Activist Boniface Mwangi, others arraigned at Milimani courts

 

Activist Boniface Mwangi and four others arraigned in court

A Nairobi court will this afternoon rule whether it will detain activist Boniface Mwangi and four others for 21 days pending investigations into a false publication case.

Mwangi, Albert Wambugu, Robert Otieno, Pablo Chacha and Erot Franco appeared before Milimani Principal Magistrate Gilbert Shikwe on Friday.

The five are being investigated for alleged false publication, taking part in an unlawful assembly and creating a disturbance in a manner likely to cause a breach of peace.

In a miscellaneous application filed in court, the detectives are seeking custodial orders to complete a probe into the aforementioned crimes.

"I pray this honourable court to issue custodial orders authorising holding of the respondents in the applicant's custody for 21 days to enable the applicant to conclude its investigations," Officer George Karanja said.

The officer claims that on Thursday, July 25, 2024, at around 11:30 am or thereabout at CBD, along Koinange Street, the five caused a breach of peace.

The DCI alleges that Mwangi and the others inconvenienced other road users by blocking the road by placing a white coffin and seven white crosses with names inscribed on them.

The DCI further claims that the five were distributing t-shirts and placards allegedly labelled with incitement words.

"That the respondents through various social media platforms had posted allegations that the government was out to kill its citizens which words were deemed and construed that the government was perpetrating extrajudicial killings; posts which incited the members of the public causing a breach of peace," DCI told the court.

The Directorate told the Court that investigations are already ongoing to establish the motive for carrying the assorted items that Mwangi and the others were allegedly arrested with.

Additionally, the investigations are ongoing to establish where the white coffin and the white crosses were sourced from and who the financier is.

DCI stated that the place of abode of the five is unascertained and releasing them may jeopardise the investigations.

The suspects through their lawyers have opposed the detention.

They argue that the police have produced the suspects in court without a holding charge by the prosecution hence the application has no basis. 

The court has been urged to release all the suspects on bail pending investigations. 

"The suspects have no past criminal records and the fifth suspect's brother met his death in protest and the body is currently preserved at city mortuary, detaining him for 21 will bar him from attending his brother's funeral," the court heard.

Magistrate Shikwe will deliver his ruling at 2.30 pm.

by CAROLYNE KUBWA