Four Kenyan suspects to go on trial

January 22nd, 2012 by Cooper Speckman

Four Kenyan suspects to go on trial – ICC

International Criminal Court judges yesterday ordered four prominent Kenyans, including two potential presidential candidates, to stand trial for allegedly orchestrating a deadly wave of violence after their country’s disputed 2007 presidential election. Chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo had asked to bring two separate cases, reflecting the political and ethnic divisions behind Kenya’s post-election violence. Legalbrief reports that Presiding Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova addressed a public hearing in The Hague which was broadcast live in Kenya. The ruling follows the disputed December 2007 elections, which left more than 1 000 people dead. Among the four suspects sent for trial were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former Education Minister William Ruto, who both are planning to run for the presidency this year. According to a report on the Chron.com site, Ruto was ordered to stand trial with radio broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang for crimes against humanity allegedly targeting Kibaki supporters. Another suspect, former Minister of Industrialisation, Henry Kiprono Kosgey, was cleared of charges. In a separate case, Kenyatta will stand trial alongside Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura for alleged crimes against humanity directed at supporters of Prime Minister Raila Odinga. However, the report notes that a third suspect in the case, former Police Commissioner Major General Mohammed Hussein Ali, was cleared of the charges. Prosecutors have said the decision to launch an ICC investigation in Kenya should help ease tensions, but there are fears a decision on prosecuting the suspects could have the opposite effect and spark renewed fighting. Kenyatta, a supporter of President Mwai Kibaki, is accused of organising a campaign of violence including murder and rape against Odinga supporters. Prosecutors say he met members of a secretive criminal organisation known as Mungiki at a shopping centre in Nairobi before the election in 2007 to arrange some of the attacks. BBC News reports that he denied the accusation at a preliminary hearing at the ICC last September. Kenya’s government has been lobbying for the cases to be dropped – a position endorsed last year by the African Union. Kibaki was eventually declared the winner of the 2007 election, and is serving his second and final term as President. Odinga was installed as Prime Minister under a power-sharing deal brokered by Kofi Annan to end the violence. Ruto and Odinga have since fallen out and are expected to face each in the elections.

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