AMSTERDAM, Nov 6 (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Friday it would consider a request for an investigation into suspected crimes against humanity committed during Kenya's post-election violence in 2008.

The court's chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said during a visit to Kenya on Thursday he would ask the court to let him start an investigation. The process could see influential cabinet ministers facing The Hague court.

The violence after a disputed presidential election killed at least 1,300 people and uprooted more than 300,000 in east Africa's biggest economy.

"The presidency had received from the prosecutor a letter ... indicating its intention to submit a request for the authorisation of an investigation into that situation," the court said in a statement.

An investigation is the route Moreno-Ocampo has to follow if a government chooses not to refer suspected crimes committed in its country to the court.

Kenya had promised to deal with the masterminds. But numerous attempts to kick-start the process have floundered and many Kenyans are sceptical as to whether powerful individuals can be charged because of widespread impunity among politicians.

During a visit to Kenya in October, crisis mediator Kofi Annan warned that unless the architects of the killings were brought to book, there was a serious risk violence would erupt again at the next presidential election in 2012.

Annan handed over a list of the main suspects to Moreno-Ocampo in July. Political sources say it names cabinet ministers, members of parliament and businessmen. Moreno-Ocampo now plans to investigate some of them.

The 2002 Rome Treaty established the ICC, the world's first permanent court set up to try individuals for genocide, war crimes and other major human rights violations. (Reporting by Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

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