Senior Citizen TV news editor Muraya Kariuki was on Wednesday, December 23 arrested and assaulted by police officers.
According to his testimony, Kariuki was leaving the Citizen TV studios after work when police officers flagged down a taxi he had boarded while on his way home.
"I was arrested, chocked and slapped around by two police officers who work from the Nairobi West Police Post. These officers arrested me right after I had left work at Citizen TV.
"They arrested me despite the fact that I had provided my Media Council of Kenya and Royal Media Services badges. They then slapped and chocked me in the cab I was in before taking my phones and work badges and locking me up almost up to midnight," he explained.
Following his arrest, the police officers did not allow Kariuki to make any calls and intimidated him when he asked to lodge a complaint.
Two police officers later came to his rescue and released him. The journalist was then asked to lodge a complaint at Lang'ata Police Station which he did on Thursday morning.
The former NTV news editor is now waiting for results of the investigations into the case and is hopeful that police will stop future assaults on the civilians.
"The Sub County Commander at Langata Police Station asked me to record a full statement and wait for the police to conduct investigations.
"I will be patient and wait for the outcome. My experience was a nasty one and I hope those officers do not handle anyone else that way," he added.
Kairuki joins a list of journalists who have been assaulted by police with a report from the Media Council of Kenya released in November revealing that the country recorded 52 assault cases directed at journalists in eight months.
The report further showed that a majority of the victims were men who accounted for 83% while 14% were women.
This comes after Interior CS Fred Matiang'i on Wednesday emphasized that police misconduct is never excusable, but called for objective citizen review of the police to complement ongoing security sector reforms.
