ICC assigns judges to Kenya post-election violence situation

11/07/09: JURIST reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced Friday that it has assigned three judges to the situation involving the violence perpetrated in the wake of Kenya's 2007 presidential elections. The decision came in response to a Thursday letter from chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo in which he said that he intends to request formal authorization in December to initiate an investigation into the situation. Moreno-Ocampo may not begin a formal investigation until he receives the judges' authorization. The investigation may only proceed if Kenya does not conduct its own investigation into the matter, which it has thus far failed to do.

11/05/09: The New York Times reports that after months of political wrangling, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Thursday that he will initiate an inquiry into what he termed crimes against humanity during the post-election bloodletting that gripped Kenya in 2008.

10/21/09: The Financial Times (UK) reports that Raila Odinga, Kenya’s prime minister, has pledged his full cooperation with the International Criminal Court as it investigates the role of several cabinet ministers suspected of orchestrating last year’s post-election violence.

10/01/09: BBC News reports that the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced that it will try suspected perpetrators of weeks of violence following polls in Kenya in 2007, after Kenya's government missed the deadline to set up a local tribunal.

08/03/09: Jurist reports that Kenya should establish an independent tribunal to prosecute those believed to be responsible for the post-election violence in Kenya in late 2007 and early 2008 instead of relying on its own judicial system, Human Rights Watch urged Monday. The HRW statement comes in response to last week's announcement by the Kenyan Cabinet that it will undertake judicial reforms to keep the option of trying suspects in domestic courts open.

07/09/09: The Financial Times reports that former Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, has upped the pressure on Kenya’s coalition government to decide how to prosecute people accused of orchestrating post-election violence by handing a sealed envelope with the names of top suspects to the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

Thread: Kenya post-election violence