Kenya Asks U.N. to Drop ICC Charges for Kenyatta, Ruto

Kenya has written to the U.N. Security Council seeking to scrap the international crimes against humanity trials for President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Vice President William Ruto, according to a letter seen Thursday.

Kenyatta, 51, voted into power in March elections, is to go on trial in July at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague for crimes against humanity relating to post-election violence in 2007-08.

Ruto, 46, faces three counts of crimes against humanity for his role in the deadly violence.

"What this delegation is asking for is not deferral," Kenya's ambassador to the U.N., Macharia Kamau, wrote in a letter to the Council seen by Agence France Presse.

"What this delegation is asking for is for the immediate termination of the case at The Hague."

The letter, dated May 2 and stamped confidential, is the first such official request for the cases to be dropped.

However, while the Security Council can ask for a case to be deferred for a year, it does not have the authority to order that the ICC drop a case completely, and diplomats at the U.N. said Kenya's demand is likely to get a quick rejection.

"No formal response has been made yet, but the Kenyans will be told their request is going nowhere," said one diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The letter -- which criticizes the process as "neither impartial nor independent" -- is therefore viewed more as a political appeal to drum up support among allies rather than a practical step towards dropping ICC charges.

Kenya appealed to "friendly nations to use their good offices and prevail upon the International Criminal Court to reconsider the continued process".

Some 1,100 people died in bloodshed after the 2007 elections marred by allegations of vote rigging, shattering Kenya's image as a beacon of regional stability.

What began as political riots quickly turned into ethnic killings and reprisal attacks, plunging Kenya into its worst wave of violence since independence in 1963.

Rwanda, a temporary member of the 15-nation Security Council, raised the Kenyan case at a meeting with ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Wednesday, and Bensouda sternly hit back at suggestions that her office's action was politicized.

"The ICC has always and will always continue to respect the sovereign equality of all states. The ICC however will not shy away from investigating individuals for any alleged crimes irrespective of their status," Bensouda told council members.

-- 'Backdoor attempt to politicize' ICC --

Rwanda's U.N. ambassador Eugene Gasana said Kenya's letter contains "a compelling case against the methods of work of the office of the prosecutor on the Kenya cases."

Bensouda said she had not officially seen the letter, but based on the Rwandan envoy's comments said it was "unfounded and incorrect".

"It is a backdoor attempt to politicize the judicial processes of the court," she said.

The letter warned that continuing with the trials would risk destabilizing Kenya.

"Kenyans... spoke with a loud, clear, concise voice when they overwhelmingly elected Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto as president and deputy president," it said.

"It is obvious that their absence from the country may undermine the prevailing peace and any resultant insecurity may spill over to the neighboring countries."

The letter repeated Kenya's commitment to "continue cooperating with the court and being a state party" to the ICC's founding Rome Statute.

The ICC initially charged six Kenyans for alleged post-election crimes, after politicians could not agree on a domestic solution, with Kenyatta and Ruto both leading the calls for trials at the ICC.

Charges against three of them were later dropped.

However, the letter suggested that "a lot has changed" since ICC confirmed charges in December 2010, now arguing that "Kenya has the capacity to offer a homegrown solution."

ICC judges have so far rejected suggestions of moving the court to another country.

Both Kenyatta and Ruto have said they will cooperate fully with the court. They deny the charges against them.

Kenyatta's trial is due to open on July 9, while a date for Ruto's trial is expected to be set later this month.

In March, Kenyatta's lawyers argued the ICC should drop the trial, after prosecutors dramatically dropped all charges against his co-accused, top civil servant Francis Muthaura.

Should the charges against Kenyatta stand, he will become the first-ever president to have to fly to The Hague for a trial that could last at least two years.