By Nairobi Star
January 5, 2010
Nairobi-A campaign to silence several potentially key witnesses for the International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo appears to have intensified in the last two weeks.
In December Ocampo went before the ICC pre-trial chamber to seek permission to start formal investigations into the post-election violence in early 2008. The ruling is due this week.
The witnesses reported the attacks to different police stations in Rift Valley and Western provinces, as well as to human rights organisations that are documenting evidence to be presented to Ocampo.
The Star has obtained Ocurrence Book numbers and dates where the witnesses have reported the incidents but we cannot report them for security reasons.
Four witnesses claimed to have escaped death narrowly on different days between the December 23 and yesterday.
Witness "A" has been on the run for the last six months. He gave evidence in camera on certain politicians to the Waki Commission to investigate post-election violence.
On December 28, he was hauled out of a taxi and beaten senseless by four men who claimed that they had been paid to kill him.
"They told me that unless I withdraw my evidence from Waki they will return to kill me," said Witness A. He claimed that he had also been attacked by the same men in October but that his neighbours rescued him.
" After the attack, I went to hide at my uncle's house near Mt. Elgon.
They followed me there but they missed me. They then murdered my cousin and told my relatives that they will kill more people unless they produce me," said the shaken witness who fled to a neighboring country yesterday.
Twenty-five year-old Anthony Juma was tied up by the gang which then used a rope to hang the young man.
Police in Bungoma confirmed the killing at Brigadier village.
Witness "B" used to live in Kitale but for the last three months has been staying with friends and relatives around the country. He also testified in camera to Waki.
On December 27 he says he was attacked in Nairobi's Komarock area.
"For a whole week three people kept following me and at some point confronted me on December 23 near Afya Center. I knew two of them were security officers because I had worked with them at some point".
"They told me that I was too dangerous to be left out there so I should write my will. On December 27 the same people arrived at a friend's house in Komarock asking for me but I escaped through the back door.
They shot my friend twice in the leg for refusing to produce me," said Witness B.
Witness C who is nursing a fracture on his left hand and several panga cuts said he was attacked on January 1 in Kericho.
"I had just returned from my home in central province when they came to my house. They said they wanted to warn me against meeting Ocampo or writing to him and even before I responded they slashed me several times and broke my arm," said Witness C.
He claimed the same people had warned him several times of "dire consequences" in the past six months.
Another witness has suffered post-traumatic stress and is being treated at the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret after being threatened with death along with his family in Uasin Gishu district.
A witness who was a human rights activist in Naivasha was murdered last April after he rejected offers for a scholarship, or money to go and do business in South Africa. His name cannot be revealed to protect his family.
Six other witnesses in Naivasha accepted the offers and left the country to study and do business on condition that they will not testify anywhere including at the ICC if asked to do so.
All the potential ICC witnesses had appeared before the Waki Commission in camera.
Last November the Star exclusively reported that several witnesses had received death threats from cabinet ministers who suspect that ICC may indict them.
Justice minister Mutula Kilonzo then confirmed that some witnesses had written to him expressing fear for their lives.
"I'm aware that some witnesses are fearful for their lives but I'm sure you know that it's the responsibility of the Attorney General to ensure their safety,' Mutula said.
Yesterday Attorney General Amos Wako, who is responsible for witness protection, did not answer his mobile telephone or respond to our test messages.
Kenya's Witness Protection Act was enacted into law in December 2006, and operationalised in September 2007 but the AG's office has been accused of not effectively implementing it.
The ICC has already set up a pre-trial chamber followed a meeting between Ocampo, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga in Nairobi on November 5. The bench will rule later this month if Ocampo can go ahead and investigate Kenya's case.
Eleven other witnesses, mostly from the North Rift, are on the run moving from one town to another seeking refuge from relatives.
One of those returned home last November to find that his maize had already been harvested by unknown people who threatened his now hungry family.
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