Joshua Arap Sang

Joshua Arap Sang was born in Kitale in Rift Valley Province in Kenya in 1975, as a member of the Kalenjin tribe.

He has worked as a radio presenter on the popular Kalenjin-language radio station station KASS FM since 2005, and hosts a morning call show called “Lene Emet”.

As early as December 2006, Sang, a prominent Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) supporter, allegedly established, with his co-accused William Samoei Ruto and Henry Kosgey, a network with the goal of gaining power in the Rift Valley Province by committing crimes against supporters of the Party of National Unity (PNU). Sang allegedly had a major role in the planning and organisation of crimes against PNU supporters by using his radio show both to gain support and also to communicate by code to the members of the network on when and where to commit attacks.

On 15 December 2010, the Prosecutor of the ICC requested Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC to issue summonses to appear for Joshua Sang, together with William Samoei Ruto and Henry Kosgey, on the basis that there existed reasonable grounds to believe that they were criminally responsible for crimes against humanity, pursuant to article 7 of the Rome Statute.

The Pre-Trial Chamber said the material presented to them by the Prosecutor provided grounds to believe that Sang placed Kass FM at the disposal of the network, advertising the organisation’s meetings and using his on-air position to spread hate messages and incite violence by broadcasting false news regarding alleged murders of Kalenjins.

Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC issued a summonses to appear on 15 March 2011. Sang and his co-accused made their initial appearance before the ICC on 7 April 2011. The Confirmation of Charges hearing is scheduled for 1 September 2011.

Situation in Kenya