Lawyer facing charges in International Criminal Court case linked to Kenya’s new president found dead

A lawyer facing charges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in a previous case linked to Kenya’s recently elected president has been found dead.

Paul Gicheru had pleaded not guilty in February to eight counts of interfering with witnesses in a past case against William Ruto, who was charged with involvement in violence after Kenya‘s 2007 election that left 1,200 people dead.

Mr Ruto, who became president earlier this month, denied the allegations and the ICC dropped the case in 2016 following claims of political interference.

The charges had also been made against previous president Uhuru Kenyatta, among others. Mr Ruto was deputy president at the time, having served from 2013 until this year’s election.

But the court in The Hague left leeway for fresh charges in future, and judges were considering their verdicts in the case against 50-year-old Gicheru.

His family found him unconscious at his home on Monday night, “lying on the back, clean, casually dressed” with no traces of saliva or blood “on any body opening”.

A police report seen by the Associated Press noted the lawyer’s health problems, including that he is a “known diabetic and high blood pressure patient”.

‘He was not himself’

The cause of Gicheru’s death was not immediately known.

Relatives had described him as stressed in the hours before, according to family lawyer John Khaminwa.

“He was not himself,” Mr Khaminwa said.

The Kenya Human Rights Commission has said it was “concerned with the shocking news of the untimely death” and has called for an investigation.

ICC spokesman Fadi El Abdallah said: “If there is information about the death of an accused, a confirmation of this information should be submitted to the (trial) chamber and then the chamber issues a decision ending the case.”

No date had been set for a hearing to deliver a judgment in the case.