A man who was a key witness at the International Criminal Court's (ICC) trial of Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto has been found dead and badly mutilated.
Meshack Yebei’s body was found in a river in western Kenya on Saturday after being abducted on the 28 December. His body had his eyes gouged out, genitals cut off, tongue cut out and a gunshot wound to the head.
The 34 year old had been scheduled to testify at The Hague against Ruto, who stands accused of crimes against humanity, after post-election violence in Kenya saw at least 1,100 people killed in 2007.
The government denied any wrong doing in the murder, claiming that Yebei was a key witness for the deputy president. Ruto’s lawyer, Karim Khan said the killing was “shocking to us and a matter of grave concern”.
The ICC said Yebei declined to enter its witness protection programme. Human rights activist Ken Wafula commenting on the killing said,
Meshack Yebei’s body was found in a river in western Kenya on Saturday after being abducted on the 28 December. His body had his eyes gouged out, genitals cut off, tongue cut out and a gunshot wound to the head.
The 34 year old had been scheduled to testify at The Hague against Ruto, who stands accused of crimes against humanity, after post-election violence in Kenya saw at least 1,100 people killed in 2007.
The government denied any wrong doing in the murder, claiming that Yebei was a key witness for the deputy president. Ruto’s lawyer, Karim Khan said the killing was “shocking to us and a matter of grave concern”.
The ICC said Yebei declined to enter its witness protection programme. Human rights activist Ken Wafula commenting on the killing said,
"There is a hit squad out to eliminate ICC witnesses and human rights officials accused of coaching witnesses to testify before the Hague-based court".ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told the Guardian,
“We have seen constant challenges. Not only the lack of adequate and timely cooperation that we requested, but we had the issue of the interference with witnesses, even interference with potential witnesses, and those who were simply too terrified to come to the court to testify. We have those who have already given us their evidence but then decided to either withdraw it or to change their accounts.”See more from the Guardian here.
“All of this has hurt the case. This is what has happened and with that evidence as it is, knowing it would have to be sustained at conviction or trial, I did what I had to do. I was not in a position to proceed and I have withdrawn. I think this shows responsibility. It shows that the court will not just frivolously continue with a case that has been hurt. We will do the right thing and I believe that this should add to the credibility of the court and not the other way around.”