Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta to go on trial in November
The war crimes trial of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will begin on Nov 12, judges at the International Criminal Court ruled on Thursday, accepting his lawyers’ request for more time to prepare his defence.
11:22AM BST 20 Jun 2013
Judges ruled earlier this year that the trial scheduled to begin July 9 would start at a later date to give defense lawyers time to prepare.
Kenyatta is charged as an “indirect co-perpetrator” with murder, deportation, rape, persecution and inhumane acts allegedly committed by his supporters in the violent aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 elections. He insists he is innocent of any wrongdoing.
Despite the ICC charges, Kenyatta won the Kenyan presidency at elections this year.
Earlier this month, the court pushed back the start of the trial of Kenya’s deputy president, William Ruto, on similar charges until Sept 10.
2007–2008 post-election violence
On 15 December 2010, Uhuru Kenyatta was named as a suspect of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court prosecutor Moreno Ocampo, for planning and funding violence in Naivasha and Nakuru.[36] This was in relation to the violence that followed the bunglednational elections in Kenya of December 2007. He has been accused of organizing a Kikuyu politico-religious group, the Mungiki, in the post-election violence. Uhuru maintains his innocence and wants his name cleared. On 8 March 2011, he was indicted after being summoned to appear before the ICC pre-trial chamber. He was to appear at the Hague on 8 April 2011 alongside 5 other suspects.[37] On 29 September 2011, while seeking to exonerate himself, Uhuru Kenyatta put up a spirited fight as he was being cross-examined by ICC Chief prosecutorLuis Moreno Ocampo in the Hague, denying any links with the outlawed Mungiki sect. He said Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga should take political responsibility for the acts of violence and killings that followed the 2007 presidential elections in Kenya. He told the three judges that “by telling his supporters election results were being rigged, fanned tensions and then failed to use his influence to quell the violence that followed the announcement of the 2007 presidential results.”
Confirmation of the ICC charges
Though Uhuru had previously dismissed ICC summons,[38] he changed his decision along the way. Together with his two other co-accused suspects, Head of Civil Servant, Ambassador Francis Muthaura and former Police Commissioner Hussein Ali, the trio honored the ICC Summons that sought to determine whether their cases met the set standards for international trials.[39] On 23 January 2012, the ICC confirmed the cases against Kenyatta and Muthaura although the charges against Muthaura were recently dropped.[33] Serious concerns about the case have been raised, particularly the nature of the evidence being used against Kenyatta. There are also serious concerns about witness tampering and indeed, a number of witnesses have disappeared or died,[40] which is the reason cited by the ICC for dropping charges against Mathaura.[41]
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