Kenyan Lawyer Paul Gicheru Denies Six Charges Before the ICC
Kenyan attorney Paul Gicheru made his first appearance before the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday days after he surrendered himself.
He was brought before Judge Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou of Pre-Trial Chamber A where he denied all the six charges leveled against him.
“I do not admit the false allegations levelled against me,” he said.
Gicheru, who made a request to represent himself, further asked the court to release him from custody. But the prosecution advised him to seek legal counsel as opposed to representing himself.
“I was not coerced into coming here. I came on my own volition and met all the expenses for my travel,” Gicheru told the Court.
The judge said the court will rule on the matter once the accused follows the laid out procedure of seeking release through writing formally.
During the session, the judge verified the identity of the suspect and the language in which he is able to follow the proceedings. He was also informed of the charges against him and his rights under the Rome Statute.
Gicheru presented himself to the Dutch authorities on November 2nd and was later transferred to the ICC detention centre.
He is suspected of offenses against the administration of justice consisting of corruptly influencing witnesses.
Gicheru is believed to have bribed or attempted to bribe six key prosecution witnesses by offering them bribes and other inducements so that they could recant their evidence and withdraw as witnesses.
The withdrawal of the witnesses led to the collapse of the criminal cases against Deputy President William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Arap Sang, who were being tried over the 2007/2008 post-election skirmishes that led to the death of at least 1,300 people and over 600,000 displaced.
The ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II issued an arrest warrant against Gicheru on March 10th, 2015.
Comments (11)
Your red denial of the real facts will prolong your stay at The Hague.
The blood that was shed of women and little children have deeply haunted you in the past 5 years to a point you had to turn yourself in to the ICC to face those who irresponsibly died in 207/8.
Tell the truth Paul, tell the truth which will set your free!!
Tell the facts Mr. Gicheru, just the facts Sir! The ball is now in your Conner to set the facts straight! Be open and truthful because lawyering obvious facts will not help you!
I have severally said in the past that ugly events always take up with humanity over time.
So, nobody should be surprised that 2007/8 skirmishes are back to haunt those who committed them.
What happens here on earth is clearly repaid right here on earth!
Why should Gicheru deny known facts of 2007/8?
You do not deny what you participated in hoping to spin your guilty verdict to innocence!
It is only Gicheru and a cabal of others who are still in denial of what they did to deny justice to the meek - the burnt children of Kiambaa church! I have no sympathy for you Mr. Gicheru!
Keep him at The Hague until he jogs his memory to tell the truth! He is as guilty as anyone can imagine.
The sooner you learn to tell the truth, the quicker your case at The Hague will end! Don’t forget innocent people died in the north of 1500!
You claim you want to be release because you are sick but many of us lost loved ones we will never get to talk to again. Your family can talk to you, see you and a the doctors continue to medicate you to survive! Nonsense!!
You can stay there until you learn to tell who you bribed, why and who benefited from your obstructing the administration of justice!
Bensounda, this is one time I hope you will keep Gicheru there until he can tell the truth about 2007/8 skirmishes! We want justice!!
Kenyans should not be afraid to tell Gicheru to tell the truth. We want to know the truth why so many lives were senselessly lost!
DP Ruto says he knew Gicheru was about to present himself to The Hague. How much money did Ruto bribed Gicheru to go lie to the ICC judges!! That is the elephant in the room question!?
We wish gicheru well but we want him to stop meandering with the truth. We are not children to take your legal wrangling this time around! Come clan of what you did, explain your self and we can decide to forgive you!
Gicheru and DP Ruto must carry the cross they both decided to share by bribing witnesses! The facts must be known before Gicheru is released by the ICC! We have waited long enough!
If Gicheru is sick, he should be willing to tell the truth so that he can be released and go home. Murosovic of Sabia said he was sick, refused to tell the truth and ended up dying in The Hague. This is a historic fact that Gicheru needs to take note!
The blood of those who lost lives in 2007/08 is crying out.
Gicheru was working for someone .He had no stake in the trial he was used and eventually he will tell it all unless he has billions he can live from after jail term . but he is just as guilty for agreeing to conceal the truth Gicheru who gave you the contract to bribe witnesses who wanted to speak up . If you did not Kenya would be different Kenya and the families would have had a closure . Now you have a chance to do it Tell the truth but nothing but the truth