ICC to trail 4 Kenyan’s for 2007 violence

The International Criminal Court has confirmed that four influential Kenyan’s will stand trial at The Hague, for being involved the post-election violence in 2007, after their appeals were rejected. On Thursday, the ICC overcame one of the last challenges, which were the appeals of the defendants, and now as the clearance need to officially put the accused on trail. The accused include: incumbent deputy prime minister and former finance minister Uhuru Kenyatta; former education minister William Ruto – with both Ruto and Kenyatta being presidential candidates – former civil service chief Francis Muthaura and head of radio station KassFM Joshua Sang. All four accused have denied the charges levelled against them and have argued that the country does not have the right of jurisdiction to charge or trail them. In addition, the defence team says that the ICC prosecution team does not have enough evidence to back up their claims against their clients. The ICC’s appeals chamber responded by highlight the fact that the defence argument did not amount to any substantial grounds to challenge the ICC’ jurisdiction or the prosecutor’s charges against the four Kenyan nationals. Kenyatta and Ruto have both been charged with orchestrating and ordering mob violence that killed at least 1220 people back in 2007, which pushed Kenya to the brink of civil war. The ICC decision will be a test for the Kenyan government as to whether or not they will co-operate with the Court and the trail proceedings. The latest developments around this issue will also impact on the upcoming elections. In response, Nairobi says that it will co-operate with the ICC, along with the accused, even thou the government has been critical of the Court. They four face numerous counts, which include: the orchestrating of murders, rapes, forcible transfers and persecution of people in the aftermath of the 2007 elections. All of the accused have voluntarily attended the court hearings.