[JURIST] The International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Friday summoned [text, pdf] Kenya president Uhuru Kenyatta [official profile] to appear in the court on October 8. Kenyatta and the Kenyan government have been charged [text, PDF] with holding onto documents requested by prosecutors working on Kenyatta’s crimes against humanity trial. If Kenyatta does appear in October it will be the first time that he has appeared at the ICC. He has continued to argue during the ongoing trial that he is required to remain in Kenya to manage state affairs and fight the Shabab group [National Counterterrorism Center backgrounder]. Kenyatta’s lawyers have also continuously argued that the case should be dropped due to lack of evidence, and many African leaders have echoed this as well, accusing the ICC of focusing its investigations into global atrocities on Africa.

Kenyatta has been in a great deal of legal trouble since he was charged with crimes against humanity for election related ethnic killings [JURIST news archive] occurring in 2007. Earlier this month the ICC decided to adjourn [JURIST report] the trial of Kenyatta indefinitely, with the trial resuming with Friday’s summons. In February Kenyan Attorney General Githu Muigai told the ICC [JURIST report] that Kenya would not turn over financial records of Kenyatta without a court order in compliance with Kenyan law. In October the African Union unanimously resolved [JURIST report] that African heads of state should be immune from prosecution by the ICC. In May 2013 ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said [JURIST report] that Kenya must prove its ability to handle the case of Kenyatta before the ICC will drop the case.