[JURIST] Defense lawyers for six Kenyan leaders charged [materials] in the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] with inciting violence after the December 2007 Kenyan elections [JURIST news archive] called for the timely release of evidence against their clients on Monday. The prosecution wishes to partially redact [Daily Nation] portions of the evidence to be used against the six Kenyan leaders in order to protect the identity of witnesses so that they are not interfered with. The six men had been previously warned by the presiding judge when they first appeared before the ICC [JURIST report] not to incite further violence in Kenya.

The six defendants, called the “Ocampo Six,” include several high-ranking members of Kenya’s government, the head of operations at Kass FM [official website] in Nairobi and the son of Kenya’s first president, Jomo Kenyatta [Africa Within backgrounder]. Three of the men are members of the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) [party website] and the other three are members of the opposing Party for National Unity (PNU). The ODM suspects are charged with fomenting violence against PNU members following the 2007 elections because they believed the election of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki [official profile] to be rigged. In response, the PNU suspects are charged with the conspiring with the Mungiki criminal organization [Safer Access backgrounder, PDF] to attack members of the ODM party. The ICC summoned the suspects [JURIST report] after determining they would not be charged in Kenya for the alleged crimes. Earlier this month, Kenya requested that the ICC dismiss the case [JURIST report], arguing that the government is capable of prosecuting the six men domestically. The Kenyan government also announced last month that it would challenge the admissibility of cases [JURIST report] relating to the post-election violence in the ICC, as well as the jurisdiction of the court.