Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru, who was wanted for corruptly influencing witnesses in cases relating to the 2008 post-election violence, on Monday surrendered to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Gicheru surrendered at the Hague, Netherlands following a warrant of arrest issued against him in 2015 for the crimes of corruptly influencing ICC witnesses.

The warrant against the lawyer was issued alongside another against Philip Kipkoech Bett in March 2015 and later unsealed on September 2015.

“Today, November 2, 2020, Mr Paul Gicheru surrendered to the authorities of The Netherlands pursuant to an arrest warrant issued by Pre-Trial Chamber II of the ICC,” the ICC wrote in a statement released on Monday morning.

The unsealing of the arrest warrants paved the way for the ICC to start the long process of seeking to apprehend the two to face prosecution at the Hague.

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“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,” read the statement.

Gicheru and Bett, who remains at large, are accused of bribing ICC witnesses in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang.

The charge facing Dr Ruto and Sang were vacated on April 5, 2016 but the international court did not rule out reviving the case in future if new evidence emerges.

However, the charges facing President Uhuru Kenyatta were withdrawn by the Hague-based court in December 2014.

While issuing the warrants, Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court believed Gicheru and Bett corruptly tampered with six prosecution witnesses at the Hague.

Bensouda claimed they bribed or tried to bribe six prosecution witnesses with an offer of between Sh0.5 - 5 million to have them withdraw from the Kenya cases.

Bribing an ICC witness is an offences punishable under Article 70 of the Rome Statute, the law governing the operations of the International Criminal Court.

While vacating the case, Bensouda had accused Kenya of interfering with her investigations and prosecutions through intimidation and bribe offers.

She said then, “Indeed, the Chamber of Judges presiding over the ongoing trial of Messrs Ruto and Sang, recently noted the systematic nature of the interference of several witnesses in that case.”