International Criminal Court suspect lawyer Paul Gicheru was on Monday evening found dead.
Gicheru was facing six counts counts of bribery and corruptly inducing witnesses to interfere with justice in a case against President William Ruto and journalist Joshua Arap Sang that was dismissed in 2016. He was facing a 30-year jail term should he be found guilty of the charges.
Strangely, Gicheru had on November 2, 2020 surrendered himself to the ICC, even though Kenya had outrightly said that no citizen would be surrendered to the court. Gicheru had opted to travel from Kenya to Netherlands where he surrendered himself.
At the time, his wife claimed that they had looked at all options and determined that it was best for him to surrendered and risk the three decade jail term!
According to the ICC, the warrant of arrest was issued under seal against Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett on 10 March 2015 and unsealed on 10 September 2015 for offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses regarding cases from the situation in Kenya.
On 2 November 2020, Paul Gicheru surrendered to the authorities of The Netherlands pursuant to this arrest warrant for offences against the administration of justice consisting in corruptly influencing witnesses of the Court.
On 3 November 2020, Paul Gicheru was surrendered to the ICC custody after the completion of the necessary national proceedings.  The first appearance of Paul Gicheru before the Court took place on 6 November 2020.
On 11 December 2020, Pre-Trial Chamber A severed the cases against Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett. On 1 February 2021, Paul Gicheru was released to Kenya with specific conditions restricting liberty, during the confirmation of charges proceedings.
On 15 July 2021, ICC Pre-Trial Chamber A confirmed the charges of offences against the administration of justice brought by the Prosecutor against Paul Gicheru and committed him to trial.
On 15 February 2022, the trial opened before Trial Chamber III. The accused plead not-guilty to the all charges.
ICC suspect lawyer Paul Gicheru found dead at Karen
The prosecution then presented its opening statements and called its first witness. 8 witnesses have testified for the prosecution, the last one finished testifying on 24 March 2022.
The Office of the Prosecutor completed its presentation of evidence on 29 March 2022. The Defence announced on 25 April 2022 that it will not call any witnesses.
The closing statements in this case took place on 27 June 2022.
On September 26, the police said that Gicheru had taken late lunch and felt unwell and went to bed but he did not wake up. Police said he was found unresponsive at about 7 pm. His son too collapsed and was taken to Karen hospital in stable condition.