Lawyers will boycott duty beginning this morning to protest the killing of their colleague Willie Kimani and his two companions.
The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) President Isaack Okero has written to heads of various judicial divisions notifying them of the one-week boycott that will paralyse court operations across the country.
The letter asks that no judicial action be taken against advocates participating in the protests.
“That judicial officers take judicial notice of any absences of advocates from court as being subject to the ongoing week-long boycott... That no prejudice be visited on any lawyer or party who is absent from court or unable to proceed with any matter due to the ongoing week-long boycott,” reads the letter addressed to among others, the President of the Court of Appeal and Principal Judge of the High Court .
“We seek the co-operation of your offices, to allow lawyers to mourn, show solidarity with the bereaved, apply pressure on the responsible State organs and attend to other related engagements,” it reads.
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Kimani was killed alongside his client Josephat Mwenda and a taxi driver Joseph Muiruri over a suspected tussle with Administration Police officers. Their bodies were pulled out of a river on Thursday.
The killings have drawn widespread condemnation from lawyers, civil society groups and diplomatic missions in Nairobi.
The lawyers’ boycott will culminate in countrywide tribute sessions in honour of the dead men. The tributes will take place in open court.
Four prosecutors are working with detectives investigating the killings of three men as three suspects are today expected to face murder charges.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Keriako Tobiko appointed the four to join the probe into the murders.
Tobiko said three officers linked to the murders will be arraigned in court today to answer to murder charges. The Administration Police officers are Senior Sergeant Fredrick Leliman, Corporal Stephen Chebulet and Constable Silvia Wanjiku Wanjohi.
“The DPP wishes to assure the members of the public and legal fraternity that the matter is being handled in a professional way,” said Tobiko.
Separately, the Council of Governors has called for speedy and thorough investigations.
“We also advice against sliding back to the dark ages of intimidation, anarchy and extra-judicial killings,” said CoG chairman Peter Munya.
Sources close to the investigations said the suspects have refused to cooperate with investigators.
One of the questions they have refused to answer is if the three were held at their camp in Syokimau.
Police say the three victims were tortured before being killed through suffocation using a polythene paper that was wrapped on their heads.
Some had their eyes gouged out and cracks on the heads amid claims they may have been sprayed with a chemical.
A postmortem would probably be conducted today.
The bodies of the three were discovered in a river in Ol-Donyo Sabuk on Thursday stuffed in a sack, a week after they went missing.
