Why no one is safe when victims of violence join the defence team

Embakasi East MP Babu Owino testifies in a case where he is accused of disorderly conduct while in possession of a firearm. [Collins Kweyu, Standard]

With more than 120,000 people having signed a petition calling for justice for DJ Evolve, the case will continue to be watched closely.

While unrelated directly to the case, a new study by The Global Survivors Fund, Grace Agenda, and The Civil Society Organisation Network offers new insights into the experiences of violence survivors and strategies that could end impunity.

Researchers interviewed 95 survivors of violence from Kisumu, Busia, Siaya, Nairobi, Naivasha, Homa Bay, Nyamira, Kisii, Migori, Vihiga, Nakuru and Mombasa over the last 15 years.

Those interviewed are survivors to Kenya's worst moment of post-colonial violence. They are among 660,000 displaced and thousands assaulted and raped during the Post Election Violence of 2007-2008. A further 1,300 people were killed in those fateful months.

Probably one of the most important findings of the Justice Philip Waki-led Commission of Inquiry into Post-Election Violence at the time, was that citizens and state officers required an enabling legal and political environment to rape, assault and kill each other.

State or elite capture of the criminal justice system and a historical culture of impunity is central to violence. Less understood at the time of the commission's findings is that sexual or physical violence has long-term trauma for survivors, their families and communities.

State or elite capture of the criminal justice system and a historical culture of impunity is central to violence. [iStockphoto]

Told now in the Opportunities for Reparations for Survivors of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Kenya Study, the wounds of physical, psychological and socio-economic can scar survivors, their children, and communities for life. Survivors have the right to protection, rehabilitation, and reparations to address injuries suffered and restore their dignity in society.

This can include financially compensating or restoring their identity, health and well-being, loss of livelihoods or property. Public state apologies and memorialisation projects as we have seen in the case of slavery in the US or colonisation in the case of the UK, also matter. Most important perhaps, is taking steps towards guaranteeing the violations will not be repeated for another generation.

The study makes several practical recommendations. They include publishing the full Truth Justice and Reconciliation Report with volumes 2A and 2C and subjecting the report to parliamentary debate, symbolic memorialisation programming, implementing the Restorative Justice Fund dusting away in the Attorney General's Chambers and introducing comprehensive measures for psychosocial and financial support to survivors and survivor solidarity networks.

Adequately funding the Witness Protection Agency is also critical. The Judiciary can fast-track hearing and determination of Civil Appeal Case No. E 645 of 2021 and the crimes against humanity 2017 case of Samantha Pendo vs 12 police officers to affirm the state's obligation to effectively prevent and respond to state and civil violence.

Until we value the scales of justice more than the shilling, witnesses are protected, survivors will become defence witnesses, impunity will prevail and none of us will be safe.

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