Kenyan Paul Gicheru has surrendered to the Dutch authorities, while since March 2015 he has been wanted by the ICC, based in the Netherlands.
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This lawyer was especially accused by the Court of having witnessed at the time when the current Kenyan Vice President, William Ruto, was prosecuted for crimes against humanity following the 2007-2008 election violence.
The prosecution had denied his charges, but the arrest warrant against Paul Gicheru was still pending.
Despite his arrest warrant, Paul Gicheru did not hide. On the contrary. Since the ICC case, the lawyer had in a way been “rewarded” by the Kenyan authorities with prestigious positions in public institutions.
In 2014, he was appointed head of the public procurement office. Since 2018, he was chairman of the Export Processing Zones Authority, a unit specializing in exports.
But the ICC had not forgotten that. According to the prosecution, it was he who coordinated a campaign launched in April 2013 to systematically approach and try to influence witnesses by means of bribery: $ 5,000 to $ 50,000 and six of them were thus offered jobs. Paul Gicheru would have terminated the agreements, organized the official withdrawals, which were sometimes even signed in his office …
In April 2016, the case against Vice President William Ruto was dropped due to lack of evidence, but also because many witnesses had changed their minds. Except that the ICC had taken some precautions.
When the Ruto case was closed, the Court formally refused to acquit the Vice President, making it clear that the case could be resumed if new evidence came to light. It is not known why Paul Gicheru resigned. But the secrets he has could quickly prove embarrassing.
