The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Keriako Tobiko, has assertively recommended that two Kenyan lawyers be extradited to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mr Tobiko is seeking to enforce an arrest warrant from the Hague-based court against lawyers Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett.
The two lawyers are accused of witness tampering during the ICC proceedings against Deputy President William Ruto and radio presenter Joshua Sang.
High Court Judge Luka Kimaru had issued an injunction against the ICC warrants citing that the international court had not consulted Kenya before issuance.
[caption caption="DPP Keriako Tobiko"]
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Justice Kimaru based the decision on recent findings that former ICC Prosecutor Louis Moreno Ocampo attempted to coerce and intimidate the lawyers.
A key witness, Mr Samuel Kimeli Kosgey - allegedly influenced by lawyer Gacheru - told the High Court that he was visited by ICC officials who urged him to stand by an affidavit in his name in exchange for an apartment in South Africa and a parcel of land in Tanzania.
"As a result I was induced and enticed to be a witness at the ICC on the promise that I would be given accommodation and other monetary inducements. I later moved to Nairobi, Arusha where I was interrogated by Cynthia Tai, Emma and a stenographer, who I later learned was from USA, at the ICTR offices," Kosgey's affidavit read in part.
Through his lawyer Victor Mule, the DPP expressed intentions to appeal the High Court decision stating that the entire ruling was unacceptable.
"The DPP being dissatisfied with the entire ruling and orders of the court on November 16, 2017, intends to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the whole of the said ruling," court papers from the DPP read in part.
The two lawyers had been charged alongside Kenyan journalist Walter Barasa. In July, however, the Court of Appeal lifted orders blocking Mr Barasa's extradition.
Read More: Kenyan Journalist to Face ICC After Major Mistake
[caption caption="DPP Kerioko Tobiko"]
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