Joshua arap Sang commits to be present during International Criminal Court trials

By FELIX OLICK

Kenya: Radio journalist Joshua arap Sang has committed to be present during his trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) contrary to his co-accused seeking trial in absentia.

His lawyer Katwa Kigen told the Trial Chamber V judges Sang has no intention to be tried in absentia.

“You Honour I need to clarify that my client would attend court proceedings throughout the trial,” Kigen told the status conference at The Hague yesterday.

This is dissimilar to a request by Deputy President William Ruto, who is seeking to waive his trial right to be physically present in court when their trials kick off.

President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ruto have also applied to be allowed to participate in the proceedings via video link.

However, the judges are yet to make a ruling on the two requests. According to documents filed in the Trial Chamber by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on January 9, the trials against the three Kenyans is likely to be long.

Bensouda has lined up 77 witnesses for the two cases estimated to take a total of 1,398 hours.