The allegations include murder, persecution and rape committed during the widespread violence.
At a news conference today in the Hague, Netherlands, ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked judges to charge six men, including Kenya's former police commissioner, its former higher education minister and a prominent radio talk show host. They are accused of orchestrating the chaos and violence that killed more than 1,200 people -- some hacked to death in their homes -- and forced about 300,000 others to flee their neighborhoods, The Christian Science Monitor reported.
Karel Prinsloo, AP
In 2007, police battled thousands of opposition supporters across Kenya who charged that President Mwai Kibaki stole his way to re-election. An International Criminal Court prosecutor said Wednesday he wants top Kenyan officials charged with crimes against humanity for the violence that followed the election.
Named were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, Minister for Industrialization Henry Kosgey, Cabinet Secretary Francis Muthaura, former Police Chief Hussein Ali, suspended Higher Education Minister William Ruto and radio broadcaster Joshua Arap Sang, Reuters reported.
"This is a different kind of case," Ocampo said, according to The New York Times. "This isn't about militias. It's about politicians and political parties. It's about investigating leadership."
The eagerly awaited charges come amid accusations of endemic political corruption in East Africa's biggest economy. Since the attacks, some of them allegedly committed by police officers turned loose by Ali, no major political figure has been investigated, indicted or tried, The Wall Street Journal reports.
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"Finally, we have our day," former Kenyan human rights official Maina Kiai told the Times. "This is the first time we have high-ranking people facing the law where they have no control and they can't bribe their way out of it."President Mwai Kibaki called for calm. "The people who have been mentioned have not yet been fully investigated, as the pretrial process in the Hague has only but begun," he said in a statement today, CNN reported.
The accused, who have denied the charges, are expected to voluntarily appear before the ICC, the Monitor reported. Arrest warrants have not been issued.