Four prominent Kenyans, including the Deputy Prime Minister, have been charged by the International Criminal Court in The Hague with crimes against humanity committed after the disputed December 2007 election.

The four are two leading presidential candidates, Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta and former education minister William Ruto, civil service head Francis Muthaura, and a journalist with privately owned Kass FM Radio Joshua Arap Sang, the ICC said in a statement on Monday. Charges were dropped against two others, former Industrialization minister Henry Kiprono Kosgey and ex-Police Commissioner Mohammed Hussein Ali, after judges examined approximately 30,000 pages of evidence. 

The men are charged with murder, deportation or forcible transfer and persecution, as well as sexual violence and other inhumane acts for Kenyatta and Muthaura. 

The incidents center around the killing of more than 1,200 people in post-election violence during late 2007 and 2008. 

The ICC has “established substantial grounds to believe that the crimes against humanity of murder, deportation or forcible transfer and persecution were committed,” reads the ICC decision summary. 

President Mwai Kibaki instructed the country’s attorney general’s office to set up a legal team to study the verdict and advise how to proceed, according to statement published in full on the Capital FM website.

“It is now a collective responsibility of all those institutions to ensure justice for all at all times. In the meantime, I appeal to everyone to remain calm and peaceful. Our great nation has had its share of challenging times,” Kibaki also said.

The country’s vice president, Kalonzo Musyoka, said that an indictment itself is not a verdict of guilt.

“Proceeding to full trial does not mean that any of the four colleagues are guilty as charged, so we must allow due process of the law,” said Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka, according to Capital FM website.

Musyoka also said that Kenya has no law barring a candidate from running for president despite the ICC indictment.