Deputy President William Ruto's attempts to have the ICC witnesses and staff quizzed and prosecuted over his collapsed case has suffered a massive blow.
The case that had been filed by Ruto's lawyer, Karim Khan, hit a dead end after the prosecution chamber threw out the case.
The international court trashed the call by Khan to have the court investigate staff and witnesses allied to the Office of the Prosecutor on grounds that they had mishandled the Kenyan cases before the suspects were acquitted.
Issuing the verdict, a three-judge bench comprising of Chile Eboe-Osuji, Robert Fremr and Olga Herrera Carbucchia discarded the petition noting that Ruto's lawyer, Khan, had gone too personal.
“The chamber notes the evident acrimony that permeated the parties’ submissions. As the record of the trial proceedings in the Prosecutor vs Ruto and Sang case shows, this chamber has consistently discouraged such attitude on the part of counsel appearing before it. The chamber thus reminds counsel that the dictates of professional responsibility require counsel to maintain detachment at all times from the case they are litigating,” read the statement from the ICC as quoted by BBC on Thursday.
According to the trial court, Ruto could have succeeded if he had made the appeal prior to the April 5, 2016, ruling that saw his case terminated.