Prosecutors Fail To Produce Evidence Against Kenyatta at ICC

As prosecutors failed to produce any evidence against Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta at the International Criminal Court Wednesday, the lawyers for the leader requested that the case be dismissed with Kenyatta given a clean chit, the Telegraph reports.

"We are now in the position that this case has failed, and failed in a way that there is no prospect of it going ahead in the future," Stephen Kay QC, Kenyatta's lawyer, told the court.

Kenyatta, who is the first serving head of state ever to appear before the ICC, has been accused of ordering post-election violence after the 2007 polls. The prosecutors have alleged that the President had planned the killing of as many as 1,200 people as well as committed other crimes against humanity, ABC News reports.

Kenyatta, on the first day of the three-day hearing at The Hague, appeared before the three international judges - who are to decide whether the case against him should proceed or be withdrawn due to lack of evidence.

According to The New York Times, the prosecutors had postponed the commencement of the trial many times citing that the case could not proceed until Kenya's government ended its obstruction and sent in the evidence that was requested more than two years ago.

The lawyer for the victims, Fergal Gaynor, said, "One of the most troubling aspects of this case has been the intimidation of witnesses." He further stressed that an explanation was necessary. "The victims are entitled to know who interfered with witnesses, at whose instigation and for what reason."

Some Kenyans staged demonstrations to express their support for President Uhuru Kenyatta outside the ICC in The Hague, BBC reports. Some supporters believe that the summonsw are to embarrass the President.