After years of setbacks and controversies, the deputy president of Kenya went on trial Tuesday at the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity.

William Ruto denied charges that include murder and persecution for allegedly orchestrating attacks that left more than 1,000 people dead after the disputed presidential election nearly six years ago.

A third suspect, radio personality Joshua arap Sang, is being tried alongside Ruto on the same charges. He also denies the accusations against him.In addition to the deaths, hundreds of thousands were displaced when ethnic groups loyal to leading candidates in the December 2007 election torched homes and hacked rivals to death.

Kenyatta and Ruto have denied accusations that they coordinated violence among their respective ethnic groups after the disputed 2007 election.

In one of a number of setbacks in the run-up to the trial, the Kenyan parliament voted last week to withdraw from the ICC's jurisdiction, a move that would take a while to implement because it involves various steps, including a formal notification to the United Nations. The International Criminal Court said the trials would proceed despite the withdrawal.

 "Mr. Ruto's ultimate goal was to seize power for himself and his party through violent means," if they failed to do so through the ballot box, she said.To do so, Ruto built up a network of influential allies from the Kalenjin ethnic group and recruited Kalenjin youths to take part in attacks, the prosecution said.

In her opening statement, the ICC's top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said the prosecution would demonstrate that Ruto and his powerful allies sought to exploit the country's tensions for their own political and personal ends. The evidence would show that the outbreaks of violence "were not just random and spontaneous acts of brutality -- on the contrary, this was a carefully planned, coordinated and executed campaign of violence" that targeted perceived supporters of the ruling PNU party, she said.