The High Court has quashed an arrest warrant for two Kenyans wanted for offences against the administration of justice by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In the ruling, Judge Luka Kimaru also declined to issue an order to execute an ICC arrest warrant for Paul Gicheru and Philip Bett, maintaining that the Hague-based court issued the warrant on speculative grounds.
The judge further admonished the Cabinet Secretary for Interior, the Director of Public Prosecutions, and the Attorney General for seeking the order to execute the ICC arrest warrant instead of protecting the rights of Gicheru and Bett.
On March 2015, ICC issued an arrest warrant for the two Kenyans claiming they had bribed or attempted to bribe six prosecution witnesses with between Sh500,000 and Sh5 Million each to withdraw as witnesses.
[caption caption="High Court Judge Luka Kimaru"]
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Some of the false names of the witnesses given in the arrest warrant for Gicheru and Bett corresponded with those who testified during the ICC trial of Deputy President William Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang.
In his judgement, judge Kimaru stated that the ICC Prosecutor should have presented the Kenyan High Court with evidence to prove why the witness bribery case would not be prosecuted effectively in Kenya.
He also criticized the government for failing to investigate allegations made by Gicheru claiming that ICC issued an arrest warrant against him because he represented someone who recanted his statement as a witness for the prosecution.
Judge Kimaru maintained that Gicheru claimed the ICC prosecution warned him of charges for interfering with a witness if he did not get his client to withdraw his affidavit recanting his statement.
He added: “The application lacks merit in the circumstances and is hereby dismissed. The warrant of arrest issued by this court against the respondents is hereby lifted.”
[caption caption="ICC Courtroom during proceedings"]
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The judge maintained that the applicant shall not take any action in the request made to surrender the respondents until there is compliance with the orders of his court.
