ICC prosecutor and Gicheru get 1 hour for final arguments

Lawyer Paul Gicheru. [Stafford Ondego, Standard]

International Criminal Court prosecutor James Stewart and lawyer Paul Gicheru have one hour each to submit their final arguments before Trial Chamber III judge Maria Samba.

The ICC will on Monday hear their counter arguments. In its directions, the Hague-based court said it would have two sides, make oral arguments. “Each party will be accorded one hour for their statement. Mr Gicheru will attend the hearing via video technology,” read ICC’s media brief.

The case started on February 15. Gicheru pleaded not guilty to the all charges. During the trial, the prosecution presented eight witnesses.

However, Mr Gicheru decided not to present any witness or evidence to counter the prosecution’s narrative.

During the hearing, some witnesses admitted to being coached to fix Deputy President William Ruto and radio journalist Joshua arap Sang in exchange for a ticket out of Africa. P-0516 testified that he was told what to tell ICC investigators to appear to be credible.

On day 15 of the hearing, the witness said he knew that by making up stories that would please the ICC investigators, he would enjoy all the benefits he had been promised. Although the witness said he could not recall what he told the investigators, he said he cooked information.

He said he felt they were outcasts and ICC investigators did not go to the areas of skirmishes to verify the truth.

Each time lawyer Paul Gicheru’s lawyer Michael Karvanas asked him about the lies, he replied in Kiswahili, ndio (yes) and ni sawa (it is okay). “That was a lie and I am sorry, and it looks that we used fallacious means so that we could benefit from our lies,” he said.

“Do you see that sir?” asked  Karvanas. “Yes I do,” he replied

“You were willing to have those two individuals charged because you would go abroad, your children would go to school and other benefits were to flow. As an unemployed and poor person, you felt you were going to get a better life... That was an opportunity to benefit from all the promises,” Karvanas said.

The witness replied: “It is okay.” The witness also admitted to lying about his residence and employment. He said he told investigators the wrong location to buttress his credibility.

He told Trial Chamber II judge Maria Samba that he also lied about working for an organisation linked to a witness number six because it was working with the ICC. He admitted that he never worked in that organisation. The witness said they would take information from newspapers, TV and radio and customise it to fit their imagined scenarios. The court heard that some of the scenes that the witness cooked included youths carrying machetes and spears, wearing vests and making noise.

He admitted lying that his cow was taken by attackers, as those involved in the 2007-2008 polls chaos also stole victims' animals. “My cow was not taken; it was a lie,” said P-0516.