Three Kenyan officials charged with post-election violence appear at International Criminal Court

[News_Editor]

Three Kenyan officials charged with post-election violence appear at International Criminal Court

2011-04-09 01:08:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE (BNO NEWS) -- Three senior Kenyan officials on Friday appeared before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague after being allegedly involved in the 2008 post-election violence.

The defendants are Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, deputy Prime Minister; Francis Kirimi Muthaura, head of Kenya's civil service; and Mohammed Hussein Ali former commissioner of police and currently head of the post office.

The ICC set September 21 as the date for the beginning of the confirmation of charges hearing in the case against the three officials. On Friday, Pre-Trial Chamber II verified the identity of the suspects and ensured that they were clearly informed of the crimes which they are alleged to have committed.

The upcoming confirmation of charges hearing will be held to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that each suspect committed each of the crimes charged.

If the charges are confirmed, the ICC pre-trial chamber commits the suspect for trial before a trial chamber. On Thursday, three other suspects, William Ruto, Henry Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang, appeared before the ICC pre-trial chamber.

On Friday, presiding Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova warned the defendants that that arrest warrants could be issued against them if they instigated further unrest through inflammatory speech. The same warning was given on Thursday was well.

"It came to the knowledge of the Chamber through following some articles in the Kenyan newspapers that there are movements towards retriggering the violence in Kenya, by way of delivering dangerous speeches," judge Trendafilova said.

The judge told the Kenyan officials that such action could be perceived as a violation of the conditions set in the summonses to appear issued to each one of them. However, she remarked that the judges would prefer to avoid such drastic measure in order to continue proceedings smoothly.

More than 1,100 people were killed, 3,500 injured and up to 600,000 displaced due to the violence that followed the December 2007 elections. There were also hundreds of rapes and at least 100,000 properties were destroyed in six of Kenya's eight provinces.

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