[wpsocialite]
Deputy President William Ruto will travel to the Hague tonight to attend the status conference on new trial date relating to the 2008 violence in which over 1,000 were killed, sources told the Kenya Today News. Ruto alongside President Uhuru Kenyatta and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang are facing near-similar charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC). They have pleaded not guilty and their charges.
Sang left Nairobi for The Hague Sunday night.
Ruto goes to Europe, his first visit to the region since being elected in a joint ticket with Kenyatta in March election.
The ICC hearing will be to set a new trial date for Sang and Ruto. Few days ago, the court put off a 28 May as the start of the trial.
At the status conference, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will be asked to justify why she wants to add five more witnesses to her case against Ruto. Ruto wants the trial postponed until November at the earliest.
It is thought that Ruto’s new lawyer, Karim Khan, has flow out to The Hague too.
The status conference will be happening tomorrow amid controversy relating to a letter by Kenya envoy to UN asking the Security Council to end ICC cases against the three Kenyans  saying that implications of Kenyatta’s trial “for the viability and continuity of the state should be self evidentâ€. Ruto’s lawyer said his boss was not consulted.
The Security Council discussed the request . Diplomat said it was unlikely there would be support for deferring the proceedings against Kenyatta.
The hearing will also be taking place as Bensouda comes under pressure to justify that her case against the three was still intact.
Another witness in the Ruto-Sang case stepped down last week.Another one had quit in March.
The prosecutor has dropped charges against ex-cabinet secretary Francis Muthaura after a key witness stepped down. Kenyatta says his case is now weak.
Adapted from Jackal News