ICC confirms charges against four Kenyans

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Four high-ranking Kenyan officials, including potential presidential candidates, are called to trial for crimes committed after 2007 elections, the ICC said.

Kenyan Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and three others, including former Education Minister William Ruto, face charges at the International Criminal Court for crimes committed when roughly 1,300 people were killed after disputed 2007 elections.

Kenyatta and Ruto were expected to run for the presidency next year and both men said the ICC decision did little to deter their political ambitions, The Daily Telegraph newspaper in London reports.

The ICC last year dismissed a challenge by the Kenyan government to throw out the cases. The ICC said Friday that six men were charged but the court ruled Monday there wasn't enough evidence to confirm charges against former Industrialization Minister Henry Kosgey and former police chief Hussein Ali.

Kenyans who spoke with the British newspaper said they feared the two presidential candidates would use The Hague as a platform for political grandstanding.

The ICC didn't announce a schedule for the trial and all four men charged by the court have the right to appeal. None of them is under arrest.

A disputed election in 2007 pitted supporters of incumbent President Mwai Kibaki against those of his main challenger, Raila Odinga. Odinga was named Kenya's prime minister in a power-sharing deal.