Video manipulated to show Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru pleading guilty at start of ICC trial
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on February 22, 2022 at 09:07
- 2 min read
- By James OKONG'O, AFP South Africa, AFP Kenya
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The video was posted on Facebook on February 15, 2022, and has since been shared more than 60 times and viewed more than 2,400 times.
“BREAKING; LAWYER Paul Gicheru pleads GUILTY at the ICC (sic),” reads the post.
The post was also shared here and here.
In the clip shared on Facebook, Gicheru appears to tell the presiding judge: “Madam president, for the record, I plead guilty.”
However, the video has been edited. Gicheru pleaded not guilty.
ICC cases
The ICC accused Gicheru of playing a pivotal role in a scheme to undermine the trials of Ruto, a candidate in Kenya's August 2022 presidential elections, and Sang, a radio journalist.
In total, the ICC filed charges against six suspects over alleged involvement in Kenya's 2007-08 post-election violence when at least 1,200 people died. All the cases fell through, however, and none of the suspects was convicted.
The case involving Ruto collapsed in 2016, with then-ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda citing a “relentless” campaign of victim intimidation.
Related to the case, Gicheru is still facing numerous charges for his alleged role in compromising witnesses. He surrendered to the ICC in The Hague 15 months ago — five years after the arrest warrant against him was issued.
According to the ICC, there are substantial grounds to believe Gicheru undermined the administration of justice with the aim of thwarting the Ruto-Sang case.
Gicheru’s trial opened on February 15, 2022. He pleaded not guilty to all the charges put to him.
Manipulated video
AFP Fact Check found that the video of his pleadings was digitally manipulated to falsely show Gicheru accepting guilt.
In the original video of his trial hearing published on the ICC website on February 15, 2022, Gicheru’s exchange with ICC judge Miatta Maria Samba can be viewed 15’40” into the video.
Samba asks Gicheru if he will plead in respect of the charges against him.
“For the record, I plead not guilty, not guilty,” Gicheru responds.
The audio gap where the word “not” was cut out is detectable in the manipulated video.
Local news organisations in Kenya (here and here) also reported that Gicheru pleaded “not guilty” to the charges.
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