Kenyan lawyer accused of bribing ICC witnesses found dead

Sep. 27 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru, accused of bribing witnesses of the International Criminal Court (ICC), has been found dead at his home in the capital of the African country, Nairobi, as confirmed by his family and the authorities.

The Kenyan Police have indicated that the man has been found at his home in Karen, without the causes of his death having been revealed for the time being, as reported by the Kenyan newspaper ‘The Standard’.

Gicheru, 52, was facing charges of interference before the ICC and in July he closed his defense claiming that he was innocent. The man was accused of bribing witnesses who were going to testify against the now president, William Ruto, for the post-election violence between 2007 and 2008, which left more than 1,200 dead.

The lawyer surrendered to the ICC in November 2020, five years after the agency issued an arrest warrant against him after the judges “considered that the evidence presented by the office provided a reasonable basis to believe that Gicheru and Philip Kopkoech Bett –still at large– were involved in an organized and systematic criminal scheme designed to approach and corrupt six prosecution witnesses through bribery and other acts.”

Ruto and the now former president Uhuru Kenyatta — who left office after the August elections — were the main defendants in the wave of violence unleashed after the 2007 elections, although the cases were closed in 2016 and 2015, respectively. The decision was attributed by the ICC to interference with witnesses.

Both politicians distanced themselves after the 2017 elections and in these last elections Kenyatta supported former Prime Minister Raila Odinga against his until then vice president. Odinga has rejected the election results, although Ruto has already been sworn in.