Kenyan policemen handed heavy sentences for killing of human rights lawyer
Kenyan policemen handed heavy sentences for killing of human rights lawyer
NAIROBI (Reuters) - A Kenyan court on Friday handed decades-long prison sentences to three police officers and their civilian informant for the 2016 murder of human rights lawyer Willie Kimani.
Kimani, his client Josephat Mwendwa and their driver Joseph Muiruri were killed shortly after filing a complaint of police brutality alleging that Mwendwa had been shot and injured by police.
Their bodies were later recovered from a river outside the capital Nairobi.
The case triggered outrage in Kenya, where police face frequent allegations of brutality and extrajudicial killings but are almost never charged.
The four defendants were convicted of murder last year.
The lead defendant, Frederick Leliman, was sentenced to death by the court. However, Kenya has not executed anyone since 1987, with death sentences usually commuted to life in prison.
The other two police officers, Stephen Cheburet and Sylvia Wanjiku, and their civilian informant, Peter Ngugi, were given prison sentences ranging from 20 to 30 years.
The judge, Jessie Lessit, described the killing as a "well planned and executed" murder.
A police spokesperson said the police would issue a statement later.
The police say they take action against any officer accused of brutality, while the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, a body set up to probe cases of police brutality, investigates such cases and recommends them for prosecution.
At the time of his death, Kimani was working for International Justice Mission, a global legal rights group that helps investigate and document police killings and brutality.
(Reporting by Humphrey Malalo; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Aaron Ross and Toby Chopra)
Articles-Popular
- Main
- Contact Us
- Planetary Existences-2
- Planetary Existences
- TWO REVELATIONS-2
- The Two Revelations
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 9
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 8
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 10
- Universality of Initiation
- The Participants In The Mysteries-2
- The Path Of Initiation
- Initiation and the Devas
- The Fourth Way - Study of Oneself - P.D.Ouspensky
- Impeachment Investigators Subpoena White House - Ukraine
- Discipleship - Group Relations - 2
- The Probationary Path - 2
- The Final Initiation
- The Succeeding Two Initiations
- The Participants In The Mysteries
- Discipleship - Group Relationships
- Discipleship
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 7
- The Fourth Way - Wrong Functions - P.D Ouspensky
- Statues are a mark of honour. Like Edward Colston, Cecil Rhodes and Oliver Cromwell have to go
- Jeffery Epstein - The Saga - 6
Articles - Latest
- Blinken to Hamas: Accept Israel's 'extraordinarily generous' Gaza truce proposal
- 'Loan shark', 83, ordered to pay back over £173,000
- Thai court adds jail time for rights lawyer who urged monarchy reform
- Rapist jailed a decade after campaign of abuse against London woman
- Former SNP council leader appears in court charged with sexual offences
- Former mayor of Winchester smothered elderly mother with cushion, court told
- Spanish PM decides not to quit despite corruption claims against wife
- Scotland's Yousaf set to resign as first minister, UK media say
- Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction overturned
- Jamaica on track to remove King Charles as head of state by 2025, minister says
- Case against Sir Jeffrey Donaldson to be heard in court
- Rwanda needs migrants because of the genocide, says Home Secretary
- Will a state supreme court challenge end California’s ‘racist’ record-setting death row for good?
- Sweden aims to prepare critical infrastructure for potential war with Russia - Bloomberg
- Russia detains deputy of defence minister Shoigu for corruption