Eleven police officers will be charged with the killing of Baby Samantha Pendo and 39 protesters in Kisumu County at the height of post-election violence in 2017.
High Court Judge Kanyi Kimondo ruled that the senior police officers should appear in court on October 3, 2024 to face charges of murder.
The judge dismissed the applications filed by the police officers arguing that the High Court had no jurisdiction to handle the charges under the International Crimes Act.
The court agreed with Director of Public Prosecutions Renson Ingonga, Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), and Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNHCR) and International Justice Mission (IJM) that the Constitution and Kenyan Criminal Law should take precedence over international law.
The officers, among them service commanders, had challenged their prosecution under the Act. They argued that it did not meet the threshold of crimes against humanity.
The suspects were charged with various offences including murder, rape and torture contrary to the International Crimes Act.
The former officers want the court to determine whether the allegations meet the threshold of international crimes and whether they were commanders when the crimes were committed. They have contended that the charges do not meet the threshold of international crimes based on “command structure”, and that both local laws and the Rome Statute are in conflict with Article 245 of the Constitution.
The officers include Titus Yoma, John Chengo, Benjamin Koima, Benjamin Lorema, Volker Edambo, Cyprine Robe Wakio, Josephat Sensira, James Rono, Lima Kogey and Mohamed Ali Guyo. An eleventh suspect, Mohammed Baa, was still at large when others were charged.
They are alleged to have committed the offences on diverse dates in the month of August 2017 at Nyalenda, Kisumu East Sub-County, after the disputed results of the general election of 2017, which saw violence spread out to the informal settlements.
The prosecution said the suspects were the commanders or in effective responsibility for police officers under their control in the region.
