP indicated that on February 12, the ICC Appeal's chamber barred the prosecutor from using prior recorded statements from witnesses who had since pulled out of the case.

"In its ruling, the Appeal's chamber focused on injustice caused by the evidence to the accused and stated that in the particular circumstance of the Ruto and Sang case, the amended Rule 68 was done retroactively to the detriment of the accused," he wrote.

He added: "Therefore, the Appeal Chamber's ruling leaves the prosecutor, by your own admission, with virtually no case. The very evidence you relied on has been excluded."

"Kenyans are concerned that the prosecutor to the law may be under considerable pressure for institutional and political considerations against the termination of the case," he said.

He added: "We worry that partisan civil society organisations as well as powerful funder of the court are against any result other than a conviction in the current case and may be putting considerable pressure on your office. We condemn such pressure as illegal, shortsighted and contrary to any notions of justice."