- The senator had requested for an adjournment stating that his lawyer was in another court but the magistrate declined.
- The senator has denied charges of ethnic contempt contrary to the National Cohesion and Integration Act.
Nandi Senator Samson Kiprotich Cherargei on Monday refused to be cross-examined in his hate speech case.
Cherargei who was in court for the hearing of his case told Milimani chief magistrate Wendy Micheni that he could not cross-examine a witness without his lawyer.
The senator had requested for an adjournment stating that his lawyer was in another court. The magistrate declined.
Micheni said the defence was aware that the case was proceeding.
A dejected Cherargei then requested for typed proceedings with the intent of moving to the High Court to appeal.
"I would request for typed proceedings so that I can proceed to the High Court," he said.
The senator has denied charges of ethnic contempt contrary to the National Cohesion and Integration Act.
"We are not squatters in this Kenya and if they want, we will step on each other until they know they actually don't know or we will close down this country," the senator said back in 2019 while addressing a public gathering during a fundraiser for Kilibwoni Football Club.
The court heard that the words were calculated to stir ethnic hatred by the Kalenjins against other communities.
Wycliffe Mwatu, a senior social media investigator with the National Cohesion and Integration Commission was in court to testify against Cherargei.
He told the court that in August 2019, he saw a video circulating on different social media platforms with utterances deemed inappropriate.
The prosecution said they will produce a DVD prepared by the witness and a transcribe to serve as a proof that the words used by the accused person were aimed at causing ethnic violence, bloodshed and destruction of property.
A DVD was produced before court alongside a certificate prepared and signed by Mwatu on August 20, 2019 and he went ahead to allow the prosecution as evidence towards the question at hand.
Mwatu told the the court that he used a forensic toolkit and a HT tracker to spot that the information in the DVD was a red flag.
The prosecution was to present two other witnesses before court but they failed to appear. The magistrate ordered they appear in court without fail on Tuesday when the case proceeds.