NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 2- A Kenyan lawyer on Monday surrendered himself to the International Criminal Court, at The Hague, following a warrant of arrest issued against him.
Paul Gicheru surrendered to ICC pursuant to arrest warrant issued in 2015 for allegedly corruptly influencing ICC witnesses in the collapsed 2007-2008 post election violence that left thousands dead and more than 600,000 others internally displaced.
“Mr Gicheru, a lawyer formerly based in Kenya, is suspected of offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court,” reads a statement by the court in their website.
“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.”
The arrest warrant against the lawyer and another Kenyan Philip Kipkoech Bett was issued 2015.
Bett is listed as still at large.
The warrant of arrest was issued after Pre-Trial Chamber II found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that “Philip Kipkoech Bett, also known as “Kipseng’erya”, hailing from and residing in Kenya, and Paul Gicheru, a lawyer based in Kenya, are criminally responsible for offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing Prosecution witnesses.”
Six Kenyans among them President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy Dr. William Ruto were facing crime against humanity charges at the court, but have since been dropped.
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