UPDATE: Tuesday, February 15: The International Criminal Case has started hearing the trial against Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru who is accused of witness intimidation.
The ICC prosecution claims that Gicheru interfered with witnesses in the case against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang through intimidation and bribery.
One of the witnesses in the Ruto case is currently testifying - you can follow the case on the live link below:
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The Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) has admitted to being in possession of 30 secretly recorded audios by witnesses in the case against lawyer Paul Gicheru.
Gicheru asked the Trial Chamber III judge Maria Samba to erase the 30 audio recordings arguing that they were secretly recorded by witnesses.
Deputy prosecutor James Stewart countered Gicheru's arguments stating that the audio recordings were telephone conversations of people who were involved in witness tampering and they were not taped in Kenya.
Further, Stewart argued that the majority of the recordings were collected six months before the trial started in September 2013 after the Office of the Prosecutor grew suspicious of witness interference.
However, Gicheru told the court that the phone conversations were obtained illegally and accused ICC investigators of tapping and recording phone calls.
The ICC also wants Kenya compelled to secure the cooperation of a witness in the case where Gicheru is accused of bribing and tampering with witnesses.
According to Stewart, the Office of the Prosecutor was curious about how witnesses were being influenced when the majority of those who were to testify against Deputy President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang reject their testimonies.
“The investigation of the scheme to corruptly influence witnesses was accordingly urgently needed, not only for the purposes of a possible future prosecution but to protect the integrity of the trial by attempting to avert the mass exodus of prosecution witnesses,” he stated.
Notably, ICC wants Kenya compelled to guarantee the cooperation of a witness in the Gicheru witness tampering case.
The Office of the Prosecutor further wants the Kenyan government to help it in locating and availing the hostile witness who was scheduled to testify in the case against DP Ruto.
According to court documents, the prosecutor wants the witness, codenamed P-0743, to testify in the bribery case against Gicheru.
During the court session, it was alleged that the slain ICC witness, Meshack Yebei, was also a member of a strategy group dubbed Common Plan that worked on how to influence witnesses.
