Inspection General of Police Douglas Kanja and the Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) Mohammed Amin have asked the court to dismiss the abduction case against them.
The petition, which was filed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK), wanted the IG and DCI to produce youths who had been abducted and gone missing before the court.
LSK claimed that abductions pointed to the police. The Faith Odhiambo-led society wanted the police boss to be personally held liable for the seven Kenyans who were abducted on the eve of Christmas.
Appearing before Judge Bahati Mwamuye, their lawyer, Paul Nyamodi, on February 14, 2025, requested the court to dismiss the case since it was unfair to compel his clients to produce the missing youths.
A photo of Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja during a meeting with the European Union Ambassador to Kenya, Henriette Geiger on January 14, 2025.
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Ministry of Interior
“If they are missing, then they should file a missing person report, and then at the end of the investigation, act appropriately,” Nyamondi argued.
“But I don’t think it would be a proper interpretation to mean that they then have an active duty to go and free them because the application of habeas corpus was made on the assumption that it is not known where they are, and to place the obligation on my clients to go and free them would be than to ask them to do something near impossible,” Nyamondi continued.
On his part, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen insisted that the missing youth are not in police custody.
Through his lawyer, Danstan Omari, Murkomen maintained that police have been making sincere efforts to search for the missing youth.
Further, Murkomen revealed that the police should be left alone to continue with the investigation without criticism.
LSK had filed the case alongside the families of Peter Muteti, Bernard Kavuli, Billy Mwangi, Gideon Kibet, who is also known as Kibet Burr, and his brothers Ronny Kiplagat and Steve Kavingo, who were abducted on Christmas Eve.
They sued the Inspector General of Police, National Police Service Commission (NPSC), Directorate of Criminal Intelligence (DCI), National Intelligence Service (NIS), Interior Cabinet Secretary, Attorney General, and Director of Public Prosecution.
After severally ignoring to appear in court, Kanja and Amin Mohammed appeared on January 30, 2025, and declined to have the missing youth in their custody.
On the same day they appeared before the court, the body of Martin Mwau was found at the city mortuary in the same place that Mutumwa Musyoki was discovered on the same day.
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A photo collage of Bernard Kavuli, Peter Muteti and Billy Mwangi who were reportedly abducted for sharing AI-generate images of the President.