* Hearings to determine whether suspects must stand trial
* Prosecutor says investigation can prevent further violence
* Defence raises objections, point to possible witness bribery
By Aaron Gray-Block
THE HAGUE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Kenya's finance minister and 2012 presidential hopeful Uhuru Kenyatta and two other top-ranking officials appeared at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday charged over the country's post-election violence in 2007-08.
ICC prosecutors have charged six political and business leaders over the devastating violence, in which more than 1,220 people were killed after Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of the disputed 2007 presidential election.
The resulting bloodshed between the Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and the Party of National Unity tarnished Kenya's reputation for stability in an otherwise turbulent region and tension is rising again ahead of new elections due next year.
Alongside Kenyatta, who is also Kenya's deputy prime minister, Cabinet Secretary Francis Kirimi Muthaura and former police chief Mohammed Hussein Ali appeared at the Hague-based ICC for hearings to determine whether they should stand trial.
"We hope our intervention will help encourage a new rule, a rule that says leaders cannot commit atrocities to gain power and to ensure that the next elections in Kenya will be peaceful," prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told reporters.
Kenyatta, a member of the Kikuyu tribe, is accused of mobilising a local militia called the Mungiki to hit back at members of the Kalenjin tribe who had sparked violence in Kenya's Rift Valley province targeting Kikuyu.
The hearings are being closely followed in Kenya because of the potential political impact.
Kenyans "were glued to their TV sets and radios" during the ICC hearing earlier this month against three other suspects, said Elizabeth Evenson at Human Rights Watch.
MISCARRAIGE OF JUSTICE
Moreno-Ocampo said he will call on witness testimony detailing "critical meetings" showing how Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta, proposed the attacks and that Muthaura urged police chief Ali to ensure that the police did not try to stop the killings.
But in his opening submission to the court, defence lawyer Karim Khan, representing Muthaura, challenged the prosecution over possible witness bribery. He said that if ignored, the evidence could give rise to a "miscarriage of justice".
In a direct challenge to Moreno-Ocampo, Khan urged the prosecutor to investigate handwritten notes the defence believes came from prosecution witnesses "offering to bribe or offering to give evidence for hire".
In a largely procedural opening to the hearings, defence lawyers challenged the jurisdiction and admissibility of the case. The court already has rejected objections raised by the Kenyan government.
The hearings will continue until Oct. 5 and a decision on whether the three accused should be ordered to stand trial will be handed down within 60 days of the end of proceedings, including any written submissions. (Editing by Michael Roddy)
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