In a shocking instance, a Kenyan court has condemned a former police officer to death for the murder of a human rights attorney and two others.
In June 2016, two further police officers and a citizen were sentenced to between 20 and 30 years for the murder of attorney Willie Kimani, his client, and a cab driver.
The four defendants were convicted on three charges, including murder.
In Kenya, murder sentences are commuted to life in prison.
The 2017 Supreme Court decision, however, left judges the power to decide whether the death penalty can still be enforced.
A military colonel responsible for a failed coup attempt in 1982 was the last person hanged in Kenya.
Kimani’s murder highlighted the numerous extrajudicial executions and disappearances attributed to the Kenyan police.
Kenyan ex-policeman executed for lawyer’s murder
Former police officer Fredrick Leliman, sentenced to death, and the other three guilty defendants have 14 days to appeal.
Friday, in her ruling, Judge Jessie Lessit stated that evidence presented throughout the trial demonstrated that the killings were premeditated and the victims were cruelly tortured and murdered.
“No one should go through what these three did, especially at the hands of those tasked with protecting them,” said Benson Shamala, the country director of International Justice Mission, for which Kimani served.
“Unfortunately, following the deaths of our three friends, we have witnessed more police killings,” he added.
Kimani, Josephat Mwenda, and Joseph Muiruri’s bodies were discovered and thrown in a river on the outskirts of Nairobi.
Mwenda, a motorbike taxi driver, accused Fredrick Leliman of shooting him without provocation after a traffic stop in 2015. Kimani defended him.
Kimani, Mwenda, and their taxi driver Muiruri were last seen at a police station on June 23, 2016.
Two weeks later, their mangled bodies were discovered in a river some 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the city.
Since its inception 11 years ago, Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority has received more than 6,000 complaints. According to data collected by the organization, although few officers have been convicted.
