COULD ICC BE COMING FOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO?
COULD ICC BE COMING FOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO?
On 2nd of November 2020, a wealthy lawyer from Eldoret, Paul Gichuru who is also a Director of EPZ Authority surrendered himself to the ICC.
The lawyer was on the run since 2015 after the Hague based court issued an arrest warrant for allegedly influencing witnesses in the court. The witnesses were to testify in a post-election violence case that claimed over 1,000 lives.
This influencing of the witness forced the ICC to dismiss the case against Deputy President William Ruto.The court ruled that there was insufficient evidence, but it equally refused to acquit him.
Although the DP was set free, he still remained a suspect. In a split ruling, one judge declared it a mistrial because of a "troubling incidence of witness interference and intolerable political meddling".
The DP was accused murder, deportation and persecution charges during violence that followed the 2007 elections in which about 1,200 people were killed.
When surrendering to the ICC, Gicheru indicated that his life was in danger and that why he opted to surrender himself despite the fact that the High Court of Kenya had already quashed the warrant of arrest against Paul Gicheru issued.
So who is threatening the life of Paula Gicheru and Why?
In order to answer this question, we need to know who stands to benefit from his elimination in the context of ICC.
Well, although William Ruto may have managed to eliminate the witnesses against him at ICC, there still remained some loose ends; the person who helped William Identify and buy out the witnesses, Paul Gicheru!
With Paul Gicheru surrendering himself to the ICC, I don't see Ruto's name at the ballot come 2022!
