Nairobi, July 04: The International Criminal Court (ICC) will set up a special tribunal for ringleaders of Kenya’s worst post-election violence, which claimed the lives of about 1,500 people.
The Hague-based court’s prosecutor said that the tribunal will be set up only for those who have not already been punished in Kenya.
“If there are no national proceedings, we’ll do it,” Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told AFP after meeting with Kenyan Justice Minister Mutula Kilonzo.
Some 1,500 people were killed in a matter of weeks following presidential poll in December 2007, in which the then opposition chief Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of having stolen the vote.
Odinga is presently serving as Kenya’s prime minister with Mwai Kibaki as president of the coalition government.
“The crimes allegedly committed in Kenya after the 2007 elections may fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC and warrant investigations and prosecutions,” Kilonzo said.
In June, former UN chief Kofi Annan called on Kenya to set up a special court to try suspects by August, or have them face justice before the ICC.
“There are serious allegations of crimes against humanity committed during the post-electoral period,” he added.
—–Agencies