Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru was on Monday found dead at his Karen home in Nairobi.
The lawyer had been a person of interest in the International Criminal Court case that followed the 2007-2008 post-election violence in Kenya.
Gicheru was accused alongside one Philip Kipkoech Bett of bribing and intimidating witnesses not to testify on the crimes against humanity charges that President William Ruto (then deputy president) and Radio presenter Joshua Sang faced.
The Hague-based court on March 10, 2015, issued a warrant of arrest against Gicheru and Koech. The case was unsealed on September 10, the same year, for offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses regarding cases from the situation in Kenya.
He obtained a court order stopping his arrest and little was heard about him until November 2020, when he surrendered to authorities in the Netherlands.
So, who was Paul Gicheru?
Born in 1972 in Nandi County, Gicheru went to Kapsabet Boys High School and later joined university where he obtained an undergraduate degree in law. He, later on, joined the Kenya School of Law for a post-graduate Diploma.
After completing his studies, he went on to work with Kalya and Company Advocates before he left and started his own company, Gicheru and Company Advocates in Eldoret town.
Very little is known about his family life.
Gicheru returned to the limelight on November 2, 2020, after he surrendered to authorities in the Netherlands, pursuant to the arrest warrant.
According to him, he decided to make the trip a secret because he did not want to worry some people.
On November 3, 2020, Netherland authorities handed him to the custody of the International Criminal Court and made his first appearance before the court two days later (November 6).
Pre-Trial Chamber A of the ICC on December 11 2020 separated Gicheru's case from that of Philip Kipkoech Bett.
On February 1 2021, Gicheru was released to Kenya with specific conditions restricting liberty, as the ICC confirmed the charges against him.
The conditions included;
- Providing financial security to ICC Registrar in the form of cash or bank order to the value of Sh1 million.
- Comply fully with all orders issued and surrender himself immediately to relevant authorities if required by the Chamber.
- Appear before the Chamber at the date, time, place, and in the manner ordered by the Chamber and shall remain in attendance until excused.
- Shall not obstruct or endanger the investigation or the court proceedings and shall not engage in any activities, directly or indirectly, that are prohibited under article 70 of the Statute.
- Shall not contact, directly or indirectly, any of the Prosecutor's witnesses or victims in this case, except through counsel authorised to represent him before this Court and in accordance with the applicable protocols.
- Shall not, directly or through any other person, make any public statements, social media post, or communicate with the media about the merits of the case;
- Shall reside in Kenya at a specific address for the duration of the proceedings when not present in the Netherlands for the purposes of court proceedings, unless otherwise authorised in advance by the Chamber
- Shall provide the Registrar with copies of all passports, visas, identity documents, and any other travel documents issued to him; shall not travel internationally except to the extent permitted by the Chamber and shall inform the Registrar or his delegate, no later than seven days prior to any international travel.
- Shall report once a week to the Registrar, his delegate, or other person(s) on the date and time and in the manner to be determined by the Registrar, which may include the use of video conferencing technology.
- Shall provide the Registrar with all mobile and other telephone numbers and shall ensure that at least one of his mobile telephone numbers remains active and with sufficient credit to be reachable at any time.
On July 15 2021, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber A confirmed the charges of offences against the administration of justice against Paul Gicheru and committed him to trial and on February 15 the case began in Trial Chamber III.
The lawyer pleaded not guilty to the all charges.
The prosecution presented its opening statements and called eight witnesses to testify against Gicheru.
On April 25, Gicheru's defence team announced that they would not call any witnesses and the closing statements were made on June 27.
ICC-Trial Chamber III was yet to deliver its judgement on the case by the time Gicheru was found dead at his Karen home on September 27, 2022.