Prosecutor calls for another delay to Uhuru Kenyatta trial

GlobalPost

The crimes against humanity trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will be delayed again from its February 5th start date, after witnesses pulled out of the case. 

International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said she no longer had adequate evidence to try the Kenyan president, who has been accused of engineering the 2007 post-election violence that killed over 1,000 people and displaced thousands more. 

More from GlobalPost: Kenyan President Kenyatta must attend trial

"Having carefully considered my evidence and the impact of the two withdrawals, I have come to the conclusion that currently the case against Mr. Kenyatta does not satisfy the high evidentiary standards required at trial," Bensouda said in a statement, according to AFP. 

"I therefore need time to complete efforts to obtain additional evidence, and to consider whether such evidence will enable my office to fully meet the evidentiary threshold required at trial," she added. 

One witness has withdrawn from the case against Kenyatta, while another witness appears to have admitted to giving false evidence, writes the BBC.

The delay request, which will likely be granted, may help to address tension between the IOC and Kenya's allies in the African Union writes Reuters, which have accused the international legal body of "post-colonial meddling." 

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