ICC rejects evidence against Kenya DP Ruto

The International Criminal Court (ICC) judges have rejected a document the prosecution wanted admitted as evidence to demonstrate Deputy President William Ruto's alleged involvement with a network blamed for the 2007 post-election violence.

The judges turned down ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's application to allow the document that prosecution intended to use as the evidence to prove the crimes against humanity charges against Ruto.

Ruto's lawyers alongside the defence of his co-accused journalist Joshua Sang had opposed admission of the document that they argued had been fabricated by those who had falsely wanted Ruto linked to the violence.

The court however admitted five documents that were not contested by the defence as evidence in the trial of Ruto and Sang. The evidence was adduced by the Office of the Prosecution.

The defence did not object to the five items, saying they did not affect their case.

The prosecution said they intended to rely on this item to corroborate witnesses' evidence.

They claimed the items were relevant to the charges and particularly to Ruto's criminal responsibility and the organised character of the network.

Ruto's defence opposed the evidence, saying it did not have probative value since it relied on anonymous sources. They claimed the document had been created as part of a scheme to falsely accuse Ruto of planning and funding the post election violence.

Further, they said the evidence was outside the temporal and geographical scope of the charges and was not independent.

The Chamber said one of the document had limited probative value as there was no

information on its source. "Although the Prosecution submits that it intends to rely on this document to corroborate other evidence in the case, the Chamber considers that it would be unduly prejudicial to the accused to admit an item of such limited probative value if information therein goes to the acts and conducts of the accused."