Kenya's Ruto denies war crimes at the Hague

THE HAGUE // Kenya's vice president, William Ruto, denied crimes against humanity charges at the International Criminal Court yesterday, while in his home country Kenyans feared the case could reignite political violence they have struggled to overcome.
Mr Ruto and his co-defendant, Joshua arap Sang, are charged with orchestrating a post-election bloodbath five years ago, working with other conspirators to murder, deport and persecute supporters of rival political parties in Kenya's Rift Valley region.
Mr Ruto's lawyer accused prosecutors of conducting a flawed and prejudicial investigation using tainted evidence and raised the possibility - not yet confirmed by judges or prosecutors - that this week's hearings would be adjourned because witnesses for the prosecution could not attend court.
The prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, insisted in her opening speech the charges against the two men would stand.
"The crimes of which Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are charged were not just random and spontaneous acts of brutality," said Ms Bensouda.
"This was a carefully planned and executed plan of violence. Ruto's ultimate goal was to seize political power for himself and his party in the event he could not do so via the ballot box."
It is the first time such a senior serving politician has appeared in court to face international justice. Kenya's president, Uhuru Kenyatta, Mr Ruto's former rival and now his political ally, will also face trial on similar charges of crimes against humanity, beginning in November.
The court's public gallery was packed with dozens of Kenyan legislators and members of Mr Ruto's family who had travelled to The Hague in a show of solidarity.
The cases have split Kenyan public opinion, and witness testimonies of the violence in 2007-08 that killed more than 1,000 people could reopen old wounds.
They are also a major test for prosecutors at the decade-old ICC, who have had a low success rate and face accusations of focusing on African countries, while avoiding war crimes in other global hot spots.
"One day there will need to be an inquiry into how on earth it happened that somebody not just not guilty but innocent came before the court to answer charges that have been shown to be patently false," said Karim Khan, Mr Ruto's lead counsel.
Earlier, as the parties took their places in the courtroom, Mr Ruto had appeared relaxed, laughing and smiling with his lawyers, while Mr Sang gave the thumbs-up to a reporter.
Ms Bensouda looked on impassively as Mr Ruto's lawyer listed what he said were shortcomings in the prosecution's case.
Contrary to the prosecution's claim that Mr Ruto, a Kalenjin, hated people of the Kikuyu tribe, his sisters were both married to Kikuyus, Mr Khan said. And, he asked, how likely was it that Mr Ruto had amassed a cache of guns and grenades under the eyes of the local Kikuyu police chief?
Mr Khan played videos of interviews in which Mr Ruto expressed support for the ICC's investigation and pledged to cooperate with the court despite describing the charges he faced as "something only possible in a movie".
Rival members of Mr Kenyatta's Kikuyu and Mr Ruto's Kalenjin tribes, wielding machetes, knives, and bows and arrows, went on the rampage after a disputed 2007 election, butchering more than 1,200 people and driving hundreds of thousands from their homes.
This year, Mr Kenyatta and Mr Ruto ended their differences and joined forces for another election, which was relatively peaceful. Their joint Jubilee Alliance ticket was elected in March after a campaign in which their supporters criticised the ICC for meddling in Kenya's affairs.
They say their new alliance makes violence unlikely. Their supporters say the court cases risk undoing years of painstaking reconciliation, though they insist the alliance will survive.
At the heart of the violence on Ruto's political turf in the lush Rift Valley town of Eldoret, some 300 kilometres north-west of the capital Nairobi, Patrick Muchiri said he watched the trial with several others crowded around a television at a restaurant.
"We would have wished that the cases didn't take place since we have already reconciled, especially with our Kalenjin neighbours," said Muchiri, 53, a Kikuyu farmer who was evicted from his home near Eldoret by Kalenjin youth.
"But since the matter is before the ICC, let justice take its course. However, our concern is that this might create for us a big problem should they find Ruto liable. It would revive old wounds," said Muchiri, who lives at a tented camp near the town housing hundreds of displaced victims of the violence.
In Naivasha, just north of Nairobi, where the worst revenge attacks by suspected members of a Kikuyu militia took place, Josiah Otieno, 34, a tailor, said a long wait for justice could soon be over.
"After years of waiting and suffering, we now believe that justice will be done, and those responsible for our problems punished," said Mr Otieno, who said he was assaulted by militia who set his belongings on fire.
* Reuters