ICC issues summonses to six Kenyans in election violence probe

Mar 9, 2011, 13:13 GMT

Nairobi - The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued summonses to six high-profile Kenyans accused of directing the East African nation's bloody post-election violence, the court said in a statement Wednesday.

Uhuru Kenyatta, son of Kenya's first president and current finance minister, is the highest-profile figure accused of involvement in the tribal-tinged bloodshed that followed December 2007's disputed presidential elections.

Over 1,100 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced as police brutally suppressed demonstrations and rival communities set off on a spree of murder, rape and destruction. A deal to bring in opposition leader Raila Odinga as prime minister in a coalition government ended the bloodshed.

The court said pre-trial chamber judges who met on Tuesday, with one dissenting opinion, decided there were sufficient grounds to grant Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo's request to summon the suspects to The Hague.

The six are expected to appear in the court on April 7 before the court heads to a confirmation of charges hearing.

Accused alongside Kenyatta in the ICC's first case are Major General Hussein Ali, former chief of police, and civil service head Francis Muthaura, a close ally of President Mwai Kibaki.

This case focuses on alleged organized efforts by the ruling party at the time to violently suppress protests and organize revenge attacks against supporters of Odinga, who accused Kibaki of stealing the poll.

William Ruto, a suspended cabinet minister and former ally of Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Henry Kosgey, former minister of industrialization, and Joshua Arap Sang, a radio presenter, face charges of inciting and planning violence against Kibaki's supporters in the second case.

Both Ruto and Kosgey have left their ministerial posts to face corruption charges.

The Kenyan government wants the United Nations Security Council to defer the charges for one year, to give it time to organize the local prosecutions that could have headed off the ICC referral in the first place.

However, Western diplomats in Nairobi say this is a stalling tactic, as there is no chance the security council will grant the request. Both Kenyatta and Ruto are likely presidential contenders in the next elections, set for 2012.