* Hearings to determine whether suspects must stand trial
* Prosecutor says investigation can prevent further violence
* Defence raises objections, point to possible witness bribery (Adds prosecutor, defence comments, details)
By Aaron Gray-Block
THE HAGUE, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Kenyan Finance Minister and presidential hopeful Uhuru Kenyatta never planned revenge killings during Kenya's post-election violence in 2007-08 and instead tried to secure peace, defence lawyers told the International Criminal Court on Wednesday.
Kenyatta is one of six political and business leaders charged at the ICC over the 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 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.
"Kenyatta was striving for peace," said defence lawyer Steven Kay, accusing ODM politician and prime minister Raila Odinga of inciting the attacks by calling for "mass action" after challenging the election result.
He showed news footage of Kenyatta calling for dialogue to "end the bloodshed" and promising the deployment of extra police to protect civilians.
"These are not the words of a man taking revenge against people in order to retain power," Kay said.
He accused the prosecutor of making a political decision to press charges against both sides of Kenya's politics and was now seeking to "construct a case without evidence."
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.
In that hearing, former education minister William Ruto, who also has presidential ambitions, was accused of pre-planning the violence.
MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE
Moreno-Ocampo said he will call on witness testimony detailing two "critical meetings" showing how Kenyatta, the son of Kenya's founding father Jomo Kenyatta, proposed the attacks and that Muthaura issued "clear instructions" to police chief Ali that the police were not to try and stop the killings.
He said the Mungiki, encouraged by assurances from Muthaura that police would not intervene and promised payments from Kenyatta, then went from house to house, attacking civilians and "dragging them from their homes and business premises."
They used machetes to cut down people trying to flee or raped mothers and daughters as part of a series of "revenge missions," Moreno-Ocampo said.
Muthaura dismissed the charges as "packaged lies" and said he should instead be seen as a firefighter with no political allegiances who tried to end the crisis.
Defence lawyer Karim Khan, representing Muthaura, challenged the prosecution over evidence pointing to possible witness bribery. If ignored, this evidence could give rise to a "miscarriage of justice," he said.
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".
Defence lawyers also challenged the jurisdiction and admissibility of the case, but 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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