State condemned for starving minors, 185 protestors freed

Police arrest a man in Nairobi's Central Business District during anti-government protests on June 27. [Robert Tomno, Standard]

A Nairobi court has freed the 185 protesters who were rounded up by police during Tuesday's anti-government protests.

The court also condemned the law enforcers for starving minors while holding them together with adults.

Milimani Magistrate Wandia Nyamu on Wednesday night freed the protestors among them 18 children, including a 15-year-old student attending a school along Temple Road in downtown Nairobi.

They were released on a personal bond of Sh10,000 each pending investigations.

"I order that the minors be released with immediate effect on a personal bond of Sh10,000 to their parents. All the adults be released on a personal bond of Sh50,000 each. They will give their details to police stations by Thursday 10am," Magistrate Nyamu ruled.

Declining the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Directorate of Criminal Investigation's request to continue holding the protestors for 21 more days, the magistrate found that there was no holding charge to accompany the application for custodial orders.

"The right to liberty and to be informed of the reasons for arrest is fundamental. There is no charge or holding charge in court and holding them will erode the bill of rights," she stated.

The magistrate also castigated the DCI and the DPP for violating the rights of the 18 children who were arrested and arraigned in court alongside 167 adults.

This is after three minors held since Tuesday afternoon collapsed in court with one foaming in the mouth for lack of food or water for more than 48 hours since their arrest.

Defence Lawyers Christine Mureithi, Joshua Malidzo, James Wanjeri and Lempaa Soyinka asked the court for an intervention, stating that the suspects were not fed by the police or allowed to receive food.

In response, Magistrate Nyamu ordered they be escorted to another courtroom where they were fed with milk and bread.

For the adults, the Judiciary offered them with milk and glucose to enable them to follow the proceedings that ended a few minutes to 11 pm on Wednesday, July 3, 2024 

The lawyers said the government was violating the constitution by disregarding the children's rights.

"The state is praying for 21 days to conduct investigations at the expense of youths who mainly were found to exercise their democratic right, which is guaranteed under Article 37 of the constitution. The whole country is aware of the movement (Gen Z) that has been created by the youth to bring accountability to actions taken by the Executive. The Executive together with the DPP have colluded to punish and condemn these young men and women before you," Mureithi stated.

She revealed that she visited the suspects in police stations within the city and found women and men, children and adults, being held together.

Malidzo said that the majority of the suspects were tortured and had not been accorded any medication.

"Over 20 suspects including the minors could hardly walk due to various injuries inflicted on them by police," he said 

In her ruling, Magistrate Nyamu observed that when prosecution counsel Kennedy Amwayi stood up and claimed that the rights granted to children by the constitution were not absolute, she found his remarks to be insensitive.