ICC says president must be prosecuted

AMSTERDAM/NAIROBI — The International Criminal Court’s cases against Kenya’s president and deputy will go ahead, the court’s prosecutor said on Thursday in a statement released just hours before the Kenyan parliament was due to vote on withdrawing from the court.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto are accused of orchestrating violence after elections in 2007 in which 1,200 people lost their lives.
“The judicial process is now in motion at the International Criminal Court. Justice must run its course,” said Fatou Bensouda, the court’s chief prosecutor, in a video statement on the court’s website.
“Witnesses have gone to great lengths to risk their lives and the lives of their relatives to support our investigations and prosecutions,” she added.
Kenya’s parliament was expected to debate and vote today on a motion that could lead to the east African nation withdrawing from the Rome Statute that underpins the International Criminal Court.
The trial against Ruto starts on September 10 in The Hague, while Kenyatta’s trial is scheduled to open on November 12. (Reuters)