The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, has issued an arrest warrant against a Kenyan journalist for suspicious of offering bribes to prosecution witnesses in the trial of Deputy President, William Ruto.
Both President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy President, William Ruto have been indicted by the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity. The court has officially brought charges against Mr. Ruto but President Kenyatta is due to also stand trial on similar charges in November.
The ICC said in a statement that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Barasa “is acting in furtherance of a criminal scheme devised by a circle of officials within the Kenyan administration’’.
The court said further that it court papers revealed that Mr. Barasa had offered bribes amounting to $16,200 (£10,000) therefore, making Some witnesses too scared to testify and some witnesses withdrawing their initial testimonies.
Judge Cuno Tarfusser then ruled that Mr. Barasa should be arrested and tried to ensure that he did not “endanger the investigation or the proceedings, and to prevent him from continuing with the commission of the crime”.
ICC chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda called on Kenya to immediately arrest and transfer Mr. Barasa to The Hague. Analysts say Mr. Barasa could face up to 5 years in jail if found guilty and is the first time the ICC has issued such arrest warrant against a journalist.
But Mr. Barasa, 41, told the reporters in the capital Nairobi that he was ready to prove his innocence and that police had so far not tried to detain him.
“I have not gotten in touch with any witnesses or anybody having any intention of asking them or bribing them to pull out of the case, I will be there to prove my innocence” he said.
His lawyer, Nick Kaufman told the Reuters News Agency that it was surprising that the warrant had been unsealed before Mr. Ruto’s lawyers cross-examined witnesses and it risked creating the impression that it was aimed at influencing the trial’s progress.
But Kenya’s Attorney-General Githu Muigai, say the warrant would come under judicial consideration before it will be enforced.
“During the judicial consideration of the legality of the warrant, the subject [Mr. Barasa] is entitled to make representations to the court,” he said.
The BBC’s Anna Holligan reported from The Hague that the arrest warrant was issued in August but made public only on Wednesday, partly to act as a warning to others that they could not get away with interfering with witnesses.
Mr. Barasa is a former employee of People newspaper in Eldoret, the home town of Mr. Ruto in north-western part of Kenya which is believed to have close ties with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family.
More than1, 200 people died and 600,000 were forced from their home after the 2007 disputed elections in Kenya. The ICC blames the violence on Mr. Kenyatta and Mr. Ruto who were on opposite sides at that time. They then formed an alliance to win the 2013 elections and have since denied any wrong doing during the violence.
Issaka Adams / NationalTurk Africa News
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