(CNN) -- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta will become the first sitting head of state to appear before the International Criminal Court, where he faces charges of crimes against humanity.
Kenyatta, 52, faces five counts of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the disputed 2007 presidential election in which then-incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner.
More than 1,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced when ethnic groups loyal to leading candidates torched homes and hacked rivals to death in violence that raged until early 2008.
Kenyatta, who backed Kibaki in that election, is accused of funding a local militia that conducted reprisal attacks.
Kenyatta will attend the second day of a status hearing Wednesday.
The first day of the hearing was held Tuesday, but he was not required to attend. The court mandated that he be present Wednesday.
During the hearing Tuesday, the prosecution accused the Kenyan government of not providing key documents in the case against its leader. The defense denied the allegation.
Kenya is the second African nation after Sudan to have a sitting President facing charges at the International Criminal Court.
But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has largely shunned an ICC warrant for his arrest for alleged war crimes.
Lack of evidence
'My conscience is clear, has been clear, and will remain forever clear that I am innocent of all the accusations leveled against me,' Kenyatta said before he boarded a plane for Netherlands.
The ICC prosecutor has postponed the start of the trial numerous times, citing lack of evidence. This is the first time Kenyatta is attending a hearing in person since he assumed office in April last year.
'In ordinary circumstances, the insufficiency of evidence would cause the prosecution to withdraw the charges,' the ICC said in September. 'However, it would be inappropriate for the prosecution to withdraw the charges at this stage in light of the government of Kenya continuing failure to cooperate fully with the court's requests for assistance
in this case.'
Deputy President also facing charges
The ICC has also accused his deputy President, William Ruto, of orchestrating attacks. His trial started in September.
Both leaders have denied that they orchestrated violence among their respective ethnic groups, and have said they will cooperate with the court to clear their names. Kenyatta appointed his deputy to serve as acting President before he left the country. He said he was attending the hearing as a private citizen.
ICC withdrawal?
The International Criminal Court was set up in 2002 to prosecute claims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
The Kenyan parliament voted in September to withdraw from its jurisdiction after repeatedly calling on it to drop the cases. But a withdrawal would take a while to implement because it involves steps such as a formal notification to the United Nations. The ICC has said the trials will proceed.
The nation's previous administration reneged on a deal to set up a special tribunal to try suspects in the postelection violence, prompting the international court to step in.
African Union accuses ICC of bias, seeks delay of cases against sitting leaders
Posted by Unknown on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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