ICC judges exclude key evidence against Ruto

Therefore, it means that if the prosecution does not have sufficient evidence, this could go the same way as the case against President Uhuru Kenyatta and the charges may be thrown out of court.

Ruto and Sang are facing charges of crimes against humanity at the Hague-based court following the 2007/08 Post Election Violence in which at least 1,300 people were killed and over 600,000 others displaced.

The decision hinged on legal arguments about the court rule used by prosecutors and the trial chamber to admit the statements.

The judges said prosecutors could no longer use depositions made before the start of the case by five witnesses who later recanted their testimony against Ruto and broadcaster Joshua Sang. They have the full backing of Kenya’s government, especially since Kenyatta and Ruto were elected on a joint ticket in 2013.

“Today’s decision is a very big victory for justice”, Ruto’s defence lawyer Karim Khan told AFP.

The prosecutor had argued this was due to threats, intimidation and bribery.

Ruto’s case “is now on life support and may never recover”, said Mark Kersten, a researcher the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, about Friday’s ruling.

In their unanimous decision, the five appeal judges – Hofma?ski, Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Christine Van den Wyngaert, Howard Morrison and Péter Kovács – said the trial chamber decision resulted in admission of evidence, not previously admissible in that form under former Rule 68.

The ASP Bureau agreed with Kenya’s proposal to suspend the use of recanted evidence in the case of Ruto and Sang.