The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Thursday he had asked judges to allow a probe of the deadly violence that followed Kenya's 2007 polls as the masterminds had evaded justice at home.  

"I have asked the judges of the ICC authorisation to investigate the violence that followed the elections in 2007," in which about 1,500 people were killed, Luis Moreno-Ocampo told journalists in The Hague.

"Our policy is to focus our investigation on those who bear the greatest responsibility, those who organised, planned and supported the attacks," he said, adding there would be "a limited number of suspects."

The prosecutor said there had been a "widespread and systematic attack against the Kenyan civilian population," in which thousands were injured and about 300,000 internally displaced.

"These constitute crimes against humanity," he said.

"Victims in Kenya were hurt, they were raped, their homes were burnt, their cattle [were] stolen, they lost all the means to support themselves. We will do justice for them."

Moreno-Ocampo has been conducting a preliminary investigation since February last year into the violence that followed presidential polls held on 27 December 2007 when opposition chief Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of voter fraud.

If given the go-ahead, the prosecutor said he hoped to present a list of suspects "during the course of 2010". There was no indication of when the court was likely to make its decision.

Rights groups welcome move
"We hope that the ICC's intervention will break the circle of impunity and contribute to prevent the commission of further crimes around elections in Kenya and in any other country," said a statement by the International Federation for Human Rights.

Human Rights Watch added, "The Kenyan government has failed over and over again to keep its promises about justice for the election violence."

Moreno-Ocampo said his investigators were "ready to work" and that teams "are constituted and ready to deploy. We have already analysed boxes of documents."

"I have the obligation to be impartial, so I will collect the evidence and I will decide who should face justice," said Moreno-Ocampo.

Earlier this month, Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula insisted that Nairobi was committed to a "local solution." However the country has yet to act on the recommendation of its own year-old inquiry that a special tribunal be set up to probe the violence.

Prosecutor leads way
The ICC, the world's only permanent independent tribunal to try war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, began work in The Hague in 2002.

It can only try cases when countries are either unwilling or unable to do so.

"Today, there is no national investigation and prosecution against those most responsible for the crimes against humanity committed in Kenya. That is why we believe our cases will be admitted," said the prosecutor.

This is the first time that the prosecutor has sought to open an investigation on his own initiative -- one of three ways in which a case can come before the ICC.

He needs the judges' permission to do so.

Other cases before the court had either been referred by countries that have signed up to the court's founding Rome Statute or by the United Nations Security Council, as in the case of the conflict in Darfur, Sudan.

The ICC has already assigned three judges to consider the prosecutor's request on Kenya.

Source: AFA