Kenyan lawyer with bribery case at ICC found dead at home

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