Kenya: Presidential candidates Kenyatta and Ruto accused of crimes against humanity
Kenyans watch on December 15, 2010 on television in a Nairobi store International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo publicly name six Kenyans suspected of masterminding the 2007-8 post-election violence that claimed 1,500 lives. Those named include Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta, sacked education minister William Ruto — a declared candidate for the 2012 presidential election — and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali.
NAIROBI, Kenya — A display of towering hubris from Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, a pair of Kenyan politicians who face charges of crimes against humanity for their alleged role in political violence that left more than 1,100 people dead in early 2008.
More from GlobalPost: Kenya glued to world court proceedings
On Monday, judges at the International Criminal Court in The Hague will decide whether Kenyatta, Ruto and four others have a case to answer in response to charges brought by the court's prosecutor of masterminding and funding the post-election violence. If the charges are confirmed the suspects will likely spend the next year or two in court and in the dock defending themselves against potential lengthy prison terms.
Even so, with elections in Kenya due either later this year or early next, both men say the ICC — whether it charges them or not — will not derail their political ambitions. Both Kenyatta and Ruto consider themselves to be presidential material.
More from GlobalPost: VIDEO: Three prominent Kenyans face war crimes charges in The Hague
The legality or otherwise of indicted criminals accused of some of the most heinous crimes imagineable running for the highest public office is unclear, but Kenyans may well find themselves in the bizarre position of listening to stump speeches about their country's future from the very men accused of nearly destroying it.