AFP
ICC prosecutor confident over Kenya suspects

Sat Nov 7, 9:47 AM ET

NAIROBI (AFP) - Top war crimes prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said on Saturday he has a strong case against the masterminds behind last year's post-election violence in Kenya.

He said he would use the report of an official inquiry into the violence led by Justice Phillip Waki and probes conducted by other agencies to convince judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) to back a formal investigation.

"I think I have a strong case because the Waki commission is a very good report, it's full of information and there are other reports: the UN report, different other human rights groups reports ...," Moreno-Ocampo told a press conference.

President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga, whose 2007 election dispute sparked the violence, on Thursday declined to refer the Kenyan case to the ICC, prompting Moreno-Ocampo to say he would seek approval from the court's pre-trial chamber to commence investigations next month.

"I believe we have a very strong case but it's true the judges could say no," Moreno-Ocampo said.

Moreno-Ocampo flew to Kenya on Thursday to secure a formal referral from the government so that the ICC could begin investigations and prosecute key planners of the violence that followed disputed elections on December 27, 2007.

The violence left 1,500 dead and hundreds of thousands displaced.

Odinga said that referring the violence to the ICC would have been tantamount to admitting Kenya is a failed state.

"It is only when a legal system has failed that direct referral is done," he told AFP in an interview Saturday.

Amnesty International has criticised the government's decision.

"The Kenyan government has left the ICC no option but to open an investigation by its failure to do so itself," said Godfrey Odongo, Amnesty's East Africa researcher.

"Kenya has failed to define the crimes against humanity committed by members of all parties during the elections last year as crimes under national law. By doing so, it has opened the door to an ICC investigation and prosecution."

Moreno-Ocampo denied snubbing victims of the violence, saying he would arrange a meeting at an appropriate time.

"I would like to go and meet the victims where they suffered, I plan to do this as soon as the judges open investigations," he said.

Some displaced people had demonstrated on Friday, accusing Moreno-Ocampo of being indifferent to their plight.

Kenya last year enacted the International Criminal Court Act defining crimes against humanity and other crimes under international law as crimes under Kenyan law, but only if committed after January 2009.

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