By Julie Mandoyan | June 12, 2012 - 13:00 GMT 
The trial of two Kenyan officials charged with contributing to the 2007 post-election violence at the International Criminal Court (ICC) will start in March 2013, as decided on Monday (11 June) by the prosecutor and defence offices. William Ruto, a former minister, and Joshua arap Sang, a Kenyan radio prominent figure would be tried for crimes against humanity for organizing partisan attacks following the elections.
Florence Darques-Lane, from the office of the prosecutor, announced the decision came from a joint-consensus between the defence and the prosecution. After the two defence teams “have submitted March 2013 for the start of the trial date", she explained “the prosecution ha[d] no objection to setting a trial date at such time” in spite of announced general elections in the country.
Ruto and Sang were part of the Orange Democratic Movement, which competed against ruling Party of National Unity (PNU). Some of their counterparts from the PNU face similar charges, amongst which Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former civil service chief Francis Muthaura.
Both Ruto and Kenyatta are expected to be contestants for the Kenyan presidency during the March 2013 general elections. Expected to take place on March 4, 2013. According to the General Elections Commission, they will be the first ones to occur after the 2007 violence.
The ICC announcement precedes a hearing to set the expected dates of trial for Kenyatta and Muthaura.
(Photo © ICC)
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