Supporters of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta celebrated after the International Criminal Court's charges against him were dropped, the Washington Post reported.
Kenyatta was charged with crimes against humanity in 2010 by the ICC for his alleged participation in the violent events that occurred after the 2007 elections in Kenya. The president was accused of providing financial assistance to the attackers who orchestrated violent clashes in the country.
The incident left over 1,000 people dead and several others wounded. Numerous women were also raped during the clashes.
Since 2010, prosecutors from the ICC have been conducting investigations regarding Kenyatta involvement in the post-election violence.
However, due to lack of sufficient evidence, ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the intergovernmental organization decided to drop the case against Kenyatta.
"Evidence has not improved to such an extent that Mr. Kenyatta's alleged criminal responsibility can be proven beyond reasonable doubt," he said in a statement.
Since the case surfaced, Kenyatta and his administration have denied his alleged links to the incident. Prosecutors speculated that witnesses may have been bribed or scared off by Kenyatta's party to prevent them from testifying. Other witnesses were killed, although the ICC cannot confirm if the deaths were related to the case.
"Attempts to identify, locate and interfere with prosecution witnesses are escalating with a concomitant impact on their security," an ICC prosecutor said during a court trial in 2012.
Due to the dismissal of the case against Kenyatta, the legal representative of the post-election violence victims fears that high-ranking officials in Kenya might employ the same strategy to prevent judicial groups from properly obtaining pieces of evidence.
"It seems to me that if these cases are terminated, the government will see once again that obstruction of access to evidence is a viable strategy," attorney Fergal Gaynor said during a court hearing in October.
After learning that the case against him was dropped, Kenyatta expressed his enthusiasm through a press statement, according to Daily Nation.
"I am excited by this news, which I have awaited ever since the day my name was announced to the world in connection with the case," he said. "I am also deeply relieved by this decision, which is overdue by 6 years."
Kenyatta then criticized the ICC for failing to find the culprits behind the incident.
"Just as the ICC failed me, it has also failed the victims of the 2007-2008 post-election violence," he added. "They were killed, maimed, displaced, dispossessed and utterly traumatized. I have been victimized, libeled and senselessly profiled by the same defective process."
