Kenyan broadcaster tells court he did not incite vote violence

By Thomas Escritt

AMSTERDAM | Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:50am EDT

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - A Kenyan broadcaster described as the mouthpiece of the deputy president denied helping incite a post-election bloodbath, telling the International Criminal Court on Wednesday he was a deeply religious, law-abiding man.

Joshua arap Sang is charged with crimes against humanity relating to the violence, alongside Deputy President William Ruto and President Uhuru Kenyatta, in cases some Kenyans fear could reignite the political strife they have struggled to put behind them.

Prosecutors say Sang, 38, used his radio show to send out coded messages encouraging members of his and Ruto's Kalenjin tribe to attack rivals after disputed elections at the end of 2007.

The violence which continued into 2008 killed more than 1,000 people and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes in East Africa's biggest economy.

The cases have divided public opinion in Kenya where many have accused the court of unfairly targeting African leaders. That perception has driven primarily symbolic parliamentary and senate votes calling for Kenya to withdraw from the ICC.

"In my entire life, I've never stood before any court," Sang said, rising to speak over the objections of the prosecution, who said they expected only his lawyer to give an opening statement. Judges overruled the objection.

"I am a law-abiding person. I've lived my life as a Christian, with all the Christian values," he said.

Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said Sang's messages on Nairobi radio station Kass FM were meant to coordinate violent attacks in the Rift Valley region.

"The main mouthpiece used by Mr Ruto to spread his message, was his co-accused Joshua arap Sang," she said.

Both Ruto and Sang pleaded not guilty to the charges at the trial opening on Tuesday.

Ruto's lawyer Karim Khan gave a fiery speech that appeared to be aimed at a Kenyan audience back home, and said prosecutors had been misled by tainted evidence and false testimony.

Kenyatta will come to court to defend himself against similar charges in a separate trial that starts in November, and will be the first serving head of state to go on trial before an international court.

"WOULD I BE SO SILLY?"

Though Kenyatta, the son of the country's founding father, was in a rival political camp to Ruto's during the crisis, the two reconciled after the ICC brought charges against them, and they won this year's national elections on a joint ticket.

The Kenyan trials are seen as a test for the ICC, which after 10 years has only secured one conviction and brought charges only against Africans.

The cases have also posed challenges to prosecutors, who have had to contend with the loss of some of their key witnesses over the course of a three-year investigation. Chief prosecutor Bensouda said the witnesses had been intimidated into withdrawing.

Sang said the charges that he coordinated attacks against members of the Kikuyu tribe in the Rift Valley town of Eldoret made no sense, as his own wife lived in a Kikuyu house in the same town.

"Would I be so silly, so stupid as not to be concerned about my family?" Sang asked.

Joseph Kigen-Katwa, his lawyer, said all the witnesses against Sang were linked to Kenya's Party of National Unity, a rival party to Ruto's Orange Democratic Party led by former prime minister Raila Odinga.

In Eldoret, 300 km (190 miles) northwest of Nairobi, locals followed the proceedings by television on Wednesday.

"This case is causing us unnecessary anxiety. People obviously want to be informed of what is unfolding because the outcome will affect our relations with other neighbors within the country," said Joseph Kandie, 57, a Kalenjin farmer.

"Let's wait and see. What Kenyans want is justice," said 40-year-old mechanic Alfred Onyango.

"If Sang is innocent as he says, then he will be set free. Above all, he now has a chance to clear his name and set the record straight. But peace is what we call for even as the cases continue."

The trial of Ruto and Sang was adjourned after Sang finished speaking. The first prosecution witness, who had been due to testify on Wednesday, will now attend court on Tuesday.

(Additional reporting by James Macharia in Nairobi; Editing by Sara Webb and Andrew Heavens)

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French cardinal warns gay marriage law risks violence

French Archbishop of Paris Cardinal Andre Vingt-trois carries a cross in the gardens of the Montmartre's Sacre Coeur Basilica during the annual Good Friday ''Stations of the Cross'' procession in Paris March 29, 2013.

Credit: Reuters/Charles Platiau

By Tom Heneghan, Religion Editor

PARIS | Tue Apr 16, 2013 8:14am EDT

PARIS (Reuters) - France's top Catholic bishop warned the government on Tuesday that legalization of same-sex marriage risked inciting violence at a time the country had more pressing economic and social problems to tackle.

Cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois told a meeting of French bishops the planned marriage reform, which the government has speeded up amid mounting pressure from opponents, was a sign that society had lost its capacity to integrate different views.

Protests against the law, led by lay groups mostly backed by the Catholic Church, have become more agitated in recent days as noisy opponents rally outside the Senate and National Assembly and harass politicians supporting the reform.

Vingt-Trois, the archbishop of Paris, said the difference between the sexes was a basic human trait and denying it by legalizing marriage and adoption for homosexuals would weaken society's ability to manage its differences peacefully.

"This is the way a violent society develops," he told the spring meeting of the French bishops' conference. "Society has lost its capacity of integration and especially its ability to blend differences in a common project."

The Socialist-led government, whose popularity has plummeted amid economic woes and a tax fraud scandal, is expected to pass the law next week to make France the 13th country to allow gays to tie the knot. Uruguay legalized gay marriage last week.

SIGNAL SOCIAL REFORM

The government decided on Monday that the law, one of the most important social reforms since France ended the death penalty in 1981, would be passed weeks earlier than planned and with a limited debate in its second reading.

Vingt-Trois accused the government of rushing the law through parliament without sufficient public debate.

"Forcing it through can simplify things for a while," he said. "To avoid paralyzing political life when there are grave economic and social decisions to take, it would have been more reasonable and simple to not have started this process."

Opponents of gay marriage have staged three large protests in Paris, with over half a million demonstrators at their height. The last one in March ended in scuffles with police.

Since then, smaller groups have staged flash protests around Paris. Some 70 people were arrested on Monday after trying to set up a protest camp outside the National Assembly.

Others have harassed pro-reform politicians by noisily protesting outside their homes at daybreak or stalking them. Some held up a high-speed train due to bring government supporters from a conference in Nantes to Paris.

Rhetoric has heated up as well, with opponents accusing President Francois Hollande of being a dictator. "Hollande wants blood and he'll get it," protest leader Frijide Barjot declared in comments she later admitted "went a bit far."

Government leaders have accused the protesters of turning radical and criticized the increasingly frequent presence of aggressive far-right nationalist and traditionalist Catholic fringe groups at the otherwise peaceful protests.

All main religious groups in France, with the exception of the Buddhists, have spoken out against marriage reform.

Vingt-Trois said the main protest marches, attended by average citizens concerned about the reform's long-term effects, did not reflect the "religious, retrograde and homophobe mania" that some of their more vocal critics ascribed to them.

Same-sex nuptials are legal in 12 countries -- Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden and Uruguay -- as well as in some parts of Mexico, Brazil and the United States.

Several other countries, including Britain, are planning to legalize it in the near future.

(Editing by Mark John)

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