Kenyan lawyer facing ICC charges found dead

Nairobi, Kenya | Xinhua | A Kenyan lawyer who was facing witness interference charges at The Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) was found dead at his home on Monday evening, the police confirmed on Tuesday.

The police said Paul Gicheru, 53, had been a person of interest in an ICC case that followed the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya, in which more than 1,300 people were killed and over 5,000 others injured.

“The body was found lying on the back, clean, casually dressed and no saliva or blood on any body opening. The deceased is a known diabetic and high blood pressure patient,” the police said in a report on Tuesday.

The police said the son of the deceased was taken to hospital after complaining of a stomachache.

Kenyan media outlet Capital News also reported that Gicheru was found “unresponsive” at about 7 pm Monday at his home, quoting a family member as saying, adding that he took late lunch and went to sleep but did not wake up again.

It further reported that Gicheru is said to have improperly engaged witnesses in the case against then Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto (who is now Kenya’s newly elected president) and journalist Joshua Arap Sang terminated in April 2016.