Friday, February 5, 2021 – Deputy President William Ruto’s lawyer, Paul Gicheru, has denied allegations that he handed himself over to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in order to fix the DP.
Speaking during an interview after returning to the country from The Hague-based Court, Gicheru said he did not go to The Hague to fix Ruto to the utter disappointment of ODM leader Raila Odinga, who was hoping for the worst for the DP.
He noted that surrendering to the ICC was a personal decision to honour a warrant of arrest issued against him by the court in 2015 over claims of interfering with witnesses and not to fix anyone.
“Owing to the nature of the matter, I was entirely a voluntary and personal decision in strict and exclusive consultation with my family without the participation of any third party.”
“Any speculation on any third party involvement was entirely wrong and should be ignored,” Gicheru said.
Gicheru was wanted by the ICC to answer allegations of corruptly influencing witnesses who had been lined to testify against Ruto and radio journalist Joshua Arap Sang in the crimes against humanity charges they faced at The Hague.
He said he heard about the rumours while in confinement at The Hague, which he said were all lies as he did not surrender to implicate the DP.
“I did not go to ICC to fix anyone.”
“It was a personal decision.”
“My conscience could not be at peace forever knowing there was a warrant from ICC hanging over my head.”
“I wanted to clear this thing to enable me to be at peace,” he said.
He noted that he deliberately chose to make his travel a secret so as not to trouble anyone, “since the warrant of arrest against me as an individual.
“It reaches a point where one has to make a decision.”
“I chose to make the decision to go to ICC purely on personal terms,” the lawyer said.
“A warrant of arrest is a personal thing.”
“It affects you as an individual and while I left the country to honour the warrant, I am now back without the burden on my shoulder and I have since resumed my public, professional and personal duties,” he said.
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