Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru has today turned himself in to Dutch authorities to face charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
He is accused of bribing witnesses in a trial of Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto which collapsed four years ago.
The lawyer has been wanted on an ICC arrest warrant from 2015 where he was accused of trying to bribe six prosecution witnesses to recant testimony in the case.
Dp Ruto and his co-accused, broadcaster Joshua Sang, had both charged with orchestrating the 2007 post-election violence which left 1,200 people died.
In 2016, judges ruled that the two had no case to answer, although they left the door open for possible fresh charges in the future, noting that the case had been hampered by political interference and threats against witnesses.
The Hague in a statement said it had asked the Dutch to hand over Gicheru to the court as soon as arrest procedures have been completed.
“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.
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 DP Ruto.
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 the 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.
