High Court Blocks Application to Extradite Lawyer Paul Gicheru to the ICC

The High Court has handed lawyer Paul Gicheru a lifeline after it dismissed an application to have him extradited to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Gicheru is a wanted man at the Hague-based court to face charges of bribing witnesses to retract their testimonies in the crimes against humanity cases against President Uhuru Kenyatta and his deputy William Ruto, which have since been terminated for lack of evidence.

In his ruling on Thursday, High Court judge Justice Luka Kimaru said the application to surrender the lawyer to the international court failed to meet certain international conditions.

"The application filed by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution on May 28, 2015 lacks merit and cannot stand," the judge said.

Kimaru further lifted the arrest warrant placed on Gicheru. Gicheru, together with lawyer Philip Kipkoech Bett have been fighting to escape the arrest warrants issued against them by the ICC on March, 2015.

The two aew accused of bribing or attempting to bribe six prosecution witnesses between April and September 2013, by offering them between Sh500,000 and Sh5 million so they could withdraw their testimonies against Uhuru and Ruto.