Human rights activists are demanding an urgent probe in Kenya into last week’s murder of three men, including a human rights activist. Local authorities have confirmed the arrests of at least three Administration Police.
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Three Kenyan police officers have appeared in court over the murder of a human rights lawyer, whose body was found on Friday after he went missing.
“These extrajudicial killings are a chilling reminder that the hard-won right to seek justice for human rights violations is under renewed attack”, said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
The president of the national lawyers’ association the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) said it was “a dark day for the rule of law in Kenya”. “They will face charges including murder”, said police chief Joseph Boinnet, adding that the suspects have been arrested.
Police could not immediately be reached for comment on the bodies.
In April past year, a police officer had shot Mwende accidentally at a traffic stop, and then admitted him at a hospital for treatment.
The boycott comes even as civil society organisations and varied human rights actors including Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) will hold a demonstration over the incident.
Three Kenyan police officers have been detained over the disappearance of a lawyer and his client who had alleged mistreatment by the police, newspapers and broadcasters reported on Friday.
The men’s whereabouts after that remained unknown until their bodies were recovered seven days later.
Rights activists have urged Kenyan agencies, such as civilian body the Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and the police, to find those responsible for the killings and hold them to account in fair trials.
Witnesses said they saw the lawyer and his client in a basement cell of a local police station shortly after the hearing. We are deeply grateful to our colleagues on the ground who bravely worked in unsafe conditions to try to locate these men, and we are as committed as ever to our IJM Kenya team and to their struggle for justice in their nation.
“The British government has been supporting the Kenyan police force to promote reform, strengthen accountability and improve compliance with worldwide human rights standards”.
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Kimani, a young human rights lawyer with the U.S. legal aid group International Justice Mission (IJM), had a short but impressive track record defending political prisoners and victims of state abuse.
