Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru has surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC) pursuant to a warrant of arrest issued against him on March 10, 2015.
According to a statement by The Hague-based court, released on Monday, Mr Gicheru surrendered to the Dutch authorities after five-year-long search.
“Today, 2 November 2020, Mr Paul Gicheru surrendered to the authorities of The Netherlands pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court,” reads the statement from ICC.
“The Court, through the Registry services, submitted a cooperation request to the Dutch authorities for the arrest and surrender of Mr Gicheru to the Court upon completion of the necessary national arrest proceedings,” it adds.
Mr Gicheru, and another Kenyan, Phillip Bett are accused of interfering with the witnesses in the ICC cases where President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and four other Kenyans were tried at the Hague.
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A report by Pre-trial Chamber II which was headed by Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova details offences of the duo as follows: “The Prosecutor alleges the individual criminal responsibility of Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett, under six counts with respect to six witnesses of the Court, for offences against the administration of justice of corruptly influencing a witness under Article 70(1)(c) of the Statute, in conjunction with article 25(3)(a) of the Statute, or alternatively, article 25(3)(d), or (c), or, with respect to Paul Gicheru only, article 25(3)(b) of the Statute.”
Evidence and charges
It all began on February 9, 2015, when Judge Trendafilova issued warrants of arrest against Mr Gicheru, Mr Bett and a third unnamed individual. The judge directed that the three be arrested in Kenya or any other country, and their premises be searched after which they were to be presented before the ICC.
The judge would then withdraw the warrant on March 10, 2015, for the third person. This was followed by a legal examination for the framework of issuing the warrant of arrest, the jurisdiction of the court and much more.
In the prosecution report, the prosecution tabled 58 annexes of evidence with witness statements, official documents, transcripts and documentary evidence to nail Mr Gicheru and Mr Bett.
The 2015 report partly reads, “Based on a thorough analysis of the Application and the evidence, as laid out below, the Single Judge considers that the requisite elements of the offences against 6 Application, p. 45 and annex A. ICC-01/09-01/15-1-Red 10-09-2015 5/19 EK PT No. ICC-01/09-01/15 6/19 10 March 2015 the administration of justice are sufficiently established for the purpose of the issuance of a warrant of arrest.”
The court justified the arrest of the duo on three grounds. First, the court said the arrest was necessary to have them brought for trial. It said it was necessary to prevent them from interfering with the evidence and to deter them from engaging in the same actions they had been accused of.
Counts
According to court, Gicheru is facing six counts related to interfering with the witnesses. In the first count, he is accused of trying to bribe witness P397 with Sh1 million and Sh5 million to have him withdraw testimony against a suspect in the court.
In the second count, he is accused of trying to bribe witness P-516 with Sh500,000 to recant his testimony. He is accused of trying to persuade witness P-613 to withdraw as a prosecution witness. He is also accused of trying to persuade witness P-800 by offering a bribe of Sh2.5 million to Sh1.5 million to influence prosecution witness to withdraw.
In the fifth count, he is accused of trying to induce witness P-495 with Sh2.5 million to withdraw as a prosecution witness. Lastly, he is accused of trying to bribe witness P-536 with Sh1 million to Sh1.4 million to withdraw as a prosecution witness. The court documents that all crimes were committed between 2013 and 2014.
The development is a blow to the duo who got a reprieve on November 17, 2017, when High Court judge Luke Kimaru issued a ruling quashing an application to have the two extradited to the Hague for trial. This was after Mr Gicheru said that the ICC prosecution led by Fatou Bensouda had tried to coerce him into withdrawing from representing his client, who was a witness in a case against DP Ruto.
