20120310
AFP
The International Criminal Court turned down on Friday a request by four prominent Kenyans including two presidential hopefuls to appeal its decision to try them over post-election killings.

Applications by Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former minister William Ruto, as well as by radio host Joshua arap Sang and former civil service head Francis Muthuara had been "rejected", court documents said.

This included an argument filed by Kenyatta's defense, which described a decision by a three-judge bench to allow certain witness statements used to send the men to trial, as "irrational, unfair and unreasonable."

"The chamber, by majority hereby rejects," the applications by Kenyatta, Ruto, Muthaura and Sang, court documents said.

The international war crimes court on January 23 ruled the four men should face trial over a wave of election-related killings in Kenya four years ago.

The accused included Kenyatta, 50, the son of the country's founding father, and Ruto, 45, both presidential contenders. Their indictments are politically explosive ahead of Kenya's 2013 presidential campaign.

The men were part of a group of six facing crimes against humanity charges for post-poll violence in the east African country.

Prosecutors say some 1,133 people were killed and several hundred thousand others were forced to flee their homes.

Charges however were dropped against former industrialisation minister Henry Kosgey and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali.

Three days after charges were confirmed against the four in January, Kenyatta resigned as finance minister. Muthaura, one of the most influential men in President Mwai Kibaki's circle, also stepped down as as head of public service.

All four then filed applications to appeal the court's decision to confirm the charges against them.

They face counts including orchestrating murder, rape, forcible transfer and persecution in the aftermath of the 2007 poll, which was described as "one of the most violent periods in Kenya's history".

What began as political riots after the December 2007 vote soon turned into ethnic killings targeting Kenyatta's Kikuyu tribe.

They launched reprisal attacks in which homes were torched and people hacked to death in the worst outbreak of violence since Kenya acquired independence from Britain in 1963 and shattering its image as a beacon of regional stability.

ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo was allowed in March 2010 to investigate the six suspects.

Three of them were aligned with Kibaki's Party of National Unity and three supported the opposition Orange Democratic Movement of Raila Odinga, now the prime minister in a coalition government.

Observers had feared the ruling would trigger fresh violence, four years after election fraud allegations sparked Kenya's worst unrest since independence and revealed deep ethnic rifts.

However the ICC's decision struck a balance between the two rival camps: Ruto and Sang were opposition supporters in 2007, while Kenyatta and Muthaura were and still are Kibaki allies.