By Our Correspondent, NAIROBI
Kenya
Kenya lawyer, Paul Gicheru, who was charged at the International Criminal Court with compromising witnesses that were to testify against President William Ruto, died without knowing his fate after the close of the trial in late June.
Trial judge Miatta Maria Samba
said the chamber would deliberate on the proceedings and, within a reasonable
period, pronounce its decision on either conviction or acquittal.
Gicheru, on November 2,
2020, surrendered to the authorities of The Netherlands-based court pursuant to
this arrest warrant for offences against the administration of justice
consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court.
The arrest warrant against Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett was issued under seal on March 10, 2015, and
unsealed on September 10, 2015.
The court had issued arrest
warrants for three Kenyans; Walter Barasa, Paul Gicheru and Phillip Bett on
charges of obstructing the course of justice.
The arrest warrant against Gicheru was initially issued under seal on March 10, 2015, by trial chamber
Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova.
After being surrendered to the
ICC custody after the completion of necessary national proceedings, the Court
said Gicheru was released to Kenya on February 1, 2021, with specific
conditions.
Last year in July, the ICC
Pre-Trial Chamber A confirmed the charges of offences against the administration
of justice brought by the Prosecutor against Gicheru and committed him to
trial.
His trial officially kicked
off on February 15, 2022, where he pleaded not guilty to all charges with the
prosecution making its opening statements and presenting its eight witnesses.
The Office of the Prosecutor led by senior trial lawyer Anton Steynberg completed its presentation of evidence on March 29, 2022, while Gicheru's lawyers announced on April 25, 2022, that he would not call any witnesses.
In December 2007, chaos erupted
in Kenya after the announcement of Mwai Kibaki as the presidential
poll winner in a race he closely contested with ODM leader Raila Odinga. Subordinates of the two; Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto were accused of leading ethnic clashes from either side and sent to ICC where they were released for lack of evidence.
As a result of clashes, over 1,000 people
were killed, 900 rape cases and sexual violence documented, and approximately
350,000 people were displaced.
The prosecutor alleged that
there existed, from at least April 2013, a criminal scheme designed to
systematically approach and corruptly influence witnesses of the ICC Prosecutor
through bribery and other methods of inducements in exchange for their
withdrawal as prosecution witnesses and/or recantation of their prior
statements to the Prosecutor.
The evidence indicated that
said scheme has been run in an organised manner and with a clear distribution
of tasks.
In particular, Gicheru was
pointed out as a manager and coordinator of the scheme, meaning that he has
finalised agreements with corrupted witnesses, organised the formalisation of
their withdrawal and handled the payment.
The role of Mr Bett was to
contact the witnesses, at least some of whom they knew previously, and to make
initial proposals before bringing them to the managers, particularly Paul
Gicheru.
The evidence indicated that a
similar role within the same scheme was exercised by Walter Osapiri Barasa, for
whom a warrant of arrest had been issued by the Court on 2 August 2013.
There was also information
that those witnesses who were successfully corrupted were enticed to make
contact with other witnesses, for the purpose of their corruption.
In the first case, he was
accused of offering Sh5 million in exchange for a witness identified as P-397
withdrawing their testimony.
In respect to another witness
identified as P-516, Mr Gicheru met the witness, discussed and agreed on the
terms of the witness's withdrawal, leading to the witness failing to attend a
meeting with officials of the ICC.
It was also said that he also
promised witness P-800 Sh1.5 million for the withdrawal of evidence. Before the
start of the ICC trials, Mr Gicheru was largely unknown to the public. - Africa
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