The International Criminal Court Thursday anounced the arrest of two Kenyans charged with seeking to bribe witnesses in one of its high-profile cases.
Unsealing the warrant, the ICC said lawyer Paul Gicheru and Philip Kipkoech Bett, who were both arrested on July 30 in Nairobi, face six charges.
They stand accused of "organising a criminal scheme to systematically approach and corruptly influence" ICC prosecution witnesses.
According to the ICC, in one case Gicheru negotiated a five million Kenyan shilling (42,000 euros) bribe to coax one witness to drop out of the case.
Two instalments were paid to the witness, who in May 2013 signed an affidavit in Gicheru's office that they "no longer intended to testify and wished to withdraw the testimony previously given," a court document said.
The Hague-based court did not specify which of the Kenyan cases before its judges the two men had sought to sway.
But it said the two men had promised other witnesses bribes of between one to 2.5 million shillings (8,000 to 21,000 euros).
The controversial case against President Uhuru Kenyatta collapsed late in 2014 after ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda withdrew the charges, citing lack of evidence.
He had been accused of masterminding the country's deadly post-election violence which erupted in 2007-2008.
But Kenya's Deputy President William Ruto is still on trial accused of crimes against humanity after 1,000 people died in the unrest.
Bensouda has repeatedly said witnesses were intimidated in Kenyatta's case, as well as that of Ruto, who has denied all charges, along with his co-defendant Joshua Arap Sang.
In 2013, former journalist Walter Osapiri Barasa was accused of seeking to bribe witnesses in Ruto's trial.
Barasa was linked to Gicheru and Kipkoech Bett in the court document, which alleged he had told a witness Gicheru was in charge of the scheme.
Sixteen out of 42 witnesses in Ruto's trial have changed their stories or refused to take the stand, saying they had been threatened and intimidated.