Journalist Walter Barasa has claimed that his refusal to co-operate with the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) had led to the issuing of an arrest warrant against him. Barasa claimed he had been working with ICC investigator Paul Irani, who he says he met last year, but they differed when he (Irani) asked him to implicate Deputy President William Ruto in the withdrawal of a witness. “Irani called me mid last month and sought a meeting. I thought we would have a cordial meeting but he intimidated and harassed me. He told me my life was in danger and I should co-operate with him or risk arrest,” he said. The accusations Barasa claimed that during the meeting, Irani accused him of working with Ruto to threaten and compromise witnesses, which he denied. The journalist claimed that Irani assured him that he would be flown out of the country if he co-operated with ICC, but warned him that his life would be in danger if he refused. “He told me he was going to engineer to have a warrant of arrest issued against me and that I could be jailed for five years, but added that, as a friend, he did not want me jailed and that the best option was for me to implicate the Deputy President,” claimed the journalist. Barasa explained that he had informed the prosecutor that the last time he met Ruto was in 2007, but Irani argued that the journalist met Ruto when he returned from an official visit to Japan. “I told him those were lies, I could not accept those lies and that he should go ahead and cause the warrants to be issued. I told him that I was ready to stand in any court to refute those lies,” said Barasa. He said Irani cautioned him against becoming difficult and threatened to arrest him right away. “At that point, I was extremely fearful and in order to get away from them, I told them that I would get back to them.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 06:04:57 +0000
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