Post date: Sep 17, 2013 2:37:35 PM
The International Criminal Court hears the first witness in its case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto.
THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (SEPTEMBER 17, 2013) (REUTERS) - A woman who escaped from a burning church during the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya was the first to testify on Tuesday (September 17) at the International Criminal Court in The Hague in the case against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto.
Ruto, who arrived at the court with his lawyer and wife, is accused by prosecutors of fomenting ethnic bloodletting that killed about 1200 people after a disputed election in December 2007. He denies this.The witness, known only as P-0536 to protect her identity, told the court she had sought refuge in the church after members of the Kalenjin tribe burnt down houses in the town of Kimuri.
"I was fleeing, because of the tensions that have arisen following the burning down of the houses on the December 30 by young Kalenjin people in Kimuri," she said after taking oath.
The witness then broke down into tears as she described how a painted-faced mob armed with machetes, axes and sticks surrounded and torched the church where she and her family had sought refuge.
Presiding Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji ordered an adjournment to allow her to recover.
The witness was screened from public view by a curtain that allowed her to be seen by the judges who were facing her. Her voice was electronically distorted and her face pixillated to make her unrecognisable to anyone watching the relay.
Asked by prosecution lawyer Anton Steynberg to describe the events on January 1, 2008, she said a mob of some 3,000 youths had descended down the sides of the valley into the village of Kiambaa, near the lush city ofEldoret in the Rift Valley region in the west of Kenya.
Her parents' home had been burned down the previous night, forcing her to seek refuge with her children in the church along with as many as 2,000 other people.
She said the attackers were of Ruto's Kalinjin ethnicity - prompting titters in the public gallery, where some 30 supporters of Kenya's deputy president were in attendance to show solidarity.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, Ruto's former rival turned political ally, faces similar charges of crimes against humanity and is due to go on trial in November.