ICC prosecutor to file Kenyan cases in two weeks

Dec 2, 2010, 14:26 GMT

Nairobi - The identities of six Kenyans accused of orchestrating post-election violence will be known in two weeks as cases are filed with the International Criminal Court (ICC), the court's head prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said Thursday.

'Before December 17, we will file two cases ... summarizing the facts and analysing the evidence collected,' Ocampo told a conference reviewing Kenya's reform process in Nairobi.

'Their names will be known, but these individuals are still innocent,' he added. 'Their guilt or innocence will be decided by the judges at the end of the judicial process.'

Months of ethnic clashes killed more than 1,300 people and displaced hundreds of thousands after the December 2007 elections, which then-opposition leader Raila Odinga, now prime minister, accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing.

When Kenya failed to set up a local tribunal to try those suspected of being behind the violence, former United Nations chief Kofi Annan, who brokered the power-sharing deal that ended the violence, forwarded a list of names of those suspected to be behind the violence to the ICC.

Cabinet ministers and prominent businessmen are believed to be amongst those in Moreno-Ocampo's sights.

Annan, speaking at the same conference, said Kenya has not done enough to bring to justice the organizers of the violence.

'While steps have been taken to address the root causes of the post-election violence, too little has been done to bring the perpetrators to justice,' Annan said. 'Impunity is a major problem yet to be fully addressed.'

Annan said this process was essential to prevent a repeat of the bloodshed at the next presidential elections, set for 2012.

'Let me stress that bringing to justice those responsible for the post-election violence is essential to help Kenya heal its wounds, and prevent such crimes from being committed again,' he said.

'It's about bringing individuals to account for crimes they have committed and ensuring that victims receive justice.'