ICC to fix Kenya's poll violence trial date next monthBy OLIVER MATHENGE in Nairobi | Monday, June 11  2012 at  14:34

Two Kenyans facing charges before the International Criminal Court (ICC) will have to wait until July 13 to know when their trials begin.

Judge Kuniko Ozaki set the date for Eldoret North MP William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua Sang after listening to the defence and prosecution on when they wanted the trials to commence.

“The chamber will be making an order on the trial date and also the timetable for the disclosure by the time we take the summer recess,” Judge Ozaki said.

ICC’s summer judicial recess will commence on July 13 according to information on its website.

Lawyers from both sides were in agreement that the trial should start after March next year, which is just after Kenya’s next elections.

The defence said it was not opposed to this arrangement, with Mr Sang’s lawyer Katwa Kigen pointing out that that they would need enough time to prepare after this.

Mr Ruto’s lawyer David Hooper, however, said that it was not necessary to have the suspects give a written undertaking since they had been cooperating with the court.

From the proceedings and with the defence and prosecution having agreed that a date after March 2013, the stage is set for Mr Ruto and Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta to continue with their presidential campaigns up to the end.

Mr Kenyatta’s lawyers will meet the prosecution and the judges for their status conference on Tuesday where similar submissions are likely to be made.

At the start of Monday's sitting, the ICC Trial Chamber V started with sending condolences to Kenya’s Sunday helicopter crash victims.

The prosecution was without outgoing prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his successor Fatou Bensouda while Mr Ruto was also not in the proceedings.