Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday threw out post-election violence charges against Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto, giving him a major boost as he prepares to make another run for office in elections next year.
In a complex ruling on Tuesday, ICC judges declared that there was no case for Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Sang, to answer to.
The two were accused of fomenting murderous inter-ethnic violence in Kenya after the 2007 elections in the country, leading to some 1,200 deaths. A similar case against Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta collapsed last year.
Judges halted the trial before Ruto’s defence lawyers opened their case, ruling that prosecutors had failed to marshal enough incriminating evidence, but the three judges were divided on whether to acquit, continue the case, or declare a mistrial.
The decision was a blow to prosecutors at the court who have seen their highest-profile cases evaporate under heavy political pressure from Kenya and its African Union allies. They had accused the court of unfairly targeting Africans.
Set up in 2002, the ICC has struggled to enforce its will in countries that are reluctant to cooperate with it. Powerful indictees like Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and guerrilla leader Joseph Kony remain at large.
The judges said, on Tuesday, that their task had been made impossible by political interference and efforts in Kenya to threaten prosecution witnesses into silence.
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