The Kenya Human Rights Commission (KHRC), Muslims for Human Rights (MUHURI), and Khelef Khalifa have sued the Inspector General of Police Japhet Koome over the 2017 post-election police killings in Nairobi.
The Human Rights Groups have referred to the 2017 general elections after Uhuru Kenyatta was announced President by IEBC’s Wafula Chebukati resulting in nationwide protests.
According to the activists, protests in Nairobi were met with force that resulted in the killing of 33 people with Japhet Koome at the time serving as the Nairobi Police Commander.
According to the petition, the government pathologist stated that the 33 died of gunshot wounds and not all were protesting as some were killed in their homes and businesses.
The petitioners have noted their efforts to reach the Independence Police and Oversight Authority (IPOA) for information on the killings were met with delays and the body was only investigating 15 cases.
''Like IPOA, Koome delayed his response up to August 15. According to the petition, Koome declined to furnish details of the investigation and redirected Khalifa to seek answers from IPOA,'' KHRC noted in a statement.
Protests broke after former President Uhuru Kenyatta was announced the president for the second and final term.
In their petition, the rights groups have also sued IPOA and the Attorney General for their involvement and failure to probe police killings and delay in the ongoing investigations.
In the petition seen by kenyans.co.ke, the petitioners want the three to provide documents on the deaths and the investigations.
Further, the petitioners have argued that it is the constitutional duty of IPOA, the Attorney General and IG Koome to investigate, file and issue reports on such crimes.
The groups also want the court to issue conservatory orders directing preservation of all documents and files stated in their application.
The case will be mentioned on September 28 and has several interested parties including the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), and the Independent Medico-Legal Unit (IMLU)
