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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has dropped charges against Francis Muthaura, a co-accused of Kenya's presidential election winner Uhuru Kenyatta, the prosecutor has said.Fatou Bensouda said some witnesses were too scared to testify, while another had recanted his statement.Mr Muthaura was accused of fuelling violence after the 2007 election.Mr Kenyatta, who won last week's election, is due to be tried later this year on similar charges.Mr Muthaura, a former cabinet secretary, was on the same side as Mr Kenyatta during the disputed 2007 election, following which more than 1,000 people were killed and about 600,000 were left homeless.Mr Kenyatta is accused of organising attacks on members of ethnic groups seen as supporting Raila Odinga against President Mwai Kibaki. He denies the charges.'Disappointing'Ms Bensouda stressed that her decision had no relation to Mr Kenyatta's victory over Mr Odinga in the 4 March election."Let me be absolutely clear on one point - this decision applies only to Mr Muthaura," she said in a statement. "It does not apply to any other case."Ms Bensouda said she had dropped charges against Mr Muthaura for the following reasons:•several people who may have provided important evidence have died, while others were "too afraid" to testify for the prosecution;•the "disappointing fact" that Kenya's government had failed to provide important evidence, and failed to facilitate access to witnesses; and
•a key witness against Mr Muthaura had "recanted a crucial part of his evidence" and admitted taking bribes.•"My decision today is based only on the specific facts of the case against Mr Muthaura, and not on any other consideration," Ms Bensouda added.•"While we are all aware of political developments in Kenya, these have no influence, at all, on the decisions that I make."
•Mr Muthaura was among six people who were originally charged by the ICC - two others, Hussein Ali and Henry Kosgey, had charges against them dropped earlier.•Mr Kenyatta contested the election, despite being charged. He said he was innocent and vowed to clear his name in court.
•Mr Kenyatta won the election with 50.07% of the vote, compared with the 43.31% won by Mr Odinga.•Mr Odinga is challenging the result in court, claiming it was marred by irregularities.•This was his third defeat in a presidential election.•In 2007, he lost to Mr Kibaki, who is now stepping down at the end of his two terms.•Mr Kenyatta backed Mr Kibaki during the 2007 election.
•His running mate in last week's election, William Ruto, backed Mr Odinga in the 2007 poll.•Mr Ruto is also due to stand trial at The Hague for orchestrating violence against ethnic groups seen as supporting Mr Kibaki in the 2007 election.
•He strongly denies the allegation.
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