Journalist Walter Baraza, who is wanted by ICC for witness tampering in the collapsed case against Deputy President (DP) William Ruto has revealed that he will surrender himself to the Hague.
In an interview with the Star, the journalist who claimed to be broke explained that most of his prospective employers deny him a job owing to the yoke of the International Criminal Court charges piled on him.
“I am not even able to pay rent because nobody is ready to employ me. In Western Kenya where I come from, I am seen as a Jubilee agent,” he stated.
During the hearing of the 2007/2008 post-election case, ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda publicly claimed that Baraza worked so closely with “a circle of officials within the Kenyan administration” to tamper with witnesses in the collapsed case against DP Ruto.
[caption caption="Journalist Walter Baraza and lawyer Kibe Mungai (Facebook)"]
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He was also accused of having offered bribes amounting to millions of Kenyan shillings for witnesses to withdraw.
The Hague based court unleashed a warrant of arrest against the trained journalist on October 2, 2013, a time when Ruto's case was at its apex.
In 2015, ICC rejected Barasa's request for a revocation of his arrest warrant and a substitution with court summons, insisting the journalist could only be granted interim release once he had surrendered and had been detained.
Baraza has now launched the battle against the extradition stating that he is ready to face the Hague judges in order to absolve himself from the charges.
In an interview with the Star, he further divulged that he had instructed his three lawyers Kimbe Mungai, Katwa Kigen and Gatonye Waweru to hasten the process of his extradition.
“I hope they will take note of the instructions because I have explained to them in detail some reasons to the effect of my desire to clear my name.
“The only way to redeem myself is to clear my name from the ICC allegations, erase the wild perceptions from the public and start life with the hope that God will grant me and my family more days,” he stated.
[caption caption="ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (Twitter)"]
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