Kenya's deputy president William Ruto on Friday denounced as a fabrication the allegations of crimes against humanity that were brought against him in a case dropped by war crimes judges earlier this week.
And he denied claims that the case had been dropped due to what the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor referred to as a "relentless campaign" of witness intimidation.
Ruto, 49, and co-accused Joshua arap Sang, 40, had been brought before the ICC on three charges of murder, forcible deportation and persecution relating to a wave of post-election bloodshed which began in 2007.
But the case was thrown out on Tuesday, with the presiding judge referring to a "troubling" pattern of "witness interference" -- charges which Ruto denied.
"The case against me and Joshua Sang collapsed and was terminated, not because of other reason, not because of anything to do with witnesses or politicians," he said in a statement read to the press on Friday.
"The only reason why the case collapsed is because we are innocent," he said, insisting that the entire case was a fabrication.
"The allegations that were made against me were criminal acts of evil minds that schemed collided, colluded and fabricated a case against us."
He also insisted he know of no-one -- "nobody, or group of people, or network of individuals who planned violence against anyone".
Prosecutors say more than 1,300 people died and some 600,000 others were left homeless in Kenya's worst wave of violence since independence from Britain in 1963.
The ICC authorised a probe in 2010 to investigate the violence in a case keenly watched in Kenya, which has led a high-profile campaign against the court, accusing it of bias against the continent.
The collapse of the case means that no-one has been successfully prosecuted by the court for the bloodshed which claimed hundreds of lives after disputed 2007 Kenyan elections.