Kenyan lawyers protest extra-judicial killings

By Magdalene Mukami

NAIROBI, Kenya (AA) - Court rooms across Kenya were deserted Monday as thousands of lawyers took to the streets in protest at the killing of a human rights lawyer representing the alleged victim of police brutality.

Willie Kimani’s body was discovered Friday in a river 70 kilometers (43 miles) northeast of Nairobi. The bodies of his client and their driver were also found.

Following the killings, the Law Society of Kenya called for a week-long boycott of casework in protest at the deaths that many say are the latest in a series of extra-judicial killings carried out by police in recent years.

Across the country traffic was brought to a standstill as lawyers and civil society groups demanded the resignation of Interior Minister Joseph Nkaissery and Inspector General of Police Joseph Boinett.

The hashtag #StopExtrajudicialKillings was one of the most popular on social media as demonstrators gathered. In the capital Nairobi, protesters carried coffins daubed with the slogan and red paint to represent blood.

Chanting “Enough is enough, the police have spilled enough innocent blood”, the crowds dropped the coffins at President Uhuru Kenyatta’s office as armed security guards stood by.

Law Society President Isaac Okero told the crowds: “We have lost a brother, a father and an honest driver who was just trying to fend for his family. Kenyans are familiar with this pattern of extrajudicial killings. It points to a systemic failure in our system which we must change.”

Kimani, 32, his client Josephat Mwenda and taxi driver Jospeh Muruiri were last seen on June 23 at the Mavoko Law Court to the southeast of Nairobi, when Kimani lodged a complaint against police for allegedly shooting Mwenda in the arm during a traffic stop.

James Korinji, a spokesman for the International Justice Mission, where Kimani had worked, said: “It is very sad that he was killed brutally by members of the administration police.

“It began with an illegal arrest -- one out of every one hundred Kenyans goes through this every day and divers from where their bodies were retrieved told us that the river is a regular dumping site for bodies.”

Three police officers accused of involvement in the killings were among the few brought to court in Kenya on Monday. The judge in Nairobi ordered their detention for 14 days while an investigation is conducted.