The witness who claims to be a victim of the Kiambaa church fire is the latest to withdraw his statement, at the last minute, linking William Ruto to the 2007/2008 post election violence that hit the country.
According to documents seen by The Reporter, the witness wrote to ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda with a sworn affidavit accompanying it , informing her of his withdrawal. “I write to notify you of my desire to withdraw from being a witness in the first Kenyan case. Kindly allow me to withdraw as I’m no longer able to continue,” read the letter in part.
The witness said in the affidavit the he was approached by a man he only identifies as Paul who asked him to assist him in looking for people who witnessed and were victims of the PEV in Eldoret. “I accepted to be such a witness at the ICC in relation to the events that took place during the 2007-2008 post-election violence around Eldoret,” he said.
The witness however notes he opted to pull out as a witness in the Deputy President William Ruto's case after reflecting on many things. “That my name should therefore be removed from the list of witnesses in the case,” he said in the affidavit. The affidavit was filed on his behalf by lawyer Richard Wafula of Ngigi Mbugua and Company Advocates in Eldoret.
He goes further to mention in the affidavit that he did not recall any participation by the accused in the post-election violence in any way. “I therefore swear this affidavit to recant all and any statements that have been attributed to me,” said the witness.
The witness added that he reached the decision to withdraw from the ICC cases out of his “own free will and without any duress, coercion or inducement”.
No comments:
Post a Comment