ICC: Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru soon released
Members of the ICC during the 2013 trial over the post-election violence in Kenya in 2007 (illustrative image).
LEX VAN LIESHOUT / ANP / AFP
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Accused of corrupting prosecution witnesses during the ICC trial of current Kenyan vice-president William Ruto for crimes against humanity, Paul Gicheru is on the verge of provisional release by the International Criminal Court .
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Nairobi
,
Sébastien Németh
To everyone's surprise,
Paul Gicheru surrendered to the ICC of his own free will
in November, but wished to be provisionally released.
The court finally agreed, recognizing that the risk of absconding was reduced.
The judge, however, set conditions on his freedom.
The Kenyan lawyer will have to post a bond of 10,000 dollars, attend the court at any time if it requests it, refrain from any statement on the case and be contactable 24 hours a day.
In addition, Paul Gicheru will not have the right to contact witnesses or victims related to his case and his trips abroad will be limited.
His lawyers had considered that his detention should end because the accused is in good faith, first because he surrendered of his own free will and second because he is cooperating with justice.
His counsel also recalled that Paul Gicheru was presumed innocent, that prolonged detention would be a violation of human rights and that in order to defend himself, he had to be in Kenya, in order to gather the elements necessary for his defense.
The Court was expected to show flexibility, especially since prosecutor Fatou Bensouda was not opposed to this release.
However, soon three months later, it is still not clear why Paul Gicheru surrendered, but he has already announced that he will not plead guilty.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Kenya
International justice