Petition to the Inspector-General of Police to end enforced disappearances and extrajudicial executions by the National Police Service and provide justice for families of the disappeared and murdered
Kenyans have reacted with grief and outrage to the discovery of the bodies of Willie Kimani, Josphat Mwendwa and Joseph Muiruri on July 1, 2016. Their bodies were found in Ol Donyo Sabuk River, a week after their abduction further to an appearance at Mavuko Law Courts. Evidence to date indicates they were all victims of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions.
Josphat Mwendwa was a boda boda rider pursuing a complaint with the Independent Policing Oversight Authority in respect of his having been shot by an Administration Police officer in April 2015. Willie Kimani was a human rights lawyer with the International Justice Mission, working to defend Josphat Mwendwa. Joseph Muiruri was their taxi driver that day.
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Open in new tab Open Letter to Member States of the UN Human Rights Council
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Open Letter to The President of The Republic of Kenya on The Enactment of the National Coroners Service bill, 2015 and the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2014.
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Enforced Disappearance of Willie Kimani, a Human Rights Defender together With Josephat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri
We the undersigned organizations call for the immediate release of Willie Kimani, a human rights defender/lawyer, and his two associates, Josphat Mwenda and Joseph Muiruri, who were abducted by the Administration Police (AP) on 23rd June 2016. The three were abducted as they left the Mavoko Law Courts in Machakos County shortly before 12:00 pm. Willie, who works for the International Justice Mission (IJM), was in court together with IJM client Josephat Mwenda, a 24 year old father of one who before the 10th April 2015, plied his trade as a Boda boda (motor cycle) rider. This is the culmination of numerous blatant attempts to intimidate Josphat to withdraw a complaint lodged with the Independent Police Oversight Authority (IPOA) against a senior Administration Police (AP) officer stationed at Syokimau AP Camp.
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High Court Rules on the Kenya Human Rights Commission Petition on deregistration
The High Court delivered judgment in a petition by the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC) challenging the decision of the Non-GovernmentaOrganizations Coordination Board (NGO Board) which threatened to cancel the registration certificate and freeze the accounts for the organization.
Justice Louis Onguto found that the failure by the NGO board to give the KHRC a hearing before arriving at a decision to cancel its registration was a violation of the constitutional right Justice Onguto further stated that this was compounded by the fact that the NGO board failed to furnish written reasons to the Kenya Human Rights Commission when the organization repeatedly wrote asking for such reasons.
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Press Release: Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu Launch
A coalition of like-minded civil society organizations, who have come together to proactively support Kenya’s preparations for the 2017 elections with a view to ensuring that the country minimizes the risks related to dysfunctional electoral competition which the country has experienced in the recent elections, launched a citizen initiative dubbed Kura Yangu Sauti Yangu.
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Bringing back the cane: The conduct of police in the recent protests by University of Nairobi students
Members of the Police Reforms Working Group strongly condemn the unlawful and excessive use of force and brutality exhibited against students by the GSU wing of the National Police Service of Kenya on Monday the 4th of April 2016 at the precincts of University of Nairobi.
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Kenya : Termination of Ruto and Sang case at the ICC: Witness tampering means impunity prevails over justice again
“We deplore that the unprecedented interference with important prosecution witnesses played a significant role in the lack of sufficient evidence presented to support the charges against the accused. The persisting impunity in Kenya prevails over accountability and continuously fails the victims of the atrocities committed during the post-election violence,” stated Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.
Mr Ruto and Mr Sang were accused of crimes against humanity (murder, deportation or forcible transfer of population and persecution) allegedly committed in Kenya in the context of the 2007-2008 post-election violence which resulted in at least 1133 deaths, 900 cases of sexual and gender based violence, 663,921 displaced persons, numerous victims of grievous harm and destruction of property.
The decision follows the judgment of the Appeals Chamber which reversed the previous ruling of the Trial Chamber that had allowed as evidence, the use of initial testimonies of witnesses, who later either changed their statements or refused to cooperate. This was on the basis of the amended Rule 68 of the Rules on Evidence and Procedure. The Appeals Chamber held that given that the Rule was amended only after the case began, it was applied retroactively and to the detriment of the accused since it would admit incriminatory evidence against the accused. The reason why the Prosecutor sought to admit the testimonies was that a number of witnesses, after giving their initial testimony, stopped cooperating due to threats, intimidation, bribery or fear of reprisals. Social media and blogs have also been used to expose the identities of the prosecution witnesses.
“The systematic witness tampering and intimidation experienced in the Kenya cases has denied thousands of victims of the post-election violence the justice they rightfully deserve. This is even more deplorable in light of the fact that victims of these atrocities have not obtained any adequate redress at the national level but have instead been subjected to a series of broken promises,” stated Andrew Songa, Programme Manager at the KHRC.
The ICC issued two arrest warrants, in 2013 and 2015, against three Kenyans, on charges of witness tampering in the case against Ruto and Sang. The Trial Chamber has identified an “element of systematicity” in the interference of several witnesses, suggesting that they were methodically targeted in order to hamper the proceedings. In addition, a person whom the Ruto defence claimed to be a defence witness was murdered in early 2015. The outcome of investigations into his death have not yet been made public.
Systematic witness tampering led to the Prosecution's decision to withdraw charges against two other accused charged with crimes against humanity in the context of the post-election violence in Kenya- Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Secretary to the Cabinet Francis Muthaura. The Prosecutor stated that the concerted and wide-ranging efforts to harass, intimidate and threaten witnesses caused key witnesses to withdraw or change their testimonies, and several people who may have provided important evidence were too terrified to testify.
Background
For more information on the situation in Kenya and evolution of the cases, see the FIDH-KHRC timeline: Kenya Cases at the ICC: Understanding Rule 68 Controversy through 15 Dates.
For more information on Rule 68 of the Rules on Evidence and Procedures see: FIDH-KHRC Q&A on ’Rule 68’ and Witness Tampering
On the 'no case to answer' motion:
There is no explicit provision setting out the applicable legal standard for a 'no case to answer’ motion before the Court. A 'no case to answer' motion pleads that there has been insufficient evidence, or 'no case', presented which could reasonably support a conviction.
The primary rationale underpinning the hearing of a 'no case to answer' motion - or, in effect, a motion for a judgment of (partial) acquittal - is the principle that an accused should not be called upon to answer a charge when the evidence presented by the Prosecution is substantively insufficient to engage the need for the defence to mount a defence case.
The ICC Trial Chamber made a distinction between the determination to be made at the halfway point of a trial, such as a “no case to answer” motion, and a decision on the guilt or innocence of the accused at the end of the case. “Whereas the latter test is whether there is evidence which satisfies the Chamber beyond a reasonable doubt of the guilt of the accused, the Chamber recalls that the objective of the ‘no case to answer’ assessment is to ascertain whether the prosecution has lead sufficient evidence to necessitate a defense case, failing which the accused is to be acquitted on one or more of the counts before commencing that stage of the trial.
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Press contacts:
Arthur Manet (French, English, Spanish), Tel: +33 6 72 28 42 94 (Paris) - press@fidh.org
Audrey Couprie (French, English, German), Tel: +33 6 48 05 91 57 (Paris) - press@fidh.org
Andrew Songa (English), Tel: +254-20 2044545 (Kenya) -Asonga@khrc.or.ke
INCLO Report- Lethal in Disguise: The Health Consequences of Crowd Control Weapons
The report was launched at the United Nations in Geneva on the occasion of the presentation of a joint report on the proper management of assemblies, prepared by the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Christof Heyns. The Special Rapporteurs’ report was presented to the 31st session of the Human Rights Council.
Lethal in Disguise underscores the very real dangers of CCWs, documenting cases of death, disability, and serious injury that occur when weapons are used inappropriately and, in the case of protests, often indiscriminately. In addition to summarizing a critical mass of medical literature on the effects of these weapons, it includes case studies from Argentina, Canada, Egypt, England, Hungary, Israel, Kenya, South Africa, and the United States.
INCLO is a network of independent, national human rights organizations working to promote fundamental rights and freedoms. The INCLO member organizations that participated in the report are: the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA), Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales (CELS) in Argentina, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (HCLU), the Human Rights Law Network (HRLN) in India, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), the Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), and the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) in South Africa.
Lethal In Disguise is currently available here: https://khrc.or.ke/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Lethal-in-Disguise-Health-Consequences-of-Crowd-Control-Weapons.pdf
For more information, contact:
Andrew Songa
Programme Manager- Transformative Justice