Kenyan president becomes first serving head of state to face ICC

Lawyers for Kenya’s president on Wednesday asked judges at the International Criminal Court to drop the crimes-against-humanity case against him - and acquit him - saying the prosecution has collapsed and cannot be resurrected. Prosecutors have acknowledged that they do not currently have enough evidence to prosecute Uhuru Kenyatta for his alleged role in instigating and funding violence that left more than 1,000 people dead and forced 600,000 people from their homes in the aftermath of Kenya’s 2007 presidential elections. But they blame the government Kenyatta leads for obstructing their investigation by failing to turn over potential evidence including Kenyatta’s phone records, tax returns and bank account details.

The case is at a critical juncture.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

Kenyatta, who is accused of masterminding post-election violence in 2007, has become the first serving head of state to appear before the ICC. Wednesday’s hearing was to determine if the case against him should go to trial. The court has been told nine witnesses are ready to testify and that Kenyan authorities have obstructed the case. The status conference in Kenyatta’s case has touched on the fundamental issue of how the world’s first permanent international criminal court can successfully prosecute government leaders when it often has to rely on the cooperation of the same governments in gathering evidence. Kenya’s Attorney General told the court in a hearing on Tuesday that prosecution requests for evidence are not detailed enough for him to act on.

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