A Facebook post claiming that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor, Karim Khan, ‘has thrown away’ a case against Kenya’s Deputy President William Ruto is FALSE.
The post reads “Breaking News. Karim Khan the ICC prosecutor has thrown away the case that was filed against William Ruto saying that the case has no solid evidence… Karim Khan was once Ruto's lawyer during the first trial of the case when Fatou Bensuda was once the Prosecutor (sic),”
The post was shared more than 200 times.
While the Facebook page is called "Sky News Kenya" and imitates the logo of the Sky News television station, it has no relation to the British broadcaster.
A similar post was shared on Facebook here.
Ruto went on trial in 2013 over post-election violence in December 2007.
Contrary to the false claim, Ruto’s case at the ICC fell apart on April 5, 2016, when the majority of judges decided that the prosecution did not have sufficient evidence for a conviction.
The then-chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda cited a “relentless” campaign of victim intimidation as the reason for vacating the case.
Khan, who was Ruto’s lawyer during his trial, replaced Bensouda as chief prosecutor at the international tribunal on June 16, 2021.
The judges nonetheless noted that “the decision does not preclude new prosecution in the future either at the ICC or in a national jurisdiction”.
There is no official record on the ICC’s website of a new case against Ruto.
The Facebook claim surfaced as Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru is facing trial at the ICC for bribing witnesses in the case against Ruto and radio presenter Joshua Sang with an aim of undermining the prosecution’s case against the two.
The ICC issued a warrant of arrest against Gicheru more than five years ago and the lawyer finally surrendered himself on November 2, 2020.
Edited by D Tarus
