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Kenya

Confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang scheduled to start on 1 September 2011

ICC-CPI-20110407-PR650

Situation: Republic of Kenya

Case: The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang On 7 April 2011, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) set the date of the beginning of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang for 1 September 2011.

This decision was announced at the initial appearance of William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang before the ICC. During this hearing, in the presence of the Prosecutor and the suspects, assisted by their Defence teams, Pre-Trial Chamber II verified the identity of the suspects and ensured that they were clearly informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed and of their rights under the Rome Statute of the ICC.

A confirmation of charges hearing is held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that each suspect committed each of the crimes being charged. If the charges are confirmed, the Pre-Trial Chamber commits the person to trial before a Trial Chamber, which will conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.

During the hearing, the Presiding Judge also stressed that:

"It came to the knowledge of the Chamber by way of following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are some movements towards retriggering the violence in the country by way of using some dangerous speeches. I would like to remind the suspects - and I'm not referring to anyone in particular but this is a general point to be made to all the suspects - that such type of action could be perceived as a sort of inducement which may constitute the breach of one of the conditions set out in the summonses to appear, namely, to continue committing crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court. Accordingly, this might prompt the Chamber to replace the summonses to appear with warrants of arrest (…).

For further information and updates on this case, click here.

For Kenyan national media: Please contact Jelena Vukasinovic, Associate Legal Outreach Officer, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-8094 or by e-mail at: jelena.vukasinovic@icc-cpi.int. For international media: Please contact Fadi El Abdallah, Associate Legal Outreach Officer, by telephone at: +31 (0)70 515-9152 or by e-mail at: fadi.el-abdallah@icc-cpi.int.