Legal News

Int'l court to launch cases in Kenya violence

By (Breaking Legal News)

The International Criminal Court will launch cases against as many as six suspected instigators of postelection violence in Kenya that left more than 1,000 people dead in 2007-08, the chief prosecutor announced Tuesday.

Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a statement that he will present two separate cases to judges before the end of the year charging between four and six people he believes "bear the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes."

Tuesday's statement did not mention the names of potential suspects or give more detail on when Moreno Ocampo would file the cases to judges at the court, who would have to authorize any arrest warrants. In April, Moreno Ocampo said he had a list of 20 possible suspects that included leaders of President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity and Prime Minister Raila Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

Kenya asked the court to help investigate the violence, but its commitment to cooperate with the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal was called into question last month when the country refused to arrest Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir during a visit. Al-Bashir has been indicted for genocide for allegedly masterminding atrocities in Sudan's Darfur region.

Full post as published by Breaking Legal News on September 21, 2010 (boomark / email).