credit: ICC.int /  International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda

By Gary Raynaldo    DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Kenya lawyer Paul Gicheru  surrendered to the authorities of The Netherlands this  week for allegedly corruptly influencing International Criminal Court witnesses.  The chief prosecutor The Hague, Netherlands-based war tribunal  vowed to protect the integrity of the court from those attempting to pervert the course of justice. 

“I welcome the news of Mr. Paul Gicheru’s voluntary surrender and transfer to the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC). On the 10th of March 2015, the judges issued a warrant of arrest for Mr Gicheru. In their decision, they found that the evidence presented by my Office established reasonable grounds to believe that Messrs Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett were involved in an organized and systematic criminal scheme, aimed at approaching and corrupting six Prosecution witnesses, through bribes and other inducements, in exchange for withdrawing as witnesses and/or recanting their prior statements to the Prosecution. The integrity of witnesses is essential for the Court’s determination of the truth.   Within its means and mandate, my Office is committed to investigating and prosecuting individuals who attempt to pervert the course of justice by interfering with ICC witnesses.”

-Fatou Bensouda,  ICC Prosecutor

Bensouda added that , collectively, the warrants of arrest against Messrs Gicheru, Bett and Barasa “underscore my unwavering commitment to using measures available to me under the Rome Statute, to the extent possible, to safeguard the integrity of the Court’s proceedings.” 

The Court’s judicial proceedings will now follow in accordance with the requirements of the Statute, and with full respect for the due process rights of the suspect, under the guidance and authority of the ICC’s judges, Fatou said.

“I call on the Kenyan authorities to fulfil their obligations under the Rome Statute to ensure the surrender of the remaining two suspects to the custody of the Court, so that their guilt or innocence on the charges against them may be determined in a court of law.”  – ICC Prosecutor Bensouda 

Gicheru surrendered to the authoritie pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC.  Gicheru, a lawyer formerly based in Kenya, is suspected of offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court. The Court, through the Registry services, submitted a cooperation request to the Dutch authorities for the arrest and surrender of Gicheru to the Court upon completion of the necessary national arrest proceedings.  Gicheru is  accused of bribing witnesses in an ICC trial of Kenyan Vice President William Ruto.  The ICC abandoned its case against Ruto, dismissing it  in 2016. The ICC ruled there was insufficient evidence, but it refused to acquit him. Ruto was accused of  murder, deportation and persecution charges during violence that followed the 2007 elections in which about 1,200 people were killed.  Ruto denied all the charges.

According to the ICC Arrest Warrant:

“As alleged by the Prosecutor, and according to the evidence, Philip Kipkoech Bett, together with another individual, approached Witness P-397, informed the witness of the scheme for corrupting witnesses, and took the witness to Paul Gicheru, who negotiated and agreed with the witness that five million Kenyan shillings (KES) would be paid in exchange of the witness’s withdrawal as a witness of the Prosecutor. On 27 and 30 April 2013, Paul Gicheru paid Witness P-397 two cash instalments of 600,000 and 400,000 KES, respectively.”