ICC concludes investigation into post-election violence in Kenya

The International Criminal Court deputy chief prosecutor announced that she was dropping all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The 2007-2008 post-election violence inflicted a devastating toll, claiming over 1,200 lives and leaving an estimated 600,000 homeless.

In 2010, The Hague-based tribunal started probing the violence.

Initially, six suspects faced charges of crimes against humanity, including murder and deportation.

The suspects included current Kenyan President William Ruto and his predecessor Uhuru Kenyatta.

But former chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda withdrew the charges against Kenyatta in 2014 and in 2016 the case against Ruto was stopped too, after judges said the prosecution’s evidence was too weak.

Bensouda “blamed a relentless campaign of victim and witness intimidation for making a trial impossible and prosecutors launched a new probe into witness intimidation and bribery”.

Two other suspects in the intimidation and bribery case, Philip Bett and Walter Barasa are still at large and face charges before the court.

A senior International Criminal Court prosecutor on Monday announced that she was dropping all further investigations into crimes committed in Kenya relating to violence that erupted following elections in 2007.

The decision by the ICC’s deputy chief prosecutor Nazhat Shameen Khan ends a 13-year legal saga which involved senior Kenyan politicians.

Africanews/Hauwa M.