On1 February 2021, Paul Gicheru was released to Kenya with specific conditions restricting liberty, during the confirmation of charges proceedings against him at the International Criminal Court (ICC). This follows Pre-Trial Chamber A’s decision on 29 January 2021, granting Mr Gicheru interim release with conditions. Mr Gicheru is suspected of offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court.
The confirmation of charges procedure in this case will, in principle, be conducted in writing to determine whether or not there is sufficient evidence to conduct the subsequent phase of the proceedings: the trial.
Background: Pre-Trial Chamber A imposed the following conditions restricting Mr Gicheru’s liberty. Mr Gicheru:
• shall provide financial security to the ICC Registrar in the form of cash or bank order to the value of KSH 1,000,000 (one million Kenyan shillings);
• shall comply fully with all orders issued in this case and surrender himself immediately to the relevant authorities if required by the Chamber;
• shall 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; and
• 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.
The Chamber found that, in the event that Mr Gicheru would fail to comply with any of the conditions restricting liberty specified in its decision, the Chamber may declare the financial security provided by Mr Gicheru forfeit to the Court, issue a warrant of arrest in respect of Mr Gicheru at the request of the Prosecutor or on its own initiative, and/or issue any other order it deems relevant in relation to a failure to comply with these conditions.
The arrest warrant against Mr Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett was issued under seal on 10 March 2015 and unsealed on 10 September 2015 for offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court. On 2 November 2020, Paul Gicheru surrendered in The Netherlands and was surrendered to the ICC custody on 3 November 2020. His first appearance before the ICC took place 6 November 2020. On 11 December 2020, Pre-Trial Chamber A severed sever the cases against Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett.
