This archive report was first published on 15 May 2020.
On May 15, 2020, the Court of Appeal dealt a significant blow to five women seeking compensation for torture and police brutality during the 1992 Mothers of Political Prisoners demonstrations in Nairobi.
The five women, Jacinta Wamwere, Mary Njeri Kuria, Cecilia Wangu, Margaret Wanjiru, and Mary Njeri Kamau, all from Nakuru County and relatives of former political detainee Koigi Wamwere, had petitioned the High Court in 2013, citing violation of their fundamental rights and the Constitution.
They claimed that they were subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by the State on diverse dates between March 3, 1992, and January 19, 1993, while engaging in peaceful demonstrations agitating for the release of 53 political prisoners at Freedom Corner in Uhuru Park, Nairobi, and later at the All Saints Cathedral.
However, a three-man bench of justices William Ouko, Martha Koome, and Daniel Musinga unanimously upheld a High Court decision that dismissed the petition, stating that the claims of the five appellants were a 'copy-and-paste work that betrays truth and reality.'
The judges observed that when the courts began compensating political prisoners whose cases were genuine, clear, and proven, the floodgates appeared to have been opened, leading to a host of petitions being filed by anyone who might have had a brush, no matter how slight, with the law.
