Nairobi (AFP) – An international arrest warrant for a Kenyan ex-journalist accused of trying to bribe witnesses has been sent to Nairobi’s high court for validation, the government said Monday.
The International Criminal Court last week said it had issued a warrant for the arrest of Walter Barasa for allegedly trying to bribe witnesses to drop their testimony in the crimes against humanity trial of Deputy President William Ruto.
“We have forwarded the warrant of request of arrest to the High Court,” Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said.
The ICC warrant, the first by the 10-year-old court for alleged witness interference, was made public last Wednesday.
Barasa, 41, “is charged with several offences against the administration of justice including corruptly influencing or attempting to corruptly influence ICC witnesses,” the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.
He has also allegedly “been and is still acting in furtherance of a criminal scheme devised by a circle of officials within the Kenyan administration,” the court said, without elaborating.
He denies all the allegations.
It marks the latest chapter in increasingly troubled relations between the ICC and Kenya, where lawmakers have voted to leave the court’s founding Rome Statute.
However, since Kenya remains a member, it is bound to honour the court’s demands.
The ICC warrant must first pass before a Kenyan judge before it is acted upon.
Ruto went on trial last month, the highest-ranking official to do so, on charges of masterminding some of the 2007-08 post-election violence in Kenya that left over 1,000 people dead and several hundred thousand displaced.
Ruto, 46, and Kenyan radio boss Joshua arap Sang, 38, are accused of stoking the worst violence in the east African country since independence in 1963.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta goes on trial on November 12 on similar charges.
All have pledged their cooperation with the court and are maintaining their innocence.
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