adminAt a hearing scheduled for 1400 GMT at the Hague-based court, a three-judge bench was to notably hear defence lawyer Steven Kay’s request to scrap his client’s July trial date and send the case back to the ICC’s pre-trial chambers.
The case is being closely watched in Kenya and around the world after ICC prosecutors a week ago asked to drop all charges against Kenyatta’s co-accused, top civil servant Francis Muthaura. Should the five crimes against humanity charges against Kenyatta stand, he will become the first-ever president to have to fly off to The Hague to face a trial that could last at least two years shortly after taking office.
Kenyatta (51), was proclaimed Kenyan president just over a week ago following the first elections after the east African country’s deadly post-poll violence five years ago in which ICC prosecutors say some 1,100 people were killed.
Prosecutors suspect Kenyatta of having paid the Mungiki, a sect-like criminal gang notorious for beheading its victims, to lead reprisal attacks and defend the Kikuyu community when violence ripped through Kenya following disputed polls in late 2007.
Kenyatta has rejected the allegations. His defence has argued that a statement by a prosecution witness, so-called witness “OTP-4” who later recanted testimony, lay at the heart of the case.“The evidence they (the prosecution) are seeking to rely on in the case against Uhuru Kenyatta is utterly flawed,” Kay said in a statement . — AFP.
Online Reporter