Setback for Lawyer Gicheru as ICC Clears Bensouda to Examine ‘Incriminating’ Evidence

Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru has suffered a blow in his case at the ICC after the court cleared prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to examine possessions suspected to have crucial and potential incriminating evidence in the case.

While giving Bensouda clearance to examine Gicheru’s possessions, Judge Reine Alapini-Gansou said the prosecutor is within her right to analyse any evidence key to the case.

The items set to be examined are personal belongings that were retrieved from Gicheru after he surrendered himself to Dutch police late last year.

“It remains the Prosecutor’s responsibility to conduct this analysis in accordance with the requirements arising from the Court’s legal texts and, if necessary, the Defence may raise any issue in connection with this matter in the subsequent stages of the proceedings,” the judge’s ruling read in part.

“When considered against the threshold of ‘reasonable grounds’, the (items) may be considered to have been used in, connected with, or to provide evidence of the offences for which the Warrants of Arrest have been issued,” the judge added.

Through his lawyer, Gicheru had requested the court to decline Bensouda’s request, arguing that it would amount to a breach of his privacy.